Negativland
Encyclopedia
Negativland is an experimental music
and sound collage
band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area
in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu!
song, while their record label is named after another Neu! song. The current core of the band consists of Mark Hosler
, Richard Lyons
, Don Joyce, David Wills, and Peter Conheim
.
Negativland has released a number of albums ranging from pure sound collage to more musical expositions. These have mostly been released on their own label, Seeland Records
. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they produced several recordings for SST Records
, most notably Escape from Noise
, Helter Stupid
, and U2
. Negativland became involved in a lawsuit with U2
's record label, Island Records
, which brought them widespread publicity and notoriety.
, California
, in 1979 around the core founding members of Lyons and Hosler (who were in high school at the time), and released an eponymous debut in 1980.
A number of releases followed in the early 1980s, but it wasn't until after the release of their breakthrough sample and cut-up sonic barrage Escape from Noise
in 1987 that Negativland gained wider attention. Vinyl copies of the album came with "CAR BOMB" bumper stickers, in reference to the album's song "Car Bomb".
Following the somewhat unexpected success of this album, Negativland faced the prospect of going on a money-losing tour. To prevent this, they created a press release which said Negativland were prevented from touring by “Federal Authority Dick Jordan" due to claims that Negativland's song "Christianity Is Stupid
" had inspired David Brom
to kill his family. The press release went on to denounce the purported connection between Negativland and the murders.
While Brom had in fact argued with his father about music shortly before Brom killed his family, no one had ever claimed that Brom was spurred to murder by Negativland's music. The claim that Brom's crimes were inspired by Negativland was disseminated and discussed in the mass media
, seemingly with little to no fact-checking. Soon the world was informed of the "Killer Song" that caused a kid to murder his parents with an ax.
The scandal became the foundation for Negativland's next release, Helter Stupid
, which featured a cover photo of TV news anchorman Dave McElhatton
intoning the Brom murder story, with the news station's caption "Killer Song" above his head, and a photo of the ax murderer.
EP, with samples from American Top 40
host Casey Kasem
. In 1991, Negativland released a single with the title "U2" displayed in very large type on the front of the packaging, and "Negativland" in a smaller typeface. An image of the Lockheed U-2
spy plane was also on the single cover.
The songs within were parodies of the group U2's well-known 1987 song, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
", including kazoo
s and extensive sampling of the original song. The song "The Letter U And The Numeral 2" features a musical backing to an extended profane rant from well-known disc jockey
Casey Kasem
, lapsing out of his more polished and professional tone during a frustrating rehearsal which had gone out to many stations as raw feed and was taped by several engineers, who had been passing it around for a number of years. One of Kasem's milder comments was "These guys are from England
and who gives a shit?" (U2 was actually formed in Ireland.)
U2's label Island Records
quickly sued Negativland, claiming that placing the word "U2" on the cover violated trademark law, as did the song itself. Island Records also contended that the single was an attempt to deliberately confuse U2 fans, awaiting the impending release of Achtung Baby
, into purchasing what they believed was a new U2 album called Negativland.
In June 1992, R. U. Sirius
, publisher of the magazine Mondo 2000
, came up with an interesting idea. Publicists from U2 had contacted him regarding the possibility of interviewing Dave "The Edge" Evans
, hoping to promote U2's impending multi-million dollar Zoo TV Tour
, which featured found sounds and live sampling from mass media outlets (things for which Negativland had been known for some time). Sirius, unbeknownst to Edge, decided to have his friends Joyce and Hosler of Negativland conduct the interview. Joyce and Hosler, fresh from Island's lawsuit, peppered the Edge with questions regarding his ideas about the use of sampling in their new tour, and the legality of using copyrighted material without permission. Midway through the interview, Joyce and Hosler revealed their identities as members of Negativland. An embarrassed Edge reported that U2 were bothered by the sledgehammer legal approach Island Records took in their lawsuit, and furthermore that much of the legal wrangling took place without U2's knowledge: "by the time we [U2] realized what was going on it was kinda too late, and we actually did approach the record company on your [Negativland's] behalf and said, 'Look, c'mon, this is just, this is very heavy...'" Island Records reported to Negativland that U2 never authorized samples of their material; Evans' response was, "that's complete bollocks, there's like, there's at least six records out there that are direct samples from our stuff."
