Devo's founding members weren't the first to sponsor the theory of de-evolution, but they sure gave it their own colourful spin. Energy domes, yellow suits, plastic hair and all.
Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale witnessed the 1970 shootings at Kent State University, when a National Guard unit opened fire on students during an antiwar protest on campus, killing four and wounding nine.
The incident served to galvanise the pair, leading them to form a performance-art troupe that satirised competing notions of mankind's evolutionary journey. Evidence that humans were regressing was abundant, they argued.
Borrowing ideas, imagery and idioms from here and there, Devo set out to present their quirky blend of guitar rock and synth-heavy New Wave to the world via laser disc releases of self-produced short films.
But while the medium struggled to gain a foothold, the band soon caught the attention of some powerful champions in the form of David Bowie and Iggy Pop. On signing with Warner Bros Records, Devo enlisted Roxy Music's Brian Eno as producer of debut album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
The album features rerecordings of early singles Mongoloid and (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, the former being a controversial comment on the intellect of everyday Americans, the latter being a definitive take on a Rolling Stones hit.
Mick Jagger's pouting anguish accepted, it's so much easier to believe that Devo's four-eyed frontman Mothersbaugh "can't get no girl reaction".
The band's boilersuit costumes and robotic stage movements, and the herky-jerky nature of its music, sets nerd-alert bells ringing loud and long.
But the mechanical precision of the playing, exemplified in frenetic album opener Uncontrollable Urge and in the absurd time signatures of ethos-defining track Jocko Homo, also taps the oily lifeblood of guitar-based rock and roll.
This is still rebel music, the message being: challenge authority; seek alternatives; think for yourself.
