Negativland is an American

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

band which originated in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

in the late 1970s. They took their name from a

Neu! Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plank, w ...

track, while their record label (

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 ...

) 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,

. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they produced several recordings for

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 equipm ...

, most notably ''

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 ...

'', ''

Helter Stupid ''Helter Stupid'' is Negativland's fifth studio album, 1989 in music, 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 m ...

'' and '' U2''. Negativland were sued by the band U2's record label,

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

, and by

, which brought them widespread publicity and notoriety. The band is also part of the

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. SubG ...

parody religion.

History

1980s

Negativland started in

Concord Concord may refer to: Meaning "agreement" * Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony) * Harmony, in music * Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, in 1979 around the core founding members of Hosler and Richard Lyons (who were in high school at the time), and released an eponymous debut in 1980. Negativland coined the term

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 atte ...

in 1984. Don Joyce added it to the album ''

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 be ...

'' in the form of "culture jammer". 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 ''

'' 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 in 1988. To prevent this, they created a

press release A press release is an official statement delivered to members of the news media for the purpose of providing information, creating an official statement, or making an announcement directed for public release. Press releases are also considere ...

which said Negativland were prevented from touring by "Federal Authority Dick Jordan" because of claims that Negativland's song "

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 (fro ...

" had inspired 16-year-old mass murderer

David Brom David Francis Brom (born October 3, 1971) is an American mass murderer. He killed his parents, brother and sister with an axe in February 1988 in Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ol ...

to kill his family. The press release went on to vigorously deny 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 refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets. Broadcast media transmit information ...

, seemingly with little to no fact-checking. The incident became the foundation for Negativland's next release, ''

'', which featured a cover photo of TV news anchorman

Dave McElhatton David William McElhatton (December 8, 1928 – August 23, 2010) was an 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 Area Hall of Fame. He retired ...

intoning the Brom murder story, with the news station's caption "Killer Song" above his head, and a photo of the ax murderer.

''U2'' record incident

Negativland's next project was the '' U2'' EP, with samples from ''

American Top 40 ''American Top 40'' (previously abbreviated to ''AT40'') is an internationally syndicated, independent song countdown radio program created by Casey Kasem, Don Bustany, Tom Rounds, and Ron Jacobs. The program is currently hosted by Ryan Seacr ...

'' host

Casey Kasem Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem (April 27, 1932 – June 15, 2014) was an American disc jockey, actor, and radio personality, who created and hosted several radio countdown programs, notably '' American Top 40''. He was the first actor to voice Nor ...

. 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 The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "''Dragon Lady''", is an American single-jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day ...

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" is a song by Irish 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. The song was a hit, becoming the band's se ...

", including

kazoo The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifi ...

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 A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

, 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 is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and who gives a shit?" (U2 was actually formed in Ireland. Moments earlier he had read from his script, "the Irish band from Dublin".) U2's label

quickly sued Negativland, stating 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'' () is the seventh studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 18 November 1991 on Island Records. After criticism of their 1988 release ''Rattle and Hum'', U2 shifte ...

'', into purchasing what they believed was a new U2 album called ''Negativland''. In June 1992, R. U. Sirius, publisher of the magazine ''

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 ''Wi ...

'', came up with an idea. Publicists from U2 had contacted him regarding the possibility of interviewing Dave "The Edge" Evans, hoping to promote U2's impending multimillion-dollar

Zoo TV Tour The Zoo TV Tour (also written as ZooTV, ZOO TV or ZOOTV) 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 to 1993. It was intended to mirror ...

, 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 2realized what was going on it was kinda too late, and we actually did approach the record company on your egativland'sbehalf 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, Joyce provided an audio cassette copy of the ''Mondo 2000'' interview with Evans to the U2 fan website U2Interview.com. 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'' 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 ...

'', released on "Seelard Records" (a parody of Negativland's record label Seeland Records). Negativland may have themselves been responsible for the re-release; 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 (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

rights, and argue that their use of U2's and others' material falls under the

fair use Fair use is a doctrine in United States law that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests ...

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. The Negativland-Island lawsuit was followed by 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 Gregory Regis Ginn (born June 8, 1954) is an American guitarist, bassist, singer and songwriter, best known for being the leader, primary songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hardcore punk band Black Flag, which he founded and led ...

later released the '' Negativ(e)land: Live on Tour'' album on SST. Negativland were the main subjects of

Craig Baldwin Craig Baldwin (born 1952) 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 ...

's documentary ''

Sonic Outlaws Sonic or Sonics may refer to: Companies * Sonic Drive-In, an American drive-in fast-food restaurant chain *Sonic (ISP), an Internet provider and CLEC, serving more than 100 California communities *Sonic Foundry, a computer software company whi ...

