| The KLF (also known as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), The Timelords and other names) were one of the seminal bands of the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s.The duo also published a book, The Manual, and worked on a road movie called The White Room.From the outset, they adopted the philosophy espoused by esoteric novels The Illuminatus!This performance announced The KLF's departure from the music business, and in May 1992 the duo deleted their entire back catalogue.With The KLF's profits, Drummond and Cauty established the K Foundation and sought to subvert the art world, staging an alternative art award for the worst artist of the year and burning one million pounds sterling.Foundation, The One World Orchestra and most recently, in 1997, as 2K.The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu
1.Trancentral, eternity, sheep
2.Opinions of contemporaries
3.Instrumentation
5 Selected discography
5.Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes.Drummond had signed to WEA Records and managed.As an art student in Liverpool, Drummond had been involved with the set design for the first stage production of The Illuminatus!Drummond felt inspired to react against what he perceived to be the stagnant soundscape of popular music.Jimmy Cauty, and they would be called The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu.It was New Year's Day ...And within a week we had recorded our first single which was called "All You Need Is Love".Early in 1987, Drummond and Cauty's collaborations began.The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), after the fictional conspiratorial group "The Justified Ancients of Mummu" from The Illuminatus!Discordians' gleeful political tactics of causing chaos and confusion by bringing a direct, humorous but nevertheless revolutionary approach to making records, often attracting attention in unconventional ways.The JAMs' primary instrument was the digital sampler with which they would plagiarise the history of popular music, cutting chunks from existing works and pasting them into new contexts, underpinned by rudimentary beatbox rhythms and overlayed with Drummond's raps, of social commentary, esoteric metaphors and mockery.The JAMs "the hottest, most exhilarating band this year....It's hard to understand what it feels like to come across something you believe to be totally new; I have never been so wholeheartedly convinced that a band are so good and exciting."The back cover of Who Killed The JAMs?ABBA single "Dancing Queen".Drummond and Cauty travelled to Sweden in hope of meeting ABBA and coming to some agreement, taking an NME journalist and photographer with them, along with most of the remaining copies of the LP.They failed to meet ABBA, so disposed of the copies by burning most of them in a field and throwing the rest overboard on the North Sea ferry trip home.Both reflected a shift towards house rhythms.The song uses samples of the Mission: Impossible theme alongside Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody".Ironically, Drummond has claimed that The KLF were later offered the job of producing or remixing a new Whitney Houston album as an inducement from her record label boss (Clive Davis of Arista Records) to sign with them.Drummond turned the job down, but nonetheless The KLF signed with Arista as their American distributors."Down Town", a dance record built around a gospel choir and "Downtown" by 1960s star Petula Clark.These early works were later collected on the compilation album Shag Times."Doctorin' the Tardis" reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 12 June, and charted highly in Australia and New Zealand.Drummond and Cauty would later portray the song as the result of a deliberate effort to write a number one hit single.Drummond said that the truth was that they had intended to make a house record using the Dr Who theme.After Cauty had laid down a basic track, Drummond observed that their house idea wasn't working and what they actually had was a Glitter beat.Sensing the opportunity to make a commercial pop record they abandoned all notions of underground credibility and went instead for the lowest common denominator.The KLF
