Love Without Anger

Song Name: Love Without Anger

Artist: 𝔻𝔼𝕍𝕆

Appears On:

New Traditionalists

Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology

50 Years Of De-Evolution (1973-2023)

and more ^Discogs

Run Time: 2:34

Year Performed: 1981^{setlist.fm stats}

Writing Credits: Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald V. Casale

Trivia / Info:

The video was usually screened at shows. "Love Without Anger" was reported being in the setlist once - at a November, 1981 performance in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, after "Working in the Coal Mine" and before "Beautiful World".

Onstage Behavior:

Arrayed on the spotlit stage from left to right are Alan, GVC, Mark, Bob 1, and Bob 2, wearing the Nu-Tra Pomp and uniform. Alan drums, GVC and Mark dance and sing into microphones, Bob 1 plays guitar, and Bob 2 plays an array of synths. Mark plays the synth solos.

Video:

Music Video

Appears on We’re All DEVO, and The Complete Truth About De-Evolution

Video restored and premiered at DEVOvision, in stereo, on September 12, 2025.

DEVO talk about this video at:

“Devolutionary Times - Episode 5: New Traditionalists” - DEVOvision

See also: Love Without Anger (outfits+gear)

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   Silhouetted recombo DNA chickens run back and forth, then come together and pause at the beginning of an embrace, with one hand to each others cheek and one hand reaching to touch the others’.

   DEVO as Greek chorus sing from “Love Without Anger” songbooks and reappear throughout the song film.

   A rooster-man and a chicken-woman peck at the wooden valentine hearts they hold.



   Mark picks up a phone handset and hands it up to the smoking rooster-man, on the line with the chicken-woman.
 
  She drops a deuce of unfertilized chicken eggs onto the floor.
 
  They hang up their phones.
 

   She pulls away a frosted cake as he pecks.
 

   Instead of smooching, they peck at each other.
 
  They each dance, facing each other from a distance

 

   Ken holds his shoes as he enters the door. His shirt is unbuttoned.
 
  Barbie throws household objects at Ken – a frying pan and a hair brush.
 
  Ken knocks off Barbie’s head.
 
  Barbie pulls off Ken’s legs.
 
  Animated red hearts emanate from Barbie’s neck stump as Ken and Barbie affectionately reconcile in their home.

 

   Rooster-man presents chicken-woman with a valentine heart-shaped box and opens it.
 
  She rejects the earthworms which pour out.
 

   He sits in a chair, bound with a rope and blindfolded. She pushes him over sideways.
 
  Silhouetted, she chases him with jumbo-sized scissors.

 

   Mark holds a wooden pointer stick across his left shoulder. He taps along with the percussion rhythm to advance the photo presentation.
 

   The chicken-woman cries a shower of large animated tears, holding a framed photo portrait of the rooster-man.
 

   She points a (toy) plastic handgun towards three identical rooster-men, standing with folded arms.
 
  Mark taps twice and two heads disappear.

 

   Outside a curtained window, the chicken-woman holds her hands at the sides of her head as she agitatedly dances side to side.
 
  She sees the rooster-man lie on top of a pig-woman, who embraces him.
They both lay on top of a couch formed from an abstract blue cutout.

 

   In a family tableau, the rooster-man has his arms around the chicken-woman, his hand on her shoulder.
 
  She holds a baby Turkey Monkey in a swaddling blanket.
 
  With her hand and the blanket moved out of its way, Turkey Monkey flies towards the camera.
 
  Mark ducks down off screen.
 
  Turkey Monkey’s face fills the screen.

 

  The chicken-woman again pulls the plate of iced cake away from the pecking chicken-man.
 

  Having no lips, they peck at each other.
 

   They face each other with their hands at each other’s throats.
 
  With their heads held back, they move in rhythm with the music, and press their bodies against each other at the end of the song.
   

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• The front of the songbook features a colored drawing of a man wringing a woman's neck.

Previously, Mark wore this image on a pinback button as he lectured during the Jocko Homo segment of In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution.

• The back of the song book features walking male and female figures similar to those on the low dynamism MUTCD S1-1 pedestrian crossing warning sign.

• The recombo DNA rooster uses a classic cigarette grip. Varied interpretations of this grip have been given, including those in 1928 by a tobacco company and in two 1939 and 1959 studies by Dr. Neutra.
  The Dr.’s purported use of the soft science of psychology in the soon banned Caper magazine in turn inspired a satirical photographic essay by A. Triano in 2021.

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