Helter Stupid

Infobox Album
Name = Helter Stupid
Type = Album
Artist = Negativland


Released = 1989
Recorded = ???
Genre = Experimental
Length = 47:26
Label = SST
Producer = Negativland?
Reviews =
*Allmusic rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=A43rb288c055a link]
*Blender rating|2|5
Last album = "Escape From Noise"
(1987)
This album = "Helter Stupid"
(1989)
Next album = ""
(1990)

"Helter Stupid" is Negativland's second album on SST Records, released in 1989. It was Negativland's first attempt at a concept album.

tructure

The first half of the album is composed of the tracks "Prologue" and "Helter Stupid". The two together form an extended piece lasting over 22 minutes. The concept, and much of the material, came from a San Francisco television news program that was taken in by a media hoax perpetrated by Negativland while promoting its previous album, "Escape from Noise". Other samples used included those from Rev. Estus Pirkle (further samples from the same sermon used in the band's signature song, "Christianity Is Stupid"), an interview with Charles Manson, and what was the band's most brazenly unauthorized sample to date: "Helter Skelter" by The Beatles.

Much of the "Perfect Cut" tracks on Side 2 draws from samples of "The Winning Score", a 1977 presentation by TM Century, producers of radio jingles and imaging. The source material can be heard [http://www.reelradio.com/gifts/tmws77.html here] .

In 2000, the band Chumbawamba, in reply to the EP "The ABCs of Anarchism", used this album as one of the main sampling points of WYSIWYG.

Track listing

#"Prologue"
#"Helter Stupid"
#"The Perfect Cut (Canned Music)"
#"The Perfect Cut (Rooty Poops)"
#"The Perfect Cut (Good As Gold)"
#"The Perfect Cut (Piece of Meat)"
#"The Perfect Cut (White Rabbit And A Dog Named Gidget)"
#"The Perfect Cut (11 Minutes)"
#"The Perfect Cut (48 Hours)"

Personnel

*Richard Lyons (credited as "Dick Vaughn")
*David Wills (uncredited)
*Don Joyce (uncredited)
*Mark Hosler (uncredited)
*Chris Grigg (uncredited)

Musical Samples

*The Beatles - "Helter Skelter"
*Don Covay - "Sookie Sookie"
*Minnie Riperton - "Lovin' You"
*Zapp (unidentified)
*Brothers Johnson - "Strawberry Letter 23"
*Natalie Cole - "This Will be (an Everlasting Love)"
*Joe Tex - "I Gotcha"
*Donna Summer - "Love To Love You Baby"