By the time the JAMs' single "Whitney Joins The JAMs" was released in September 1987, their record label had been renamed "KLF Communications" (from the earlier "The Sound of Mu(sic)")."Burn the Beat" (KLF 002).Although the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu name was not yet retired, most future Drummond and Cauty releases would go under the name "The KLF".The name change accompanied a change in Drummond and Cauty's musical direction.Said Drummond (as 'King Boy D') in January 1988, "We might put out a couple of 12" records under the name The K.KLF records out until late '88".The KLF described these new tracks as "Pure Trance".In 1989, The KLF appeared at the Helter Skelter rave in Oxfordshire."They wooed the crowd", wrote Scotland on Sunday some years later, "by pelting them with...Scottish pound notes which each bore the message "Children we love you"".Also in 1989, The KLF embarked upon the creation of a road movie and soundtrack album, both titled The White Room, funded by the profits of "Doctorin' The Tardis".Neither the film nor its soundtrack were formally released, although bootleg copies of both exist.Todd Terry, Rolf Harris, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and BBC comedy programme The Good Life.In consequence, The White Room film project was put on hold, and The KLF abandoned the musical direction of the soundtrack and single.KLF Communications, "The KLF were being feted by all the 'right' DJs".Pure Trance release, "Last Train to Trancentral", followed.The ambient album Space and The KLF's ambient video Waiting were also released in 1990, as was a heavier, more industrial sounding dance track, "It's Grim Up North", under The JAMs' moniker.The results brought The KLF international recognition and acclaim.The first "Stadium House" single, "What Time Is Love?""Stadium House" songs followed by downtempo tracks.American country star Tammy Wynette."America: What Time Is Love?"In 1990 and 1991, The KLF also remixed tracks by Depeche Mode ("Policy of Truth"), The Moody Boys ("What Is Dub?"Bill Drummond had written all the chords out and played it on an acoustic guitar, very thorough."Retirement
On 12 February 1992, The KLF and hardcore heavy metal group Extreme Noise Terror performed a live version of "3 a.As the band left the stage, The KLF's promoter and narrator Scott Piering announced over the PA system that "The KLF have now left the music business".NME, on the other hand, said that The KLF "stormed" the show and that after their performance the BRITs show went "downhill all the way".Scott Piering's PA announcement of The KLF's retirement was largely ignored at the time.He has taken over pop music and it has been a piece of piss to do so.He wants to be separate from a music industry that clasps him ever closer to its bosom.He loves being in the very belly of the beast, yet he wishes he was something that'd cause it to throw up too.There is, Bill old boy, no sensible way out."We have been following a wild and wounded, glum and glorious, shit but shining path these past five years.For the foreseeable future there will be no further record releases from The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The Timelords, The KLF and any other past, present and future name attached to our activities.If we meet further along be prepared...In a comprehensive examination of The KLF's announcement and its context, Select called it "the last grand gesture, the most heroic act of public self destruction in the history of pop.Many of The KLF's friends and collaborators gave their reactions in the magazine.Movie director Bill Butt said that "Like everything, they're dealing with it in a very realistic way, a fresh, unbitter way, which is very often not the case.Scott Piering said that "They've got a huge buzz off this, that's for sure, because it's something that's finally thrilling.It's scary to have thrown away a fortune which I know they have.Well, they have such great ideas, like buying submarines".Even Kenny Gates, who as a director of The KLF's distributors APT stood to lose financially from the move, called it "Conceptually and philosophically ..."For the very last spectacularly insane time", the magazine concluded, "The KLF have done what was least expected of them".The final KLF Info sheet discussed the retirement in a typically offbeat fashion, and asked "What happens to 'Footnotes in rock legend'?Do they gather dust with Ashton Gardner and Dyke, The Vapors, and the Utah Saints, or does their influence live on in unseen ways, permeating future cultures?Each speck a universe awaiting creation, Big Bang just a dawn away'."BRIT Awards organiser Jonathan King had publicly endorsed The KLF's live performance, a response which Scott Piering cited as "the real low point".The KLF's BRITs statuette for "Best British Group" of 1992 was later "found" buried in a field near Stonehenge.Two "old reprobates": The KLF come out of retirement for 23 minutes to make an appearance as 2K.The Magnificent Seven, with vocal samples from DJ Fleka of Serbian radio station B92: "Humans against killing..."Two elderly gentlemen, reeking of Dettol, caused havoc in their motorised wheelchairs."Fuck the Millennium" (a remix of "What Time Is Love?"At the same time, Drummond