Mark Mothersbaugh

Mark Mothersbaugh

Mothersbaugh performing in 2001
Background information
Birth name Mark Allen Mothersbaugh
Born May 18, 1950
Origin Akron, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation(s) Musician, singer, composer, painter
Instruments Vocals, synthesizer, guitar, keyboards, minimoog, mellotron, omnichord
Years active 1972–present
Associated acts Devo
Notable instruments
Fender Telecaster
EML 500

Mark Allen Mothersbaugh (/ˈmʌðərzbɔː/; born May 18, 1950) is an American musician, composer, singer and painter. He is a co-founder of the new wave band Devo and has been its lead singer since 1972. His other musical projects include work for television series, films and video games.

Career

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; Mothersbaugh, intrigued by the concept, joined them, building upon it with elements of early poststructuralist ideas and oddball arcana, most notably unearthing the infamous Jocko-Homo Heavenbound pamphlet (the basis for the song "Jocko Homo"). This 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,[1]) and The Lego Movie[2].

His 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.

Visual Art

On February 6, 2014 The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (MCA Denver) announced a retrospective exhibition that will bring together the first comprehensive presentation of Mothersbaugh's art and music to date, from the beginning of his career in the early 1970s through the present. This nationally touring exhibition will be accompanied by a major publication, Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia, published by Princeton Architectural Press.

In November 2014 Mothersbaugh said to an interviewer, "I've done over 150 art gallery shows in the last 20 years."[3]

The character design for Chuckie Finster on Rugrats was based on him.

Mothersbaugh and Casale have also produced much of Toni Basil's music.

Mothersbaugh is also known for his music in video games including Sony's Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter series, and 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 heard in the award-winning "Get a Mac" commercials for Apple Inc.[4]

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 also currently composes the score of the Cartoon Network's TV series Regular Show.

In regard to on-camera work, Mothersbaugh hosts a drawing segment on the Nick Jr television series Yo Gabba Gabba! called Mark's Magic Pictures, teaching children how to draw simple pictures that often come alive at the end of the segment. In 2013, he 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.[5]

Personal life

At the age of seven, he was taken to the optometrist, where he obtained his first pair of glasses and saw the world properly for the first time. He designs his own distinctive eyewear and they are made for him by a Los Angeles shop called LA Eyeworks.[6]

Mark Mothersbaugh was honored with the prestigious Richard Kirk award at the 2004 BMI Film and TV Awards. The award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to film and television music.[7]

On May 10, 2008, Mothersbaugh was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Kent State University.[8]

He is a collector and connoisseur of song poems.[9]

Soundtracks

Film

1980s

Year Title Director(s) Studio(s) Notes
1987 Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise Joe Roth 20th Century Fox N/A
1988 Slaughterhouse Rock Dimitri Logothetis Arista Films N/A

1990s

Year Title Director(s) Studio(s) Notes
1994 It's Pat Adam Bernstein Touchstone Pictures N/A
The New Age Michael Tolkin Warner Bros. Pictures N/A
1996 Happy Gilmore Dennis Dugan Universal Pictures N/A
Bottle Rocket Wes Anderson Columbia Pictures N/A
The Last Supper Stacy Title Columbia Pictures N/A
1997 Best Men Tamra Davis Orion Pictures N/A
Breaking Up Robert Greenwald Warner Bros. Pictures N/A
1998 Dead Man on Campus Alan Cohn Paramount Pictures N/A
Rushmore Wes Anderson Touchstone Pictures N/A
The Rugrats Movie Norton Virgien
Igor Kovalyov		 Paramount Pictures
Klasky Csupo		 N/A
1999 200 Cigarettes Risa Bramon Garcia Paramount Pictures with Bob Mothersbaugh
It's the Rage James D. Stern Silver Nitrate Pictures N/A
Drop Dead Gorgeous Michael Patrick Jann New Line Cinema N/A

