I made some anarchist music out of my house impromtu and members are Negativland are putting it on their next record...because it was crazy and whimsical...they are funny people.
Oh God still crying about the Free album - considering probably every person there is got free music somewhere I find it hilarious 😂 There's some good songs on it but .. have a great day 😊
U2 and their label Island Records didn't want you to hear it. They Sued the shit out of SST and hurt them forever with their lawsuit. So much for fair comment, freedom of speech etc.
Casey Kasem and his lawyers were the ones who didn't want this to come out. He sued everyone responsible first. Island and SST records then kicked the bucket directly onto negativland who fought them tooth and nail but didn't have the resources to defend themselves. The record was pulled off the shelves in less than 14 days from release and the masters were surrendered to Island records who subsequently destroyed them. After the masters were obtained, U2, but principally The Edge, said they supported negativland although they asked that the cover art had to be changed because people would think it was a U2 record. Casey Kasem continued to prevent this record from being released up until his death. He was a huge freedom of speech hypocrite. A music biz dinosaur who destroyed the artistic integrity of a modern American pioneer band. I hope he's rotting somewhere.
yeah, not, ur fulla shit.. they dropped the suit after a bit and GG of sst dick fame sued his label artists for expenses(damages) incurred.. it was not a fortune, research and shut up, miss information.. next, you're gonna tell me that black flag should be locked up so tight only Greg's lame ass could shit it out for a 30yr celebration, or maybe an induction into the rock n droll hall of fame.. read Keith Morris' bio and see what he has to say about GG.. and Keith is a chill and thoughtful professional, has been for decades and is not one to talk shit for the fun of it.. just sayin.. do not respond, it won't matter anyhow and i don't want to h8 u2.. @@maximilian333
The genius of this song is that a kazoo and the voice-over of radio host having a mental breakdown can reveal the hollowness and shallowness of corporate-produced mainstream popular music.
I saw Negativeland in concert ages ago and they got around the ban on them performing this by just doing the straight up instrumental and using an overheard projector to put the words up for the audience to read out loud. Pretty brilliant.
This record is why I got on the Internet. I was already on BBSs and etc. and was starting to do freelance software design jobs and taking care of a baby at home, so...by the time I read about the record in one of the alternapapers, you already couldn't get it. And...you know, you have kids, you lose most of your geek buddies for a while at least. So I didn't have anybody offhand I could call about a tape or whatever. And then I found out you could download WAV files of the record off the Internet, so...that's when I got on the Internet. And that's pretty much the first thing I did. I still have the two floppies I put it on around someplace.
"Diddly shit" "Snuggles" "This is bullshit" "Goddammit" "Aw, fuck!" "Hail Satan" "Who gives a shit?!" "OK" "I want a goddamned concerted effort to come out of a record that isn't a fucking uptempo record every time I do a goddamned DEATH dedication!!" "This is fucking ponderous!" "Snuggles" . . . OMG this always puts me in a great mood! "Snuggles"
If I had a nickel for every RU-vid comment I'd seen about negativland sending something to someone for free while they were in prison, I would have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's still weird that it happened twice
That's right. Most musicologists consider this the most important piece of recorded music since sound recording was invented. NASA is also working on a plan to "chase down" Voyager and replace the current golden record aboard it with an endless tape loop of this.
I worked as a buyer for an indie distributor in 1991 when SST recalled this due to legal action by Island Records. Chuck Dukowski called me and said we had to recall them all and return what we had. I thought about buying a box of CDs as an employee purchase but I didn't. I regretted that move when the CD got up to several hundred dollars in the late 90s.
I actually had a copy of the 12 inch single of this in my hands in a record store but didn't want to spend $9 on it - which was a lot for a 45 rpm 12 inch at the time. If I'd known...
I grew up in the 90s and loved the weird a lot... the late 80s and early 90s we're CHOCK FULL of WEIRD... this reminds me of some early pre-fame Butthole Surfers, Beck, or Ween...
and just think, back then it was all assembled by hand via physical editing of magnetic tape, not digital. Helter Stupid is another good one to check out - Negativland planted a story about a murderer being influenced by their music, and the San Francisco Bay Area news ran with it. The actual newscasts became fodder for the track. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plunderphonics
I met Bono in a pub bathroom in a bar in 1982, at the john next to me he zipped down his fly and started muttering sadly "and I still haven't found what i'm looking for". He looked like he had the sads so I told him it sounded like a good tune, he agreed. History unfolded from there.
This is the B-side to Negativland's "U2" single. Island Records didn't want the world to hear it, and sued the band. However, Negativland confronted U2's The Edge on the matter, prompting the band to call off Island's lawsuit.
