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Negativland
Negativland is an American experimental music band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! track, while their record label (Seeland Records) is named after another Neu! track. The core of the band consists of Mark Hosler, David Wills (aka "The Weatherman"), Peter Conheim and Jon Leidecker (aka "Wobbly"). 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 were sued by the band U2's record label, Island Records, and by SST Records, which brought them widespread publicity and notoriety. The band is also part of the Church of the SubGenius parody religion. History 1980s Negativland started in Concord, California, in 1979 around the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helter Stupid
''Helter Stupid'' is Negativland's fifth studio album, released in 1989. It is a concept album that focuses on a hoax that the band started, which claimed that the Negativland song "Christianity Is Stupid" inspired a teenager to murder his family with an axe. Structure The first half of the album is composed of the tracks "Prologue" and "Helter Stupid". The two together form an extended piece lasting over 22 minutes. The concept, and some of the sampled material, came from a San Francisco television news program that was duped by a media hoax perpetrated by Negativland while promoting its previous album, '' Escape from Noise''. Other samples used included those from Rev. Estus Pirkle (further samples from the same sermon used in "Christianity Is Stupid"), an interview with Charles Manson, and what was the band's most brazenly unauthorized sample to date: " Helter Skelter" by The Beatles. Parts of the "Perfect Cut" tracks on Side 2 draw from samples of ''"The Winning Score ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escape From Noise
''Escape from Noise'' is the fourth studio album by Negativland. It marked the band's first release on an established independent record label, SST Records. On the album, they continued to develop their experimental style, as well as incorporating elements of pop music with shorter tracks and more conventional melodies. "Christianity Is Stupid", a track featuring samples from the propaganda movie '' If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?'', proved to be an enduring signature song: the band and the release gained widespread attention a year later due to a SST press release falsely implying that murderer David Brom had listened to the song before killing his family members. Release The original album came with a yellow bumper sticker with black letters reading "Car Bomb", and a booklet outlining the history of the band, along with photos of band members and reviews of previous releases. In the booklet, Crosley Bendix ( Don Joyce) describes how Negativland's studio/apartment and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christianity Is Stupid
"Christianity Is Stupid" is a song from Negativland's 1987 concept album, '' Escape from Noise''. Background In the song, Negativland rearranges words and phrases to form a different meaning. They sampled phrases from a sermon by Estus Pirkle (from his 1968 LP, '' If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?'', itself later adapted into a film of the same name). Pirkle's narrative included an imagined visit to the US under Communism where public loudspeakers constantly proclaim "Christianity is stupid! Communism is good! Give up!" These phrases were altered and mixed with appropriately march-like heavy metal music and various other sound effects. In 2004, the song was made into a video entitled "The Mashin' of the Christ" that sampled many Jesus Christ-topic films and footage from Marxist-Leninist countries. Fake press release Negativland issued a fake press release saying that the song "Christianity Is Stupid" had played a role in the David Brom murders. The press release implie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Joyce (musician)
Donald S. Joyce (February 9, 1944 – July 22, 2015) was an American musician who was a member of the experimental music group Negativland. He also hosted a weekly radio program called '' Over the Edge'' on the Berkeley, California, radio station KPFA, for more than 30 years. Joyce was born in Keene, New Hampshire. Originally a visual artist, he earned a master's degree in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design before moving to the Bay Area, where he lived most of his life. While working at KPFA hosting a more mainstream type music show, he encountered Ian Allen and other members of Negativland. Don was a master at tape editing and he began developing his sound collage techniques using radio and television broadcasts captured on tape and blending them into layered mixes, each with a unique theme.Kory GrowDon Joyce, Negativland Sound Collagist and Radio DJ, Dead at 71 ''Rolling Stone'', 2015-07-23. Heavily influenced by Bob and Ray and the Firesign Theater, Joyce develo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
U2 (EP)
''U2'' is a withdrawn 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's next project was the infamous ''U2'' EP, which included outtakes from ''American Top 40'' host Casey Kasem. In 1991, Negativland released this EP 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 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 kazoos and extensive sampling of the original song. The song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (Special Edit Radio Mix)" features a musical backing to an extended profane rant from dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
JamCon '84
''JAMCON '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. This album was edited together from at least three different broadcasts recorded between January and July 1985. The first program, "JAMCON '84," consists of Tracks 1 - 5, and is presented as a radio documentary covering a convention of amateur radio jammers, with commentary on radio jamming and Culture jamming, and the history and cultures surrounding them. The second program, "Negativland's 4th of July Stockholders' Picnic," is composed of Tracks 6 & 7, and is presented as a stockholders' meeting for the Universal Media Netweb ( Don Joyce's fictional radio network that supposedly presents the ''Over the Edge'' program) with Joyce's character Crosley Bendix giving updates and reports regarding their recent projects in a parody of the positive-thinking movement in business. The last program - and Track 8 of the disc - is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wobbly (musician)
