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 current core of the band consists of Mark Hosler, Richard Lyons, David Wills, aka The Weatherman and Peter Conheim.
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.
History
1980s
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.
Negativland (album)
Negativland is Negativland's first album, released by Seeland Records in June 1980. Each copy of the album has a different cover. This required a small run of only 15,000 copies. It is on iTunes and Napster with a cover depicting marshmallow soufflé in a bowl. Unlike all other Negativland albums, this album has no titles for the songs, just numbers. This is the rarest Negativland album, next to the misprinted Dispepsi albums and the U2 E.P.
This album was recorded when Mark Hosler and Richard Lyons were in high school and at the age of 17.
Track listing
All songs by Mark Hosler/Richard Lyons/David Wills.
Personnel
Podcasts:
Negativland
ALBUMS
- It's All In Your Head released: 2014
- Thigmotactic released: 2008
- It's All in Your Head FM released: 2006
- No Business released: 2005
- Helter Stupid released: 2004
- Deathsentences of the Polished and Structurally Weak released: 2002
- These Guys Are From England and Who Gives a Shit released: 2001
- Escape From Noise released: 1999
- Live on Tour released: 1997
- Dispepsi released: 1997
- Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U & the Numeral 2 released: 1995
- negativconcertland released: 1993
- Free released: 1993
- The Letter U and the Numeral 2 released: 1992
- A Big 10-8 Place released: 1983
- Points released: 1981
- Negativland released: 1980
- 1992-11-17: Graham Chapel, Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, USA released:
Thigmotactic
Released 2008- Richard Nixon Died Today
- Lying on the Grass
- Extra Sharp Pencils
- It's Not a Critique
- Basketball Plant
- Two Light Bulbs Flickering
- By Truck
- Jack Pastrami (Flower Bum)
- Influential You
- Virginia's Trip
- Steak on a Whim
- Pork in the Store
- Perfect Little Cookies
- Kind of Grumpy
- Your Skin Is Gelatin
- Ominipotent Struggle
- Rancho Pancho
These Guys Are From England and Who Gives a Shit
Released 2001- Over the Edge 12/31/89 (excerpts)
- Long Distance Dedication #1 (live)
- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (1991 a cappella mix)
- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (special edit radio mix)
- Long Distance Dedication #2 (live)
- Copying Is a Criminal Act (live)
- Wake Up America (live)
- The Black Lady of Espionage (live)
- Deliberate Sabotage (live)
- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (live a cappella)
- I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (edited special edit radio mix)
Escape From Noise
Released 1999- Announcement
- Quiet Please
- Michael Jackson
- Escape from Noise
- The Playboy Channel
- Stress in Marriage
- Nesbitt's Lime Soda Song
- Over the Hiccups
- Sycamore
- Car Bomb
- Methods of Torture
- Yellow Black and Rectangular
- Backstage Pass
- Christianity Is Stupid
- Time Zones
- You Don't Even Live Here
- The Way of It
- Endscape
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Happy Hero
by: NegativlandIf I got shot
I bet the press would pick it up
You'd like me all a lot
If I got beat
When camera's rolled you'd see me lying bloody in the street
If a crazy stalker stabbed me or if down the stairs I fell
My room would fill with flowers,
And with cards to wish me well.
And I'd be your happy hero 'cause you'd heard my catchy song
And after being ripped apart, I could do no harm.
I know that I've done nothing that a coward wouldn't do
But even I might see things different, after listening to you
I'd be so hot, yeah,
For the sale-price of a press release
Success can still be bought
I'd sit so tall
They'd pluck me in a wheelchair and they'd push me down the hall
I'd play a song for dying kids, your eyes would start to tear
That would be the ticket, to bolster my career
And I'd be your happy hero and I'd sell another song
And after viewing my big heart, you'd have me going strong
I'd play a gentle lover in a movie for T.V.
So I deserve your pity, when my wife divorces me
If someone told, no,
Accused of fucking teen-aged boys and beating others cold
You'd side with me!
And enough of your would doubt it, which would likely set me free
You'd say I didn't do it and that anyone could tell,
'cause he's smooth and smart and pretty
And he reads his lines so well
And to be your happy hero
I'd just sing another verse
The more I sing,
The more you would relieve me from my curse
Release me from your consciousness
As I bring down the floor
Selling Pepsi from the stage,
You yell and scream for more
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