From a psychedelic art project at first, to their eventual place as pioneers of electronic pop in the late 70s and 80s. Dismissed by the Rock establishment as that weird new wave band, copied by lame wanna-bes but never equaled. They kind of got lost in the later 80s but those first few years / first 4 albums are really great, IMO.
Pretty sure Pink Floyd were doing multimedia shows in 1978, but yes Devo were absolutely ahead of their time