The sleeve of "All You Need Is Love", depicting a billboard with "Shag Shag Shag" graffiti.
Early in 1987, Drummond and Cauty's collaborations began. They assumed alter egos - King Boy D and Rockman Rock respectively - and they adopted the name The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), after the fictional conspiratorial group "The Justified Ancients of Mummu" from The Illuminatus! Trilogy. In those novels, the JAMs are opposed to the Illuminati, a political organisation which seeks to impose order and control upon society. As The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, Drummond and Cauty chose to interpret the principles of the fictional JAMs in the context of music production in the real world. Shrouded in the mystique provided by their disguised identities and the cultish Illuminatus!, they mirrored the fictional JAMs' 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' debut single "All You Need Is Love" ()dealt with the media coverage given to AIDS, sampling heavily from The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" and Samantha Fox's "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)". Although it was declined by distributors fearful of prosecution, and threatened with lawsuits, copies of the one-sided white label 12" were sent to the music press, receiving positive reviews and being made "single of the week" in Sounds."All You Need Is Love" review, Sounds, 14 March1987. The JAMs re-edited and re-released the single, removing or doctoring the most antagonistic samples; lyrics from the song appeared as promotional graffiti, defacing selected billboards. The re-release rewarded The JAMs not just with further praise (including NME´s "single of the week",Kelly, D., "All You Need Is Love" review, New Musical Express, 23 May1987.) but also with the funds necessary to record their debut album.
The back cover of Who Killed The JAMs? : a photograph of the bonfire of illegal 1987 discs.
The album, 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?), was released in June 1987. Included was a song called "The Queen and I" (), which sampled large portions of the ABBA single "Dancing Queen"."The KLF Biography", KLF BIOG 012, KLF Communications, December 1990(link) The recording came to the attention of ABBA's management and, after a legal showdown with ABBADidcock, Barry, "Bitter Swede symphony", Sunday Herald (Glasgow), 21 October2001, p4. and the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society, the 1987 album was forcibly withdrawn from sale. 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."Thank You For The Music", New Musical Express, 17 October1987. 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. In a December 1987 interview, Cauty maintained that they "felt that what [they]'d done was artistically justified."Smith, M., "The Great TUNE Robbery", Melody Maker, 12 December1987 (link)
Two new singles followed 1987, on The JAMs' "KLF Communications" independent record label. Both reflected a shift towards house rhythms. According to NME, The JAMs' choice of samples for the first of these, "Whitney Joins The JAMs" saw them leaving behind their strategy of "collision course" to "move straight onto the art of super selective theft"."Whitney Joins The JAMs" review, New Musical Express, August 1987. 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.Interview with Bill Drummond by Ernie Longmire, "KLF Is Going to Rock You" X Magazine, July 1991 (link)Transcript of a Bill Drummond interview on "Bomlagadafshipoing" (Norwegian national radio house-music show), September 1991 (link)."JAMs turn down Whitney", New Musical Express, 16 November1991 (link) Drummond turned the job down but nonetheless The KLF signed with Arista as their American distributors. The second single in this sequenceâ€"Drummond and Cauty's third and final single of 1987â€"was "Down Town", a rather more conventional dance record built around "Downtown" by 1960s star Petula Clark.Reviewed by NME writer James Brown in the 28 November1987 edition. These early works were later collected on the compilation album Shag Times.
A second album, Who Killed The JAMs? (), was released in early 1988. Who Killed The JAMs? was a rather less haphazard affair than 1987 and earned The JAMs at least one five-star review (from Sounds Magazine, who called it "a masterpiece of pathos"."Who Killed The JAMs?" review, Sounds, February 1988.)
Also credited on the record was "Ford Timelord", Cauty's 1968 Ford Galaxie American police car (claimed to have been used in the film Superman IV filmed in the UK). Drummond and Cauty declared that the car had spoken to them, giving its name as Ford Timelord, and advising the duo to become "The Timelords".
Drummond and Cauty would later portray the song as the result of a deliberate effort to write a number one hit single. However, in interviews with SnubTV and BBC Radio 1,Bill Drummond interviewed by Richard Skinner on Saturday Sequence, BBC Radio 1, December 1990 (MP3) 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. According to the British music press, the result was "rancid",Wilkinson, R., "...Ford Every Scheme", Sounds, 28 May1988(link). "pure, unadulterated agony" and "excruciating","Doctorin' the Tardis" review, Melody Maker, 28 May1988 (link). andâ€"in something of a backhanded compliment from the normally supportive Sounds Magazineâ€""a record so noxious that a top ten place can be its only destiny". They were right: the record went on to sell over one million copies."Who Killed The KLF?", Select Magazine, July 1992 (link). A single of The Timelords' remixes of the song was released: "Gary Joins The JAMs" featured original vocal contributions from Glitter himself, who also appeared on Top of the Pops to promote the song with The Timelords.
