Episode 82 — FEED ON MY CONTENT

[JulyDiaz 2797]

Peter Conheim of the experimental music band Negativland joins Jake to talk about the history of Negativland on this week’s edition of THE FOGELNEST FILES! They’ll discuss how Negativland were sued for their U2 EP which displayed “U2” in a very large type on the front of the packaging, why they created a press release stating their song "Christianity Is Stupid" had inspired David Brom to kill his family, the inspiration behind their album Dispepsi, and transitioning from cutting tape manually to going digital. As always, check out all the videos from this episode are over at youtube.com/TheFogelnestFiles! If you’re in Los Angeles, come join Jake as he presents a midnight 35mm screening of Ladies and Gentleman: The Fabulous Stains on Friday, April 4th at Cinefamily! Go to www.cinefamily.org for tickets.

[Kickpuncher 5012]

Alternate episode title - "U Talkin' A Giant Fuck U To U2 To Me?"

[DubipR 485]

Great episode. This is why I enjoy The Foglenest Files; I knew fuck all about Negativland and that whole sub-genre. Now it'll lead me down a wormhole of exploration of cool shit for me to enjoy....Thanks Jake.

 

Question for you, Jake: Ever thought about getting the Rev. Ivan Stang on the podcast? I'm sure as something as odd as the Church of the Sub-Genius, he'd be an interesting cat to talk with.

 

Again...amazing episode.

[Mintsle_Dungus 1]

Actually the Shut Up Little Man house is in the Lower Haight neighborhood, quite a ways from the Mission (*pushes up glasses*). Yes I have tracked it down and taken pictures in front of it. No need for a trite mini-diatribe on the gentrification of the Mission here. Anyways, excellent episode.

[daveB from Oakland 364]

I remember this guy from the early 90s in Berkeley. He worked at the VHS store downtown, in Berkeley Square on Shattuck Avenue. I rented several videocassettes there ... I don't think DVDs were on the market yet. Pretty sure they had a laserdisc section, though.

 

I've been going crazy trying to remember the name of the video place Peter worked at. It was the go-to place for cinephiles and fans of obscure & Cult films and bootleggish vids of questionable legality. I remember Peter worked there, along with Will "the Thrill" Viharo, who's still a presence around these parts: www.thrillville.net. Will the Thrill was a huge pain in the ass when he worked at that video store (Think Jack Black's judgy record store clerk in High Fidelity) ... I was able to rent a VHS of "Cocksucker Blues" from that store, which is a pretty hard to find (It's photographer Robert Frank's scandalous Exile-era Rolling Stones documentary. Mick hired Robert Frank to do the movie, but when he saw the finished result he did everything he could to keep it out of the public eye).

 

... so anyway, I was excited to rent the Forbidden Rolling Stones Movie from that store, but I had to listen to an earful from Will the Thrill, who has a whole dreary shtick of loving everything that came before the Beatles and hating everything that came after it. I have no problem with the things that Will the Thrill loves, but his shtick of hating on the stuff that replaced the stuff he loves was (and continues to be) fucking tiresome.

 

So anyway, I realize this all a huge tangent. But to come back to the point, I think Peter may have been present the day I rented Cocksucker Blues from the video store and had to be subjected to Will's loudmouthed anti-British Rock rant. I kinda wonder what Peter thought of his co-worker routinely berating customers for renting tapes that the store itself was making available ...

[daveB from Oakland 364]

PART 2

 

My other tenuous relationship with Mr. Conheim and this episode is that I've been using Negativland's Dis-Pepsi as my avatar on this forum for several years now. (There it is! To the left of this comment!)

 

I started using it when, for a very brief time, Earwolf was interrupting CBB and other shows with an extremely annoying Pepsi advert. It was maddening to hear the same exact spot many times throughout the week if you were an Earwolf fan (since then, I think Earwolf has figured out that having hosts read and put their spin on ad spots is a lot more tolerable for listeners ... also, they've figure out that listeners are more favorably disposed to Squarespace, Legal Zoom, etcetera, as opposed to Toxic Sugar Water.

 

Anyway, I guess I never got around to changing that avatar, and now I come full circle to a show examining the genesis of DisPepsi.

[daveB from Oakland 364]

PART 3

 

With all my blather, I forgot to say: Great episode, Jake! When I was following underground stuff in the Bay Area in the 90s, I somehow figured out that Peter was involved with a collective that put out tapes and vinyl of prank calls to Christian Radio stations (see video below). But I'm not sure I ever figured out that he became part of Negativland.

 

(The prankish intentions of this call don't become fully obvious until the very end of this call)

 

[Gym Sockerman 1326]

Great episode. This is why I enjoy The Foglenest Files; I knew fuck all about Negativland and that whole sub-genre. Now it'll lead me down a wormhole of exploration of cool shit for me to enjoy....Thanks Jake.

 

This is one of my favorite aspects of the podcast as well. Jake is an amazing curator of culture. On other podcasts, I might balk when I see a guest's name who I'm unfamiliar with, but when it happens on the Fogelnest Files, I just get excited.

[daveemory 1]

DaveB: That video store in Berkeley was called Movie Image.

[brandenhaize 51]

Best episode yet, Jake! I'm glad I'm not the only one who knew nothing about Negativland. After hearing all the stories I was dumbfounded, wondering, "How the hell have I not heard of this until now???"

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

I thought he mentioned something about the lawsuit causing problems 'even up to last night'. Did he ever explain that?

[daveemory 1]

I thought he mentioned something about the lawsuit causing problems 'even up to last night'. Did he ever explain that?

 

That was in reference to SST Records and their continued sale of Negativland albums which they no longer have any claim on (and haven't paid the band for in 20 years). Unfortunately, they seem to keep pressing up copies, which is why Negativland reissued them on the band's own label.

[Quasar Sniffer 4174]

I think this episode puts into perspective the point of view of people like Negativland who came into existence when sampling and context-changing of media took actual, you know, work. So of course they were advocates of fair use; cutting tape is hard! A carpenter is no less of an artist because he or she is using wood from a tree someone else grew, ya know? Negativland had to actually touch and cut and edit with their hands, they had to plan out their shenanigans in advance, and if they fucked up, it could destroy a hell of a lot of work.

 

Anyway, as others have said before, I had no idea Negativland existed before this episode, but what is great about this podcast is that I can be just as fascinated by someone I am unfamiliar with as someone I have been a fan of for forever. Thanks to Jake and Peter for the great conversation!

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

 

That was in reference to SST Records and their continued sale of Negativland albums which they no longer have any claim on (and haven't paid the band for in 20 years). Unfortunately, they seem to keep pressing up copies, which is why Negativland reissued them on the band's own label.

 

Are you sure? I mean I know that's true too, but it sounded like he was saying something happened at the show the night before at the UCB.

[daveemory 1]

 

Are you sure? I mean I know that's true too, but it sounded like he was saying something happened at the show the night before at the UCB.

 

I assume you mean Cinefamily? Well, he is me, and I am him, and he/I was referring to a discussion he/I had with someone after the show. They brought a sealed LP of Helter Stupid to the table and asked he/me/us to sign it, and it was a recent pressing by SST. I.e. a bootleg, unfortunately.

[klemjohansen 748]

I sent one of the Negative Land guys a sample of some weird sound stuff I was working on in 89 or 90. He actually wrote back and was encouraging. He didn't need to be that nice.

[mobo 116]

This was the best. I was raised/ruined by Negativland. I was listening to their radio shows while my peers were listening to Top 40. It probably led me to be the kind of person that would listen to The Fogelnest Files every week, so this was a perfect fit for me. The only thing missing was The Weatherman, himself...