U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For,"
performed by Negativland

Now, we're up to our long distance dedication, and this one is about kids and pets and a situation we can all understand...

With those words, Casey Kasem introduced what ended up being without a doubt the most contentious cover tune of the '90s — Negativland's version of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

The U2 EP that contained two mixes of the song spawned numerous lawsuits, a book and a full-length CD, following its August 1991 release. What went down was a situation of sampling and copyright and a situation we can all understand.

U2 was signature Negativland. It featured about a 30-second intro of U2's hit single, accompanied by Kasem introducing the band for a segment on "American Top 40." But a few seconds in, while introducing The Edge, Kasem loses it, yelling "These guys are from England and who gives a shit?! ... Names that don't mean diddly shit..." The rest of the record is filled with profane CB radio banter, a goofy, Negativland-style rendering of the song and non-U2-related Kasem outtakes where he hilariously tears into his staff:

I want a goddamn concerted effort to come out of a record that isn't a fucking uptempo record every time I do a goddamn death dedication. It's the last goddamn time. I want somebody to use his fucking brains to not come out of a goddamn record that's uptempo and I've got to talk about a fucking dog dying.

This is "American Top 40," right here on the radio station you grew up with: Music Radio 138 oh fuck.

Shortly after U2's release, Negativland and its record label, SST, received an injunction to stop sales of the disc, which contained an unauthorized sample of U2's popular 1987 hit from the even-more-popular album The Joshua Tree. What U2's record label Island claimed was most at issue, though, was the single's sleeve, with U2 in giant letters, a U-2 spy plane and Negativland in small, black type. In looking at the album cover, it was easy to see Island's beef. Clearly, this was a case of deceptive packaging.

Or was it? Negativland reportedly offered to nix the sleeve and release the single with alternate art. Island, however, wouldn't relent and eventually the suit ended in an out-of-court settlement that saw Negativland surrender the copyright of the song, as well as the physical singles. All remaining copies of the single were destroyed, leaving 6,951 on the market.

But it didn't end there. Negativland was sued by SST, which wanted its court costs reimbursed. The label was also none too happy about the band's 96-page magazine The Letter U and the Numeral 2, which cast the label in a not-too-positive light.

When everything was over with, Island caved in and gave Negativland permission to release the single, provided the group could get permission from Kasem — something that has yet to happen. But in the meantime, myriad bootleg versions of the single proliferate (I got mine at a record store for $6) and you can also download the song for free from Napster or the band's official website.

— Eric Wittmershaus (ericw at flakmag dot com)