ENCORE PRESENTATION: 'STAND BY FOR FAILURE: A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT NEGATIVLAND' w/ Ryan Worsley

Dec 23, 2025

Ryan Worsley, a documentary filmmaker celebrated for her innovative work with found footage, dives deep into the world of Negativland. She shares her unique journey of discovering the band and the challenges of capturing their complex narrative in 'Stand By For Failure.' The conversation highlights their controversial history with copyright, the blend of humor and shock in their live performances, and the powerful legacy of founder David Wills. Worsley also reflects on the evolving landscape of media ownership and cultural jamming in today's digital age.

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INSIGHT

Let Media Tell The Story

Ryan Worsley framed Stand By For Failure by letting Negativland's media artifacts tell the story rather than imposing a chronological narrative.
This approach revealed perception, media repetition, and recurring themes as the film's organizing principle.

ANECDOTE

Don Joyce's Ashes As A Stunt

Negativland sold a plastic bag with a portion of Don Joyce's ashes as a media stunt and art piece after his death.
Ryan says the stunt highlighted how media presents shocking things without deeper public understanding.

INSIGHT

Media As A Mirror

Negativland functions as a mirror that makes us question why we believe what we believe by exposing media's shaping of perception.
The group resists delivering fixed opinions, instead prompting listeners to reconsider media-driven reality.

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Hey everyone...welcome to our bi-monthly ENCORE PRESENTATION of classic REVOLUTIONS PER MOVIE episodes from the vault!

This was a special one...director Ryan Worsley had just finished the film at the time of this recording and was publicly screening it along with Negativland performing live afterwards. Not only was it the best Negativland performance I had ever seen, but it was also one of the most powerful (upsetting and darkly funny) shows I'd ever witnessed. A band that is notoriously difficult to pin down was explored beautifully with Stand By For Failure, so I was excited to get into the weeds (and we do!).

(EPISODE 55 originally aired Sept 26th 2024)

ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:

This week, we are joined by documentary filmmaker RYAN WORLSEY to discuss her film STAND BY FOR FAILURE: A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT NEGATIVLAND. We discuss how Ryan was introduced to the world of Negativland and what she thought of it, how she decided the best way to tell their complicated but surpringly emotional story, the fair use doctrine and copyright law, are Negativland really a band, David Wills (aka The Weatherman) and his astonishing talents & laughter through it all, Negativland's origin story, how Negativland’s current live show We Can Really Feel LIke We’re Here might be their most powerful work to date, the band signing and then getting sued by SST Records, their long-running radio show Over The Edge, what Negativland did with band member Don Joyce’s ashes after his passing, can you still culture jam today, plunderphonics, how Negativland’s perceptions of the world are formed through their music and then mirrored back to us, Richard Lyons' and his alter egos, the U2 lawsuit against the band, the majesty of Casey Casem swearing, the resilience of the band through all their hardships, seeing the inside of The Residents’ recording studio in the film, the Christianity Is Stupid murder myth, how artist’s are still getting ripped off, what it’s like being the subject of a documentary, where Ryan & Negativland stand on AI, and the cultural desert that is the suburbs.

Is there any escape from noise? Find out on this week’s episode of Revolutions Per Movie!!!

RYAN WORSLEY:

http://pool-food.com/failure/

NEGATIVLAND:

https://negativland.com/

https://negativland.com/negativland-documentary

REVOLUTIONS PER MOVIE:

Host Chris Slusarenko (Eyelids, Guided By Voices, owner of Clinton Street Video rental store) is joined by actors, musicians, comedians, writers & directors who each week pick out their favorite music documentary, musical, music-themed fiction film or music videos to discuss. Fun, weird, and insightful, Revolutions Per Movie is your deep dive into our life-long obsessions where music and film collide.

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