Total Devo

"Baby Doll" was used that same year in the comedy film Tapeheads, with newly recorded Swedish lyrics, and was credited to (and shown in a music video by) a fictitious Swedish band called Cube-Squared.

"Some Things Never Change" contains a portion of lyrics from an earlier composition entitled "Some Things Don't Change," which was a reject from their previous album, Shout, and later appeared on the compilation album Recombo DNA in 2000. The song also paraphrases a lyric from the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" and appeared in Interplay's computer adventure game, Neuromancer, itself an adaptation of the 1984 novel of the same name by William Gibson.

"The Shadow" has lyrics that contain numerous references to literary works. The chorus is partially lifted from T. S. Eliot's poem "The Hollow Men" and it incorporates and paraphrases the catchphrase from the serials following the character The Shadow ("Who knows what lurks in the hearts of men?/The shadow knows!").

The cover photograph is based on an early promotional photo by Devo from 1977. However, in taking the cover shot, David Kendrick's chin fell behind Bob Casale's uniform. Rather than retake the photo, a second photo of Kendrick's chin was very obviously pasted on. For the silhouette photo on the back cover, the band members posed naked, in a spoof of Prince's Lovesexy album art.

The caption on the front cover has changed depending on the number of tracks contained on each release. The cover of the original vinyl release included the caption "11 digital cartoons from the de-evolution band," while the original CD release, which included two additional tracks, was captioned "13 digital cartoons from the de-evolution band." A cassette release was captioned "12 digital cartoons..." and the Restless Records re-release is captioned with "16 digital cartoons...". The 2018 Futurismo release simply says "Digital cartoons...".

A music video was made for the album's second single, "Disco Dancer," using a slightly remixed version of the track by producer Ivan Ivan. According to Devo co-songwriter and bass guitarist Gerald Casale, the video failed to receive airplay after first being aired on MTV's "Smash or Trash?," in which a video was aired and viewers would call in and vote on it. The video was "trashed" and MTV refused to air it after that.[7]

After a four-year hiatus, the Total Devo tour saw the band scaling things back considerably. The sets were very basic with no complex visuals and the band wore plain red shirts and pants, with the computer generated image of a smiling and frowning face (as featured on the artwork of the album) on the back of the shirts. These outfits were augmented by Energy domes as well as the "World Service" uniforms introduced at the time of release during certain parts of the show.[8] The tour was commemorated on the 1989 album Now It Can Be Told.

On later dates in the tour, two songs from their next album Smooth Noodle Maps were added to the setlist: "Post Post-Modern Man" and "A Change Is Gonna Cum".

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Rolling Stone	[12]
Robert Christgau	C+[13]

Like its predecessor, Shout, Total Devo received largely negative reviews, with some critics (including band members) pointing out the band's own "de-evolution" in quality compared to their earlier material. Village Voice critic Robert Christgau awarded the album a C+ grade, noting its "retro-electro sheen".[14] Michael Azerrad of Rolling Stone magazine awarded the album one star out of five, dismissing it as "a desperate SOS from main writer Mark Mothersbaugh."[15]

In retrospective reviews, Steve Huey of AllMusic said Total Devo found the band to be "no longer innovative and not incredibly compelling."[16] Similarly, Mark Prindle of Prindle Record Reviews said that, while Total Devo was a stronger effort than its predecessor, the album was "just midtempo, middle-of-the-road pop music, fit only for orthodontist's offices and homecoming dances."[17]

All lead vocals performed by Mark Mothersbaugh, except where noted.

All tracks are written by Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale, except where noted.

• Track 11 not included on vinyl release of the album.
• Track 13 included on first CD version, DAT version, and subsequent CD releases.

1994 Restless Records CD reissue bonus tracks

2018 Futurismo Inc. "Deluxe Edition" CD bonus disc[18][19]

Tracks 9–14 previously unreleased.

Devo

• Mark Mothersbaugh – lead and background vocals; keyboards; Roland D-50; Roland S-50; guitar; Fairlight CMI; digital editing
• Gerald Casale – lead and background vocals; bass guitar; bass synthesizer; Roland D-50; keyboards
• Bob Casale – guitar; keyboards; Fairlight CMI; Roland D-50; Roland S-50; Roland JP-8000; Mackiee 14ch Mixer + Roland DJ-2000 ; voice samples; backing vocals
• Bob Mothersbaugh – guitar; backing vocals
• David Kendrick – drums; percussion; drum machines

Session musicians

• Steve Lindsay – bass sample on "Disco Dancer"
• Greta Greta – backing vocals on "Plain Truth"
• Nan Vernon – backing vocals on "Plain Truth"

Production team

• Devo – producers
• Jim Mothersbaugh – technical assistance
• Bob Casale – engineer; Amiga computer graphics
• Gerald Casale – graphic concepts; art direction; World Service uniforms
• Mark Mothersbaugh – graphic concepts; art direction; World Service uniforms
• Rocky Schenck – photography

• Total Devo at Discogs (list of releases)