R.U. Sirius & Shira Chess are pleased (and a little frightened) to announce that we have contracted with Strange Attractor Press to publish Freaks in the Machine: Mondo 2000 in Late 20th Century Tech Culture. With a forward by Grant Morrison.
Before the entire world was online, before it was divided
into social media enclaves and corporate-sanctioned
“likes,” before even WIRED magazine, there was Mondo
2000. Published from 1989-1997, Mondo reached a peak
distribution of about 100,000, but the magazine was even
more influential than its distribution implied. M2K was
raved about by 90s media outlets, consumed by early tech
culture, and demonstrated a transition from the literary
cyberpunk style of Gibson and Vinge into an aspirational
cyberpunk aesthetic that leaked into the material world. In
1994, Douglas Rushkoff described Mondo as the “voice of
cyberculture.”
Published by a rag-tag team of psychonauts and
counterculture weirdos, and based out of a Berkeley Hills
mini-mansion, the parties and strange goings-on were
almost as legendary as the magazine itself. The Mondo
publishers — editor-in-chief R.U. Sirius and Domineditrix
Queen Mu — were not technologists. Yet their Bay Area
publication created a desire for the technological zeitgeist
of the coming millennium. In turn, the high (and sometimes
low) weirdness of Mondo established a kaleidoscopic onramp
that rocketed a lot of early adaptor mutants (or
“Mondoids”) onto the so-called “information superhighway”
of the late 90s and early 00s.
Part memoir, part history, and part critical analysis, Freaks in the Machine tells the storied adventures of the magazine’s tumultuous history, its strange cast of characters and its irreverent content.
“Mondo was the next bold stage in an evolutionary advance where street cred and an underground ethos would come with the potential to appeal to a mainstream audience, to wake up the straight world, announcing its arrival like a flare over the horizon so everyone could see and know this was the signal they’d been waiting for.” -Grant Morrison
R.U. Sirius is still best known as the editor-in-chief of the
great 1990s cyberculture magazine Mondo 2000 although
some historians insist that he should be most remembered
for his skills as a second baseman in the West Islip New
York little league while others have raved about the
infrequent and disturbing live appearances of the band
Mondo Vanilli. [Note from Shira: There were no historians.]
He has written for Time, Rolling Stone, Salon, WIRED and
a bunch of other publications that are stored on the tip of
his tongue. Books include Counterculture Through The
Ages (with Dan Joy), Design for Dying (with Timothy
Leary) and Cyberpunk Handbook (with St. Jude & Bart
Nagel).
Shira Chess is an Associate Professor in Entertainment &
Media Studies at the University of Georgia and a
recovering game studies scholar. She is the author of
several books on digital culture and video games,
including the forthcoming MIT Press book The Unseen
Internet: Conjuring the Occult in Digital Discourse. She
joins this project to add context and history, to referee any
nonsense, to try to make sense of Sirius’s lunatic ravings,
and to excise any excesses of cringe.
AI-Musement Park and MONDO Vanilli’s Blockchain Busting Musical Experience “R.U. Cyber.. R.U. Against NFTs?”
Immediate release from: 03/03/2023
“AI-Musement Park comprises a cornucopia of performances / talks / happenings / documentary & discussion about AI, Intelligences, technocapitalism’s more than pressing-ongoing urgencies.” -Eleanor Dare, Cambridge University & AI-Musement Park
R.U. Cyber.. R.U. Against NFTs? An original AI-Musement Park, PlayLa.bZ & MONDO 2000 History Project human and machine learning co-creation, taking the perspective of an AI that is training itself on the R.U. Sirius & MONDO Vanilli ‘I’m Against NFT’s’ song lyrics, exploring a surreal, mind melting and multi-dimensional 360 world of paradoxes and conflicting rules.
