1980s
Negativland started in Concord, California[7] in 1979 around the core founding members of Hosler and Richard Lyons, who were in high school at the time. The band released its eponymous debut in 1980.[8] A number of releases followed in the early 1980s, but it wasn't until after the release of their fourth album Escape from Noise in 1987 that Negativland gained wider attention. Vinyl copies of the album came with "CAR BOMB" bumper stickers, in reference to the album's song "Car Bomb".
Following the somewhat unexpected success of the album, Negativland faced the prospect of being prompted to tour, which they had an inept budget for; to prevent this, they made the decision to craft a hoax press release that claimed that Negativland were prevented from touring by law enforcement, citing "Federal Authority Dick Jordan", because the song "Christianity Is Stupid" from Escape from Noise had supposedly inspired the then widely covered case of 16-year-old mass murderer David Brom killing his family. The press release went on to vigorously deny the purported connection between Negativland and the murders. The press release was disseminated and discussed, generally skeptically, in local media as well as the Village Voice, with at least one Bay Area television station apparently believing the claims of the press release to be factual.[9][10] The incident became the conceptual foundation for Negativland's next release, Helter Stupid, which featured a cover photo of TV news anchorman Dave McElhatton delivering the Brom murder story, with the album prominently sampling news coverage of the hoax.
1990s
In 1991, Negativland released the U2 EP, containing two parodies of the group U2's well-known 1987 song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", including kazoos and extensive sampling of the original song. The second song features a musical backing to an extended profane rant from well-known disc jockey Casey Kasem, lapsing out of his more polished and professional tone during a frustrating rehearsal that had gone out to many stations as raw feed and was taped by several engineers, who had been passing it around for a number of years. One of Kasem's milder comments was "These guys are from England and who gives a shit?" (U2 was actually formed in Ireland. Moments earlier he had read from his script, "the Irish band from Dublin".)
U2's label Island Records quickly sued Negativland, stating that the cover, which displayed its title "U2" in very large type on the front of the packaging and "Negativland" in a smaller typeface, violated trademark law, as did the songs themselves. Island Records also contended that the EP was an attempt to deliberately confuse U2 fans, awaiting the impending release of Achtung Baby, into purchasing what they believed was a new release from U2 called Negativland.
In June 1992, R. U. Sirius, publisher of the magazine Mondo 2000, was contacted by publicists from U2 regarding the possibility of interviewing The Edge, hoping to promote U2's impending Zoo TV Tour. Sirius decided to have his friends Joyce and Hosler of Negativland conduct the interview. Joyce and Hosler, fresh from Island's lawsuit, asked the Edge questions regarding his ideas about the use of sampling in their new tour, and the legality of using copyrighted material without permission. Midway through the interview, Joyce and Hosler revealed their identities as members of Negativland.
2000s
In 2003, members of Negativland contributed their efforts to Creative Commons, a non-profit organization devoted to expanding the range of creative works available for others to legally build upon and share by providing alternative copyright licenses. In September 2002, Negativland spoofed Clear Channel radio stations in an audio track broadcast by pirate radio broadcasters jamming a Seattle Clear Channel station while the National Association of Broadcasters met in the city.[14][15]
Former member Don Joyce long hosted a weekly radio show called Over the Edge most Thursdays at midnight on KPFA. Recordings of some noteworthy episodes of the show have been released by Seeland in its Over the Edge series.
In September 2005, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the band, Negativland curated an art exhibit in Manhattan's Gigantic Artspace gallery, formerly located at 59 Franklin Street. The exhibit, Negativlandland, included a number of pieces of artwork from and inspired by Negativland recordings, video projection of music videos created by the band and others, and some artwork created specifically for the show, such as an animatronic Abraham Lincoln figure (inspired by the band's Lincoln cut-up piece "God Bull" from the album No Business) and a hands-on exhibit featuring the Booper, the audio-processing unit that band member David Wills (a.k.a. The Weatherman) assembled out of old radio parts. The show appeared in Minneapolis on May 12, 2006, at Creative Electric Studios.
2010s
Former band member Ian Allen died on January 17, 2015 at 56 years old due to complications from heart valve surgery.[16] On July 22, 2015, Don Joyce, group member and host of Over The Edge, died of heart failure at the age of 71.[17] On April 19, 2016, Richard Lyons died from complications of nodular melanoma following his 57th birthday party in a nursing facility.[18][19]
The band's album, Over the Edge Vol. 9: The Chopping Channel, was released on October 21, 2016. Select copies of the album include a bag containing two grams of Don Joyce's cremated remains.[20] In 2019, True False was released.
2020s
The album The World Will Decide was released on November 13, 2020, and features contributions from Allen, Joyce, and Lyons.[21]
