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The Devo hat - votive worship and Orgone energy
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Maplin
Mar 7, 2021, 11:40:39 AM3/7/21
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Devo, yes, the band Devo, were not, as many people believe, just trying
to be weird for weird's sake. Every part of their look, their image and
their music, was very deliberate. Their name was an abbreviation of
"devolution", or as some tell me it has to be spelt, de-evolution.
That's what they're all about, that humanity is going backwards, that
our society, particularly the modern, wealthy western society, is its
own biggest threat, it's self-destructive, inhumane and irrational. I
think I agree.
So what about those hats? Just 80's look-at-me non-conformity, right?
No, according to Gerald Casale via the Devo website - "It was designed
according to ancient ziggurat mound proportions used in votive worship.
Like the mounds it collects energy and recirculates it. In this case the
Dome collects the Orgone energy that escapes from the crown of the human
head and pushes it back into the Medulla Oblongata for increased mental
energy. It's very important that you use the foam insert...or better
yet, get a plastic hardhat liner, adjust it to your head size and affix
it with duct tape or Super Glue to the inside of the Dome. This allows
the Dome to "float" just above the cranium and thus do its job.
Unfortunately, sans foam insert or hardhat liner, the recirculation of
energy WILL NOT occur"
Devo call their hats "Energy Domes". Nobody needs to believe or accept
that they really take this stuff seriously, but personally I think they
intended them as a symbol, and they've been described as an icon for
Orgone energy many times. I decided to investigate this because some
other web-surfing trail led me to the Waldviertel Pyramid on Wikipedia,
and I'd seen an article where someone called it an inspiration for
Devo's Energy Domes. Well, it looks about right.
I find all those famous surrealist novels a bit tedious and pretentious,
but many find them profound and exciting. The trouble is, it's garbage
until you have some kind of reference to what the artist was trying to
say. You'd have to know something about the school of surrealism's basis
and ideals before you could arrive at any of the same conclusions the
artists intended. So it is with pop music - it seems shallow and too
cool for its own good, until and unless you find out that there was some
intention behind its forms. I used to think Devo and some others were
just trying to be exploit a clever, unique look and feel they'd come up
with, probably in art school, but everything they include in the look
and their music is intentional, it seems. They are quite likely to
include these references facetiously too, they're kind of satirising
their own fans this way, reminding people not to take anything too
seriously, not even their message - I guess because it's still just pop
music. But it's pop music with something to say. To me it seems relevant
to my own and many other's approach to finding spirituality or at least
a worthwhile stance on where the human world is going.
to be weird for weird's sake. Every part of their look, their image and
their music, was very deliberate. Their name was an abbreviation of
"devolution", or as some tell me it has to be spelt, de-evolution.
That's what they're all about, that humanity is going backwards, that
our society, particularly the modern, wealthy western society, is its
own biggest threat, it's self-destructive, inhumane and irrational. I
think I agree.
So what about those hats? Just 80's look-at-me non-conformity, right?
No, according to Gerald Casale via the Devo website - "It was designed
according to ancient ziggurat mound proportions used in votive worship.
Like the mounds it collects energy and recirculates it. In this case the
Dome collects the Orgone energy that escapes from the crown of the human
head and pushes it back into the Medulla Oblongata for increased mental
energy. It's very important that you use the foam insert...or better
yet, get a plastic hardhat liner, adjust it to your head size and affix
it with duct tape or Super Glue to the inside of the Dome. This allows
the Dome to "float" just above the cranium and thus do its job.
Unfortunately, sans foam insert or hardhat liner, the recirculation of
energy WILL NOT occur"
Devo call their hats "Energy Domes". Nobody needs to believe or accept
that they really take this stuff seriously, but personally I think they
intended them as a symbol, and they've been described as an icon for
Orgone energy many times. I decided to investigate this because some
other web-surfing trail led me to the Waldviertel Pyramid on Wikipedia,
and I'd seen an article where someone called it an inspiration for
Devo's Energy Domes. Well, it looks about right.
I find all those famous surrealist novels a bit tedious and pretentious,
but many find them profound and exciting. The trouble is, it's garbage
until you have some kind of reference to what the artist was trying to
say. You'd have to know something about the school of surrealism's basis
and ideals before you could arrive at any of the same conclusions the
artists intended. So it is with pop music - it seems shallow and too
cool for its own good, until and unless you find out that there was some
intention behind its forms. I used to think Devo and some others were
just trying to be exploit a clever, unique look and feel they'd come up
with, probably in art school, but everything they include in the look
and their music is intentional, it seems. They are quite likely to
include these references facetiously too, they're kind of satirising
their own fans this way, reminding people not to take anything too
seriously, not even their message - I guess because it's still just pop
music. But it's pop music with something to say. To me it seems relevant
to my own and many other's approach to finding spirituality or at least
a worthwhile stance on where the human world is going.
fife
Mar 8, 2021, 12:55:26 PM3/8/21
to
Construction of the official Temple of ECK in Chanhassen, Minnesota began in the late '80s. The building was completed and dedicated in 1990. A supposedly big deal at the time of construction was the choice of a "ziggurat style" (Devo hat) roof for the building. ?