Bono, The Edge and U2 did try to call it off but they were not successful. They don't own their songs: Island Records does. The lawsuit by Island records (without U2) went forward, and Island Records won. Negativland's label, SST records was sued out of business. Additionally, correspondence went out to everyplace the album was distributed demanding return of the album so they could all be destroyed.
Back in like '92 I got a cassette with this song, the Linda McCartney monitor mix and on the other side all the Red's 2 Bar stuff. I almost wore that thing out but it's still in my tape collection.
I heard Negativland released this (I saw one for sale at Peaches - even came with paperclip). Island Records heard it and lost their cookies over it and began legal proceedings. U2 before being called in by legal, heard the song, and loved it and got Island to drop the suit. That's what I heard over 20 years ago.
+juggernaut866 Negativland put out a magazine with a CD (The Letter U and the Numeral 2) and then a full book, "Fair Use", on this subject. Don Joyce did a number of episodes of the KPFA "Over the Edge" radio program about this ranging from just him reading from books about copyright and radio history to full-on rants. Archive.org has the show's archives. Search on "Over the Edge", then search within the results for the word "copyright"; also look for "Celebrity Night" (September 1991) and "Howland Show" (March 1992). WOW.
check my videos and you will see one with Mark Hosler where it is revealed U2 knew all about it and they were the ones who turned it over to Island records.
I saw them live in Seattle around 2000. It was a very interesting show, with all kinds of performance art, and homemade electronic instruments on stage.
Back in 1991 before internet trolling, if you were sick of hearing U2 played on the radio every 15 minutes & heard this album. You'd think it was hilarious, creative & cutting edge.
"The song casey kasem, SST records, and negativland didnt want you to hear." No. Negativland and SST wanted you to hear it. It was Island Records and Casey Kasem who wanted to squelch it.
I love Negativland since I was a child! They are a group of excellent artists they are making arts!!!!!!!!!!Go to see their book called Fair use: The story of the letter u and the Numeral 2 . Poor Negativland they are fighting for rights all the time!
I heard about this while listening to Jim Ruland’s book CORPORATE ROCK SUCKS the rise & fall of SST RECORDS and I am not disappointed!!! Can’t wait to hear more Negativeland!!!
Was disappointed U2 sued. If you read The Frontman:Bono in the Name of Power by Harry Browne, you can learn more about this. It really was not necessary to sue. Still a U2 fan, but with a grain of salt.
Murray Macdonald U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, instigated the lawsuit, not Island Records. R.E.M.'s manager found the record in Athens, GA and told McGuinness about it. He came to regret telling him. McGuinness passed it along to Island's legal department.
Instead, read (if you can find it) "The Letter U and the Numeral 2" and its sequel, "Fair Use" which is Negativland's side of the story told through the correspondence and legal filings, including Island's agreement to drop the objection at the band's urging. And Casem's refusal to allow it to be re-released.
In the mean time since finding the book appears to be iffy, anyone can watch a 10 minute clip of a lecture by Mark Hosler of Negativland in which he discusses the lawsuit and interacts with REM's manager, Bertis Downs, who is in the audience and admits to inadvertently getting the entire lawsuit rolling. He's difficult to hear but you get the basic idea. It's on RU-vid and is "Mark Hosler (Negativand) lecture Part Two"
I would have loved to be at some lame dinner party in the 90's where the host is like "hey, i just got the new U2 record, let's peel the plastic off this baby and give it a spin"
Casey Kasem was born in 1932, so he was 59 or so when this was released. And probably 56 when he was recorded in his meltdown here. Just more evidence that the older you get, the less interested you are in new music. I wonder if he'd have said all the "who cares about them" stuff if he was 16, didn't have the internet because it wasn't invented, and he lived in a small religious town in the middle of nowhere. (you've all figured it out, that was me. I loved these details about my favorite bands. There weren't many other ways to learn about your favorite bands back then, and we had to walk 40 miles in the snow to get to school. Times were tough.) But now I am old. I can sympathize a bit more with Kasem's rant. New music is wwwwwhatever, and I don't give a rat's where any band is from. Still, that said... you'd think Kasem would have made more of an effort, to like, you know, appreciate new music so at least he didn't have to hate his job so much? Because this is some funny shit. RIP Casey, you bastard.
This is pure poetry. Hail to the most brave anti U2 heroes in history. Hail too to all the drugs they've taken to repel any consideration about stepping off this epic quest.
Watch the documentry " Sonic Outlaws " I am a U2 fan and a Negativeland fan...glad they released the banned album! How they got this footage-I'll never know, ♡ it! Our dog Snuggles is in doggy heaven! Funny old world, ain't it?