In August 2007, Don Joyce of Negativland provided an audio cassette copy of the original Mondo 2000
interview with Dave "The Edge" Evans
to the U2 fan website U2Interview.com. The interview is freely available from this website.
The "U2" single (along with other related material) was re-released in 2001 on a "bootleg" album entitled These Guys Are from England and Who Gives a Shit
, released on "Seelard Records" (a parody of Negativland's record label Seeland Records). Negativland may have themselves been responsible for the re-release with U2 giving their blessing; although the Negativland website refers to this release as a bootleg, it is available from major retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and Tower Records, as well as Negativland's own mail-order business.
Negativland are interested in intellectual property
rights, and argue that their use of U2's and others' material falls under the fair use
clause. In 1995, they released a book, with accompanying CD, called Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2
, about the whole U2 incident (from Island Records first suing Negativland for the release to Negativland gaining back control of their work four years later). The book ends with a large appendix of essays about fair use and copyright by Negativland and others, telling the story with newspaper clippings, court papers, faxes, press releases and other documents arranged in chronological order. An unfortunate side effect of the Negativland-Island lawsuit was another one brought on between Negativland and SST, which served to sever all remaining ties the two had. To get back at Negativland (while wryly circumventing their name), SST founder Greg Ginn
later released the Negativ(e)land: Live on Tour
album on SST.
Negativland were the main subjects of Craig Baldwin
's documentary Sonic Outlaws, detailing the use of culture jamming
to subvert the messages of more traditional media outlets. They also made an appearance in Brett Gaylor's 2009 copyright issue documentary, RiP: A Remix Manifesto.
anarchist band Chumbawamba
to produce the EP The ABCs of Anarchism
, which is largely based around the writings of Alexander Berkman
and cut-up
versions of Chumbawamba's hit song "Tubthumping", the theme tune to the children's program Teletubbies
and the Sex Pistols
' "Anarchy in the UK".
, a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to legally build upon and share by providing alternative copyright licenses. In August of that year, Negativland spoofed Clear Channel
radio stations in an audio track broadcast by pirate radio broadcasters jamming a Seattle Clear Channel station while the National Association of Broadcasters met in the city.
Member Don Joyce has long hosted a weekly radio show called Over the Edge
most Thursdays at midnight on KPFA
. Recordings of some noteworthy episodes of the show have been released by Seeland in its Over the Edge series.
In September 2005, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the band, Negativland curated an art exhibit in Manhattan's Gigantic Artspace gallery. The exhibit, Negativlandland, included a number of pieces of artwork from and inspired by Negativland recordings, video projection of music videos created by the band and others, and some artwork created specifically for the show, such as an animatronic Abraham Lincoln figure (inspired by the band's Lincoln cut-up piece God Bull) and a hands-on exhibit featuring the Booper, the audio-processing unit that band member David Wills (a.k.a. The Weatherman) assembled out of old radio parts. The show appeared in Minneapolis on May 12, 2006, at Creative Electric Studios.
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
and sound collage
Sound collage
In music, montage or sound collage is a technique where sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage, the use of portions of previous recordings or scores...
band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu!
Neu!
Neu! was a German band formed by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother after their split from Kraftwerk in the early 1970s...
song, while their record label is named after another Neu! song. The current core of the band consists of Mark Hosler
Mark Hosler
Mark Hosler is an American musician who is a founding member of the sound art collective Negativland.- Career :Through his public speaking, lectures and extensive interviews, he serves as the primary spokesperson for the group...
, Richard Lyons
Richard Lyons (musician)
Richard "Pastor Dick Seeland" Lyons is one of the members in Negativland. His personas in the band include Dick Vaughn, 5-time Cali Award winner; auto trivia expert...
