“We went over to what looked like a big barn, and there was an open side to it where I saw the Moogs stacked up. It was like going to some unbelievable place that couldn’t exist.”

That was Mark Mothersbaugh’s impression after having traveled nearly 300 miles around the rim of Lake Erie to buy his first Minimoog at the Moog factory in ________, New York. Once he and Gerry Casale began playing in what would eventually be called Devo, his Model D would become central to most of the music they made.

“As soon as I had taken it home and sat in my bedroom with it, it became like my M16 rifle.”

When Devo entered the record plant in 1980 to begin working with synth veteran Bob Margouleff (who helped to co-pilot the massive TONTO synth for Stevie Wonder…), the Minimoog was still front and center.

“QUOTE NEEDED”

When Devo performed “Whip It” live on the late-night comedy show “Fridays,” Casale drove the song’s bassline from one Model D while Mothersbaugh recreated the track’s signature whipcrack with another one. That sort of widespread exposure along with the massive popularity of the song’s video pushed the track up the charts, making it Devo’s highest entry in the Billboard charts. More than four decades later, the Minimoog can still be seen on their live stage.

“To this day, I can put a blindfold on and play the rising reverse sawtooth sound from the beginning of ‘Smart Patrol,’ just because I know the synth that well.”