“Mondo Vanilli was originally intended to be a virtual reality band exploding all assumptions about property and propriety in the 1990s. Today fabrication becomes de rigueur as the connection to the real is intentionally confused by the banal political tricksters of power and profitability… while storms pound our all-too-human bodies and communities. I am thrilled to finally see MONDO Vanilli in it’s appropriate context. Immersive. Come play in the simulacra one more time” -R.U. Sirius, MONDO 2000
R.U. Cyber.. R.U. Against NFTs? Is a satirical, irreverent block-chain busting commentary on the propaganda relations fueled ‘Web 3’ hype around non-fungible tokens and the broader issues that underpin our algorithmically massaged hyper-connected infinite scrolls and trolls age. Challenging our assumptions about the nature of technology, creativity, and value, reminding us that the digital world is shaped by powerful forces that determine what is valued and what is not, and a click is not always for free.
Join Us! On Spring Solstice 2023 For “R.U. Cyber? :// Mondo 2000 History Project Salon” at MozFest Virtual Plaza & Mozilla Hubs: AI-Musement Park 20th March / 8.30pm EU / GMT
About R.U.Sirius & Mondo 2000 #Mondo2000 #RUSirius
R.U. Sirius is an American writer, editor, and media pioneer. Known for being one of key psychedelic & cyberpunk movement figures. Best known as Mondo 2000 editor-in-chief and at forefront of 1990s underground cyberculture movement.
About Mozilla Festival #TrustworthyAI #AIMusementPark
Since 2010, MozFest has fueled the movement to ensure the internet benefits humanity, rather than harms it. This year, your part in the story is critical to our community’s mission: a better, healthier internet and more Trustworthy AI.
About PlayLa.bZ CIC #PlayLabZ #SpatialCadetZ
Co-founded by PsychFi, FreekMinds & Squire Studios we’re a next generation multipotentiality multi-award-winning, multi-dimensional motion arts experience design laboratory, developing DIY changemaking createch immersive experiences & software applications for social good storycraft. Supporters & Friends: Mozilla Festival, Jisc: Digifest, Beyond Games, Tate Modern, Furtherfield, Boomtown Festival, Sci-Fi-London, Ravensbourne University London, UAL, East London Dance, NESTA, Modern Panic, ArtFutura, Kimatica, National Gallery X, Kings College London, Looking Glass Factory, SubPac, Ecologi, The JUMP, BOM Labs, Mondo 2000
PR Contact: James E. Marks, Tel: 07921 523438 @: jem@playla.bz Twitter: @GoGenieMo
Fake Album Cover Infinite Gesture Unrecorded Lyrics by R.U. Sirius by Jay Cornell visit Undated Records for more great visuals
Avant God (2016)
I want an avant god Loving perversity Unlimited diversity
Optimized for your VR cabal Totally portable Sometimes snortable
Gendered or not Maybe subject to rot Why not?
The avant god is as real As the knees on which they kneel Try to keep it on an even keel The kind of god you have to steal
The avant god is false The kind of god you must report The kind of god that misses court The kind of god you know you want
I want an avant god Loving perversity Unlimited diversity
The Tedium Is The Message (2018)
You know it hit me in the gut Rampaging glut of culture Nobody needs to consume anymore Another song — I’m just another bore
Every day with nothin’ to sing Luxury communism the next big thing Yeah it’s the thing that’s hot And this new song… I guess it’s not
The tedium is the message Go tell it on the stage Tear down the proscenium walls Another crack at days of rage Old yippie act your age Or turn in your back pages We’ll throw them in the fire And we’ll wear grown up attire
You know it hit me in the gut Rampaging glut of culture Nobody needs to consume any more Another song I’m just another bore Every day nothin’ to sing Luxury communisms the next big thing Yeah it’s the thing that’s hot And this new song… I guess it’s not
(psychedelic breakdown musical interlude)
The tedium is the message Culture ain’t your friend Be all psilocybin imbibin’ Strange attractor til the end That list of albums you never send That last attempt to make a trend It’s all just gonna end Culture ain’t your friend
