After the release of Shout in 1984, Devo mostly parted ways for the next four years, occasionally contributing a song or two to a film soundtrack. During this hiatus, Mark Mothersbaugh released a cassette tape called Muzik For Insomniaks in Japan. The tape was also packaged with a deck of playing cards featuring Mark Mothersbaugh. Each card had a picture of Mark holding the card's number and suit. For each suit he wore a different outfit. For the Jack, Mark would also smoke a cigarette. For the Queen, Mark wore a small, fuzzy hat. For the King, Mark wore a larger, fuzzy hat.
The music is an eclectic collection of experimental electronic music, varying in style and form. It sounds nothing like anything Mark did with Devo, and only slightly like any of his soundtrack work.All of the tracks, however, were rather soft and melodic, the sort of music that could help put you to sleep. One piece in particular, the first from side 2, entitled UGO, sounds similar to the music Mark would compose as the theme for the cartoon "Rugrats". Each side of the tape ends with an Index track, consisting of snippets of all the other songs on that side of the tape.
Musik For Insomniaks was released as two CDs in the United States. Volume 1 contained the A side of the tape, and Volume 2 contained the B side. However, the CD released contained alternate versions of many songs. A bootleg CD exists of the cassette versions. These CDs are now long out of print. Copies of Muzik For Insomniaks can be obtained through the Booji Boy's Basement bootleg archive (http://www.boojiboysbasement.tk). It's an interesting piece for Devo fans.