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Negativland

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Musicians

The Resume

    (1979- )
    Born in Concord, California
    Experimental music and sound collage band
    Core founding members were Mark Hosler, Richard Lyons and David 'The Weatherman' Wills
    Recorded the albums 'Negativland' (1980), 'Points' (1981), 'A Big 10-8 Place' (1983), 'Escape from Noise' (1987), 'Helter Stupid' (1989), 'U2' (EP, 1991) 'Free' (1993), 'Negativconcertland' (1993), 'Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and Number 2' (1995), 'Dispepsi' (1997), 'Deathsentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak' (2002), 'No Business' (2005) and 'Thigmotactic' (2008)
    Subject of the documentary 'Sonic Outlaws' (1995)

Why they might be annoying:

    Wills refuses to tour and appears in concert only on video.
    Hosler is so anti-corporate that he uses duct tape to cover the logos on the band's equipment before concerts.
    'Wired' wrote, 'At their worst, the members of Negativland are repetitive and smarmy.'
    One of their records features a young girl hiccuping through 'Over the Rainbow.'
    When financial problems forced them to cancel a tour, they issued a press release claiming federal authorities were preventing them touring while they investigated whether the band's song 'Christianity Is Stupid' had inspired murderer David Bron to kill his family (1988).
    They ended up in serious legal and financial trouble when Island Records sued them over the 'U2' EP, claiming that it featured unauthorized samples of the song 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' and that the cover, with U2 in large print, was designed to confuse fans of the more popular band.
    Asked if he worried how the people he sampled felt about their voices being used, Hosler replied, 'No, I don't care about someone else's feelings at all.'

Why they might not be annoying:

    AllMusic described them as 'one of America's most curious, clever and inventive bands of the last twenty years of the 20th century and beyond.'
    They coined the phrase 'culture jamming' to describe subverting mass media and corporate advertising.
    In addition to records, they have released several books, host the radio show 'Over the Edge,' and currated an art show at Manhattan's Gigantic Artspace gallery.
    A friend at 'Mondo 2000' magazine arranged for two members of the band to conduct an interview with The Edge. They asked the Edge several questions about U2's use of found sounds and live sampling of media outlets -- none of it with permission -- during the Zoo TV tour.
    When the Negativland members revealed their identities, the Edge told them Island had launched their lawsuits without the band's knowledge: 'By the time we realized what was going on it was kinda too late, and we actually did approach the record company on your behalf and said, 'Look, c'mon, this is just, this is very heavy.'
    They contribute to Creative Commons, a non-profit dedicated to expanding the ability to legally build on existing creative works.
    Former band member Chris Grigg said, 'All the lawyers who looked at 'U2' said later that if we had fought it, we could have set a precedent for fair use. That's the greatest tragedy. If we had known, we could have changed things for everybody.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 6 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 9 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 93.33% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 13 Votes: 61.54% Annoying