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Track Listing[]

All songs written and composed by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, except where noted. 

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Baby Doll"    3:56
2. "Disco Dancer"    4:14
3. "Some Things Never Change"    4:12
4. "Plain Truth"    3:13
5. "Happy Guy"    3:26
6. "Don't Be Cruel"  Otis Blackwell 2:10
7. "The Shadow"    3:25
8. "I'd Cry If You Died"    4:05
9. "Agitated"    3:53
10. "Man Turned Inside Out"  M. Mothersbaugh 4:18
11. "Sexi Luv"    3:14
12. "Blow Up"  M. Mothersbaugh, Bob Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh 4:38
13. "Some Things Never Change (Cassette Version)"    5:19
Total length:
41:30
  • Track 11 not included on vinyl release of the album.
  • Track 13 included on first CD version, DAT version, and subsequent CD releases.
1994 Restless CD reissue bonus tracks
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
14. "Baby Doll" (Extended Mix)  5:42
15. "Disco Dancer" (12 Inch Version)  6:30
16. "Agitated" (Hyperextended Mix)  5:42


2018 Futurismo Inc. "Deluxe Edition" CD bonus disc[1]

Tracks 9–14 previously unreleased.

No. Title Length
1. "Baby Doll" (Single Mix) 3:14
2. "Baby Doll" (Extended Mix) 5:48
3. "Baby Doll" (Dub Mix) 6:10
4. "Disco Dancer" (12 Inch Version) 6:29
5. "Disco Dancer" (Bonus Beats) 4:22
6. "Disco Dancer" (Karaoke Version) 4:14
7. "Some Things Never Change" (Cassette Version) 5:18
8. "Agitated" (Hyperextended Mix) 5:42
9. "Agitated" (Demo) 3:46
10. "Money Pit" (Pre-Baby Doll) 3:37
11. "Sexi Luv" (Demo) 3:15
12. "Untitled Instrumental Sketch"   3:22
13. "Misfits of Science"   3:19
14. "Wedding March"   2:32

Personnel[]

DEVO[]

Additional Personnel[]

Production[]

  • DEVO - producer
  • Robert "Bob" Casale - engineering
  • Ted Pattison - additional engineering
  • Gerald V. Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh for DEVOVISION - graphic concepts and "world service" uniform design
  • Rocky Shenck - photography
  • Robert "Bob" Mothersbaugh - amiga computer graphics
  • Muto-Little (Hollywood, CA) - uniform fabrication
  • Patrick Pending - layout and design
  • Phillipe Stark - special thanks for happy/sad face inspiration
  • Jim Mothersbaugh - roland equipment and technical collaboration

Tour[]

Setlist[]

  1. Jocko Homo (acoustic)
  2. It Doesn't Matter To Me
  3. Going Under
  4. Working in the Coal Mine
  5. Happy Guy
  6. That's Good
  7. Jerkin' Back 'N' Forth
  8. Pity You
  9. Girl U Want
  10. Whip It
  11. Baby Doll
  12. Satisfaction
  13. Uncontrollable Urge
  14. Gut Feeling
  15. Gates of Steel
  16. Booji's Beautiful World
  17. Somewhere With DEVO
  • The tour setlist was shortened a few times for one-off performances during the '88 - '89 tour. [4] [5]
  • The upcoming tour was announced in an August 1988 article. [6]

Videos[]

Disco Dancer:
7” mix video - First released on television in 1988, aired once on MTV.
First released for purchase in 1993 on The Complete Truth About De-Evolution compilation and archive.
12” mix video – Released to discotheques and clubs in 1988.
3" CD+G - 1989 promotional release includes a side scrolling "video" and credits. See: "Disco Dancer - Releases"

Trivia[]

Release:

  • “Total DEVO” was the second release in DAT format in Canada [9]
    and in the U.S. [10]

Design:

  • The Total DEVO era "World Service" uniforms were inspired by the subversive band Laibach.
  • Devo's pose on the album cover is the same as in a 1977 group photo that included Alan. [11] [12]
  • Phillipe Stark inspired the happy/sad face, Bob 1 rendered it on an Amiga Computer.

Production:

  • "...It's not robotic...it's got edges that deal with real problems of being a living, breathing mortal on the planet and that's what's good about it…" - Jerry (1988)[13]
  • "I originally sang (Blow Up) through a harmonizer". - Mark (1988)[14] [15]

References[]

  1. . http://store.futurismoinc.com/product/devo-br-total-devo-2xcd-br-digipak. 

  2. A "songwriter/composer" repertoire search for either mothersbaugh robert l sr or boy general at repertoire.bmi.com, shows General Boy/Robert L. Mothersbaugh, Sr. co-writing credit for "Blow Up" at his BMI repertoire list.
    Bob Mothersbaugh had a writing co-credit in the original album notes. In an interview by Alex Brunelle & Tom Chiki, Bob 1 said doesn't "remember much" about his participation with making "Blow Up".

  3. "Bob Mothersbaugh interview by Alex Brunelle & Tom Chiki". Booji Boy's Basement. (2005).
    boojiboysbasement.com/bob1.html (From archive.org).
    What was your participation in the writing of "Blow Up"?
    I don't remember much about "Blow Up", something about recording Jerry's or Mark's vocals into a sampler to pitch them down.

  4. Setlists, 1988. 1989-1991. Devo Live Guide. Huboon.com.

  5. "1988 Total Devo." Live Performances. BoojiBoysBasement.com

  6. Terry Wood. “New Disk Is ‘Total Devo’. Billboard. Page 33. (1988, August 13).

    Devo is currently preparing to tour the U.S. for the first time in five years. The group's 50 -city tour kicks off Aug. 25 in Boulder, Colo.


