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deVo’s mark mothersbaugh, photo by Debbie Leavitt, debbieleavitt.com
Human Highway starred a motley assort- ment of Young’s friends such as: future Oscar nominee Sally Kirkland, Charlotte Stewart (an actress with roles as diverse as Little House On The Prairie and Eraserhead), Topanga buds Stockwell and Russ Tamblyn, Neil’s manager (and soon to be DEVO’s) Elliot Roberts, folk- singer David Blue, music critic Robert Hilburn, and counterculture icon Dennis Hopper. The lead role of geeky gas jockey Lionel Switch was played by Young himself, who got to ham it up in overalls and thick nerd glasses.
The film had no costume department, so Neil told DEVO to buy their own outfits and he would reimburse them. They got their suits at K-Mart and sent Young a receipt for $136.
The Ohio spudboys arrived on the Human Highway set and stood out of place right away. All the actors were drunk, on drugs, or both. None of them seemed very happy, except Young who was having a ball playing director. Everyone latched their egos onto Neil’s. DEVO were fascinated. They felt like the crew of the starship Enterprise observing an alien race and its strange rituals and customs. Here on display was De-evolution at its finest.
Dennis Hopper in particular was at a low ebb. After Easy Rider’s unexpected success in 1969, Hopper was Hollywood’s new Golden Boy for a brief time. He squandered all his goodwill in 1971 on The Last Movie, an expensive and self-indulgent flop that rivals Journey Through The Past for inscrutability. Dennis’ physical and mental health declined as he developed a seri- ous drug addiction.
Hopper’s role in Human Highway was a cook, which meant he got to play with knives. There was constantly one in his hand, whether he was being filmed or not. On set, he broke the band’s balls while waving a blade around: “So, DEVO ... you think you’re hot shit, don’t you?” DEVO needled Dennis back by referring to him as “that old actor” (Hopper was 41.)
During a break in the filming, Neil Young performed a five night solo stand at San Fran- cisco’s Boarding House while DEVO played across town at punk stronghold, the Mabu- hay Gardens. After his show on May 27, 1978, Neil appeared onstage with DEVO. He was introduced as Grandpa Granola, “ancient his- tory up close” (Young was 31), and walked out in one of their K-Mart radiation suits. He was sacrificed to the crowd as they chanted: “Real Dung! Real Dung!” Booji Boy sang “After The Gold Rush” for an encore.
The next night, Young and DEVO and as-
sorted friends met at Different Fur, a tiny San Francisco recording studio. Neil wanted to jam on a new song he had written called “Hey Hey, My My.” DEVO had never jammed with anyone before, but gave it their best shot.
The group stand in a rough circle. Neil Young is wearing a Sex Pistols t-shirt and mir- ror shades. In the center, Booji Boy sits in a crib squiggling on a Moog synthesizer and squeal- ing out Young’s lyrics. He changes a few where appropriate:
The king is gone but he’s not a dud Is this the story of Johnny Spud
They flail away at “Hey Hey, My My” for ten minutes. The whole mess ends with Young, his guitar feeding back, trapped under Booji Boy’s crib and twisting knobs on the Moog wildly. Every second is caught on film for Human Highway. Elliot Roberts dubbed it “Neil Young And His All-Insect Orchestra.”
In July 1978, Warner Brothers released DE- VO’s debut album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO! David Bowie was originally slated to produce, but passed the job on to his crony Brian Eno, who thought the band were hilari- ous.
DEVO had nearly six years of their back cata- logue to cherry-pick from and they ended up with an impressive selection of material. Eno’s production is clean and sparse without sacri- ficing any of the group’s live power. They coax some truly frightening sounds out of the Moog to give the LP a uniquely unsettling edge.
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO! got a lot of press in America, not all of it positive. England, however, welcomed them with open arms. The band released a one-off single with punk label Stiff Records, “Be Stiff.”
On October 14, 1978, DEVO appeared on Saturday Night Live, performing “Jocko Homo” and “Satisfaction.” The show’s guests the previ- ous week had been the Rolling Stones. Anyone paying attention may have noticed a torch be- ing passed.
Back in Hollywood, the movie shoot dragged on and on. Human Highway had no script; the actors were encouraged to impro- vise their lines. As such, the filming progressed at a snail’s pace. Several members of the cast began to have schedule conflicts and DEVO had an album to promote, so the production was shut down. Neil promised everyone Hu- man Highway wasn’t dead and they would re- convene when the time was right.
32 • september 2013 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
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