Wobbly is the moniker of Jon Leidecker (born 1970) a San Francisco–based musician/composer of experimental electronic music. Biography He has released works on Tigerbeat6, Illegal Art, Alku, Phthalo, and others. He has been producing music since 1987 and ongoing studio and live projects involve collaborations with People Like Us, Thomas Dimuzio, Kevin Blechdom, Tim Perkis, Matmos, The Weatherman of Negativland, and Dieter Moebius & Tim Story (composer). He is also a member of the Chopping Channel and Sagan. In 2002, Leidecker was responsible for the first montage and final cleanup of the Keep the Dog album, '' That House We Lived In'' (2003). In 2008, Leidecker worked on the podcast 'Variations' for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Barcelona. 'Variations' is an overview of the history of collage and the practice of 'sampling' through 20th century music. In 2011, Leidecker joined the multimedia collective Negativland. With Negativland's Mark Hosler and Peter Conheim alon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, (the label's logo is a parody of the company's logo) and the micro-nation of Sealand, which in early history was home to radio pirates. History Seeland largely disappeared when Negativland signed with SST Records for a time during the late 1980s and early 1990s. But after an acrimonious split with that label, Negativland revived Seeland and began releasing new recordings, not just by themselves but also by other artists (the Evolution Control Committee and John Oswald to name two) who usually shared their philosophies regarding fair use. The label was distributed by Lumberjack Mordam Distribution until 2009, when Mordam shut down. Subsequently, the band relaunched the label in 2010 with distribution from Revolver US ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SST Records
SST Records is an American independent record label formed in 1978 in Long Beach, California by musician Greg Ginn. The company was formed in 1966 by Ginn at age 12 as Solid State Tuners, a small business through which he sold electronics equipment. Ginn repurposed the company as a record label to release material by his band Black Flag. Music writer Michael Azerrad wrote, "Ginn took his label from a cash-strapped, cop-hassled store-front operation to easily the most influential and popular underground indie of the Eighties". Along with other independent American labels such as Twin/Tone, Touch and Go Records, Epitaph, Alternative Tentacles, and Dischord, SST helped to spearhead the nationwide network of underground bands that formed the pre-Nirvana indie-rock scene. These labels presided over the shift from the hardcore punk that then dominated the American underground scene to the more diverse styles of alternative rock that were emerging. SST initially focused on releasing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plunderphonics
Plunderphonics is a music genre in which tracks are constructed by sampling recognizable musical works. The term was coined by composer John Oswald in 1985 in his essay "Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Compositional Prerogative", and eventually explicitly defined in the liner notes of his ''Grayfolded'' album. Plunderphonics can be considered a form of sound collage. Oswald has described it as a referential and self-conscious practice which interrogates notions of originality and identity. Although the concept of plunderphonics is seemingly broad, in practice there are many common themes used in what is normally called plunderphonic music. This includes heavy sampling of educational films of the 1950s, news reports, radio shows, or anything with trained vocal announcers. Oswald's contributions to this genre rarely used these materials, the exception being his rap-like 1975 track "Power." The process of sampling other sources is found in various genres (notably hip-h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culture Jamming
Culture jamming (sometimes also guerrilla communication) is a form of protest used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert media culture and its mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. It attempts to "expose the methods of domination" of mass society. Culture jamming employs techniques originally associated with Letterist International, and later Situationist International known as ''détournement.'' It uses the language and rhetoric of mainstream culture to subversively critique the social institutions that produce that culture. Tactics include editing company logos to critique the respective companies, products, or concepts they represent, or wearing fashion statements that criticize the current fashion trends by deliberately clashing with them.Boden, Sharon and Williams, Simon J. (2002) "Consumption and Emotion: The Romantic Ethic Revisited", Sociology 36(3):493–512 Culture jamming often entails using mass media to pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Church Of The SubGenius
The Church of the SubGenius is a parody religion that satirizes better-known belief systems. It teaches a complex philosophy that focuses on J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, purportedly a salesman from the 1950s, who is revered as a prophet by the Church. SubGenius leaders have developed detailed narratives about Dobbs and his relationship to various gods and conspiracies. Their central deity, Jehovah 1, is accompanied by other gods drawn from ancient myth and popular fiction. SubGenius literature describes a grand conspiracy that seeks to brainwash the world and oppress Dobbs's followers. In its narratives, the Church presents a blend of cultural references in an elaborate remix of the sources. Ivan Stang, who co-founded the Church in the 1970s, serves as its leader and publicist. He has imitated actions of other religious leaders, using the tactic of culture jamming in an attempt to parody better-known faiths. Church leaders instruct their followers to avoid mainstream commercialism and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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