  7. https://www.discogs.com/search/?sort=score%2Cdesc&title=Total+Devo&artist=devo&label=virgin&country_exact=UK&type=release (From archive.org).

  8. “Enigma Signs With Virgin”, Pan-European News, Music & Media, The European Music & Broadcast Trade Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 36, September 3, 1988.
    https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/80s/1988/M&M-1988-09-03.pdf (PDF from archive.org).
    “London - Virgin Records in the UK has struck a deal with the American independent Enigma to manufacture and distribute all the company's new product in the UK and parts of Europe (see Extra! Issue 34).” “The first releases on Enigma/Virgin will be new albums...” “...Devo's Total Devo (see Previews on page 13)...”

  9. ”Enigma scores a first with 3" domestic CD”. RPM Weekly. Volume 48, No.9 p2. (1988, June 18).
    ”Enigma Canada, distributed by Capitol, will release the first commercially available 3" domestic compact disc in Canada on June 22. Immediately following the… release, Enigma will ship Devo's first single, Disco Dancer, on 3" CD from their debut, Total Devo. The 3" CD carries a suggested list price of $6.98.
    https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/80s/1988/M&M-1988-06-18.pdf (PDF from archive.org).

  10. Chris Morris. “Enigma is First U.S. Label To Issue Pop Album On DAT”. Billboard. Volume 100, #19. Page 6. (1988, May 7). On May 20 ' ...Restless issues Devo's new album, "Total Devo," on LP, CD, cassette, and DAT. "We seriously considered putting [the Devo album] out with an 8 -track on it, but we couldn't get 8- track duplication fast enough," Hein says. '
    worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1988/BB-1988-05-07.pdf (PDF From archive.org).

  11. "DEVO" (Large 1977 Photograph Signed By Gerald V. Casale & Photographer Richard Peterson [23 1/2″ x 17″]). recordmecca.com.

  12. Richard Alden Peterson Prints In Recombo DNA: The Story of Devo by Barbara Goldman.
    1977 photo by Richard Alden Peterson. PDN - Photo District News, (2013, November 18).

  13. "DEVO - Record Guide interview – 1988." Uploaded to YouTube by Joe Machos in 2014.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AabgEQ_oirg&t=394s

  14. Tommy Gear. “total DEVO”. Roland Users Group, v.6 #2. (1988).

    The song “Blow Up” was a weird one. It’s the only song on the tape that didn’t have a click track, and I originally sang it through a harmonizer. It’s the only song that didn’t have a sequencer on it – it was just played live. We first did a demo of it and really liked it, then we re-recorded it for the album at the exact same speed, but somehow when I went to sing it over again the harmonizer part didn’t sound the same. So we ended up sampling every single line of the song into the S-50 playing it back onto the track. It worked perfectly, and it only took a couple of hours.


  15. Cover story: Cover photo. Contents Page Photo. Roland Users Group: The Magazine For The Electronic Musician, v.6 #2. (1988).

External Links[]

Total Devo (Master release) -- Discogs
Total Devo (Release group) -- MusicBrainz
Total Devo (Overview) -- AllMusic
Total Devo -- Wikipedia
Total Devo (album lyrics) -- Genius Lyrics
Total Devo (BPM Profile) -- GetSongbpm
Total Devo (Harmonic Profile) – GetSongkey
https://articles.roland.com/
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DEVO
Mark Mothersbaugh | Gerry Casale | Bob Mothersbaugh
Bob Lewis | Bob Casale | Jim Mothersbaugh | Alan Myers
David Kendrick | Josh Freese
Jeff Friedl | Josh Hager
Record Labels / Publishers
Booji Boy Records | Warner Brothers | Enigma | Devo, Inc. 
Stiff | Virgin | Rykodisk | Infinite Zero | Restless | Discovery | Rhino 
MVD Audio | The Orchard | Superior Viaduct | Futurismo
Production
Brian Eno | Ken Scott | Robert Margouleff | Roy Thomas Baker | DEVO 
The Teddybears | Greg Kurstin | Santi White | John King | John Hill | Mark Nishita 
Official Studio Albums
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! (1978) | Duty Now For The Future (1979) | Freedom of Choice (1980) | New Traditionalists (1981) | oh, no! it's Devo (1982) | Shout (1984) | Total Devo (1988) | SmoothNoodleMaps (1990) | Something for Everybody   (2010)
Other Albums
B Stiff EP (1978) | E-Z Listening Disc (1987) | Now It Can Be Told: DEVO at the Palace (1989) | Hardcore DEVO Vol. 1 74-77 (1990) | Hardcore DEVO Vol. 2 1974-1977 (1991) | DEVO Live: The Mongoloid Years (1992) | DEV-O Live (1999) | Recombo DNA (2000) | Live In Central Park (2004) | DEVO Live 1980 (2005) | New Traditionalists: Live 1981 Seattle (2012) | Something ELSE for Everybody  (2013) | Miracle Witness Hour  (2014) | Live at Max's Kansas City - November 15, 1977  (2014) | Butch Devo and the Sundance Gig  (2014) | Hardcore DEVO Live!  (2015) | Art Devo 1973-1977  (2023)
Filmography
In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution (1976) | The Men Who Make The Music (1981) | Human Highway (1982) | We're All DEVO (1984) | The Complete Truth About De-Evolution (1993) | DEVO Live (2004) | DEVO Live In The Land Of The Rising Sun (2004) | DEVO Live 1980 (2005) | Butch Devo and the Sundance Gig  (2014) | Hardcore DEVO Live!  (2015)
Related Articles
History | Bootlegs | Booji Boy | Devolution | Influence | The Wipeouters | Jihad Jerry & The Evildoers | Devo 2.0 | Akron, Ohio | Kent, Ohio | Music Videos | Cover Versions | Outfits

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