The Beginning Was the End: Devo in Ohio

by Jade Dellinger, David Giffels

The Beginning Was the End is the definitive account of DEVO's vibrant early history, from the authors of the first-ever book about the band. The Beginning Was the End features more than eighty never-before-seen images of the band members and their visual history as it tells the unlikely story of a collection of creative misfits who formed a musical kinship, drawing material and inspiration from the industrial Midwestern environs of Northeast Ohio. With the May 4, 1970, Kent State shootings as a catalyst, DEVO channeled protopunk energy into a sprawling art project that would pioneer the use of music videos, innovate technology in pop music, define the aesthetic of the 1980s New Wave/MTV era, and maintain an edge of social, political, and cultural criticism that continues their relevance fifty years after their formation.

285 pages, Paperback

Published October 10, 2023

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew! What a great book! A page-turner of an art/music biography - getting down into the nitty gritty of the genesis of DEVO’s philosophy - and how the soup of the NE Ohio culture spawned their vision. It’s excellent. Recommended to any Akronite and any DEVO fan.

[Patrick Tarbox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good! The authors did a wonderful job telling a frankly insane story with depth and honesty that could be frightening at times, but the only answer was “We are Devo” and you continue on. I loved it!

[Chris Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

My wife is the huge Devo fan in the house, but I particularly love the earlier, sqounkier period of Hardcore Devo which feels like a kindred spirit not just to other Ohioan weirdos like Pere Ubu, the Cramps and the Numbers Band but also the Residents and even Gary Wilson. Because this book focuses almost entirely on that period - also the most interesting aspect of their recent Netflix documentary - it was inevitable that I’d hugely enjoy this. And it’s a fascinating story told brilliantly. I particularly enjoyed the cameos of weirdos like Sun Ra and stories of Alan Myers educating himself, just because, in almost every music going. It’s also the era that is most focused on the theoretical underpinnings of Devo, which to me is their most interesting period. Jerry Casale particularly comes out as the driving force of this, mainly because it’s a way to process the trauma of the Kent State Massacre and his presence there on the day, and there’s an argument that the slow process of Devo becoming more mainstream is a parallel to that theoretical focus on De-evolution being less apparent in their art and more in them trying to maintain a hold on popular success. The book thankfully avoids much of this, but the beginning of the end is definitely prefigured in the Bob Lewis lawsuit

The only substantial blip is the authors clearly not hearing what I hear in the music of the Numbers Band whose distillation of the blues into a sort of sinewy essence is far closer to Beefheart than the writers allow. A few times they seem baffled as to why they’re held in such esteem and frankly they’re not listening to Jimmy Bell’s Still In Town properly because they’re really just as much fellow travellers to Devo as Pere Ubu are (I particularly loved David Thomas whining about Devo selling out, because much as I adore Pere Ubu their mid eighties records are frankly far less convincing attempts to take on the mainstream). It’s a book that deftly combines period, place and context at the centre of the story and does so brilliantly. It’s also interesting that the only thing that I found less than thrilling is the endless stories of big label contracts being dangled, but that’s mostly because big labels have had almost zero to do with the music books I’ve been reading this year

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable - Devo up to the days when they were my local bar-band (‘76-78)