, Don Joyce, David Wills, and Peter Conheim
Peter Conheim
Peter Conheim is a multimedia artist who performs and records under the name The Jet Black Hair People . He is also the co-founder of Wet Gate , which uses only "found footage" and 16mm film projectors to create a live cinema collage performance, sampling the sound from the film tracks in real...
.
Negativland has released a number of albums ranging from pure sound collage to more musical expositions. These have mostly been released on their own label, Seeland Records
Seeland Records
Seeland Records is an independent record label created by Negativland in 1979 to release their own recordings. It is a reference to the song "Seeland" by the band Neu!, who also gave Negativland the basis for their name, Sea-Land Corporation, a freight company, and the micro-nation of Sealand,...
. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they produced several recordings for SST Records
SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was initially called Solid State Transmitters through which Ginn sold electronics equipment...
, most notably Escape from Noise
Escape from Noise
Escape from Noise is a 1987 album by Negativland. It marked the band's first break on an established independent record label, SST Records. On this album, they continued to develop their experimental style. The group also incorporated elements of pop music with shorter tracks and more conventional...
, Helter Stupid
Helter Stupid
Helter Stupid is Negativland's second album on SST Records, released in 1989. It was Negativland's first attempt at a concept album.-Structure:...
, and U2
U2 (EP)
U2 is an EP by the experimental music and sound collage band Negativland, released in 1991. The EP and the band gained notoriety when lawyers representing Island Records, the record label of the band U2, sued over misleading artwork and the use of unauthorized sampling.-History:After Helter Stupid,...
. Negativland became involved in a lawsuit with U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
's record label, Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
, which brought them widespread publicity and notoriety.
1980s
Negativland started in ConcordConcord, California
Concord is the largest city in Contra Costa County, California, USA. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 122,067. Originally founded in 1869 as the community of Todos Santos by Salvio Pacheco, the name was changed to Concord within months...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, in 1979 around the core founding members of Lyons and Hosler (who were in high school at the time), and released an eponymous debut in 1980.
A number of releases followed in the early 1980s, but it wasn't until after the release of their breakthrough sample and cut-up sonic barrage Escape from Noise
Escape from Noise
Escape from Noise is a 1987 album by Negativland. It marked the band's first break on an established independent record label, SST Records. On this album, they continued to develop their experimental style. The group also incorporated elements of pop music with shorter tracks and more conventional...
in 1987 that Negativland gained wider attention. Vinyl copies of the album came with "CAR BOMB" bumper stickers, in reference to the album's song "Car Bomb".
Following the somewhat unexpected success of this album, Negativland faced the prospect of going on a money-losing tour. To prevent this, they created a press release which said Negativland were prevented from touring by “Federal Authority Dick Jordan" due to claims that Negativland's song "Christianity Is Stupid
Christianity Is Stupid
"Christianity Is Stupid" is the most well-known song from Negativland's 1987 breakthrough album, Escape from Noise. In the song, Negativland rearranges words and phrases to form a different meaning. They sampled phrases from a 1971 sermon by Rev. Estus Pirkle . Pirkle's narrative included an...
" had inspired David Brom
David Brom
David Brom is an American murderer. He killed his parents, brother and sister with an axe in February 1988 near Rochester, Minnesota.-Crimes:...
to kill his family. The press release went on to denounce the purported connection between Negativland and the murders.
While Brom had in fact argued with his father about music shortly before Brom killed his family, no one had ever claimed that Brom was spurred to murder by Negativland's music. The claim that Brom's crimes were inspired by Negativland was disseminated and discussed in the mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
, seemingly with little to no fact-checking. Soon the world was informed of the "Killer Song" that caused a kid to murder his parents with an ax.
The scandal became the foundation for Negativland's next release, Helter Stupid
Helter Stupid
Helter Stupid is Negativland's second album on SST Records, released in 1989. It was Negativland's first attempt at a concept album.-Structure:...
, which featured a cover photo of TV news anchorman Dave McElhatton
Dave McElhatton
Dave McElhatton was a former evening news anchor for several decades in San Francisco, California, in the United States. He was in the first class of inductees to the Bay AreaHall of Fame...
intoning the Brom murder story, with the news station's caption "Killer Song" above his head, and a photo of the ax murderer.