2000s

Year Title Director(s) Studio(s) Notes
2000 The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Des McAnuff Universal Pictures N/A
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie Stig Bergqvist
Paul Demeyer		 Paramount Pictures
Klasky Csupo		 N/A
2001 Glass, Necktie Paul Bojack E.I. Independent Cinema N/A
Camouflage James Keach Sunland Studios Direct-to-video film
Sugar & Spice Francine McDougall New Line Cinema N/A
The Royal Tenenbaums Wes Anderson Touchstone Pictures N/A
2002 Sorority Boys Wallace Wolodarsky Touchstone Pictures N/A
Welcome to Collinwood Anthony and Joe Russo Warner Bros. Pictures N/A
2003 A Guy Thing Chris Koch Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer N/A
Thirteen Catherine Hardwicke Fox Searchlight Pictures N/A
Rugrats Go Wild Norton Virgien
John Eng		 Paramount Pictures
Klasky Csupo		 N/A
Good Boy! John Robert Hoffman Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer N/A
2004 Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen Sara Sugarman Walt Disney Pictures N/A
Envy Barry Levinson DreamWorks Pictures N/A
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Wes Anderson Touchstone Pictures N/A
2005 Lords of Dogtown Catherine Hardwicke Columbia Pictures
TriStar Pictures		 N/A
Herbie: Fully Loaded Angela Robinson Walt Disney Pictures N/A
The Big White Mark Mylod Ascendant Pictures N/A
First Descent Kemp Curly
Kevin Harrison		 Universal Pictures N/A
The Ringer Barry W. Blaustein Fox Searchlight Pictures N/A
2006 How to Eat Fried Worms Bob Dolman New Line Cinema with Bob Mothersbaugh
The Dog Problem Scott Caan Thousand Words N/A
2007 Mama's Boy Tim Hamilton Warner Bros. Pictures N/A
2008 Quid Pro Quo Carlos Brooks Magnolia Pictures N/A
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist Peter Sollett Columbia Pictures N/A
2009 Fanboys Kyle Newman The Weinstein Company N/A
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Phil Lord
Chris Miller		 Columbia Pictures
Sony Pictures Animation		 N/A
Falling Up David M. Rosenthal Anchor Bay Entertainment N/A
Circle of Eight Stephen Cragg Paramount Home Entertainment Direct-to-video film

2010s

Year Title Director(s) Studio(s) Notes
2010 Ramona and Beezus Elizabeth Allen 20th Century Fox N/A
2011 Saving Private Perez Beto Gomez Lionsgate
Pantelion Films		 N/A
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked Mike Mitchell 20th Century Fox N/A
2012 21 Jump Street Phil Lord
Chris Miller		 Columbia Pictures
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer		 N/A
Safe Boaz Yakin Lionsgate N/A
What to Expect When You're Expecting Kirk Jones Lionsgate N/A
Hotel Transylvania Genndy Tartakovsky Columbia Pictures
Sony Pictures Animation		 N/A
2013 Forever Tatia Pilieva Foreverland Productions N/A
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 Cody Cameron
Kris Pearn		 Columbia Pictures
Sony Pictures Animation		 N/A
Last Vegas Jon Turteltaub CBS Films N/A
2014 The Lego Movie Phil Lord
Chris Miller		 Warner Bros. Pictures
Village Roadshow Pictures
Lego System AS		 N/A
22 Jump Street Phil Lord
Chris Miller		 Columbia Pictures
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer		 N/A
Island of Lemurs: Madagascar David Douglas Warner Bros. Pictures
IMAX Corporation		 IMAX film
Aloha Cameron Crowe Columbia Pictures
20th Century Fox		 N/A
2015 Pitch Perfect 2 Elizabeth Banks Universal Pictures N/A
Vacation[11] Jonathan Goldstein
John Francis Daley		 Warner Bros. Pictures
Village Roadshow Pictures
New Line Cinema		 N/A
Hotel Transylvania 2 Genndy Tartakovsky Columbia Pictures
Sony Pictures Animation		 N/A

Bibliography

Solo discography

References

  1. ↑ "IMDb". Retrieved 2007-07-17.
  2. ↑ "IMDb". Retrieved 2014-08-17.
  3. ↑ Hesse, Josiah (November 8, 2014). "Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh Still Loves Fucking with People". LA Weekly. Retrieved 2014-11-08.
  4. ↑ Roberts, Randall (December 7, 2007). "Are You Not Devo? You Are Mutato". LA Weekly. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  5. ↑ Sagers, Aaron (June 14, 2013). "Mark Mothersbaugh joins 'The Aquabats! Super Show!'". MTV Geek.
  6. ↑ Peskowitz, Josh (June 11, 2010). "Eye Glasses of the Day: Mark Mothersbaugh's". Esquire. Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  7. ↑ "BMI Hands Out Over 100 Awards at Annual Film/TV Gala". bmi.com. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
  8. ↑ "Muzika Mutato". Mothersbaugh's professional website
  9. ↑ NERDIST Podcast Episode 130: Penn & Teller; Penn discusses his involvement along with Mark & Tom Ardolino of NRBQ with collecting song poems (starting at 05:53 in the podcast).
  10. ↑ http://www.klaskycsupo.com/press/animationmagazine.html
  11. ↑ "‘Vacation’ Reboot to Feature Music by Mark Mothersbaugh". Film Music Reporter (Film Music Reporter). 29 April 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.

External links

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