The tedium is the message Go tell it on the stage Tear down the proscenium walls Another crack at days of rage Old yippie act your age Or turn in your back pages We’ll throw them in the fire And we’ll wear grown up attire
Flabbergasted
Well I used to be disgusted And then I tried to be amused But now I’m just plain flabbergasted At the depth of the abuse And I’m not singing ‘bout a bad date And I’m not singing ‘bout ya 2 minutes hate I’m looking at the new level of crazy With their hands wrapped around our fate
Does anybody remember the quantified life? (R. Plant voice) Does anybody remember laughter? Does anybody remember the balcony speeches? Does anyone remember bloodletting and leeches? Does anyone remember the days before then? Lugubrious meetings with remake-able men & Little Brother is watching one and other So mark your turf — Then run for cover
Our Cruel Father Who Art Beheaded (2020)
Our cruel father who art beheaded Shallow be thy almost long tail Thy ghosts are feted no statues erected & all the tasty treatises are pungent stale You took a wish upon a star Even your golf game was subpar And there’s no remorse just one less source Of crumblin’’ dice & slammed shut doors
Our cruel father Lost his head Who will bake All the children bread Who will run The important biznesses Who will count All the lesser sicknesses
Our cruel father who art beheaded Swallowed much too much for one man Took his sadness to the blood bank Now there’s nothing much left to brand With all the sins the eater consumes All the letting a million lilacs bloom All the fantasies dreamed by the TV All the tricks that say can you see
Our cruel father Lost his head Who will bake All the children bread Who will run The important biznesses Who will count All the lesser sicknesses
Two Truthers and a Birther Walked Into A Bar (2016)
Two truthers and a birther walked into a bar The truthers had some ritalin — the birther had a car They made a pact right then and there To tell the folks who didn’t care About the bad things being done And get some guns and have some fun
Scrambled codes make scrambled minds Strategic lies make paranoids Anemic guys make angry blogs Unhappy girls want perfect bods
The truthers split to berkeley & hung out in a tree The birther went to Nashville — The Grand Opry They planned to meet halfway between And make the sheeple share their dream By dropping acid in the tea Then pirating every Tee Vee
Scrambled codes make scrambled minds Strategic lies make paranoids Anemic guys make angry blogs Unhappy girls want perfect bods
The birther trained the truthers in marksmanship and fight The truthers showed the birther how to hack into a bank But things went south when Truther One Shared all their plans with Neil Young Who wrote a song then turned them in While slipping each a Mickey Finn
Scrambled codes make scrambled minds Strategic lies make paranoids Anemic guys make angry blogs Unhappy girls want perfect bods
The truthers woke up sadly in a stuporous haze They swore to all in court it had just been a phase The birther returned to the south Big hero by word of mouth Did a day maybe two in jail Ex-Governor Perry paid his bail
Scrambled codes make scrambled minds Strategic lies make paranoids Anemic guys make angry blogs Unhappy girls want perfect bods
We Are Duchampians of the World (Infinite Gesture) (2019)
Libido mosquito Found in a purse Dead man’s soup can Things could be worse Infinite gesture Obstinate curse Reframe the same refrain Give it another name
We are Duchampians my fiendish little friends And we neverminded the Karens or the Kens We are Duchampians We are Duchampians Open for cruising And we are Duchampians of the world
Regrettably circumspect More sly than high Ivy league and twee Means shit to me Infinite gesture Land of the fee Home of the craven Reframe the same refrain
We are Duchampians my fiendish little friends And we neverminded the Karens or the Kens We are Duchampians We are Duchampians Open for cruising And we are Duchampians of the world
The Stepfather Of His Country
He was the stepfather of his country But he raised the kids as his own He gave them ears of corn — oodles of porn But when they bought bad cocaine they earned his scorn
