OVO

Shadduck, B. H.: Jocko-Homo. 1925 Rogers, Jocko-Homo Pub. Co. 5th Edition, 16mo, Wraps, 29 pp. As New Condition. The book that inspired DEVO.

Henry Ford’s assembly line, Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis and Darwin’s theory of evolution are the central facts of the 19th, 20th and (so far) 21st Centuries. No aspect of modern life has remained untouched by these tremendous discoveries. Like all science, these ideas can and have been used for harm; but like all science, great benefit to great numbers tends to be the result of their application. Science is able to incorporate change while its anti-rational rivals cannot: this explains why astronomy continues to grow and astrology has remained stagnant for thousands of years. Unable to accommodate the insights of Darwin, religion (particularly Christianity) has yet to demonstrate itself relevant in the modern world. Religion issues a stream of half-reasoned arguments against evolution that sound like nothing so much as the SOS call of a sinking ship. Some few of these anti-evolution arguments are by well-informed scientists who are able to contribute to the world by demanding greater evidence for the claims of evolution (which evolution has been able to supply) – thus they add to rather than take from the scientific process. But the great majority of anti-evolutionists are simply self-deluded kooks. When they are content to privately believe that an invisible monster that lives in the sky created all things in seven days less than five thousand years ago, as detailed in their Bible, it is reasonable to allow them their folly – I certainly have my own. But when the anti-evolutionists replace genuine science with fairy tales in mandatory public schools they can only be viewed with contempt.

Jocko-Homo is one anti-evolution kook pamphlet among thousands, with one important difference – it served as a core inspiration in the mythology of one of the most influential and original bands in North America, DEVO. Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale began DEVO at the time of the murders at Kent State University in Ohio. They have said ‘it was either start a band or start shooting cops.’ Their band would be like none they (or anyone else) had ever seen, incorporating their interest in kook literature, masks and role playing, sex and aggressive rock and roll. The band would serve as a critique of what they found most distressing in the United States by embodying those flaws. If the modern world was moving backwards instead of forwards, then they would be the band of de-evolution. If the lives of the working class in their hometown of Akron were being made inhuman, they would be a working class mechanical band in their sound, look and motions. Jocko-Homo was a volume in their library of kook literature (published in Rogers, Ohio), and it is from Jocko-Homo that the term and concept of de-evolution comes. Themes, quotes and graphics from Jocko-Homo appear in works by DEVO across their entire career. Some quotes from Jocko-Homo:

“God made man, but he used a monkey [...] Be like your ancestors or be different [...] the fittest shall survive and the unfit may live [...] lay a million eggs or give birth to one [...] wear gaudy colors or avoid display [...]“

Also appearing in Jocko-Homo are discussions about losing our tails, monkey-men and of course the term Jocko Homo. If you have Jocko-Homo and The Beginning Was the End by Oscar Maerth (another book of kook evolution), you have the majority of what made DEVO (see Donna Kossy’s book Strange Creations, Feral House 2001, for a lengthy interview with Jerry Casale on the significance of Jocko-Homo). Maerth’s book is moderately easy to find, but Jocko-Homo is exceptionally rare. This copy is of note, first because of its as-new condition and second because there are small ink corrections to the prices and availability of Shadduck’s books in the back – corrections that presumably were made by Shadduck himself. This copy of Jocko-Homo was recently on display at DEVOtional 2002 in Ohio, where dozens of the most well-informed fans and scholars of DEVO confirmed its importance, condition and scarcity.

For what it’s worth, I wrote the only full-length review of the other DEVO book, My Struggle, for Beautiful World magazine back in the day. I’m proud to offer this brief account of Jocko Homo, the cornerstone of any DEVO library.