I got this story from Dangerous Mind, and it is totally appropriate to talk about it now, at a time when, what used to be the most famous band in the world is releasing its new album for free.
In 1991, SST Records (Greg Grinn’s label) released a single by Negativland entitled U2, yes the same moniker than the hyper famous band, which had just released their acclaimed ‘Achtung Baby’ the same year…. Negativland is an experimental band from San Francisco, and they decided to release this parody of the well-known song ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’. The track was built around a tape of DJ Casey Kasem having a bad day in the studio and saying a lot of profanity, with extensive sampling of the original U2 song played with kazoos. On the cover, an image of the Lockheed U-2 plane with big pink U2 letters, did confuse lots of people…
Needless to say, this did not sit well with the real U2 and its label Island Records, and Negativland was soon sued for trademark infringement, fraud, copyright infringement, defamation of character… And Casey Kasem did sue them??
Negativland withdrew the single, then chronicled the controversy in a magazine/CD, ‘The Letter U and the Numeral 2’ and a book, ‘The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2’, but re-released the single in 2001 under the new name ‘These Guys are from England and who gives a shit’… Hilarious.
The story is great because it was such a punk thing to do, butchering Bono’s lyrics, mixing them with bad words, using U2 logo, totally in their face,… it cost Negativland $45,000 but looking back to the story, they are, of course, the winner. U2 was already at the top of the world, and this lawsuit appears so lame in comparison to the millions they were already earning. Furthermore, according to Negativeland’s Mark Hosler, who gave a lecture at Duke Law called ‘Framed’, the lawsuit started with U2, and not Island Records as U2 has suggested in the past. How ridiculous does it sound?
It was the ultimate David against Goliath story and David finally gave the finger to the giant as Negativland got tons of publicity from their ‘hit lawsuit’, while bringing attention on important aspects of our culture (does U2 own the letter U and the number 2??) on fair use, copyright, and sampling, something which is done so frequently these days.
Of course, Mark Hosler had something to say about U2’s last move (you can read the whole thing on Dangerous Mind): ‘Given the endless ways we all often willingly grant these corporations and our government access into to our lives by how we use and sign up for these fucking devices and apps, I am unclear as to why so may folks are so shocked and angry about this. We all get SPAM and we delete it, so… is this any different? Maybe it is. Or may be not. I am still pondering that one.’
Is the U2 album spam, digital littering? It may depend on your opinion of U2 and right now, mine is very low.