The U2 record incident
Negativland's next project was the U2U2 (EP)
U2 is an EP by the experimental music and sound collage band Negativland, released in 1991. The EP and the band gained notoriety when lawyers representing Island Records, the record label of the band U2, sued over misleading artwork and the use of unauthorized sampling.-History:After Helter Stupid,...
EP, with samples from American Top 40
American Top 40
American Top 40 is an internationally syndicated, independent radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds and Ron Jacobs. Originally a production of Watermark Inc...
host Casey Kasem
Casey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem is an American radio personality and voice actor who is best known for being the host of the nationally syndicated Top 40 countdown show American Top 40, and for voicing Shaggy in the popular Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.Kasem, along with Don Bustany and...
. In 1991, Negativland released a single with the title "U2" displayed in very large type on the front of the packaging, and "Negativland" in a smaller typeface. An image of the Lockheed U-2
Lockheed U-2
The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is a single-engine, very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency . It provides day and night, very high-altitude , all-weather intelligence gathering...
spy plane was also on the single cover.
The songs within were parodies of the group U2's well-known 1987 song, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" is a song by rock band U2. It is the second track from their 1987 album The Joshua Tree and was released as the album's second single in May 1987...
", including kazoo
Kazoo
The kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton, which is a membranophone, a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane."Kazoo" was the name given by...
s and extensive sampling of the original song. The song "The Letter U And The Numeral 2" features a musical backing to an extended profane rant from well-known disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
Casey Kasem
Casey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem is an American radio personality and voice actor who is best known for being the host of the nationally syndicated Top 40 countdown show American Top 40, and for voicing Shaggy in the popular Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.Kasem, along with Don Bustany and...
, lapsing out of his more polished and professional tone during a frustrating rehearsal which had gone out to many stations as raw feed and was taped by several engineers, who had been passing it around for a number of years. One of Kasem's milder comments was "These guys are from England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and who gives a shit?" (U2 was actually formed in Ireland.)
U2's label Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
quickly sued Negativland, claiming that placing the word "U2" on the cover violated trademark law, as did the song itself. Island Records also contended that the single was an attempt to deliberately confuse U2 fans, awaiting the impending release of Achtung Baby
Achtung Baby
Achtung Baby is the seventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 19 November 1991 on Island Records. Stung by the criticism of their 1988 release Rattle and Hum, U2 shifted their musical direction to incorporate alternative...
, into purchasing what they believed was a new U2 album called Negativland.
In June 1992, R. U. Sirius
R. U. Sirius
R. U. Sirius is an American writer, editor, talk show host, musician and cyberculture celebrity. He is best known as co-founder and original Editor-In-Chief of Mondo 2000 magazine from 1989–1993. Sirius was also chairman and candidate in the 2000 U.S. presidential election for The Revolution Party...
, publisher of the magazine Mondo 2000
Mondo 2000
Mondo 2000 was a glossy cyberculture magazine published in California during the 1980s and 1990s. It covered cyberpunk topics such as virtual reality and smart drugs. It was a more anarchic and subversive prototype for the later-founded Wired magazine....
, came up with an interesting idea. Publicists from U2 had contacted him regarding the possibility of interviewing Dave "The Edge" Evans
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
, hoping to promote U2's impending multi-million dollar Zoo TV Tour
Zoo TV Tour
The Zoo TV Tour was a worldwide concert tour by rock band U2. Staged in support of their 1991 album Achtung Baby, the tour visited arenas and stadiums from 1992 through 1993...
, which featured found sounds and live sampling from mass media outlets (things for which Negativland had been known for some time). Sirius, unbeknownst to Edge, decided to have his friends Joyce and Hosler of Negativland conduct the interview. Joyce and Hosler, fresh from Island's lawsuit, peppered the Edge with questions regarding his ideas about the use of sampling in their new tour, and the legality of using copyrighted material without permission. Midway through the interview, Joyce and Hosler revealed their identities as members of Negativland. An embarrassed Edge reported that U2 were bothered by the sledgehammer legal approach Island Records took in their lawsuit, and furthermore that much of the legal wrangling took place without U2's knowledge: "by the time we [U2] realized what was going on it was kinda too late, and we actually did approach the record company on your [Negativland's] behalf and said, 'Look, c'mon, this is just, this is very heavy...'" Island Records reported to Negativland that U2 never authorized samples of their material; Evans' response was, "that's complete bollocks, there's like, there's at least six records out there that are direct samples from our stuff."