& when they all got older He turned them into soldiers Strapping tote bags to their shoulders filled with weapons of mirth It was all rather cheery He read them Dr. Leary Until those silly numbskulls Decided to give birth
That was just the final straw This was just what killed their pa “Birth & death stay from my door What do you think the porn was for? To make you each one onanistic Now I’ll get a bit fascistic”
One by one he ate his grandkids Chowed them down like gutted pigs Except one who was schizophrenic & could produce some anaesthetic Together they drifted into a coma Singing gleeful songs of soma
& thus a world was born & died All because of a stepdads pride It takes a village to make things fair Fuckin’ stepdad didn’t care
No Rest For The Precariat (2019)
Dumb easy feckless proles Matrons danced the Watusi Hoodlum malcontents did the stroll Early tech geeks couldn’t find sushi
Assholes like me were relentlessly droll Dads at home acted like il Duce Middle class kids weren’t on the dole Everyone bowled and went to the movies
But now there’s no rest Now there’s no rest Now there’s no rest For the Precariat But now there’s no rest Now there’s no rest Now there’s no rest For the Precariat
Punters fighting punters Owners sailing yachts We can jump into the fire But we cant afford new Reeboks Nothing much is left to say It’s cyberwar from day to day Street distress from night to night Play instruments of madcap blight
And now there’s no rest Now there’s no rest Now there’s no rest For the Precariat But now there’s no rest Now there’s no rest Now there’s no rest For the Precariat
MONDO is Italian for World (2019)
When I opened up her fridge Saw tablespoons of monkey jizz Preserved within a box of lemons Next to the tarantula venom That is when I had to see This was just the gal for me
All along the citadel Physicists were raising hell Alchemists were raising heaven Magicians were raising seven Fools were shouting 23 This must be the place for me
Soon an apparition came Carrying a vial of fame Pleased to meet you what’s my name? “I’m the scepter and the stain” Come on in, call me “him” Take this number, call up Tim
It was all a mad charade And a glorious freak parade Some got screwed but some got laid Most got something some got paid Mondo is Italian for world I knew this had to be my girl’’
Deleuze Guittari Gnash & Jung (2020)
Deleuze Guittari Gnash & Jung They weren’t having too much fun Til Dylan came along in a big-ass truck Sayin’’ “Hey who really gives a fuck?”
They all piled in pointing at him Taking narcotics and drinking gin Bob asked “who here plays guitar Who else here is a fuckin’ star? & if you don’t like blues harmonica Get the fuck out my car”
Well they had to think of something Deleuze started humming Then Jung started dreamin’ And Gnash started schemin’
Bob said “that’ll have to do” Guattari said “I ain’t no fool Let’s cruise drunken through the burbs Pretend that we’re the angry birds”
They saw the white men cooking chicken That is when the plot did thicken While Deleuze and Guattari screamed like angry birds Dylan didn’t say a fuckin’ word
Soon the neighbors with their guns Cried “go elsewhere with all your fun We like Bob Dylan and we like puns But we have no truck with Carl Jung”
And just to make them stay away Said “Last week we fucked up Dr. Dre And if you wanna see the dawn Hey hey you you get offa my lawn”
(rept many times) They said “hey hey you you get offa my lawn
Lip Sync Ships Stinker
Torn limb from limb by the mean girls at the orphanage Glued back together in a spirited attempt at hoodoo bricolage Went on a rampage of irreligious sacrilege It didn’t matter to her a whit if it was Islam or written in Sanskrit
Lip syncs sink ships Uncle Fester loves Trent Reznor Polly the hijacker wants a cracker Lip sync ships stinker
She sniffed the air tingling & tasting loves uneasy lunacy Saw sorrowful vistas spotted with funereal urns She rang a doorbell brought her neighbors an eerie shrieking doll With that invasion they entered the dreamlands of the unwell
Lip syncs sink ships Uncle Fester loves Trent Reznor Polly the hijacker wants a cracker Lip sync ships stinker
Live Free Or Dye Your Hair Blue (2020)
(every other line is verse/chorus i.e. call/response, etc.)
