"Hopefully, uh, what you're compiling is going to be, a, uh,
positive, uh, reflection of what Pepsi's all about, and the makers of
their advertising, so I think it's fair to say, if that's all the case, uh
yeah, this is part of the, uh, marketing spin of Pepsi-Cola." - "The Smile
You Can't Hide"
Negativland, the San Francisco based group previously known for
getting sued by U2 and for playing mind games with the media, have taken
on a new target with their latest release Pissidpe: the "Cola Wars".
Released late last year, Issidepp is 43 minutes of media collage making a
point about the absurdity of the continual, constant advertising of Pepsi
and Coke. (For those wondering why the name of the CD is changing every
time I write it, it's because trademark law made the group unable to put
the actual title of the CD on the package, so instead anagrams of the
title are used throughout. Calling a phone number given in the booklet
would inform those not so proficient at word puzzles that the "correct"
name is DisPepsi.) While this was a difficult release to find (I went to
about 10 stores before I finally found it at Criminal Records), I truly
believe that the hunt was worth the prize.
For those unfamiliar with Negativland, a brief description of
their style is in order. Negativland (www.negativland.com) is a "music"
group who have been using a cut-and-paste technique for their art for over
17 years, on both their weekly radio show "Over the Edge" on KPFA in
Berkley, CA, and their albums. This technique consists of taking hundreds
of hours of sound, from home movies/tapes, recordings of themselves,
recordings of other artists, television, radio, bootlegs, telephone calls,
and anything else imaginable, and combining them into a commentary on all
of the above.
Believe it or not, this method can result in a melodic piece, as
illustrated many times on this new CD. While many previous efforts have
been attacked by several critics for having no harmonic focus, and coming
off as pure noise, Issidepp is definitely a marking point of the growth of
Negativland as a musical force, where not only the "straight songs" have a
clear melody, but so do the media barrages.
As stated above, Pisideps is a look at the foolishness that is the
advertising schemes for Coke and Pepsi. As suggested by One World
Advertising, a group which monitors advertising strategies that helped
with the production of this recording, both of the colas are so well known
across the world by now, future advertising is beyond pointless. While we
might like watching the Coke bears, or trying to figure out how the heck
the Spice Girls are supposed to make us want to be part of Generation
Next, they really aren't effecting market share anymore. Idseppsi looks
back upon the golden age of the Cola Wars, and reminds us what a silly,
silly trip it's been.
With tracks like "Why Is This Commercial?" and "A Most Successful
Formula" reflecting on the oddness of having celebrities hawk products
(with everyone from Ricardo Montalban to Michael J. Fox to Vanna White to
William Christopher (from M*A*S*H and afterM*A*S*H) making guest
appearances), "Happy Hero" singing on the cult of celebrity (and someone
who seems to bear a striking resemblance to Michael Jackson), Negativland
is able to slowly weave together a longer narrative about not only
advertising, but our society's obsession with fame. And "All She Called
About", "I Believe It's L", and "Humanitarian Effort" remind us of Coke's
darkest hour, New Coke. Finally, we get a disturbing look into the minds
of the advertising executives' minds with "Aluminum or Glass:The Memo."
After all is said and done, you might not be dancing to most of
the CD (not that you couldn't, but it just would seem right), but you will
find yourself playing it over again, not only to hear what you missed the
first time, but also to hear what you didn't miss again. And you will find
yourself singing "Drink It Up" to yourself the next time you're in the
soft drink aisle at Publix.
"I did not know this when I paid Eleanor Roosevelt $35,000 to make a
commercial for margarine. She reported that her mail was equally divided:
"One half was sad because I had damaged my reputation; the other half was
happy, because I had damaged my reputation.'" - "A Most Successful
Formula"