The Timelords released one other product, a 1989 book called The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way), a tongue-in-cheek but nonetheless insightful step-by-step guide to achieving a number one hit single with no money and little talent.
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)"). However, the duo's first release as The KLF was not until March 1988, with the single "Burn the Bastards"/"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.L.F., these will be rap free just pure dance music, so don't expect to see them reviewed in the music papers". King Boy D also claimed that he and Rockman Rock were "pissed off at [them]selves" for letting "people expect us to lead some sort of crusade for sampling".Drummond, B., KLF Communications Info Sheet, 22 January1988 (link). In 1990 he recalled that "We wanted to make [as The KLF] something that was ... pure dance music, without any reference points, without any nod to the history of rock and roll. It was the type of music that by early '87 was really exciting me ... [although] we weren't able to get our first KLF records out until late '88".
The 12" records subsequently released in 1988 and 1989 by The KLF were indeed rap free and house-oriented; remixes of some of The JAMs tracks, and new singles, the largely instrumental acid house anthems "What Time Is Love?" () and "3 a.m. Eternal", the first incarnations of later international chart successes. The KLF described the sound of these new tracks as "Pure Trance".
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".Mellor, C. "Beam Me Up, Scotty - How to have a number one (The JAMs way)", Offbeat Magazine, February 1989 (link) Neither the film nor its soundtrack were formally released, although bootleg copies of both exist. The soundtrack album contained pop-house versions of some of the "pure trance" singles, as well as new songs, most of which would appear (albeit in radically reworked form) on the version of the album which was eventually released to mainstream success. A single from the original album was released, however: "Kylie Said to Jason" (), an electropop record featuring references to Todd Terry, Rolf Harris, Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and BBC comedy programme The Good Life. In reference to that song, Drummond and Cauty noted that they had worn "Pet Shop Boys infatuations brazenly on [their] sleeves".Sleevenotes, Indie Top 20 Volume 8, published by Beechwood Music, catalogue number TT08, 1990.
The film project was frought with difficulties and setbacks, including dwindling funds. "Kylie Said To Jason", which Drummond and Cauty were hoping could "rescue them from the jaws of bankruptcy", flopped commercially, failing even to make the UK top-100 and forcing the entire film and soundtrack project to be put on hold.KLF Communications, "Information Sheet Eight", August 1990 (link)
Meanwhile, "What Time Is Love?" was generating acclaim within the underground clubs of continental Europe; according to KLF Communications, "The KLF were being feted by all the 'right' DJs". This prompted Drummond and Cauty to pursue the acid house tone of their Pure Trance series. A further Pure Trance release, "Last Train to Trancentral" followed. At this time, Cauty had co-founded The Orb as an ambient side-project with Alex Paterson. Cauty and Paterson DJ-ed at the monthly "Land Of Oz" house night in London, and The KLF's seminal 1990 "ambient house" LP Chill Out () was born partly from these sessions. 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.
In 1990 The KLF launched a series of singles with an upbeat pop-house sound which they dubbed "Stadium House". Songs from The White Room soundtrack were re-recorded with rap and more vocals (by guests labelled "Additional Communicators"), a sample-heavy pop-rock production and crowd noise samples. The results brought The KLF international recognition and acclaim. The first "Stadium House" single, "What Time Is Love?", released in October 1990, reached #5 in the UK Singles Chart and hit the top-ten internationally. The follow-up, "3 a.m. Eternal" (), was an international top-five hit in January 1991, reaching #1 in the UK and #5 in the US Billboard Hot 100. The album The White Room followed in March 1991, reaching #3 in the UK. A substantial reworking of the aborted soundtrack, the album featured a segued series of "Stadium House" songs followed by downtempo tracks.
The KLF's chart success continued with the single "Last Train to Trancentral" () (UK #2, #3 in the Eurochart Hot 100)."History Rewritten: The KLF biography", sleevenotes, Mu, TOCP-6916, October 1991 (link). In December 1991, a re-working of a song from 1987, "Justified and Ancient" () was released, featuring the vocals of American country star Tammy Wynette. It was an international top-ten hit (UK #2, US #11), as was "America: What Time Is Love?" (UK #4), a hard, guitar-laden reworking of "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?"), and the Pet Shop Boys ("So Hard" from the Behaviour album and "It Must Be Obvious"). Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant described the process: "When they did the remix of 'So Hard', they didn't do a remix at all, they re-wrote the record ... I had to go and sing the vocals again, they did it in a different way. I was impressed that Bill Drummond had written all the chords out and played it on an acoustic guitar, very thorough."Brown, J. "The Pet Shop Boys Versus The World", New Musical Express, 25 May 251991.
