Negativland's 46-Year Fight to Make Art from Corporate Culture
Negativland, Culture Jamming, and the Art of Making Something New
Negativland started in 1980 with a self-titled album and handmade covers, expecting to sell 100 copies in five years. They sold 500 in three months. Over 46 years, the multimedia collective has released more than 30 albums and EPs, coined the term "culture jamming," and challenged copyright law after being sued by U2 in 1991. The Internet Archive now preserves 4,000 hours of their radio show, Over The Edge. They perform at the Internet Archive on September 16.
When we perform shows, a lot of our audience seems like people who don't even fit in with the people who don't fit in. That's cool. Our live shows are sort of a safe space for people who are just real oddballs.
- Lammy
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)
- AndyNemmity
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.
- NDlurker
I love Negativland. Very interesting use of samples. Their album with Chumbawumba is really cool
- jordanb
I once changed a person's mind on flock cameras by showing them the More Data music video.
- sixothree
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.