What will you wear to the new civil war? Live free or dye your hair blue Who’s gonna be your new Tipper Gore? Live free or dye your hair blue Did you beat the militias to the gun store? Live free or dye your hair blue What will you wear to the new civil war? Live free or dye your hair blue
Will it be televised virtual or raw? What will you wear to the new civil war? Will it be tearful fearful and more? What will you wear to the new civil war? They’ve got the bullets we’ve got the queens What will you wear to the new civil war? Scare ‘em up with pictures of guillotines What will you wear to the new civil war?
His name’s Erik Prince and he’s not funky Live free or dye your hair blue Should we wear grunge or a wee bit punky? Live free or dye your hair blue Frilly shirts & scarves like those elegant junkies? (distant voice shouting … “it’s only rock and roll”) Live free or dye your hair blue What will you wear to the new civil war? Live free or dye your hair blue
Live Free Or Dye Your Hair Pink (2021)
Live free or dye your hair pink The choice is easier than you think There ain’t no choices just cacophony of voices It’s the entire kitchen sink So while we try to make sense Ideas are being steamrolled by events While we try to make sense Ideas are being steamrolled by events
An intoxicating mixture of dogshit and fennel Chowed down right there in the very kennel A handful of bros and their surly bitches Laughing in the faces of beheaded snitches And if’n that don’t float your boat See what the news is with your remote Yes pandemonium comes to all seven seas Pirates with nukes and the deadly bees
So take a moment to name your poison To run with the wolves or hang with the boys ‘n’ Take a quick pic for an NFT fortune Or just wait around for the next bus to Boston
Not A Bug But A Feature (2017)
We all have a lot of drugs It’s not a bug it’s a feature And me I’m easily buzzed So I can give you a bunch of my drugs
They tell me hugs not studs They tell me don’t piss in the strudel But I don’t care for their advice I’ve got some drugs to make me nice
We’re having too much fun And all the guns are loaded And we were born to be wacked And we were made to attack
We were born inside out Like in a Cronenberg movie But we have lots of strange drugs Therefore the whole thing is groovy
Queerish (2019)
You couldn’t sit outside Without some trajectory Some vast vocabulary Hitting upside your head
You couldn’t read queer studies To a Ballardian fuddy duddy Messing with your data entry Some self-conscious narco-mancy
Have we not lived too long? Can you please digeriDON’T? I’m only begging Apollo For a few sensible follows
I only want to light up a smoke Take a broken mirror home Zapruder film please leave me alone I only want an ice cream cone (rept last 2 lines)
The Smarter King Of Deliria (2020)
The girl at the ticket booth Started wailing and weeping With all the grieving A body could hold seething & the bouncer standing near to me With cracked and violent idiot glee Was swinging his fists randomly Saying everybody gets in for free But first you have to get passed me
Everyone from all around saying stuff that sounds profound & a smarter king of Deliria That day was duly crowned & if you listen a wee bit closer To all the people in the ground You’ll hear them screaming loud & this is the sound
[follow with Ornette Coleman meets Jimi Hendrix 8 minute jam]
Sneerbot (2014)
The edgelord built a sneerbot He knew it would replace him When it came time to upload his mind He slipped away on a vacation He hid out in Tangiers Imagining he was Brion Gysin But Edgelord pals can’t be trusted And one day one slipped him some ricin
And we were laughing all the way to the bank But we found the account was vacant We tried everything from flash to bland And to making the sex more blatant We tried pitching to the British ravers And to the sincere planet savers And to the loony libertarians Who didn’t do us too many favors
And the sneerbot says… Haw haw haw they used to wipe there own asses Haw haw haw they used to wipe there own asses Haw haw haw they used to wipe there own asses Haw haw haw they used to wipe there own asses
And the sneerbot says… Look at this history of the human masses Haw haw haw they used to wipe their own asses And look at this dude tryin’ to boil his own eggs Man those humans was on their last legs
