The Devo Airport Survival Collection

Globe has teamed up with the band that brought you the first ever music video featuring skateboarding. Of course I’m talking about Devo’s Freedom of Choice. Prove me wrong if you can. Skater Dater doesn’t count, it’s a short film meant to showcase skating, not to provide visual accompaniment for an existing song. You might recall that Globe had the limited edition Clash shoe collaboration that I had a hard time wrapping my head around. It certainly makes more sense in the case of Devo, a band that always had a marketing and merchandising strategy. You used to be able to order the yellow hazmat suits and red energy domes from the inserts in the albums. What the heck does this have to do with skateboards? Globe’s collaboration goes beyond shoes to include, among everything else, a complete skateboard with a Devo branded wheel. Devo had an allegedly unlicensed skateboard before courtesy of the now defunct (?) Punk Rock Skateboards. Although that was Gerald talking, and perhaps it was a case of the right hand of Devo not communicating to the other right hand of Devo.

Here’s the board. Notice the wheel too. It’s a bit disappointing that they are recycling the same Devo graphic used on the T-Shirt and even the previous Devo skateboard.

Here’s the original board from Punk Rock Skateboards. It seems to have disappeared of the web. It’s still for sale on the Speed Dealers site, but it’s hidden and you have to know where to look. If anyone has a picture of the actual board, please send it in.

This is from the forthcoming Airport Survival Collection. I could have (and would have) rocked these back in the day, but if at all possible, they are even too “80’s” for me at this point.

Other items in the Devo Airport Survival Collection include denim, a “Fight or Flight” suit, leather bags and accessories.

The eagerly awaited “checkpoint friendly” collection for clever travelers looking to clear airport security comfortably, stylishly, and with a chuckle or two aimed at TSA fools who have turned air travel into a hideous experience.

Someone must have had a really bad experience at an airport. An odd selection for sure. Leather bags? I’m curious to see how these items can poke fun at TSA without arousing their ire and causing more problems. Click to enlarge this advert from the September 2008 issue of Transworld Business.

2025 UPDATE: 17 years to the day (!!) I came across a photo of some Devo wheels from Globe that Joseph Phillip Lister Sr was kind enough to let me repost. Also, this is the same day Devo announced their own official decks.

Finally, here’s another excuse to post Devo’s Freedom of Choice skateboard-centric music video. Look for some of your favorite old-timey skaters. UPDATE: Unathorized video removed, and insanely, Devo still has embedding disabled on the official video.