Devo Guitarist Bob Casale Dead at 61

[Cooley Hurd]

http://www.tmz.com/2014/02/18/devo-guitarist-bob-casale-dead-whip-it/

Devo Guitarist Bob Casale -- known for the hit 1980 song "Whip It" -- has died, TMZ has learned.

Bob's brother Gerald -- also a founding member of the band -- tells TMZ, Bob passed away suddenly on Monday from health complications that led to heart failure.

Gerald tells us, "As an original member of Devo, Bob Casale was there in the trenches with me from the beginning. He was my level-headed brother, a solid performer, and talented audio engineer, always giving more than he got."

Bob was 61.

Devo was formed in 1972 and hit the Billboard charts in 1980 with "Whip It" ... one of the first music videos to make a huge splash on MTV back in the day.

</snip>

Shit... cross gently Bob.

[Throd]

1. RIP to a great and gifted guitarist.

[shenmue]

2. Rest in peace

[Tikki]

3. So sad…RIP Mr.Casale.

I used to listen to DEVO's music before all my exams, made me feel smarter.


Tikki
a grand guitarist...

[KamaAina]

4. :(

My favorite human being has a whippet named Diva. If she'd been a boy, it would have been Devo, the whippet.

[kentauros]

5. dammit!

Cross gently, Bob. One of the greatest bands of my youth.

[jpak]

6. R.I.P.

[joeybee12]

7. Makes me feel old...still a great song...RIP

[GReedDiamond]

8. I think that DEVO's first record...

...is one of the greatest rock records ever made.

RIP Bob.

[dorkzilla]

21. +1

If you can, try and listen to their Stiff Records import from 1978 or roundabouts. It has a few of the cuts that made it onto the first album, but its got a great raw sound. I love the song Social Fools, which sadly never made the cut.

Cool, I went poking around and found the song I mentioned.

[GReedDiamond]

33. Thanks for the link!...nt

[geardaddy]

30. +1000

Satisfaction is one of the best covers of any song.

[GReedDiamond]

34. Yes, it is...such a great arrangement, it's better than the original, IMO...nt

[bpj62]

9. Saturday Nite Live

Their rendition of the Stones " I Can't Get No Satisfaction" is what got me into the band. It was completely different than anything I had heard before. Damn I am getting old.

[progressoid]

10. Bob 2!

Damn. Just damn.

[Adrahil]

11. Damn. This spud boy is sad....

I saw them a in concert a couple years ago and they were awesome. They also got "corporatism" before most people were even aware of the idea.

[eShirl]

12. RIP

One of my first albums, I might have to buy it again in a current medium.
http://clubdevo.com/are-we-not-men-1978.html

1. Uncontrollable Urge
2. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
3. Praying Hands
4. Space Junk
5. Mongoloid
6. Jocko Homo
7. Too Much Paranoias
8. Gut Feeling
9. Come Back Jonee
10. Sloppy (I Saw My Baby Gettin')
11. Shrivel Up

Release Date: 1978
Tracks: 11

[KurtNYC]

36. Our band used to play "Uncontrollable Urge" but we did it

quiet and sexy. Really played with the lyrics.

Loved their interviews about touring in Texas and the things people would shout at them when they wore those "flower pots" on their heads. Imaginative band that made rock fun again in a heady way.

[Jesus Malverde]

13. .

[callous taoboy]

14. Saw them in Austin in 1980- Crazy show.

There was some great stuff happening in pop back around that time, and Devo was right up front.

[LuvNewcastle]

15. I loved Devo. RIP, Bob.

[Drunken Irishman]

16. Devo's Whip It was a song written to endorse Carter's reelection campaign...

[Spirochete]

17. I think their drummer passed last year?

I feel old again.

[deutsey]

18. Devo and the Kent State Shootings

Last edited Tue Feb 18, 2014, 03:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Devo fans probably know about this connection, but for those checking in who don't...


VR: Going back to your early days. You were present at the Kent State shootings in 1970. How did that day affect you?