In August 2007, Don Joyce of Negativland provided an audio cassette copy of the original Mondo 2000
Mondo 2000
Mondo 2000 was a glossy cyberculture magazine published in California during the 1980s and 1990s. It covered cyberpunk topics such as virtual reality and smart drugs. It was a more anarchic and subversive prototype for the later-founded Wired magazine....
interview with Dave "The Edge" Evans
The Edge
David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...
to the U2 fan website U2Interview.com. The interview is freely available from this website.
The "U2" single (along with other related material) was re-released in 2001 on a "bootleg" album entitled These Guys Are from England and Who Gives a Shit
These Guys Are from England and Who Gives a Shit
These Guys Are from England and Who Gives a Shit is the 2001 re-release of the U2 EP by Negativland. It contains both tracks from the original EP, plus some tracks from the 1989 Over the Edge broadcasts on which the original EP was based, as well as live tracks recorded at the Great American Music...
, released on "Seelard Records" (a parody of Negativland's record label Seeland Records). Negativland may have themselves been responsible for the re-release with U2 giving their blessing; although the Negativland website refers to this release as a bootleg, it is available from major retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and Tower Records, as well as Negativland's own mail-order business.
Negativland are interested in intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
rights, and argue that their use of U2's and others' material falls under the fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
clause. In 1995, they released a book, with accompanying CD, called Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2
Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2
Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2 is a 270 page book and ten track CD released in 1995 by Negativland detailing their lawsuits with U2's record label Island Records for their EP U2, including many legal documents and correspondences....
, about the whole U2 incident (from Island Records first suing Negativland for the release to Negativland gaining back control of their work four years later). The book ends with a large appendix of essays about fair use and copyright by Negativland and others, telling the story with newspaper clippings, court papers, faxes, press releases and other documents arranged in chronological order. An unfortunate side effect of the Negativland-Island lawsuit was another one brought on between Negativland and SST, which served to sever all remaining ties the two had. To get back at Negativland (while wryly circumventing their name), SST founder Greg Ginn
Greg Ginn
Gregory Regis Ginn is a guitarist, songwriter, and singer. He is best known for being the leader of and primary songwriter for the hardcore punk band Black Flag, which he founded and led from 1976 to 1986....
later released the Negativ(e)land: Live on Tour
Negativ(e)land: Live on Tour
Negativland: Live on Tour is a 1997 live album, released by SST Records. They released it in retribution of Negativland dropping from the label in 1992 and restarting Seeland Records...
album on SST.
Negativland were the main subjects of Craig Baldwin
Craig Baldwin
Craig Baldwin is an American experimental filmmaker. He uses “found” footage from the fringes of popular consciousness as well as images from the mass media to undermine and transform the traditional documentary, infusing it with the energy of high-speed montage and a provocative commentary that...
's documentary Sonic Outlaws, detailing the use of culture jamming
Culture jamming
Culture jamming, coined in 1984, denotes a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Guerrilla semiotics and night discourse are sometimes used synonymously with the term culture jamming.Culture...
to subvert the messages of more traditional media outlets. They also made an appearance in Brett Gaylor's 2009 copyright issue documentary, RiP: A Remix Manifesto.
ABCs and Teletubbies
In 1999 Negativland collaborated with UKUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
anarchist band Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...
to produce the EP The ABCs of Anarchism
The ABCs of Anarchism
-Track listing:- External links :*It is available for download for free from Chumbawamba's website .* - The ABCs of Anarchism . Includes a list of sources used on the recording....