Wikipedia describes Eckankar as a dharma influenced new religion. Yeah, "dharma influenced" but don't expect to learn what the dharma is. Instead expect to participate in the "impression" part of the dharma playing cat-and-mouse, blind man's bluff, with the dharma.
Maplin
Mar 9, 2021, 12:46:23 AM3/9/21
to
dharma is or translates to, it seems to me.
I'd seen the photos of the building in Minnesota, I hesitated to connect
it directly in my post. But one might see a link.
JR
Mar 9, 2021, 1:37:12 AM3/9/21
to
On Sunday, March 7, 2021 at 8:40:39 AM UTC-8, Maplin wrote:
> Devo, yes, the band Devo, were not, as many people believe, .......
> I used to think Devo and some others were.....
> intentional, it seems. They are quite likely to....
> not to take anything too seriously, not even their message....
Beef it up. Change 'Devo' to Helmet of Zon.
Put it on. Wear it. Explore NeoTech if you want.
NeoTech's originator was assassinated too.
Influencer like Paul Twitchell. Both came out of the Maryland/DC postwar metropolis.
Here's some pop. Dig it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCURqfqL8sI
J. Cole – Fire Squad (Official Music Video)
Keep in touch,
willowfield.blogspot.com
Cancer is curable. Proven by federation researchers.
Call it Vermox. Write a poem for the one you save.
JR
> Devo, yes, the band Devo, were not, as many people believe, .......
> I used to think Devo and some others were.....
> intentional, it seems. They are quite likely to....
> not to take anything too seriously, not even their message....
> it seems relevant to my own and many other's approach
> to finding spirituality or at least
> a worthwhile stance on where the human world is going.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> to finding spirituality or at least
> a worthwhile stance on where the human world is going.
Beef it up. Change 'Devo' to Helmet of Zon.
Put it on. Wear it. Explore NeoTech if you want.
NeoTech's originator was assassinated too.
Influencer like Paul Twitchell. Both came out of the Maryland/DC postwar metropolis.
Here's some pop. Dig it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCURqfqL8sI
J. Cole – Fire Squad (Official Music Video)
Keep in touch,
willowfield.blogspot.com
Cancer is curable. Proven by federation researchers.
Call it Vermox. Write a poem for the one you save.
JR
Maplin
Mar 9, 2021, 4:10:30 AM3/9/21
to
Etznab
Mar 9, 2021, 8:33:10 AM3/9/21
to
Etznab
Mar 9, 2021, 8:47:26 AM3/9/21
to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devo
They were from Ohio and the Kent State incident seems to have influenced them. This is probably the song that most people know.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_QLzthSkfM
They didn't always wear flower pot hats though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_dome
Maplin
Mar 9, 2021, 9:51:42 AM3/9/21
to
decided to look into them because there was a documentary on TV the
other night about Devo re-mixing the original multi-track recordings of
"It's a beautiful world", one of my favourite songs of theirs. I always
quite liked the video for "Through bein' cool" too, it's menacing and
sinister but far from gratuitous, as ever it was designed to get us to
think about the world around us. Who are the people whose role they were
acting? You can find them all around.
For that matter the Beautiful World video is like that, it's mostly
archive footage. starting with kitschy, corny stuff and working towards
ever-more sinister and frightening sides of what humans do as a society,
not surprisingly involving a few mushroom clouds, and bits of
govt-released films about surviving a nuclear attack and topics of that
sort. Very ironic. In the video some sort of observer, an automaton,
robot or who-knows-what, is apparently watching us and learning what
we're about, and grows more and more horrified by what he sees as it
progresses. It's all very deliberate. In the documentary I watched they
were re-mixing and re-mastering the song from the original recordings,
and working on a whole new video for it, featuring a new observer in the
same role, and they described him as an AI of some sort - they always
referenced contemporary things and new developments that influence our
lives.
I have never even known all the words to Whip It, it COULD just be
stylistic and not one of their social commentary or satirical pieces,
they have that right after all, but I'll have another look. They
themselves have said every lyric, every musical and visual element of
their work, had its place and was there for a purpose.
They were misrepresented as you say, because they actually had some
depth and intelligence to their material and at that time,
radio-friendly unit-shifter pop-sounding music tended to, maybe HAD to,
steer away from "issues". But they used it as an effective medium to get
their message out to the people who were open to it, those who were
willing to think about what they heard and read. They were never a joke,
and never shallow.
Before the "energy domes" they were often seen wearing those plastic
hair-piece hats (I'm not sure what to call them!) which I took to be
satirical digs at unquestioning conformity. And you're right, that Kent
State shooting incident is just the sort of thing they were trying to
bring to attention. I don't know if the pop music press simply failed to
understand or pay any attention to what they were really trying to do,
which seems likely, or preferred not to mention it for fear of boring
the viewers. This was in the immediate pre-MTV era I suppose.
It's hard to say whether they believe in the Orgone energy concept or
not, and even if they did, the concept of their hats was likely
facetious, but never a "joke". I take it to mean that you're supposed to
consider WHY they use that symbol, and think about it for yourself. As I
learn slowly about small fragments of Eckist beliefs, that seems
consistent to me with those ideas.
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