Customer Reviews

Helter Stupid

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was intro'd to Negativland through a friend of my girlfriend at the time (circa 1989). This person was in an industrial group of his own (Bovine Ignition Systems. Sadofsky, where are you?) and Negativland was very much an influence and inspiration.

"Escape From Noise" was the most diabolical recording I'd ever heard. I loved hearing the bizarre overdubs, rip jobs on religion and other incisive commentaries that abounded on it.

When "Helter Stupid" came out, I grabbed it immediately. Now, I was disappointed by the tape's side two (Perfect Cut). It is not even worth mentioning.

But side one: 22+ minutes of an expose on the media, how incompetant they were then (and even more so now) and how they ran with a story, without checking their sources, without doing any real followup, and just assuming that David Brom murdered his whole family after hearing the track "Christianity Is Stupid."

The track is an amazing piece of TV newscasters who think they've got the story that'll get 'em to the network (WRONG), cuts from John Lennon and Charles Manson, and the effort by some shadowy figure trying to wring out a confession from the band (NOW IT BEGINS!).

To put a fine point on my title, I wish Negativland would do more of this on our alleged media today. Michael Moore has the inside track on it now, but the guys from San Fran. would be equally effective.

PS: This is also the band that Bono sued over, demanding they destroy all their copies of "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." I heard a bootleg of their cover...yes, it was a slash and burn job, but His Pretentiousness needed to be brought down a peg around that time.

Actually two mini-albums in one, two masterpieces, Negativland socks it to the media with a one-two punch. Beautifully edited, well-informed and hysterically funny, particularly sections of THE PERFECT CUT. I especially appreciated the samples of Chicago radio, having heard those exact same jingles as a Chicago kid back in the 70's. I listen to the whole piece and can just SEE the badly feathered hair, the bad form-fitting clothes and the 8-track players.

This disc really contains two albums. The first is a long exploration of the media's laziness and susceptibility to fraud, following the story of Negativland's murder-connection hoax of 1988 in their familiar nonlinear style. The second is a collection of rapid-fire samples of 70's music and radio business tapes never meant for airplay. Funny, overwhelming, confusing, and enlightening.

Negativland deconstructs the connection between media and its promotion of false stories of a sexy nature, going so far as to suggest that the media is more responsible for the how to's of murder than any music ever made. This album is so deep and so disturbing I really don't have the words to describe the experience, but it is funny as all get out, if you are cynical enough to get the joke. Basically, the band makes a phony connection between some 1990 axe murders and themselves, and the media does not one iota of fact checking to see if there is any truth to the story. Well done.

This is not the story of 180 and the letter G. It is the story of media pranksters creating a "football" as an excuse for a cancelled tour. Negativland placed that "football" on the playing field of the TV and print news media, and what did the superficial sharks of the media do with it?

THEY MADE A TOUCHDOWN!

Never in their wildest dreams did the members of Negativland think that their cute little "ruse" could blow up to such huge proportions that even Rolling Stone demanded an interview about their "killer song" causing the teen boy to slaughter his family with an axe!

It might have been cruel for Negativland to falsely leak out that their song "Christianity is Stupid" might have been the cause of those axe murders. But the media BOUGHT IT! They bought it without even investigating the story!

Of course, when someone shows so blatantly how the news media operates in this country, you must have a contingency plan to explain your actions. Negativland did! They created an album, using samples from the news story and samples from Charles Manson and mixed them all together in their blender, creating this work of art!

The first side of this album explains how and why it was done to the media. The other half of this album explains how the media works, in their own words, their own promo tapes and their own methods of manipulating radio and the news for maximum effect and profit.

I remind you, this was all before their "U2" escapade exploded in their faces and almost ruined the band!

The real point of this release is Helter Stupid, a 20-something minute very LISTENABLE (unusual for Negativland to be this accessable) collage, the best Negativland has probably ever done. It's hysterical, fascinating, musical, entertaining, and thought-provoking. The Perfect Cut material isn't bad and shines in places, and is in general good fun. But Helter Stupid is a must-have, and the liner notes help detail the whole grand prank of Negativland's involvement in that axe-murder case.

WEll, I pretty much love all negativland so i'll just say that
this one is one of the best. Helter Stupid starts of with 2 tracks
that deal with a phonie murder plot. The murder was real but n-land
played a trick on the media by saying that it was influenced by a
n-land song called"Christianity is stupid" The deeply religious family being killed by the son. The real twist is how the media
,without any proof, made this into the top evening news in the san fran area for awhile. This was less a publicity stunt than a prime
example of "Culture Jamming" and a way of showing how yellow the press really is. Very thought provocing and humourus at the same time.
The rest of this release deals with radio,the equally manipulating form of media and how formats and marketing subliminaly control you. More funny than sinical but also "Jamms"
in its own way. Hats of to you guys you really make me think
Thanx.

The members of U2 had no part in the lawsuit against these guys. It was their label, Island, which sued.In fact, The Edge is on record as saying he thought the album in question was great.