After successive name changes and a plethora of highly influential dance records, Drummond and Cauty ultimately became, as The KLF, the biggest selling singles act in the world for 1991,Bush, J., KLF biography, All Music Guide (link) still incorporating the work of other artists but in less gratuitous ways and predominantly without legal problems.
Retirement
On 12 February1992, The KLF and hardcore heavy metal group Extreme Noise Terror performed a live version of "3 a.m. Eternal" at the Brit Awards, the British Phonographic Industry's annual awards show, a "violently antagonistic performance" in front of "a stunned music-business audience".McCormick, N., "The Arts: My name is Bill, and I'm a popaholic", The Daily Telegraph (London), 2 March2000, p27. Drummond and Cauty had planned to throw buckets of sheep's blood over the audience, but were prevented from doing so due to opposition from BBC lawyers"Brits behaving badly", BBC News Online, 4 March2000 (link)"Baa-nned
KLF sheep chopped by BBC", New Musical Express, 22 February1992 (link) and "hardcore vegetarian" Extreme Noise Terror.Kelly, D. "Welcome To The Sheep Seats", New Musical Express, 29 February1992 (link) The performance () was instead garnished by a limping, kilted, cigar-chomping Drummond firing blanks from an automatic weapon over the heads of the crowd. Later in the evening the band dumped a dead sheep with the message "I died for eweâ€"bon appetit [sic]" tied around its waist at the entrance to one of the post-ceremony parties.
Reactions were mixed. Piers Morgan, writing in The Sun, under the headline "KLF's Sick Gun Stunt Fails To Hit The Target", called The KLF "pop's biggest wallies" "KLF's Sick Gun Stunt Fails To Hit The Target", The Sun, 13 February1992 (link) and producer Trevor Horn is reported to have called their antics "disgusting".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 announcement over the PA as the band left the stage that "The KLF have now left the music business" was largely ignored at the time. NME, for example, assured their readers that the tensions and contradictions would continue to "push and spark" The KLF and that more "musical treasure" would be the result, but they noted: "[Drummond has] himself nicely skewered on the horns of an almighty dilemma. He has taken over pop music and it has been a piece of piss to do so. And he hates that. 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. He wants not only to bite the hand that feeds but to shove it into an industrial mincer and stomp the resultant pulp into the dirt, yet pop, as long as you continue to make it money, would let you sexually abuse its grandmother. There is, Bill old boy, no sensible way out."
In the weeks following the Brits performance, The KLF continued working with Extreme Noise Terror on the album The Black Room, but it was never finished. On May 141992, The KLF announced their immediate retirement from the music industry and the deletion of their entire back catalogue:
In a comprehensive examination of The KLF's announcement and its context, Select Magazine called it "the last grand gesture, the most heroic act of public self destruction in the history of pop. And it's also Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty's final extravagant howl of self disgust, defiance and contempt for a music world gone foul and corrupt." 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. A lot of bands disappear with such a terrible loss of dignity". 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. Just the idea of starting over is exciting. Starting over on what? 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 ... absolutely brilliant". Mark Stent reported the doubts of many when he said that "I [have] had so many people who I know, heads of record companies, A&R men saying, 'Come on, It's a big scam.' But I firmly believe it's over". "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 Vapours, and the Utah Saints, or does their influence live on in unseen ways, permeating future cultures? A passing general of a private army has the answer. 'No', he whispers 'but the dust they gather is of the rarest quality. Each speck a universe awaiting creation, Big Bang just a dawn away'."KLF Communications Information Sheet #23, May 1992 (link)
There have been numerous suggestions that in 1992 Drummond was at the edge of a nervous breakdown.Shaw, W., "Special K", GQ Magazine, April 1995 (link)"[1992] had been the year of Bill's 'breakdown', when The KLF, perched on the peak of greater-than-ever success, quit the music business, (toy) machine gunned the tuxedo'd twats in the front row of that year's Brit Awards ceremony and dumped a sheep's carcass on the steps at the after-show party." Martin, G., "The Chronicled Mutineers", Vox, December 1996 (link) Drummond himself said that he was on the edge of the "abyss".Drummond, Bill and Mark Manning, Bad Wisdom (ISBN 0140261184) 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."Brits statuette dug up", Q Magazine, Feb 1993 (link)
K Foundation and post-retirement projects
The K Foundation was an arts foundation established by Drummond and Cauty in 1993 following their 'retirement' from the music industry. From 1993 to 1995 they engaged in a number of art projects and media campaigns, including the high-profile K Foundation art award (for the "worst artist of the year")."The Best Of Artists, The Worst of Artists", New York Times, 29 November1993 (link).Ellison, M. "Terror strikes at the Turner Prize / Art at its very best (or worst)", The Guardian, 24 November1993 (link). Most notoriously, they burnt what was left of their KLF earningsâ€"a million pounds in cashâ€"and filmed the "performance".Butler, B., interview with Jimmy Cauty for The Big Issue Australia, 18 June2003 (link). For Cauty's actual wordsâ€"a breakdown of The KLF's earnings and spendingâ€"see Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid."Burning Question", The Observer, 13 February2000 (link)
Two "old reprobates": The KLF come out of retirement for 23 minutes to make an appearance as 2K.