Watched jocks and the hippies share a kegger And give free oysters to the local beggar I’ve seen this all with my very own eyes Man these humans they take the fuckin’ prize
and the sneerbot said Haw haw haw they used to wipe their own asses Haw haw haw they used to wipe their own asses Haw haw haw they used to wipe their own asses Haw haw haw they used to wipe their own asses
Beware The Rolling Logs (2017ish)
We’re rolling logs He lets me pet his frog I use his cancer-smelling dog We’re gonna shoot P.J. O’Rourke
Beware of spiritual babes who worship Hindus named Craig Beware of racist grifters playing for political gain Beware of every belief or of even giving relief Beware of Einsturzende Neubauten as much as Judas Priest
We’re rolling logs He lets me pet his frog I use his cancer smelling dog We shot P.J. O’Rourke
Beware of eating bad things that turn out to be good Beware of stuff that’s good for you that isn’t even food Beware of arguing with people who quote Michel Foucault Beware of garbage etymologists trying to steal all your faults
We’re rolling logs He lets me pet his frog I use his cancer smelling dog We didn’t shoot P.J. O’Rourke
(rhythm change) When the world is almost over I’m gonna be that fat lady who sings So much to do in-between Get big tits – record some hits Maybe get married to Sting
How To Explain The Details
He took wheels made of concrete, tied them to a dead ox Then put a boy who had both measles and the mumps on top Boiled some tea using cadmium and rotted melon And to guard it all he bought a matching set of escaped felons
At the opening with Jeff Koons Hirst and Emin Drinking Pernod and passing out buttered pillow trim Laughing vigorously at all of Emin’s cynical jokes When the testicles of Valentino emerged from out my throat
What to do then how to explain the details? It was that trip to Spain where I came upon some entrails They weren’t testicular damned I cried in my defense The artist just laughed at me and said this chokes at your expense
And that’s how I learned the ways of sensual martyrs Not from some blue hair punkette in Stiv Bators dog collar It took a friendly tea of cadmium and some melon stink And something about Jeff Koons that made me want to go to sleep
Vertigo & World War 3 (2022)
With no fucks left to give We fell into the abyss And kept falling & falling falling endlessly Vertigo and World War Three
And the gods said… We gave them the pandemic We sent some great floods Australia was pretty much on fire We got them to accept eating bugs But World War 3 is gonna be big Fry the trees and roast the pigs And here’s the hilarious kicker We’ll call the newsman Wolf Blitzer
Yes all the gods laughed and laughed “Oh man that’s just way to crass” Let’s get this thing movin’ Get around to shootin’ Putin And America all rootin’ tootin’ Will probably give the final bruisin’ Drop the big one like once before Melt the earth down to its core What do you think the money was for?
Ain’t no micro-aggression Get over yourself No cure for depression There’s nukes on that shelf No contested election No stories to tell Death in every direction Yes this is hell
Have a Dramamine Have a wacky dream Have a widespread illness Take some time for silliness Before world war three Before world war three This ain’t the space age We ain’t here to go Vertigo
Don’t you know the way? Just say Namaste But don’t say gay Watch those assholes pray Before world war three Before world war three This ain’t the space age We ain’t here to go
Ignore (2020)
Ignore Out of boredom or torpor The trending thing is so soporific & your beauty & the moonlight is so terrific So ignore
Ignore Every Marie Kondo urging you pep talk Every ugly rumor about Johnny Depp Just ignore
& when you’re stuck in traffic Some MAGA wearing a leather jacket Some argument that trades logic for static Ignore
And if everybody else lost the plot & you ask are they really alive or not Just lay yourself down on the cot Have some whiskey & a little pot & ignore
In 1989, Reality Hackers issue #6 ran this aditorial by Morgan Russell on the inside cover calling out “the others” to join us in mutating. The magazine had made a deal with a major distributor to publish 80,000 copies. For some reason, they wound up distributing largely to Piggly Wiggly’s in the deep south. We only sold a small fraction of them. Many months later, we came out as MONDO 2000. Most of our 20,000 copies sold out fast through small indie distributors. Yay!
