Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! is the debut studio album by American new wave band Devo. It was released in August 1978 on Warner Bros. in the North America and Virgin Records in Europe. Produced by Brian Eno, the album was recorded from October 1977 to February 1978, primarily in Cologne, West Germany.
The album peaked at No. 78 on the U.S. Billboard chart and No. 12 on the UK Albums Chart. Retrospectively, the album has been included on several "best of" lists from publications, including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and Spin.
Production and recording
Composition
Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale, and Bob Mothersbaugh wrote the album from 1974 to 1977. "Jocko Homo", written by Mark Mothersbaugh, was demoed in 1974 and first played live on October 31, 1975. During this period, Devo were a quartet consisting of Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh, and drummer Jim Mothersbaugh. In 1976, Alan Myers replaced Jim Mothersbaugh, and Bob Casale ("Bob 2") re-joined as rhythm guitarist and additional keyboardist following a two-year absence. By February 1977, Devo were also performing "Shrivel-Up" live, as well as early versions of "Uncontrollable Urge," "Praying Hands," "Mongoloid," "Too Much Paranoias," and "Jocko Homo." In March 1977, Devo released their first single, a self-produced recording of "Mongoloid" / "Jocko Homo".
By May 19, 1977, the group had debuted all of the album's tracks live, and developed the material throughout the year.
Production
In 1977, David Bowie and Iggy Pop received a tape of Devo demo songs from the wife of Michael Aylward, guitarist in the band Tin Huey. Both Pop and Bowie, as well as Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, expressed interest in producing Devo's first release. In October 1977, Patrick Gleeson invited the band to record "Come Back Jonee" and "Shrivel-Up" at his Different Fur studio in San Francisco. The following month, Devo returned to New York and were introduced ahead of a show at Max's Kansas City by Bowie, who told the audience that he planned to produce Devo's first album in Tokyo over the winter.
Eventually, Eno was chosen to produce the album at Conny Plank's studio near Cologne after a series of engagements prevented Bowie from undertaking the recording. Bowie was busy filming Just a Gigolo at the time, but assisted Eno on weekends. Since Devo had not yet been signed to a record label, Eno paid for the flights and studio cost of the band, confident that they would be signed; in return, he asked for a share of any subsequent deals. The Different Fur recordings of "Come Back Jonee" and "Shrivel-Up" had been overdubbed upon during these sessions.
The recording sessions were a source of frustration for Eno and Devo. Eno found the band unwilling to experiment or deviate from the sound of their demo recordings. Devo later admitted that "we were overtly resistant to Eno's ideas. He made up synth parts and really cool sounds for almost every part of the album, but we used them on three or four songs."
Outtakes from the album included "Be Stiff", released as a non-album single that same year; "Social Fools", released as the B-side to "Come Back Jonee"; and "Penetration in the Centrefold", released as the B-side to "The Day My Baby Gave Me a Surprize" from the follow-up album Duty Now for the Future in 1979.
Artwork and packaging
The cover was illustrated by Joe Heiner, based on an image of golfer Chi-Chi Rodríguez that the band had found on a golf strap. According to Casale, David Berman at Warner Bros., decided that the image could not be used because "he was a golf fan and felt we were making fun of Chi Chi." The band offered to contact Rodriguez personally but had time constraints due to the forthcoming production of their album. Rick Serini, the manager of the company's art department, recommended an artist who could airbrush and alter the face of the picture, and lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh offered a picture he had procured from a local newspaper that morphed the faces of U.S. presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. These ideas were morphed with the original image of Rodríguez to create the cover art of the album.
<!-- A history of the design of the sleeve is presented in episode 328 of the podcast 99% Invisible, "Devolutionary Design", featuring interviews with members of the band, Chi-Chi Rodriguez and representatives of the record industry from the time. -->
Release
Devo received offers to release Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! from Warner Bros., Island, Virgin and David Bowie's Bewlay Brothers. Virgin obtained the rights to release the album in the United Kingdom, while Warner Bros. held the rights for North America. It was released by Warner in the United States on August 28, 1978 and by Virgin in the United Kingdom on September 1, 1978. Virgin also released a picture disc version of the album, illustrated with a still from The Truth About De-Evolution.
Reception
Commercial
In the United States, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! peaked at No. 78 on the Billboard charts, and in the United Kingdom, it entered the charts on September 16, 1978 and remained there for seven weeks, peaking at No. 12. Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! was also successful in Japan. The album went "silver" in the United Kingdom on January 15, 1979, and "gold" in the United States on .