DEVO Guitarist Bob Casale RIP

[j_garcia]

One of my all time favorite albums. So weird even then, but I loved it because it wasn't like anything else. RIP Bob.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bob Casale, the guitarist for Devo, best known for the 1980 hit "Whip It," has died of heart failure, his brother and band member Gerald Casale said Tuesday. He was 61.

Devo guitarist Bob Casale dies at age 61

 

[Swerd]

That's sad news.

Just which one was Bob Casale? It was always hard to tell who was who in DEVO, because of their clone-like quality, the clothes, the hair, the headgear. Two or three of them are brothers, and their similar faces added to the effect.

Was he the guy who did the awesome flip at 0:55 in this video?

[video=youtube;jadvt7CbH1o]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jadvt7CbH1o[/video]

When I first saw DEVO as the guest band on Saturday Night Live (1979?) I loved them. Their music alone was so so, but with the video, they were absolutely great. MTV was made for them.

 

[j_garcia]

I liked the cover of Satisfaction. Sort of a punk-lite/synth pop version of Talking Heads to me. LOL at their videos and their unique style, but it was the message not even the music itself. Funny to drop strong messages into pop songs.

and a VERY different cover of that song on the Anti-WAR Emotive Album by A Perfect Circle:

 

[Swerd]

I just finished a DEVO binge on you tube . This longer video is also good.

[video=youtube;zqSta1K6B24]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqSta1K6B24[/video]

They were one of the few rock bands that preserved the fun of rock & roll through the Black Plague known as Disco in the late 70s. It was like a flu epidemic that wiped out many bands who had been good in the 60s and earlier 70s. Most were past their prime, and were eliminated by the Disco scourge. Because DEVO had devolved, they were immune to the pandemic .

I found this on wikipedia. Bob Casale is on the left, his brother Gerald on the right. They appeared on SNL in October 1978 when I first saw them.