Mark Mothersbaugh

Mark Mothersbaugh

Mark Allen Mothersbaugh (born May 18, 1950) is an American musician, composer, singer and painter.

Career

Mothersbaugh attended Kent State as an art student, where he met Devo co-founders Jerry Casale and Bob Lewis. In 1970, Mothersbaugh, Lewis and Casale formed the idea of the "devolution" of the human race and started to play music as Devo.

Since Devo, Mothersbaugh developed a successful career writing musical scores for film and television. In film, Mothersbaugh has worked frequently with filmmaker Wes Anderson, and scored most of his feature films (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou).

His music has been a staple of the children's television shows Rugrats and Clifford the Big Red Dog. He also wrote the theme song for the new Felix the Cat show for Hanna Barbera, some music for Pee-Wee's Playhouse, and in 1990 and the theme song for The New Super Mario World for DiC Entertainment in 1991.

Mothersbaugh is also known for his music in video games including Sony's Crash Bandicoot series, the Jak and Daxter series, and EA Games's 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 the distinctive music heard in the award-winning "Get A Mac" commercials (seen on TV and online) for Apple Inc. 2006/2007.

Mark Mothersbaugh composed the score for the first season of the television series Big Love, which stars Bill Paxton. Mark Mothersbaugh was fired & replaced after one season by David Byrne of Talking Heads.

He currently hosts a drawing segment on the children's television series, Yo Gabba Gabba!.

Life

Without glasses, Mothersbaugh is legally blind. At the age of seven, he was taken to the optometrist where he obtained his first pair of glasses and saw, for the first time, "smoke from chimneys and birds". After truly "experiencing" the world for the first time, Mothersbaugh started to draw, and his second grade teacher praised his work. That same night he had dreamed of being a famous artist. In addition to music, Mothersbaugh still paints - in a style influenced by surrealism and Andy Warhol.

On May 10, 2008, Mothersbaugh was awarded an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters from Kent State University.

Soundtracks

• The Dog Problem (2006)
• Feed Me (2006)
• Eureka (2006) (TV) (Theme)
• How to Eat Fried Worms (2006)
• Big Love (2006)(TV)
• The Ringer (2005)
• Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)
• Lords of Dogtown (2005)
• The Big White (2005)
• The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
• Music for Edward Gorey (?)
• Jak 3 (2004) (VG)
• Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy (2004) (V)
• The Sims 2 (2004) (VG)
• Envy (2004)
• Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (2004)
• The Complete Truth About De-Evolution (2004) (V)
• Jak II (2003) (VG)
• Good Boy! (2003)
• All Grown Up (2003) (TV)
• The Even Stevens Movie (2003) (TV)
• Thirteen (2003)
• A Guy Thing (2003)
• Second String (2002) (TV)
• Cheats (2002)
• MDs (2002) (TV)
• Hidden Hills (2002) (TV)
• Welcome to Collinwood (2002)
• Sorority Boys (2002)
• Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy (2001) (VG)
• Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (2001) (TV)
• The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
• Rugrats: Still Babies After All These Years (2001) (TV) (for Mutato Muzika)

• Rugrats: All Growed Up! (2001) (TV)
• Sugar & Spice (2001)
• Camouflage (2001/I)
• Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex (2001) (VG)
• Glass, Necktie (2001)
• Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (2000)
• Tucker (2000) (TV)
• Grosse Pointe (2000) (TV)
• The Other Me (2000) (TV)
• Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000) (TV)
• All the Rage (1999)
• Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)
• Can of Worms (1999) (TV)
• 200 Cigarettes (1999)
• Interstate '82 (1999) (VG)
• Crash Team Racing (1999) (VG)
• Rocket Power (1999) (TV) (theme music)
• The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald: The Visitors from Outer Space (1999) (V)
• The Rugrats Movie (1998)
• Halloweentown (1998) (TV)
• Rushmore (1998)
• Dead Man on Campus (1998)
• Principal Takes a Holiday (1998) (TV)
• Last Rites (1998) (TV)
• The Mr. Potato Head Show (1998) (TV)
• Stories from My Childhood (1998) (TV)
• Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped (1998) (VG)
• Men (1997)
• Best Men (1997)
• Breaking Up (1997)
• Unwed Father (1997) (TV)
• Working (1997) (TV) (theme)
• Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back (1997) (VG)
• Quicksilver Highway (1997) (TV)

• Fired Up (1997) (TV)
• Bongwater (1997)
• The Big Squeeze (1996)
• Class Reunion (1996) (TV)
• Bottle Rocket (1996)
• Happy Gilmore (1996)
• Crash Bandicoot (1996) (VG)
• Too Something (1995) (TV)
• If Not for You (1995) (TV)
• Strange Luck (1995) (TV)
• The Last Supper (1995)
• Sliders (1995) (TV)
• The Courtyard (1995) (TV)
• Dumb and Dumber (1995) (TV)
• Flesh Suitcase (1995)
• The New Age (1994)
• It's Pat (1994)
• Hotel Malibu (1994) TV Series
• Edith Ann: A Few Pieces of the Puzzle (1994) (TV)
• Beakman's World (1993) (TV) (theme)
• Bakersfield, P.D. (1993) (TV)
• South Beach (1993) (TV)
• Down on the Waterfront (1993)
• Sewer Shark (1992) (VG)
• Frosty Returns (1992) (TV)
• Mann & Machine (1992) (TV)
• Rugrats (1991) (TV)
• Liquid Television (1991) (TV)
• Davis Rules (1991) (TV)
• Slaughterhouse Rock (1988)
• Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987)
• Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986) TV Series
• Human Highway (1982)

References

• Video Interview with Mark
• Fecal Face Interview Jan 2008. Very in depth interview
• Video Podcast Interview by Weird America Podcast
• Interview, April 25, 2001 at liveDaily.com Retrieved September 5 2007
• Professional Website
• "Devo Live Guide" - Comprehensive guide to Devo's live performances
• Extensive interview from 1998
• Mark Mothersbaugh at IMDb
• Visual art website and gallery
• Home Front Invasion-Wartime Interview with Mark Mothersbaugh by Orhan Ayyüce for Archinect, Dec.2007