OMMA Catalogue Number

OMMA-0142

Artist

Devo

Title

“Mongoloid” / “Jocko Homo”

Release Details

Self-issued in the United States by Devo on Booji Boy Records in 1977 as a 7-inch, 45 rpm single (7033-14). Side A contains “Mongoloid”; Side B contains “Jocko Homo.” The band assembled the foldout sleeves by hand.

Edition & Variant Identification

Original US first pressing of Devo’s debut single. This state is identified by black printing inside the band-assembled foldout sleeve and the original black circular adhesive closures. Band members reported initial production run to ber a  total of 1,000 copies.

Matrix & Pressing Data

Side A runout: 7033-14A 323 QCA dpa

Side B runout: 703314B 323 OM1-56256 Q: ARE WE NOT MEN? A: WE ARE DEVO CRC/MB

Physical Description

Seven-inch 45 rpm black-vinyl record housed in Devo’s original multi-panel foldout picture sleeve, printed in black on the interior and secured with black circular adhesive closures applied during the band’s assembly of the first pressing.

The sleeve combines performance photography, lyrics, credits, Booji Boy imagery, and Devo’s early graphic language. No separate insert is documented.

Factory-Origin Characteristics

The black interior printing and black circular closures are defining production characteristics of the first sleeve state. The closures were applied while Devo assembled the original packaging in Akron. The sleeve’s handmade construction may produce minor variation in fold alignment and closure placement among individual copies. No other factory-origin anomalies or distinguishing manufacturing characteristics have been documented.

Condition Report

The vinyl is provisionally graded Near Mint from the supplied photographs. It retains strong surface gloss, clean labels, and no readily visible scratches. The grade remains subject to inspection under bright raking light and playback of both sides. The foldout sleeve is graded strong Very Good Plus. Its printed surfaces remain vivid and clean, with no visible writing, seam separation, ringwear, or major abrasion. A small corner crush and crease at the upper-left corner, together with minor peripheral wear, prevents a higher grade.

Provenance

Acquired through eBay from seller j.brewer on 21 August 2026.

Market Context & Historical Notes

Devo emerged from the intellectual and political shock of Kent State. Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh were art students there when the Ohio National Guard killed four students in May 1970. In the years that followed, they developed “de-evolution” as a satirical explanation for the distance between technological progress and human behavior: modern society possessed increasingly sophisticated machines while remaining violent, conformist, and irrational. Devo became the delivery system for that argument, using songs, films, costumes, invented characters, advertising language, and deliberately awkward performance.

Both sides of the debut single belong to that system. “Mongoloid” employs a medical term now recognized as offensive, using the story of a man who passes successfully within conventional society to attack assumptions about normality, intelligence, and social conformity. “Jocko Homo” takes its title from a 1924 anti-evolution tract and turns the question “Are we not men?” into Devo’s defining call and response. The song had already appeared in Chuck Statler’s short film In the Beginning Was the End: The Truth About De-Evolution, in which music, staged instruction, masks, projected imagery, and absurdist violence presented the band as an art project extending far beyond the ordinary boundaries of rock performance.

Within two years of this release, Devo had recorded with Brian Eno, signed with Warner Bros., and appeared on Saturday Night Live; by 1980, “Whip It” had carried the group into mainstream American culture. Their influence extended through new wave, synth-pop, music video, performance art, and the visual presentation of alternative music. “Mongoloid” / “Jocko Homo” contains the complete idea at its point of origin: independently financed music, band-made packaging, film connections, social satire, and the mythology of de-evolution.

Canonical Status in OMMA

OMMA recognizes the black-inner first pressing of “Mongoloid” / “Jocko Homo” as the canonical Devo origin object: the band’s first commercially released record, its first self-financed physical edition, and the earliest complete artifact of its de-evolution project.

References and Source Documentation

45cat, “Devo – Mongoloid / Jocko Homo — Booji Boy 7033-14”.

Cincinnati CityBeat, “Seeing Clearly”.

Devo-Obsesso, “7-Inch Vinyl — Main List”.

Punky Gibbon, “Devo — Jocko Homo / Mongoloid”.

Discogs, “Devo – Mongoloid / Jocko Homo”.