Negativland

Negativland started in Concord, 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.Following the somewhat unexpected success of this album, Negativland faced the prospect of going on a money-losing tour. To prevent this, they put together a phony press release. It claimed that mass-murderer David Brom had actually been incited by their song Christianity is Stupid. The song contained samples deriding Christianity taken from the propaganda film If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do?.The resulting fallout and media frenzy, based on the hoax by Negativland, had the effect of pointing out the venality of the mass media. Though the press release was completely unsubstantiated by any facts, the lurid combination of murder, religion, and "rock" music proved too tempting for the media to ignore. The story ran on TV news shows, newspapers, and magazines, 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 their next release Helter Stupid, featuring a cover photo of a TV news "journalist" intoning the fake ax murder story, with the news station's caption "Killer Song" above his head, and a photo of the ax-murderer.------------------------------------------------ ---------------------Negativland - Helter Stupid

Add to My Profile | More Videos+++ROLLING STONE May 19, 1988 3.5 stars"Doors slam/People yell/Children scream/Sirens whine/Trucks rumble and roar/And rock music blares," as Negativland asks the musical question "Is there any escape from noise?"Escape from Noise is a concept album about noise, but it's more than a sound effects record for the semiotics set. Many of the tracks feature obliquely satirical vignettes; on others, collages of found sounds are laid over mechanistic backing tracks. You can trace Negativland's lineage back through "Revolution No. 9," the Mothers of Invention and Stockhausen's musique concrete. The seventeen cuts average about two minutes long, and they teem with little snapshots of sound - no wonder this profoundly weird and funny anti-record took four years to make.There are tracks that refer to such political hot potatoes as nuclear power, handguns and the Soviet threat, but mostly Escape from Noise deals with consumerism and pop culture. It starts off with a Big Brotherish announcer intoning, "The cut that follows is the product of newly developed compositional techniques based on state-of-the-art marketing-analysis technology." The song turns out to be a robotic rhythm crack littered with cartoon sound effects from the depths of our Saturday-morning collective unconscious. In "Michael Jackson,' a TV-preacher type recites an exhaustive litany of million-selling rock groups whom he then damns to hell for making rock music "directed specifically against children."There is a certain sonic typecasting of the bizarre lineup of guest artists - Jerry Garcia plays chimes. and makes "mouth sounds"; Jello Biafra flushes a toilet. Other guests are Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, avant-garde guitarist Henry Kaiser and the Residents, who contribute "hoots and clanging." Other credited instruments include "bomb parts," "tiny metal banjo," "Regular Booper, "shortwave," "halfspeed violin," "leaf blower" and "processed animals."Perhaps it's best not to speculate about what would happen if you listened to this California mind zap on your Walkman.----------------------------------------Negativland - Yellow, Black and Rectangular

Add to My Profile | More Videos +++THE ONION September 1997Negativland is known for taking on formidable targets; after all, it was sued by U2 and Island Records for unauthorized sampling and use of the band's name and song on its 1991 U2 EP. With DISPEPSI, Negativland takes on a bigger and potentially more litigious subject, with a far greater creative success. As you can probably figure out, DISPEPSI is an album about Pepsi, a collection of jittery sound-collages packed end to end with samples of statements by celebrities (Michael J. Fox, Bill Cosby, Max Headroom and many more) and advertising executives, as well as chilling statements like a child recounting the plot of his favorite Pepsi commercial. But this isn't some preachy homework project, or a mere prank on a faceless corporation: DISPEPSI is alternately, and often simultaneously, hilarious and chilling, and it's about more than just the relentless placement of the Pepsi name and logo in our lives. It's about the nature of celebrity, and public trust, and corporate thinking, and what can be done about it all. And though it'll tire you out in large doses-It's a lot of Pepsi in one sitting-DISPEPSI gets better and better the more you listen to it. It's a great album; here's hoping Pepsi gets the joke and lets it live. -Stephen Thompson -------------------------------------- Negativland - Drink It Up!

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