Devo‘s Gerald Casale says he was initially very unhappy about his band being compared to Kiss, but that over time he came to see the attempted putdown in a different light.
In a recent interview with Gold Derby, Casale recalls his initial response to Devo being labeled “the thinking man’s Kiss” by a U.K. music reporter years ago, due to their shared – but very different – uses of costumes and onstage theatricality.
“At the time I was really offended and really bummed out by that,” Casale explained. “But twenty years later I thought, ‘God, I wish it had happened that way!’ Because that means that a band that isn’t dumb could have been as big as Kiss.”
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It’s not the first time Casale has told this story. In a 2015 interview with Rhino, he provided more details, including the name of the reporter and the magazine. “We were raked across the coals critically by Alan Jones from Melody Maker in England, he said that we were – and this was his big putdown – ‘the thinking man’s Kiss.’ And I thought, ‘You know what, you asshole? That’s not a bad thing!’
“Just imagine if we could be as popular as Kiss and as iconic as Kiss and yet have this message that Devo brings, rather than this silly, tired message of parties, drugs, and getting the girl,” Casale continued. “What if Devo could have as big an audience as Kiss but with this alternative message? That would be a true breakthrough. True subversion. But it didn’t happen.”
(It should be noted that Kiss founders and noted teetotalers Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have repeatedly and strongly spoken out against drug and alcohol use, and have often cited substance abuse as one of the main reasons original members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley were unable to remain in the band.)
(Also, Kiss has released many songs about working hard, believing in yourself and doing what’s right.)
(The girls part? Okay, he’s got them there.)
Why Devo Thinks They Should Get Avatars Before Kiss
In a 2023 With Guitars interview, Casale said Devo had spoken to an immersive content company about getting their own avatars, similar to the ones Kiss is planning to launch in 2027.
“[The company] had reached out and said, ‘hey, you gotta be part of the metaverse. You should be avatars.’ And I went, yeah, I’ve been talking about it for two and a half years, you know, nobody’s come forward because unlike Kiss, who somebody is willing to invest $100 million to do it, nobody was stepping up to let Devo do it.”
The lack of opportunity leaves Casale more than a little frustrated. “[It] always sticks in my craw because it’s like if there’s any band that deserved to be avatars and create an alternate world in the metaverse, it’s Devo because we have the characters, we have the ideas, we have the narrative and we have the futuristic vision.”
He was also clearly unimpressed by what ABBA‘s ongoing Voyage avatar show, for which a dedicated venue was built in London. “All they use that technology for is to make you believe that Abba was really playing on stage. Which is very boring to me. Abba got to do it because they sold 100 million records or whatever. But God, what Devo could do with that, it’d be mind blowing.”
In the meantime, Devo fans can check out the band’s new self-titled Netflix documentary, and catch them on the Cosmic De-Evolution tour with the B-52s this fall.
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Gallery Credit: Rob Carroll