, which is largely based around the writings of Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman
Alexander Berkman was an anarchist known for his political activism and writing. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century....
and cut-up
Cut-up technique
The cut-up technique is an aleatory literary technique in which a text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. Most commonly, cut-ups are used to offer a non-linear alternative to traditional reading and writing....
versions of Chumbawamba's hit song "Tubthumping", the theme tune to the children's program Teletubbies
Teletubbies
Teletubbies is a BBC children's television series targeted at pre-school viewers and produced from 1997 to 2001 by Ragdoll Productions. It was created by Ragdoll's creative director Anne Wood CBE and Andrew Davenport, who wrote each of the show's 365 episodes. The programme's original narrator was...
and the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
' "Anarchy in the UK".
Recent developments
In 2003, members of Negativland contributed their efforts to Creative CommonsCreative Commons
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization headquartered in Mountain View, California, United States devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has released several copyright-licenses known as Creative Commons...
, a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to legally build upon and share by providing alternative copyright licenses. In August of that year, Negativland spoofed Clear Channel
Clear channel
A clear-channel station is an AM band Radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. Usually known as class A stations since 1982, they are occasionally still referred to by their former...
radio stations in an audio track broadcast by pirate radio broadcasters jamming a Seattle Clear Channel station while the National Association of Broadcasters met in the city.
Member Don Joyce has long hosted a weekly radio show called Over the Edge
Over the Edge (radio)
Over the Edge is a sound collage radio program hosted and produced in the United States by Don Joyce.Joyce is also a member of the pioneering sound collage band Negativland, members of which frequently make guest appearances on Over the Edge. A series of Over the Edge episodes have been released...
most Thursdays at midnight on KPFA
KPFA
KPFA is a listener-funded progressive talk radio and music radio station located in Berkeley, California, broadcasting to the San Francisco Bay Area. KPFA airs public news, public affairs, talk, and music programming. The station signed on-the-air April 15 1949, as the first Pacifica Station...
. Recordings of some noteworthy episodes of the show have been released by Seeland in its Over the Edge series.
In September 2005, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the band, Negativland curated an art exhibit in Manhattan's Gigantic Artspace gallery. The exhibit, Negativlandland, included a number of pieces of artwork from and inspired by Negativland recordings, video projection of music videos created by the band and others, and some artwork created specifically for the show, such as an animatronic Abraham Lincoln figure (inspired by the band's Lincoln cut-up piece God Bull) and a hands-on exhibit featuring the Booper, the audio-processing unit that band member David Wills (a.k.a. The Weatherman) assembled out of old radio parts. The show appeared in Minneapolis on May 12, 2006, at Creative Electric Studios.
Albums
- NegativlandNegativland (album)Negativland is Negativland's first album, released by Seeland Records in June 1980. Each copy of the album has a different cover. This required a small run of only 15,000 copies. It is on iTunes and Napster with a cover depicting marshmallow soufflé in a bowl. Unlike all other Negativland...
(1980) - PointsPoints (album)Points is the second album by the sound collage and experimental music group Negativland.-Track listings:# "Harry to the Ferry" - 3:54# "The Answer Is" - 4:26# "Scolding Box" - 5:21# "That Darn Keet" - 1:50# "Dear Mary" - 1:46...
(1981) - A Big 10-8 Place (1983)
- Escape from NoiseEscape from NoiseEscape from Noise is a 1987 album by Negativland. It marked the band's first break on an established independent record label, SST Records. On this album, they continued to develop their experimental style. The group also incorporated elements of pop music with shorter tracks and more conventional...
(1987) - Helter StupidHelter StupidHelter Stupid is Negativland's second album on SST Records, released in 1989. It was Negativland's first attempt at a concept album.-Structure:...
(1989) - FreeFree (Negativland album)Free is a 1993 Negativland album. It was originally made for SST Records, but as they dropped them for the U2 single, Negativland signed on with Mordam Records/EMI and released this album...
(1993) - Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2 is a 270 page book and ten track CD released in 1995 by Negativland detailing their lawsuits with U2's record label Island Records for their EP U2, including many legal documents and correspondences....
