Mark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American singer, songwriter, composer, record producer and visual artist. Mothersbaugh's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder and lead singer of the new wave band Devo, which released a top 20 hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It". The band has maintained a cult following throughout its existence. Mothersbaugh is one of the main composers of Devo's music, and made major lyrical contributions to the band's songs. He is one of only two members (along with bassist/synthesizer player Gerald Casale) who have been with Devo throughout its entire history.
Mothersbaugh began his solo career in 1987 while still a member of Devo. Since then, he has released three studio albums. His other musical projects include work for television series, films and video games via his production company, Mutato Muzika.
His lifelong interest in creating multimedia art pieces has resulted in gallery exhibitions of items such as his "Beautiful Mutants" photograph series, postcard diaries, art rugs, sculptures and musical instruments created from salvaged organ pipes and bird calls.
Mothersbaugh attended Kent State as an art student, where he met Devo co-founders Jerry Casale and Bob Lewis. In early 1970, Lewis and Casale formed the idea of the "devolution" of the human race after Casale's friend Jeffrey Miller was killed by Ohio National Guardsmen firing on a student demonstration.
Intrigued by the concept, Mothersbaugh joined them, building upon it with elements of early post-structuralist ideas and oddball arcana, most notably unearthing the infamous Jocko-Homo Heavenbound pamphlet (the basis for the song "Jocko Homo"). This association culminated in 1973, when the trio started to play music as Devo.
Since Devo, Mothersbaugh has developed a successful career writing musical scores for film and television. In film, he has worked frequently with filmmaker Wes Anderson, scoring half of his feature films (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou). He also composed for The Lego Movie.
Mothersbaugh's music has been a staple of the children's television shows Rugrats, Beakman's World, Santo Bugito and Clifford the Big Red Dog. He also wrote the new theme song for the original Felix the Cat show when it was sold to Broadway Video, some music for Pee-wee's Playhouse in 1990 and the theme song for the Super Mario World TV series for DIC Entertainment in 1991. The character design for Chuckie Finster on Rugrats was based on him.
Mothersbaugh is known for producing music in video games including Sony's Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter series (both music scores were created by Josh Mancell), and creating music for EA Games' The Sims 2. This work is often performed with Mutato Muzika, the music production company he formed with several other former members of Devo including his brother, Bob Mothersbaugh.
Mothersbaugh composed "Having Trouble Sneezing", the distinctive music in the award-winning "Get a Mac" commercials for Apple Inc. He composed the score for the first season of the television series Big Love but was replaced after one season by David Byrne of Talking Heads. Mothersbaugh also composed the theme music for the American television show Eureka, broadcast on the SyFy channel. He currently composes the score of the Cartoon Network's TV series Regular Show.
In 2013, Mothersbaugh appeared on an episode of The Aquabats! Super Show!, an action-comedy series by the creators of Yo Gabba Gabba! starring the Devo-influenced band The Aquabats, playing the eccentric scientist father of one of the main characters, Jimmy the Robot.
Mothersbaugh and Casale have also produced music for other artists including Toni Basil.
Equipment overview[]
While he is known for his work on Devo and many other things, this list focuses more on the equipment he uses on shows like Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Rugrats, Adventures in Wonderland and The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald.
Alesis HR-16[]
Club-50: Master Peformance Series Vol. 1[]
- Male Loozs & Bahz: Brians Bahz
- Male Loozs & Bahz: Loozs 1
- Whose & Dunes: Male Dunes
E-MU Proteus/1 (Pop-Rock)[]
- Bank 0: 012 Vibe 'n Me
- Bank 0: 045 Wide Marimba
- Bank 0: 048 Grand Piano
E-MU Proteus/2 (Orchestral)[]
- Bank 0: 009 Marcato 1
- Bank 0: 015 Pizz Violas
- Bank 0: 017 Pizzicato 1
- Bank 0: 024 Flute
- Bank 0: 025 Piccolo
- Bank 0: 026 Oboe
- Bank 0: 027 English Horn
- Bank 0: 028 Clarinet
- Bank 0: 029 BassClarinet
- Bank 0: 030 Bassoon
- Bank 0: 031 Contrbassoon
- Bank 0: 036 FrenchHorn 1
- Bank 0: 040 Trumpet 2
- Bank 0: 042 Harmon Mute
- Bank 0: 043 Trombone 1
- Bank 0: 045 Tuba
- Bank 0: 050 Timpani
- Bank 0: 051 Gong-Cymbal
- Bank 0: 054 Xylophone
- Bank 0: 055 Glockenspiel
- Bank 0: 058 Percussion 1
E-MU Proteus/3 (World)[]
- Bank 0 017 Bagpipes
- Bank 0 024 Ambi Jews Harp
- Bank 1 112 Rubber Band
Fairlight CMI Series IIX[]
- CMI IIX Disks -> GUITAR #13: GUITAR 3
- CMI IIX Disks -> WIND #21: SWANNEE
Kurzweil Piano ROM[]
- Programs -> PIANOS: 774 Brt Concert Pno
Roland D-50[]
- Internal: 11 Fantasia
- Internal: 44 Pizzagogo
Roland Expansion Board - SR-JV80-02 / Orchestral[]
- XP-X: 091 Oboe 1
- XP-X: 208 Xylophone 1
- XP-X: 220 MalletStack1
Roland JV-1080[]
- Patch -> PR-A (Preset Bank): 081 Childlike
- Patch -> PR-B (Preset B Bank): 119 Harmonica
- Patch -> PR-C (Preset C Bank): 050 Harp
- Patch -> PR-C (Preset C Bank): 072 JP-8 Haunting
- Patch -> PR-D (GM Bank): 08 Clav
- Patch -> PR-D (GM Bank): 09 Celesta
- Patch -> PR-D (GM Bank): 22 Accordion Fr.
- Patch -> PR-D (GM Bank): 45 Tremolo Str
Roland MKS-20 (Digital Piano)[]
- 1 PIANO 1
- 6 VIBRAPHONE
Roland Sample Archives - L-CD702 Orchestral Family Vol. 2[]
- BRS: Solo T. Bone -> BRS: Solo Tb mute: BRS: Tbn Wah 1a
Roland Sound Library - L-CD1: S-50 Factory Library[]
- Mute Trumpet: Plunger Wah
Roland Sound Library - SN-R8-01 / Contemporary Percussion[]
- 11 Open Cuica
- 12 Mute Cuica
Roland Sound Library - SN-U110-02 / Latin & F.X. Percussions[]
- 016 Whistle
- 025 Cuica
Roland Sound Library - SN-U110-03 / Ethnic[]
- 034 Sicu 1
Roland Sound Library - SN-U110-10 / Rock Drums[]
- 002 Elec Drums
Roland SOUND Canvas SC-50[]
- GM Bank: 003_Piano 3
- GM Bank: 011_Music Box
- GM Bank: 012_Vibraphone
- GM Bank: 007_Harpsichord
Roland U-220[]
- Factory Patches - 01: Piano
- Factory Patches - 05: Vibraphone
- Factory Patches - 08 Fanta Bell
- Factory Patches - 23: Syn. Choir
- Factory Patches - 30: SingingPiano
- Factory Patches - 41: Fantasia
- Factory Timbres - T-002: A. Piano 4
Roland W-30[]
- Factory A -> Performance Patch: P-13 Steamer
This list is incomplete, you can help by expanding it. Every sample found from these sources are both correct or random. Most of these sources to every keyboard sampler rack and synthesizer used by Mark has not been found yet.
External Link[]
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1T6eGJRO4DU0G1O9raGdWYneNCy-miPoQJvTAdqOX0I4/edit?usp=sharing