'', detailing the use of

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 UK

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

band

Chumbawamba Chumbawamba () were a British rock band formed in 1982 and disbanded in 2012. They are best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping", which was nominated for Best British Single at the 1998 Brit Awards. Other singles include "Amnesia", " Enou ...

to produce the EP ''

The ABCs of Anarchism ''The ABCs of Anarchism'' is an EP by American electronic group Negativland and British rock band Chumbawamba. A three-track collection, it incorporates samples of songs from Chumbawamba's ''Tubthumper'' (1997) as well as music by the then-curre ...

'', which is largely based around the writings of

Alexander Berkman Alexander Berkman (November 21, 1870June 28, 1936) was a Russian-American anarchist and author. He was a leading member of the anarchist movement in the early 20th century, famous for both his political activism and his writing. B ...

and

cut-up The cut-up technique (or ''découpé'' in French) is an aleatory literary technique in which a written text is cut up and rearranged to create a new text. The concept can be traced to the Dadaists of the 1920s, but it was developed and popularized ...

versions of Chumbawamba's hit song "Tubthumping", the theme tune to the children's program

Teletubbies ''Teletubbies'' is a British children's television series created by Anne Wood and Andrew Davenport for the BBC. The programme focuses on four differently coloured characters known as the Teletubbies, named after the television screens on th ...

and the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

' "

Anarchy in the UK "Anarchy in the U.K." is a song by English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's debut single on 26 November 1976 and was later featured on their album ''Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols''. "Anarchy in th ...

2000s

In 2003, members of Negativland contributed their efforts to

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

, 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 September 2002, 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. Former member Don Joyce long hosted a weekly radio show called Over the Edge most Thursdays at midnight on

KPFA KPFA (94.1 FM) is an American listener-funded 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 sign ...

. 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, formerly located at 59 Franklin Street. 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 Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

on May 12, 2006, at Creative Electric Studios.

2010s

Former band member Ian Allen died on January 17, 2015, due to complications from heart valve surgery. He was 56 years old. On July 22, 2015 Don Joyce, group member and host of Over The Edge, died of heart failure at the age of 71. On April 19, 2016, Richard Lyons died from complications of nodular melanoma following his 57th birthday party in a nursing facility. The band's album, ''Over the Edge Vol. 9: The Chopping Channel'', was released on October 21, 2016. Select copies of the album include a bag containing two grams of Don Joyce's cremated remains. In 2019, '' True False'' was released.

2020s

The album ''

The World Will Decide ''The World Will Decide'' is the 14th studio album by Negativland, released on November13, 2020. Recording and release The release is part of a pair with 2019's '' True False'' and was promoted by the band with a Chrome browser extension. A delux ...

'' was released on November 13, 2020 and features contributions from Allen, Joyce, and Lyons.

Discography

Albums

*''

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 ...

'' (1980) *''

Points Point or points may refer to: Places * Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States * Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland * Point ...

'' (1981) *'' A Big 10-8 Place'' (1983) *''

'' (1987) *''

'' (1989) *''

Free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procur ...

'' (1993) *'' Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2'' (1995) *''

Dispepsi ''Dispepsi'' is the eighth album by the American experimental plunderphonics band Negativland. It was released on July 29, 1997, by Seeland Records, Negativland's record label. It is structured as a statement against the major soft drink companies ...

'' (1997) * *'' Deathsentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak'' (2002) *''

No Business ''No Business'' is the tenth album by the sound collage musical band, 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) *''

Thigmotactic A taxis (; ) is the movement of an organism in response to a stimulus such as light or the presence of food. Taxes are innate behavioural responses. A taxis differs from a tropism (turning response, often growth towards or away from a stimulu ...

'' (2008) *'' It's All in Your Head'' (2014) *'' True False'' (2019) *''

'' (2020)

Videos

*'' No Other Possibility'' (1989; re-released in 2008 with A Big 10-8 Place) *'' Our Favorite Things'' (2007)

''Over the Edge'' radio series

EPs

*'' U2'' (1991) *''

Guns A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, pr ...

'' (1992) *''

The Letter U and the Numeral 2 ''The 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. Two months ...

'' (1992) *'' Truth in Advertising'' (1997) (See also:

) *''

Happy Heroes ''Happy Heroes'' is an EP by sound collage and Experimental music, experimental musical group Negativland, released in 1998. Critical reception ''The Memphis Flyer'' wrote that the EP "delivers more bang for the buck – particularly if you hav ...

'' (1998) *''

'' (1999) (Together with

)

Live albums

*'' Negativconcertland'' (1993) *'' Negativ(e)land: Live on Tour'' (1997) *''

It's All in Your Head FM ''It's All In Your Head FM v1.0'' 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 (San Francisco and Los Angeles) in October 2005. The material performed by t ...

'' (2006)

References

External links

*
Negativland stuff
mp3 of Mark Hosler's talk at H2K2 in 2002

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)

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

at ''Perfect Sound Forever'' (June 2000) {{Authority control American experimental musical groups Culture jamming Culture of Concord, California Fair use Copyright activists Musical groups established in 1979 1979 establishments in California Musical groups from California American industrial music groups SST Records artists American SubGenii