(1995) - DispepsiDispepsiDispepsi is an album by the band Negativland. It was released on July 29, 1997 by Seeland Records, Negativland's record label. It is structured to be a statement against the major soft drink companies and contains many samples of advertisements therefrom....
(1997) - These Guys Are from England and Who Gives a ShitThese Guys Are from England and Who Gives a ShitThese Guys Are from England and Who Gives a Shit is the 2001 re-release of the U2 EP by Negativland. It contains both tracks from the original EP, plus some tracks from the 1989 Over the Edge broadcasts on which the original EP was based, as well as live tracks recorded at the Great American Music...
(2001) - Deathsentences of the Polished and Structurally WeakDeathsentences of the Polished and Structurally WeakDeathsentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak is an album and booklet by Negativland. The band describes the project as "a 6 by 12 inch 64-page full-color book which comes with a 45-minute CD soundtrack."-CD and Tracklisting:...
(2002) - No BusinessNo BusinessNo Business is a 2005 album by the sound collage band Negativland. While the songs encompass a variety of topics, the overarching theme of the album is copyright issues, especially those pertaining to peer-to-peer file sharing...
(2005) - ThigmotacticThigmotactic (album)Thigmotactic is a 2008 album by sound collage group Negativland. Unlike previous efforts by the band, it is primarily the expression of one member, Mark Hosler, though other members contributed, as did Thomas Dimuzio. Hosler created the bulk of its audio content as well as the visual collages and...
(2008)
Videos
- No Other Possibility (1989; re-released in 2008 with A Big 10-8 Place)
- Our Favorite ThingsOur Favorite ThingsOur Favorite Things is a compilation DVD by the band Negativland, released on November 27, 2007. The original release date on October 23 was skipped due to a pressing error in the DVDs and the bonus CD, a collection of Negativland covers done by an a cappella doo-wop group. It contains 20 of the...
(2007)
Over the Edge radio series
(CDs edited from Negativland's weekly live radio show)- Over the Edge Vol. 1: JAMCON'84Over the Edge Vol. 1: JAMCON'84JAMCON '84 was the first volume in the Over the Edge series, which distills portions of Negativland's radio program Over the Edge, broadcast on KPFA...
(1985) - Over the Edge Vol. 1½: The Starting Line with Dick GoodbodyOver the Edge Vol. 1½: The Starting Line with Dick GoodbodyThe Starting Line is composed of two program presentations, both of which are highly edited versions of shows that were originally broadcast on KPFA's Over the Edge radio show, hosted by Don Joyce weekly and featuring members of Negativland...
(1985, partial reissue in 1995) - Over the Edge Vol. 2: Pastor Dick: Muriel's Purse FundOver the Edge Vol. 2: Pastor Dick: Muriel's Purse FundPastor Dick: Muriel's Purse Fund was the second volume in the Over the Edge series, which distills the best moments from Negativland's radio program Over the Edge, broadcast on KPFA...
(1989) - Over the Edge Vol. 3: The Weatherman's Dumb Stupid Come-Out LineOver the Edge Vol. 3: The Weatherman's Dumb Stupid Come-Out LineThe Weatherman's Dumb Stupid Come-Out Line was the third volume in the Over the Edge series, which distills the best material from Negativland's radio program Over the Edge, broadcast on KPFA...
(1990) - Over the Edge Vol. 4: Dick Vaughn's Moribund Music of the '70sOver the Edge Vol. 4: Dick Vaughn's Moribund Music of the '70sDick Vaughn's Moribund Music Of The '70s is a collection of recordings edited from a wealth of material broadcast on KPFA's Over the Edge radio show, hosted by Don Joyce weekly and featuring members of Negativland, as well as material recorded at a Live Negativland show just after the "U2 Scandal."...
(1990, expanded reissue in 2001) - Over the Edge Vol. 5: Crosley Bendix: The Radio ReviewsOver the Edge Vol. 5: Crosley Bendix: The Radio ReviewsCrosley Bendix Radio Reviews is a collection of recordings edited from a wealth of material broadcast on KPFA's Over the Edge radio show, hosted by Don Joyce weekly...
