Negativland, Culture Jamming, and the Art of Making Something New | Hacker News Reader

Negativland, Culture Jamming, and the Art of Making Something New

blog.archive.org

125 pointsbananaboy41 comments

I love the track from Escape From Noise (1987) that predicts our current housing crisis and criticizes the hypocrisy of anti-development mindsets and Prop 13 and all of that by comparing it to the way people talk about firearms prohibitions.

“When no more can be sold, you can see that the majority of adults will be virtually prohibited from ever owning one” — “so if you've always admired parts of Piedmont or Orinda…” — “well you could buy one, if you could convince someone to sell you his, and if you're willing to pay his price” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vPCIWbCOyY

(I will be at this irl btw)

There was a housing crisis in 1987, too: https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/02/opinion/l-time-to-be-seri... I'm not sure there ever was a time without a housing crisis.

I'm not sure there ever was a time without a housing crisis.

There really hasn't been.

As bad as it is, the current housing crisis isn't nearly as bad as it was back in the 1930's and 40's.

Back then it was so bad that the government ran ad campaigns begging people to rent out their spare bedrooms, dens, garages, etc.

That sounds like a different type of crisis - people paying an acceptable price but not having as much house as they'd like. In current year there's a regulatory floor on how much house you can pay for.

Shortage is shortage. When you don't have a bed, you don't care why.

But they did have beds.

I played Negativland on my radio show which was played on pirate radio in LA through Killradio.org

I remixed them, music, and dense political talks for a one hour show.

This guy was an internet friend of mine, claimed to be mentored by one of the Negativland guys, and definitely carries the flame with his weekly(-ish) releases. They used to play hella late night Thursdays on KPFA, not sure if that's still going. Give it a listen!

https://nationalcynical.bandcamp.com/

> “This guy was an internet friend of mine…”

Was? Did you have an internet failing out? Or did one of you stop using the internet?

Hey, you know, internet friends can just grow apart. It's a natural result of getting internet older.

The IRC channel we hung out on was moved to Discord and he didn't follow.

I love Negativland. Very interesting use of samples. Their album with Chumbawumba is really cool

Same! Their radio show is an incredible piece of art!

https://archive.org/details/ote

I once changed a person's mind on flock cameras by showing them the More Data music video.

I have Negativland in my music collection. If you can, treat yourself to Escape from Noise and The Playboy Channel from the 1987 album Escape from Noise. Unforgettable.

playing tomorrow at the Internet Archive in San Francisco!

Evolution Control Committee had some wild stuff too in a similar vein. Totally not on Spotify, sooooo many copyright issues.

a good album— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarhythm_Nation

The fucking moon.

Don't forget Rebel Without a Pause

I learned that Russia has 11 time zones because of Negativeland.

I would also not describe this music as timeless. It's incredibly hard for me to imagine people coming to this music fresh today.

You are referring to the former Soviet Union. Russia is currently trying to claw them back, which is why the US and the rest of the world are in a big 10-8 place.

Are you saying Russia does not currently span 11 time zones, the same number as the former soviet union?

Gimme the Mermaid is a work of art.

Negativland is a name I haven't heard in about 30 years. They were comparatively famous in the 90s, I guess, due to using the U2 samples.

I thought is was the letter U and the numeral 2.

They're from England, and who gives a shit.

They played at my college freshman year (1989, cough, cough) and stayed in an empty room in my dorm, right next to mine. The show was great, though they were personally a little awkward (or just weren't sure what to make of a bunch of kids). Escape from Noise will always be my favorite as a result.

Saw them in New York probably 1985ish. I love the band but I wouldn't attend another concert. During the encore, they ignited two toasters on fire. It was at the Kitchen in downtown Manhattan and the place was packed.

In fairness, the toaster deserved it

My favorite Negativland work is “Prologue/Helter Stupid”. It never fails to hit me in the feels by the time that final “that is correct” lands and you hear the sirens in the distance.

I love their albums! I was lucky enough to see them live 1-2 years ago. They performed their latest album and they still got it! Their satirical approach to sampling translates well to the 2020s.

Damn, makes me want to jump on a plane to SFO tomorrow morning...

Doesn't sound like many of them are going to be there, so I wouldn't feel the need to as well.

I accidentally got New Coke, I poured it down the drain.

New Coke was a psyop so they could replace cane sugar with high fructose corn syrup. Sure we'll go back to the "old recipe", all the way to the Bank

Cokers ate it right up

"We're not that smart, and we're not that stupid."

Mid-witted like a FOX

The thing is people knew. Coca-cola "aficionados" recognized the change for sure. Living in the deep south it was quite a thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDXjoS6JJnk

keep trying to listen to Negativland but then my mind just turns to Pepsi, and I couldn't tell you why...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com