The Beatnigs

The Beatnigs were a San Francisco band, which combined hard-core punk, industrial and hip hop influences, described as "a kind of avant-guard industrial jazz poets collective" ["The Rough Guide to Rock",Peter Buckle, ed. Rough Guides (2003) ISBN 1843531054] . The band was the initial collaboration of Michael Franti and Rono Tse, who would later form Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. The band's stage performance included the use of power tools such as a rotary saw on a metal bar to create industrial noise and pyrotechnics [Watrous, P. (1998) Rock From the Beatnigs, "New York Times" [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE4D6123FF930A25752C1A96E948260 November 13, 1988] ] . The Beatnigs released an LP ( [http://www.alternativetentacles.com/product.php?product=16 virus065, Jan 1988] ) and 12" EP of their most famous song [Friskics-Warren, W. (2005) "I'll Take You There: Pop Music And the Urge for Transcendence" Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0826417000] [Goodwin, A. (1991). Popular music and postmodern theory "Cultural studies" 5:174-198] , "Television: The Drug of the Nation" (remixed by Adrian Sherwood, Gary Clail, and Mark Stewart) on Alternative Tentacles in 1988 [Robbins, IA (1991) The Trouser Press Record Guide, 4th ed. Maxwell Macmillan International, ISBN 0020363613] . That same year the played their NYC "debut" at the New Music Seminar [Watrous, P. (1998) Rock by Any Other Name Is "Alternative" "New York Times" [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE0D81F3FF936A25754C0A96E948260 July 15, 1988] ] , and recorded for the BBC's Peel Sessions [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/sessions/1980s/1988/Dec04beatnigs] . The LP was recently reissued by Alternative Tentacles, which called it a "classic slab of late 1980's political rap/punk/industrial/???". One venue for the band was the infamous Barrington Hall. Franti at the time worked for Berkeley's Subway Guitars.

References

External links

*amg | id = 11:bjtvadzkv8w8 | label = The Beatnigs
*Trouser Press.com [http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=beatnigs Album review]