Broken Record

The lead singer and keyboardist for Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh, is an avant-garde, new wave pioneer. Although critics sometimes classify Devo as a joke band, the Akron, Ohio art-punks’ ethos was created in response to a very serious event—the 1970 shooting at their college, Kent State. Following the incident, the band took on the name “Devo,” short for what they felt was organized society’s “de-evolution.” Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s Devo helped lay the groundwork for DIY, anti-establishment bands by releasing bizarre and left-of-center music and conceptual films that helped usher in the music video revolution. In addition to his work with Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh has also created a long and successful career scoring for TV and film. His credits include, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, The Rugrats TV show and movies, and he’s scored several classic Wes Anderson-directed films including The Royal Tenenbaums and Rushmore. On today’s episode Justin Richmond talks to Mark Mothersbaugh about how he developed his quirky sensibil