Bob Casale (1952 – 2014)

Bob Casale, guitarist and founding member of the group DEVO passed away on Monday. He was 61. DEVO, short for THE DE-EVOLUTION BAND, was innovative; groundbreaking; visionary. They called themselves “Suburban robots who monitor reality.” They saw the world around them and told us the truth about De-evolution – humanity and civilization is not EVOLVING, but is in fact DEVOLVING. They called their music “The important sound of things falling apart” and considered themselves “A musical enema for a constipated world”. Here are five DEVO songs to listen to, to honor the passing of a great artist.

1. BEAUTIFUL WORLD. Devo’s crowning musical and video achievement – their ultimate indictment of humanity couched in a heartbreakingly beautiful song and video.

2. FREEDOM OF CHOICE. From politics to mass consumerism, they told us – “Freedom OF choice is what you got, freedom FROM choice is what you want”.

3. GIRL U WANT. Great pop song with a timeless theme – the eternal quest.

4. R U EXPERIENCED. Awesome little-seen Hendrix cover (and the first use of computer morphing in a music video).

5. SATISFACTION.    The song and video that put them on the map – stripping down and revamping the Stone’s 60’s classic – introduced the world to a whole new way of thinking, rocking, and presenting music visually – basically pioneering the music video as we know it.