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-garde industrial jazz poets collective". The band was the initial collaboration of Michael Franti and Rono Tse, who would later form Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Kevin Carnes who would later form Broun Fellinis. 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. The Beatnigs released an LP and 12" EP of their most famous song, "Television: The Drug of the Nation on Alternative Tentacles in 1988. That same year the played their NYC "debut" at the New Music Seminar, and recorded for the BBC's Peel Sessions. The LP was recently reissued by Alternative Tentacles, which called it a "classic slab of late 1980s political rap/punk/industrial/???". One venue for the band was Barrington Hall. Franti at the time worked for Berkeley's Subway Guitars.