(1993) - Over the Edge Vol. 6: The Willsaphone Stupid ShowOver the Edge Vol. 6: The Willsaphone Stupid ShowThe Wilsaphone Stupid Show is a two CD collection of recordings edited from two different broadcasts on KPFA's Over the Edge radio show, hosted by Don Joyce....
(1994) - Over the Edge Vol. 7: Time Zones Exchange ProjectOver the Edge Vol. 7: Time Zones Exchange ProjectThe Time Zones Exchange Project distills selections from Negativland's radio program Over the Edge, broadcast on KPFA. This CD was edited together from several different broadcasts recorded between 1989 and 1992....
(1994) - Over the Edge Vol. 8: Sex DirtOver the Edge Vol. 8: Sex DirtSex Dirt distills a single episode of Negativland's radio program Over the Edge, broadcast on KPFA.Unlike previous volumes of the Over The Edge series, this disc represents a live, improvisational performance by the group as a whole. Most Over The Edge Broadcasts do not include all of Negativland,...
(1995) - It's All in Your Head FM: Over the Edge Live on StageIt's All in Your Head FM: Over the Edge Live on StageIt's All in Your Head FM: Over the Edge Live on Stage is a 2006 album by the sound collage band Negativland. It was compiled from a series of live recordings made by the band in California in October 2005....
(2006)
EPs
- U2U2 (EP)U2 is an EP by the experimental music and sound collage band Negativland, released in 1991. The EP and the band gained notoriety when lawyers representing Island Records, the record label of the band U2, sued over misleading artwork and the use of unauthorized sampling.-History:After Helter Stupid,...
(1991) - GunsGuns (EP)Guns is the name of the 1992 EP by the experimental music and sound collage band Negativland. It was released as a replacement for their deleted/withdrawn EP "U2". The cover art reuses that which appears on "U2". The album is about the appeal of guns and their place in American history...
(1992) - The Letter U and the Numeral 2The Letter U and the Numeral 2The Letter U and the Numeral 2 is a 96-page magazine and 25-minute CD by Negativland detailing their conflict with the band U2, over Negativland's EP of the same name. It was released in 1992 as a limited edition of 4000 copies...
(1992) - Truth in AdvertisingTruth in AdvertisingTruth in Advertising is a 1997 EP by Negativland. It was released as a teaser for their up-coming album "Dispepsi".-Track listings:# "Truth In Advertising" - 3:17# "Greatest Taste Around" - 2:16# "Taste In Mind" - 1:40-Personnel:...
(1997) (See also: DispepsiDispepsiDispepsi is an album by the band Negativland. It was released on July 29, 1997 by Seeland Records, Negativland's record label. It is structured to be a statement against the major soft drink companies and contains many samples of advertisements therefrom....
) - Happy HeroesHappy HeroesHappy Heroes is a E.P. by sound collage and experimental musical group Negativland.-Track listings:# "Mertz #1" - 1:43# "Jolly Green Giant" - 7:23# "Mertz #2" - 1:14# "Chicken Diction" - 3:49# "The Black Hole Tube" - 3:48# "O.J...
(1998) - The ABCs of AnarchismThe ABCs of Anarchism-Track listing:- External links :*It is available for download for free from Chumbawamba's website .* - The ABCs of Anarchism . Includes a list of sources used on the recording....
(1999) (Together with ChumbawambaChumbawambaChumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...
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External links
- NegativWorldWideWebland (official website)
- Negativland - Past, Present, Future mp3 of Mark Hosler's talk at H2K2 in 2002
- KJR Culture Jam Audio produced by Negativland for the 2003 Clear Channel protest in Seattle
- Mark Hosler discusses with a manager for REM how he sent the controversial album to U2 implying that U2 may have lied about knowing nothing about the album or lawsuit
Interviews
- Art and Commodity Capitalism Interview with Mark Hosler, Plazm Magazine (1996)
- Radio Feature, The Some Assembly Required Interview with Negativland's Mark Hosler (2004)
- Radio Feature, The Some Assembly Required Interview with Negativland's Don Joyce (2001)
- Interview with Don Joyce at Kurt Weller's Plaza of the Mind