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The Beatnigs were a San Francisco-based band active between 1986 and 1990, influenced by industrial music, hip hop and hardcore punk.

Biography

Michael Franti and Rono Tse met each other clubbing in San Francisco. In 1986, Franti and Tse formed the band with Kevin Carnes, Andre Flores and Henry Flood. Troy Dixon joined later as a touring member.

In 1988, The Beatnigs released a self-titled studio album and a 12" EP of their most famous song, "Television". Both on the record label Alternative Tentacles. That same year they played their New York City debut at the New Music Seminar, and recorded for the BBC's Peel Sessions. The band toured with Billy Bragg and Michelle Shocked in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Other groups they performed with include D.O.A., MDC, Fugazi, Living Colour and Einstürzende Neubauten.

Post breakup

Franti and Tse would later form The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. They reworked the Beatnigs song "Television" to become "Television, The Drug of the Nation" for the new group. Carnes would later form Broun Fellinis.

Style

The band's stage performance included the use of power tools such as a rotary saw and grinder on a metal bar to create industrial noise and pyrotechnics. Their sound included poetry and elements of african drumming. They were described in The Rough Guide to Rock as "a kind of avant-garde industrial jazz poets collective".

Discography

Albums

• The Beatnigs (1988)

Singles

• Television (1988)

Legacy

The single "Television" was reissued by Alternative Tentacles in 2002, and the album was planned for a CD re-release while made available on iTunes and other digital retailers.

According to KQED, Beatnigs' and Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy's influence can be heard in artists such as JPEGMAFIA and Death Grips.

References

1. ^ "In the '90s, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy Defied Homophobia and Changed Hip-Hop". KQED. 2022-06-02. Retrieved 2023-12-15.
2. "The Beatnigs". Discogs.
3. Friskics-Warren, W. (2005) I'll Take You There: Pop Music And the Urge for Transcendence Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-1700-0
4. Goodwin, A. (1991). Popular music and postmodern theory Cultural studies 5:174-198
5. Robbins, IA (1991) The Trouser Press Record Guide, 4th ed. Maxwell Macmillan International, ISBN 0-02-036361-3
6. Watrous, P. (1998) Rock by Any Other Name Is "Alternative" New York Times July 15, 1988
7. "BBC - Radio 1 - Keeping It Peel - 04/12/1988 Beatnigs". BBC Radio 1.
8. Fletcher, Tony (February 1989). "Beat Revolution". SPIN. p. 20. Retrieved 2023-10-07.
9. Ensminger, Kevin (2015-07-08). "The Bristling Activism Behind Kevin Carnes' Relentless Beat". Houston Press. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
10. Watrous, P. (1998) Rock From the Beatnigs, New York Times November 13, 1988
11. Columnist, John Zelazny, Time Out Music (2018-11-08). "Michael Franti stays human". Aspen Daily News. Retrieved 2023-12-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
12. The Rough Guide to Rock, Peter Buckle, ed. Rough Guides (2003) ISBN 1-84353-105-4

External links

• The Beatnigs at AllMusic
• Album review in Trouser Press

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