New Traditionalists

Devo devised the album's title while touring their Freedom of Choice album in Japan. The group had met two businessmen in a sushi bar who were wearing pins that read "New Traditionalists". Mark Mothersbaugh recalled that the band were inspired by the phrase, as they wanted to create new traditions themselves.[2] The phrase belonged to a right-wing political group in Japan, who were using it as their name, and Devo found the pins in stores and purchased them as a joke. When the album was being written, the group recalled the name and decided that it would work for their songs. In the words of Gerald Casale, "We became the New Traditionalists but turned it on its ear. We appropriated the idea of that, meaning we were going to provide you with new traditions to forget about the old ones".[3]

Following the band's success with "Whip It" and its parent album, Freedom of Choice, Devo opted to craft a darker and less accessible album that explored their concept of "de-evolution" even further.[4] New Traditionalists contains songs in a minimalist synth-pop style, with an emphasis on synthesizer riffs and dance rhythms, as well as an increased focus on electronic percussion.[5][6] Lyrically, the album contains more straightforward sentiments than the band's previous albums, often eschewing sarcasm and irony for overt anger.[6] Rolling Stone Australia notes that the song "Beautiful World" "waits a while to reveal its hidden darkness and cynicism", echoed in its music video, which starts out "happy" and "optimistic".[7] In "Enough Said", Devo make one of their first overtly political statements, advocating throwing leaders into a ring and letting them "fight like hell to see who's king".[8] The lyrics were written by Mark and Bob's father Robert Mothersbaugh, Sr., who also played their character General Boy.[9]

According to music historian Andy Zax, New Traditionalists found Devo "more than slightly ambivalent about their newfound popularity", exemplified in opening track "Through Being Cool", with its criticism of trendy "ninnies" and "twits".[1] Zax also observed that songs such as "Jerkin' Back 'n' Forth" and "Love Without Anger" "dissect dysfunctional relationships from the inside, rather than from afar".[1]

In a 2020 interview, Gerald Casale stated that he felt New Traditionalists "was the last [Devo] record where there was some semblance of balance between primal energy and just electronics for their own sake."[10]

New Traditionalists was the band's first fully self-produced album.[1] It was recorded on a then-new brand of 2-inch tape from 3M. Unfortunately, when Devo began recording the vocals for the album, the edges of the tape had begun to disintegrate. After asking Warner Bros. if they could start over and re-record the album from scratch and being denied, Devo transferred all the work they had done to digital reel-to-reel tape and finished the album via digital recording at the Record Plant in Los Angeles, California.[3]

"The Super Thing" was later sampled in Devo's 2007 single "Watch Us Work It",[11] which was remixed by Teddybears.[12]

The front and back cover were photographed by Moshe Brakha and feature artwork by Richard Seireeni, based on a concept by the band.[13] The band's clothing, also worn during live performances, was influenced by Japanese fashion,[13] while the rubber pompadours, created by Brent Scrivner, were based on the hairstyle of John F. Kennedy but were frequently mistaken for that of Ronald Reagan.[14] Casale's longheld interest in the space program led to the band using a cartoon image of an astronaut's head from a paper Halloween mask in the artwork, which was later reused for the limited edition "Beautiful World" picture disc.[15]

The band wore blue V-neck T-shirts with the New Traditionalists astronaut on the black sleeves. This shirt can be seen on the US, Australian and New Zealand versions of the album cover. On the European cover, Devo is seen wearing "Sleeveless Maxi-Turtleneck Sweaters". The T-shirts, turtlenecks and plastic versions of the pompadours were all available through Devo's fan club catalog.

The first pressings of the LP included a 33 inch by 22 inch poster,[16] designed by the Church of the SubGenius.[17] It contains a drawing of the band on stage, with some iconic American archetypes (a Native American, a Pilgrim, a cowboy, a hippie, a punk rocker and a modern housewife) in the audience.

The tour set was designed by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, and was manufactured by John Zabrucky.[24] Modified treadmills were housed inside a temple stage set, allowing for uniform choreography by the band members, and still photos were projected behind the band.[25] The set was plexiglass, allowing it to be illuminated by different colored lights, and the front, made of white plastic, was removable, revealing a framework.[24]

On stage, Devo wore what were called "Utopian Boy Scout Uniforms", consisting of a gray button down shirt, gray slacks and black patent leather shoes. Professional footage was shot during the tour, but after the film crew's lighting generator clashed with the stage crew's and blew both sets of lights, an insurance claim stipulated that the footage had to be destroyed.[3] However, Devo appeared on the TV show Fridays in 1981 and performed five songs with a full stage set, and a few short, semi-pro-shot clips from the tour have surfaced over the Internet.[26][27][28]

In 2012, Devo commemorated the New Traditionalists tour by releasing Live 1981 Seattle as a double LP for Record Store Day. The album was culled from a cassette recording from November 1981. According to Gerald Casale, "DEVO archivist Michael Pilmer (aka Devo-Obsesso), found the tape in a shoebox full of cassettes in [keyboardist and guitarist] Bob 2's home fifteen years ago, which he immediately transferred to DAT".[29] In 2013, it was issued on CD with two bonus tracks[30] from a performance at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts on November 5, 1981.[31]

1993 Virgin Duty Now for the Future/New Traditionalists CD bonus track:

1997 Infinite Zero Archive/American Recordings CD bonus tracks:

2010 Warner Bros. CD bonus tracks:

Credits adapted from Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology CD liner notes:[1]

Devo

• Mark Mothersbaugh – vocals, keyboards, guitar
• Gerald Casale – vocals, bass guitar, keyboards
• Bob Mothersbaugh – lead guitar, vocals
• Bob Casale – rhythm guitar, keyboards, vocals
• Alan Myers – drums

Credits adapted from the original album's liner notes:[32]

Technical

• Devo – producer, design concept
• Phil Brown – mastering
• Larry Alexander – engineer
• Karat Faye – assistant engineer
• Brent Scrivner – New Traditionalist hairdos
• John Zabrucky – New Traditionalist astronaut
• Moshe Brakha – cover photography
• Richard Seireeni – art direction
• Fran Fresquez (Narf Graphics) – Club Devo catalog

Devo (2018a). DEVO: The Brand. London: Rocket 88 Books Publishing. ISBN 9781910978016.

Devo (2018b). DEVO: Unmasked. London: Rocket 88 Books Publishing. ISBN 9781910978016.

• New Traditionalists at Discogs (list of releases)