1001 Other Albums<p><strong>Negativland – Dispepsi (1997, US)</strong></p><p>Our next spotlight is on number 1004 on <a href="https://1001otheralbums.com/the-list/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The List</a>, submitted by dwenius.</p><p>Named after the NEU! track of the same name, Negativland is an experimental sound-collage/plunderphonics band and “multimedia collective”, the original version of which was formed in 1979 by Mark Hosler and Richard Lyons while they were still in high school. By the time they released <em>Dispepsi</em>, their 8th album, they had already gone through a couple interesting episodes involving a hoax press release that got a bunch of media attention linked to a mass murderer case,[1] as well as a multi-year legal battle with U2’s label <em>and</em> their own (along with some FBI nonsense) for an innocently(-ish) named and now withdrawn EP.[2]</p><p>Geez.</p><p><em>Dispepsi</em> is a concept album that takes a swipe at the so-called “Cola Wars” and advertising in general by parodying and sampling Pepsi and Coca-Cola commercials, among other things. As per the liner notes:</p><blockquote><p>All of the cola commercials that were appropriated, transformed and re-used in this recording attempted to assault us in our homes without our permission.</p></blockquote><p>Hoping to avoid another legal battle, the original release didn’t actually have the album name on it, and the liner notes instead provided a phone number for fans to call “for the correct spelling and pronunciation of the title of this CD”, lol. Thankfully, unlike U2 and Island Records (and the band’s former label, SST Records, wtf – see footnote 2), Pepsi wasn’t threatened by whatever an obscure art collective that was part of a parody religion[3] and enjoyed nerding out on FM radio[4] was doing. And so, this album, unlike their U2-inspired EP, was allowed to live, and the band continued (and, I think, continues?) to do cool shit[5] and fight for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">fair use</a>. </p><p>Whether this band is new to you (like it is for me) or is an old favourite, give this one a spin today!</p><ul><li><a href="https://album.link/ca/i/386725068" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Songlink: Negativland – <em>Dispepsi</em></a></li><li><a href="https://www.discogs.com/master/2115628-Negativland-Dispepsi" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Discogs: Negativland – <em>Dispepsi</em></a></li><li><a href="https://negativland.com/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Website: Negativland</a></li><li><a href="https://negativlandland.bandcamp.com" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Bandcamp: Negativland</a> (does not include <em>Dispepsi</em>)</li></ul><ol><li>Unable to afford touring their <em><a href="https://album.link/ca/i/386818766" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Escape from Noise</a></em> (1987) album, Negativland put out a hoax press release stating they legally couldn’t tour because the track “Christianity Is Stupid” had inspired mass murderer David Brom…which in turn led to them releasing a concept album, <em><a href="https://album.link/ca/i/1506669206" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Helter Stupid</a></em> (1989), making fun of the media coverage on said hoax press release. ↩︎</li><li>Negativland released an EP titled <em><a href="https://archive.org/details/u2_20240211" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">U2</a></em> (1991) that sampled and parodied U2’s song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” alongside a recording of radio DJ Casey Kasem having a meltdown while rehearsing a bit about U2, which led to the band being sued by U2’s label (Island Records) and publisher, and in turn led to: the EP being withdrawn; the band releasing a magazine and accompanying CD called <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Letter_U_and_the_Numeral_2" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The Letter U and the Numeral 2</a></em> (1992) about the matter, which directly led to the band being dropped <em>and</em> sued by their own label (SST Records, wtf); Kasem threatening (but never actually enacting) legal action if the EP ever popped up again; the <a href="https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2018/feb/08/casey-kasem-fbi/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">FBI getting involved</a> after a Negativland fan threatened Kasem; the band releasing a <a href="https://negativland.com/products/013-negativland-fair-use-book" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">book</a> with an accompanying <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXCNjKUbPao" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">CD</a> called <em>Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2</em> (1995) chronicling the whole thing; and a documentary being made about it (<em><a href="https://archive.org/details/dom-25571-sonicoutlaws" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Sonic Outlaws</a></em> [1995]). Whew. ↩︎</li><li>At least some members Negativland are part of the Church of the SubGenius, which uses “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_jamming" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">culture jamming</a>“, an anti-consumerist tactic whose name band member Don Joyce coined. See: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_SubGenius" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_SubGenius</a> ↩︎</li><li>“Over The Edge” was a weekly, free-form audio collage radio show on KPFA FM (Berkeley, California), hosted by Negativland’s Don Joyce from 1981 until his death in 2015. Archived episodes at: <a href="https://archive.org/details/ote" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/ote</a> ↩︎</li><li>I mean, Laurie Anderson herself named their 2020 album <em><a href="https://negativlandland.bandcamp.com/album/the-world-will-decide" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">The World Will Decide</a></em> one of her five favourite albums, so they’re clearly doing something right still. ↩︎</li></ol><p><a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/1990s/" target="_blank">#1990s</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/cola-wars/" target="_blank">#ColaWars</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/experimental/" target="_blank">#experimental</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/music/" target="_blank">#music</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/music-discovery/" target="_blank">#musicDiscovery</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/negativland/" target="_blank">#Negativland</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/plunderphonics/" target="_blank">#plunderphonics</a> <a rel="nofollow noopener" class="hashtag u-tag u-category" href="https://1001otheralbums.com/tag/sound-collage/" target="_blank">#soundCollage</a></p>