Manipulators of the media, sound collagists and just plain cheeky sods, Negativland made their mark on music - and copyright law - with a series of releases that fell somewhere between schizophrenic jumble and pick'n'mix DJing. Stealing melodies, lyrics and hundreds of samples from the likes of The Beatles, Casey Kasem, U2 and Michael Jackson. (See the pretty-good Wikipedia article) Their U2 record is illegal in the US (as the samples were not cleared), but you can still download it here.
The piece de resistance, however, is this interview from Mondo 2000, where U2's The Edge is put in the uncomfortable position of unexpectedly meeting the sample-artists which his label so fiercely stomped on. And he's a surprisingly good sport.
Later they ask The Edge for a loan.