Jerry Casale: Whatever I would say would probably not at all touch upon the significance or gravity of the situation at this point of time -- it would probably sound trite or glib. All I can tell you is that it completely and utterly changed my life. I was a white hippie boy and then I saw exit wounds from M1 rifles out of the backs of two people I knew. Two of the four people who were killed, Jeffrey Miller and Allison Krause, were my friends. We were all running our asses off from these motherfuckers. It was total, utter bullshit. Live ammunition and gasmasks - none of us knew, none of us could have imagined... They shot into a crowd that was running away from them! I stopped being a hippie and I started to develop the idea of devolution. I got real, real pissed off.

SNIP

VR: You said that the Kent State shooting sort of served as a catalyst for your theory of Devolution, which spawned Devo--

Jerry Casale: Absolutely. Until then I was a hippie. I thought that the world is essentially good. If people were evil, there was justice... and that the law mattered. All of those silly naïve things. I saw the depths of the horrors and lies and the evil. The paper that evening, the Akron Beacon Journal, said that students were running around armed and that officers had been hurt. So deputy sheriffs went out and deputized citizens. They drove around with shotguns and there was martial law for ten days. 7 PM curfew. It was open season on the students. We lived in fear. Helicopters surrounding the city with hourly rotating runs out to the West Side and back downtown. All first amendment rights are suspended at the instant the governor gives the order. All of the class-action suits by the parents of the slain students were all dismissed out of court, because once the governor announced martial law, they had no right to assemble.


http://boingboing.net/2010/05/04/devos-jerry-casale-o.html

[bkanderson76]

20. WOW....thank you deutsey....kudos

[Octafish]

22. The Ohio National Guard got away with four murders.

Thank you for the heads-up, deutsey. Did not know the remarkable story behind Devo.

Allison Krause's sister co-wrote an excellent article that's archived on Project CENSORED:

http://www.projectcensored.org/kent-state-was-it-about-civil-rights-or-%E2%80%A8murdering-student-protesters/

Documents the role of COINTELPRO and the usual gang of traitors.

[Jake Stern]

25. Learned about the Devo-Kent State connection when I applied to KSU.

It seems that Chrissie Hynde, of The Pretenders, was also on campus at the time of the shooting.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

27. Thanks for posting!

[byronius]

19. Devo kinda saved my life.

Kept me alive in my troubled adolescence. I owe them. Will always love them.

On the big spud farm in the sky, maestro.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

23. Got to see them just once during their comback tour..

Have something like 11 of their albums, including live and "Hardcore" (demos), more than any other band.

EPIC song that will stand the test of time.

Gut Feeling

unique in the way it accelerates from 0 to 80!

"Centered 'round long time ago
On your ability to torment
Then you took your tongs of love
And stripped away my garment

I looked for sniffy linings
But you're rotten to the core
I've had just about all I can take
You know I can't take it no more"



Read more: Devo - Gut Feeling Lyrics | MetroLyrics

[Adrahil]

28. One of my favorites. NT

[otohara]

24. 1979 Rainbow Music Hall

no one would go with me, I had free tix - went by myself.
I love DEVO

RIP

[zappaman]

26. Very sad.

I sat next to him and Mark 20 years ago at a wedding of a mutual friend.
He was really funny and super friendly.
Seeing them on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE blew my mind and opened me up to new music in wonderful ways.
RIP Bob.

[Initech]

29. Nooooooo!!!! I love Devo.

Saw them three times on their most recent "Something For Everybody" tour. Great shows every single time.

[bluesbassman]

31. It's an awful tough trick to be totally original in the music world. Devo did just that.

RIP Bob and thanks for the music.

[shanti]

32. RIP, Bob

I loved Devo's music back in the day. They were true originals.

[calimary]

35. Damn. Sorry to hear this.

Damn. Bummer.

[raouldukelives]

38. Great guitarist. One of my favorite groups of all-time.

He will be missed.