Review by: Andreas Georgi
Dedicated to the memory of Richard Lyons
I’m not sure if this is currently in print or not. This stuff has been legendary since Island records forced them to take it off the market in the early 90's. As you already know from reading other reviews, this is the infamous Negativland collage of the U2 song "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" with a tape of radio celebrity Casey Kasem letting out a litany of four-letter words during the taping of "American Top 40". This CD contains various versions of the basic theme, including a "radio friendly" version which has the expletives bleeped out by sound effects like car horns, etc., which is still quite funny.
Even listening to it all these years later it's still very effective. One reason is that the subjects open themselves to ridicule as much as they do. To quote a reviewer on another website (don't remember who, sorry!), making fun of U2 never goes out of style. Casey Kasem's voice is so instantly recognizable, and his style so candy-assed, that it's totally hysterical to listen to his profanity-ridden tirades. Kasem's comments actually help mock U2's preposterousness. Introducing their song he rattles off their names, and when he gets to "The Edge" he breaks off and says "this is B.S.! Nobody cares!", and then states the title of this CD. I think that echoes a lot of people's reaction to the guitarist's stupid monicker.
This is being promoted as "semi-legitimate" or "bootleg", with Negativland's label's name modified to "Sealard". I'm not buying it. Keep in mind these are the same guys who circulated the fake news story about a kid killing himself after listening to "Christianity is Stupid". These guys are savvy media pranksters. Nevertheless, given the previous hullabaloo over this recording, you'll want to pick this up before it ends up on someone else's Bonfire of the Vanities.
This review is also posted on Amazon here.
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