YMMV / Negativland

• Crosses the Line Twice: A key factor of their signature humor, as well as their public antics. Highlights include claiming influence over an ongoing murder case to get out of a tour, a live version of "Four Fingers" in which the band would act out goading Mark Hosler to amputate himself on-stage, and giving away Don Joyce's ashes with Over The Edge Vol. 9 "until we get arrested or run out of Don." There are more details about why they decided to give away Don's ashes and responses from fans and media in this interview with Mark.
• Growing the Beard: Negativland's earliest albums were largely sample-based musique concrete reminiscent of Lumpy Gravy and some of Frank Zappa's other more out-there projects, with some gentle tweaking of suburban life thrown in. When Don Joyce joined the band, the subject matter expanded to include a much wider array of topics such as geopolitics, religion, mainstream media, corporate culture and advertising, etc., with a much sharper satirical sensibility.
• Memetic Mutation: Eleven. It's ridiculous. It's not even funny.^note From the song "Time Zones", where a radio host claims the Soviet Union covers eleven time zones. Made legendary by Kingdom of Loathing referencing it every time eleven of something comes up.
• Once Original, Now Overdone: Although they were innovators in the 1980s, Technology Marches On, making sample montage a lot easier nowadays, and what has come to be known as "plunderphonics" is a popular musical genre in its own right. The result is that Negativland's signature style is liable to leave listeners today wondering what the fuss was about. In an interview with Plazm, here's Mark Hosler:
  We’re living in a culture where you don’t have to be an educated, intellectual artist-type to respond to the world by taking little chunks of it, chopping it up and rearranging it. We have got so much technology that allows that. You’re doing it whenever you use your remote control on the television set. It’s live cut-up, totally random. The Dadaists would have loved it. Kids are growing up doing live cut-up, and that creates some weird, different aesthetic. You’ve got copying stores everywhere. Computer companies trying to convince people if they don’t own a computer, they’re going to die. High-end computers are capable of digitally manipulating sound, text and image. People are going to play with this stuff simply because it’s fun. Because it’s interesting. They don’t have to have any more serious an idea than that.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: They're probably more recognised for the hoax surrounding "Christianity Is Stupid" and the legal battle over the "U2" single than for their music.
• Paranoia Fuel: Not least of all The World Will Will Decide, which discusses the sheer prevalance of modern technology, and by proxy its manufacturers, in everyday human life.

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