and Cauty were also K2 Plant Hire, with plans to build a "People's Pyramid" from used house bricks; this plan never reached fruition.KLF projects including the music and conceptual art collective Blacksmoke and the electronic music group the Transit Kings, which saw him reunited with his former partner from The Orb, Alex Paterson.However, by the end of 1987 Drummond and Cauty had renamed their label to "KLF Communications" and, in October 1987, the first of many "information sheets" (self written missives from The KLF to fans and the media) was sent out by the label.As Drummond and Cauty explained, "The Cartel is, as the name implies, a group of independent distributors across the country who work in conjunction with each other providing a solid network of distribution without stepping on each other's toes.We are distributed by the Cartel."The KLF Communications catalogue remains deleted in the United Kingdom.Drummond and Cauty "represent a vital and innovative strand within contemporary culture", he added.Malaclypse the Younger in Principia Discordia, but popularised by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson in the Illuminatus!The attitude and tactics of Drummond and Cauty's partnership matched that of the fictional cult whose name they had adopted.We've always loathed the word scam.Cauty has expressed similar feelings, saying of The KLF, "I think it worked because we really meant it".In addition to resembling the fictional JAMs attitudinally and tactically, references to themes of Discordianism and Illuminatus!The KLF's single version of "Last Train to Trancentral" opens with the demand "Okay, everybody lie down on the floor and keep calm", which is also taken from Illuminatus!.The refrain "All bound for Mu Mu land", from The KLF's "Justified and Ancient (Stand by The JAMs)" is a reference to the Lost Continent of Mu, which Shea and Wilson identify with the fictional land Lemuria in Illuminatus!.Some research suggests that archeological remains located in waters off the coast of Japan may be Mu; at the end of the "Justified and Ancient" music video, The KLF exit in a submarine."Burn the Bastards" is also to be found on "What Time Is Love?Live at Trancentral), "Last Train to Trancentral (Live from the Lost Continent)" and "Fuck the Millennium".The number 23, significant within numerology, is a theme of Illuminatus!Similarly, an abundance of such occurrences were deposited throughout Drummond and Cauty's collective output, for example:
In lyrics to the song "Next" from the album 1987: "23 years is a mighty long time".In numbering schemes: for instance, the debut single "All You Need Is Love" took the catalogue number JAMS 23, while the final KLF Communications Information Sheet was numbered 23; and Cauty's Ford Galaxie police car had on its roof the identification mark 23.When questioned on the importance that he attaches to this number, Drummond has been evasive, responding enigmatically "I know.But I'm not going to tell, because then other people would have to stop having to wonder and the thing about beauty is for other people to wonder at it.Drummond's penchant for living by numbers has also been observed in his choosing to align the ages at which he undertook creative projects The Man and 45 with the standard revolution speeds of a turntable (33.K2 Plant Hire of "a massive pyramid containing one brick for every person born in the UK during the 20th century".There is no definitive explanation of The KLF's name, nor of the origin of 'K' in the names of the K Foundation and 2K.Drummond and Cauty's decision to reference the Illuminatus!Indeed, it has been suggested by journalist Steven Poole that the public's inability to fully understand The KLF results in all their subsequent activities (as a partnership or otherwise) being absorbed into The KLF's mystique.The KLF's is peculiarly omnivorous.The KLF can never be blown apart by anything they do, no matter how dumb or embarrassing.The myth will suck it up, like a black hole.The KLF, their mythological home, and their studios.I've no alternative but to live here.Eternity is a recurring theme in song titles ("3 a.See The KLF films: The White Room.BRIT Awards was a compromise, replacing his earlier intention to literally cut off his hand at the ceremony.Sheep feature in The KLF ambient video Waiting, and some sheep were guests of honour at the first screening of The KLF's ultimately unreleased film The White Room.Journeys are the subject of the KLF Communications recordings Chill Out, Space, "Last Train to Trancentral", "Justified and Ancient" and "America: What Time Is Love?"Fire and sacrifice were recurring ceremonial themes: Drummond and Cauty made fires to dispose of their illegal debut album and to