To be honest, I'd be pretty disgruntled myself if I were playing an upbeat song on a radio show in a good mood, and then all of a sudden I learn one of the day's song requests is a dedication to a dead family member (dog, but still).
U2 pre-released this track November 18, 1992 after the banning of their fourth album was not released in UK. Consequently, Casey Kasem selected his own voice for the voice-over just after the release date. Drink Pepsi!
For the record. I'm a big fan of both bands. I own every Negativland release, but I've also got 40-some-odd U2 CDs, seen them live 5 times, and met Bono twice. I agreed with Edge's sentiment at the time, which is that the Negativland U2 single was funny and original, and Island Record's decision to sue was unwarranted.
Actually no...U2 were semi-recently fully outed as the perpetrators of the lawsuit. I'll see if I can post it as a video response to this video...it's a very interesting story behind it..
I used to frequent a cafe in Half Moon Bay called "Mc Coffee". Quaint, Cute, homey, comfortable, nice, etc., they were sued by McDonalds because of infringement. CRIMINAL. Thank you Negativeland for decades of REALITY. I'm remixing this tune as I speak...U 2, the lost song featuring Jack Ass Boy...
I think that was actually the zoo TV tour wasent it? At any rate you are totally right about how sleazy they were with their approach to Negativland. They pinned That dork guitar player "the edge" in an interview and he did just as you said, laying blame on the label and ultimately it came down to Kasem. Who sent them a final letter chastising them about the way they used the talent he admitted they had.
I nice held a copy of this record in my hand in a second-hand shop. Then my friend stared talking about how rare and valuable I was. The lady who ran the shop snatched it away from me. It sucked.
Well, Negativeland did release a book detailing the whole ordeal. It came with a flexi 45 of the track in the middle. Of the book. I'm pretty sure I still have one somewhere. They were one of the pioneers of the "Found Sound Free Use Samples as Music" movement/argument. There's been a few good documentaries on the subject involving them but it'll probably require some digging. Man I love that style of music: Art of Noise, Adbusters, a ton of unknown stuff I heard at raves. Anything that uses the recorded statements from people arranged to make a point. Esp. politicians. VIMs "Maggies Last Party" is another good example. Keep raving friends!
There is a lot of Negativland material on archive.org. The flexidisc you mentioned came in a magazine, "The Letter U & the Numeral 2", and later a whole book, "Fair Use," which came with a CD with assorted sound collage plus "Crosley Bendix Discusses the U.S. Copyright Act". The book and CD are on archive.org, search on "negativland Fair Use". I love culture jamming too, have made my own and you should too.
U2 was a spy plane, so putting "U2" on the cover was simply to identify the plane on the cover. The plane existed long before the band. The band named themselves after that spy plane. If U2 had not been named a physical thing, this wouldn't work. I.e. how do you justify putting the word "nirvana" on a record when nirvana is not a physical thing. The cover was actually what caused the biggest fuss with island records. What is brilliant is that in infringement cases, intention is of no concern. Yes, they were trolling, but what is even funnier is that I think there's a situation where they have every right to put the U2 plane on a cover of a CD, and put the characters "U" and "2" on there, because they identify the plane. Then you are allowed to parody music and transform it to make/ highlight your own message. These types of artists really inspire me and make me happy to be a human.
The Kasem thing is actually comprised of several separate outttakes, some of which have yet to see the light of day. The most obvious one is the 'dead dog' request; The U2 outtake is kept in a special collection by Mark, who told me himself in so many words it would stay that way.
This is the most sued over song ever. U2, American Top Forty, Casey Kasem, their labels and agents, producers, even some of the CB pulls, wanted their heads and or money. I heard they wrote a book about it but I've never actually seen it. That being said, easily one of my top 20 musical things ever; maybe top 10 if I think about it.
You're thinking of track 1 on the single, which was the A Capella Mix. The Weatherman reads the lyrics with much hilarious editorializing like "yeah, with you. The fat one. That's it. You're the fat one, and I wanna be with you." (which is the part you're thinking of). My favorite is when he goes on about all the colors bleeding into one big mess. Classic, all of it.
SST released a few Over the Edge broadcasts on cassette in the 1990s... I don't imagine these can be purchased new anymore, but they might show up used on ebay...? Actually, I just did a search on the file sharing program I use and a couple of those recordings came up.
@blastingcaps I saw Negativland live. They use cart machines to make their loops. They had to construct them by hand and assemble the carts. The idea was to push the button on the cart machine to play the loop when needed. The cart would play the sound and stop. They would need to keep pushing the button as many times necessary. They are an awesome act to watch.
