Mark Mothersbaugh

Mark Mothersbaugh is one of those artists whose fingerprints are all over pop culture even if you do not know his name. As the frontman of Devo he helped invent a whole jittery, de-evolution aesthetic and gave us Whip It, complete with those energy-dome flowerpot hats. But what really gets me is his second act as a composer. The man scored Pee-wee's Playhouse, Rugrats, and basically the entire whimsical sound world of early Wes Anderson films. There is a playful, slightly off-kilter wit running through all of it. Mothersbaugh is proof that art-school weirdness, pursued relentlessly, can quietly shape the soundtrack of generations.

Mark Mothersbaugh is an American musician and composer born on May 18, 1950, in Akron, Ohio. He co-founded the new wave band Devo, serving as lead singer and a principal songwriter behind the hit Whip It. Beyond Devo, he became a prolific film and television composer, scoring works such as Pee-wee's Playhouse, Rugrats, and the films of Wes Anderson.

Name (English)

Mark Mothersbaugh

Name (Japanese)

マーク・マザーズボー

Reading

まーく・まざーずぼー

Born

May 18, 1950 (age 76)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Taurus / Tiger

Origin

Akron, Ohio, United States

Occupation

Singer / Composer / Songwriter / Music producer / Film score composer

University

Kent State University

Motto

Private

• Official sitehttps://mutato.com/
• Xhttps://x.com/mmothersbaugh
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%9E%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9E%E3%82%B6%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BA%E3%83%9C%E3%83%BC

Tags

• Ohio-born
• Singer
• Composer
• Songwriter

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.