sacrifice The KLF's profits; their dead sheep gesture of 1992 carried a sacrificial message.KLF Communications' and K Foundation output, being used almost exclusively on sleevenotes and record labels, merchandise and adverts.From the outset of their collaborations, Drummond and Cauty practised the guerrilla communication tactic that they described as "illegal but effective use of graffiti on billboards and public buildings" in which "the original meaning of the advert would be totally subverted".In February 1991, another Melody Maker journalist watched The KLF deface a billboard advertising The Sunday Times, doctoring the slogan "THE GULF: the coverage, the analysis, the facts" by painting a 'K' over the 'GU'.Drummond and Cauty were, on this occasion, caught at the scene by police and arrested, later to be released without charge.In November 1991, the slogan "It's Grim Up North" appeared as graffiti on the junction of London's M25 orbital motorway with the M1, which runs to Northern England.The graffiti, for which The JAMs denied responsibility, led to a House of Commons motion being timetabled by Member of Parliament Joe Ashton regarding regional imbalance.In September 1997, on the day after Drummond and Cauty's brief remergence as 2K, the graffiti "1997: What The Fuck's Going On?"London's National Theatre, ten years after the slogan "1987: What The Fuck's Going On?"Similarly, Chill Out is cited as "one of the essential ambient albums".In 1996, Mixmag named Chill Out the fifth best "dance" album of all time, describing Cauty's DJ sets with The Orb's Alex Paterson as "seminal".NME named The KLF's stadium house album The White Room the 81st best album of all time.Obviously there was also stuff on tape, but they would come in with their Ataris and Akai samplers, and we would end up rearranging the whole song whilst mixing things.They would then take away what we did, work on it again, and come back a while later, and I'd mix stuff again.My KLF work put me in the picture, and after that the phone never stopped ringing.Opinions of contemporaries
In 1991, Chris Lowe of the Pet Shop Boys said that he considered the only other worthwhile group in the UK to be The KLF.Neil Tennant added that "They have an incredibly recognisable sound.EMF nicked the F from KLF.They're from a different tradition to us in that they're pranksters and we've never been pranksters."In March 1994, members of the anarchist band Chumbawamba expressed their respect for The KLF.Alice Nutter referred to The KLF as "real situationists" categorising them as political musicians alongside the Sex Pistols and Public Enemy.Dunst Bruce lauded the K Foundation, concluding "I think the things The KLF do are fantastic.I'm a vegetarian but I wish they'd sawn an elephant's legs off at the BRIT Awards."Direct influence
The KLF have been imitated to some degree by German techno band Scooter, and were themselves apparently the victims of a "hoax" when an outfit called "1300 Drums featuring the Justified Ancients of M.The authorship of "Ooh Aah" remains unresolved: at least one source maintains that Drummond and Cauty were 1300 Drums.The group's Rock Concert Instruction Manual is a tribute to The Manual.Career retrospectives
Drummond and Cauty have made frequent appearances in the British broadsheets and music papers since The KLF's retirement, most often in connection with the K Foundation and their burning of a million quid.It is worth noting that The KLF in their various incarnations have been to an extent "media darlings" who have received largely unqualified praise from the printed media.The British music paper also listed The KLF's 1992 BRIT Awards appearance at number 4 in their "top 100 rock moments".The same piece also quoted Sheryl Garratt, editor of The Face: ""the music hasn't dated."Their attitude was shaped by the rave scene, but they also love pop music.So many people who make pop actually despise it, and it shows."In a largely cynical piece, Trouser Press reviewer Ira Robbins referred to The KLF's body of work as "a series of colorful sonic marketing experiments".In 2003, The Observer named The KLF's departure from the music business (and the BRITs performance in which the newspaper says "their legend was sealed") the fifth greatest "publicity stunt" in the history of popular music (Elvis joining the army being hailed as the greatest).Foundation placed second in a list of "rock excesses" (after The Who).The SSL is referenced in the subtitle of The KLF single "3 a.Cauty played electric guitar on "Justified and Ancient (Stand by The JAMs)" and "America: What Time Is Love?".Graham Lee provided prominent pedal steel contributions to The KLF's Chill Out and "Build a Fire".Duy Khiem played clarinet on "3 a.Eternal" and "Make It Rain".What the Fuck Is Going On?"Special K", GQ magazine (April 1995), quoting "a ringingly quixotic press release" issued by Drummond in 1986 (link)."KLF", Trouser Press magazine (link).Retrieved 20 April 2006."The Man review", Sounds, 8 November 1986 (link)."The Man" review, Q magazine, December (?Brian Logan about dogs that talk and sucking spirits up your bottom", The Guardian (Manchester), 29 August 2000, "Guardian Features Pages" section, p14.Transcript taken from the KLF FAQ.Reviewed by NME writer James Brown in the 28 November 1987 edition.Ford Every Scheme", Sounds, 28 May 1988 (link)."Doctorin' the Tardis" review, Melody Maker, 28 May 1988 (link)."Who Killed The KLF?"Select, July 1992 (link).KLF Communications Info Sheet, 22 January 1988 (link)."The Arts: My name is Bill, and I'm a popaholic", The Daily Telegraph (London), 2 March 2000, p27.Art at its very best (or worst)", The Guardian, 24 November 1993 (link)."Money to burn", The Observer, 25 September 1994.Foundation Burn a Million Quid.KLF Communications profile at Discogs.Chill Out review, New Musical Express (link)."The Return of The KLF", Sky, October 1997 (link).For a general overview see: "The 1980s AIDS campaign", Panorama Article on the BBC website (accessed 26 April 2006)."The JAMs: centre of political interest", New Musical Express, 9 November 1991 (link).Smiths top the pops: Oldies and goldies in hall of fame", The Guardian (Manchester), 17 April 2002, "Guardian Home Pages" section, p6.Retrieved 21 April 2006.NME's 28 November 1987 review of The JAMs' single "Down Town" referred to them as "The Kings of The Greengate Sampler".KLF Communications, sleevenotes, The White Room, JAMS LP6, 1991.KLF Communications, sleevenotes, "America: What Time Is Love?"KLF Communications' fan site
KLF Mailing List
KLF Online fan site
The KLF at the All Music Guide
The KLF and Illuminatus!"America: What Time Is Love?"This page was last modified 01:11, 1 January 2008.WITH RESOLUTION OF 1028 X 768.JAMS to destroy all remaining copies of their "1987" LP .ABBA refused to meet with KLF.You're in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance...Object MovedThis object may be found here.The Klf at Amazon.Shop Amazon for low prices on a vast selection of new and used music.Great Deals at Winbuyer.JAMS and the Timelords) just before their retirement in 1992.The Klf at Amazon.Shop Amazon for low prices on a vast selection of new and used music.Great Deals at Winbuyer.Save on Office Supplies.Buy MusicWant to see your products in Yahoo!Current Advertisers Sign InHelp improve Yahoo!This video will appear on your blog shortly.Thank you for sharing your concerns.Please refer to our Help Center for more information and the complete instructions.Thank you for sharing your concerns.That just makes me angry.How many lives could that money have saved.PLEASE GOOGLEcfi nostradamus usaCenter for InquirySee the D.ENJOY THE SILENCE on *TOP* of THE WTC........They did what they wanted with their money.Pretty cool if you ask me.This has the look and feel of Spinal Tap.KLF is not just a band its a social movement.Thats a very confident and sure statement, its world weariness.If they really regret it why don't they just bring out a few new tracks should beeasy for them these days.That is just how you framed it.The act's meaning is beyond words.Would you like to comment?The KLF Docu burning of a million quid.The KLF Docu burning of a million quid.Excerpt from a 50 minute doc about the brilliant and contraversial artists Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty aka THE KLF or K Foundation aka The Jams.Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.Get the latest Flash player.This video has been added to your favorites.Content of this nature is not necessarily prohibited on YouTube, however we will review this video and take action as appropriate.We can only process copyright complaints submitted by authorized parties in accordance with processes defined in law.Please refer to our Help Center for more information and the form to submit.Thank you for sharing this video!Change this to see only comments above a certain value.What are you talking about?Lord protect us from the fury of the northmen.Grim ain't the word for what I think of the south.After making your selection, copy and paste the embed code above.The code changes based on your selection.The KLF
Who Killed the Jams?The KLF
The History of the JAMS a.The KLF
The Commercial, Vol.All Rights Reserved
ARTISTdirect is a federally registered service mark of ARTISTdirect, Inc.The "A with the arrow logo" is a service mark of ARTISTdirect, Inc.Bill Drummond of the KLF just before he commits an act of sacrilege against a Bob Dylan record in his automobile. |