In 1995, Drummond and Cauty contributed a song to The Help Album as The One World Orchestra ("featuring The Massed Pipes and Drums of the Children's Free Revolutionary Volunteer Guards").Discogs.com entry for "One World Orchestra, The" (discogs.com link) "The Magnificent" () is a drum'n'bass version of the theme tune from The Magnificent Seven, with vocal samples from DJ Fleka of Serbian radio station B92: "Humans against killing... that sounds like a junkie against dope".
In November 1995, the BBC aired an edition of the Omnibus documentary series about The K Foundation entitled "A Foundation Course in Art".Reviewed by Sutcliffe, Thomas, The Independent (London) ISSN 09519467, 7 November1995, TV section p24.Jayne Casey (Drummond's former bandmate from Big in Japan) jokingly scolded Drummond on continuing to claim that he and Cauty were retired from the music business, as, she said, he had the DAT (digital audio tape) in his pocket. At another point in the film, Cauty is shown rummaging in a bag for the DAT of "The Magnificent". Drummond is clearly heard to say "Make sure it isn't the DAT with 3 tracks on it". Only one track was ever released.
In 1997, ten years after their debut album 1987, Drummond and Cauty re-emerged briefly as 2K.Flint, C. "Media Pranksters KLF Re-emerge As 2K", Billboard, 2 September1997 (link) 2K made a one-off performance at London's Barbican Arts Centre with Mark Manning, Acid Brass, the Liverpool Dockers and Gimpo;"Justified and (Very) Ancient?", Melody Maker, 20 August1997 (link) a performance at which "Two elderly gentlemen, reeking of Dettol, caused havoc in their motorised wheelchairs. These old reprobates, bearing a grandfatherly resemblance to messrs Cauty and Drummond, claimed to have just been asked along."2K press release & biography on the website of their record label, Mute/Blast First (link) The song performed at the Barbican – "Fuck the Millennium" (a remix of "What Time Is Love?" featuring Acid Brass and incorporating elements of the hymn "Eternal Father, Strong to Save") – was also released as single (). These activities were accompanied by the usual full page press adverts, this time asking readers "***k The Millennium: Yes/No?" with a telephone number provided for voting. 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."People's Pyramid", Melody Maker, 15 November1997 (link)"2K: Brickin' it!", New Musical Express, Nov 97 (link)
Bill Drummond continues to work as a writer and conceptual artist. Jimmy Cauty has been involved in several post-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.
Several threads and themes unify the many incarnations of Drummond and Cauty's creative partnership. Mostly these are esoteric or opaque in nature, which has lead some people to compare Drummond and Cauty's incarnations to The Residents for their antics, if not their music.Stubbs, D. "Pranks for the Memory", Melody Maker, 16 February1991 (link)In his book 45 (Little & Brown, ISBN 0316853852 / Abacus, ISBN 0349112894), Drummond documented his love of The Residents as a concept (link). Drummond and Cauty have also been compared to Stewart Home and the Neoists.Extract from a feature on Stewart Home. Cornwell, J. i-D Magazine, Nov 1993 (link)
Illuminatus!
Drummond and Cauty made heavy references to Discordianism, a modern chaos-based religion originally described by Malaclypse The Younger in Principia Discordia, butpopularised by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson in the Illuminatus! books, published between 1969 and 1971. The attitude and tactics of Drummond and Cauty's partnership matched that of the fictional cult whose name they had adopted. Throughout the partnership, these tactics were often interpreted by media commentators as "pranks" or "publicity stunts". However, according to Drummond, "That's just the way it was interpreted. We've always loathed the word scam. I know no-one's ever going to believe us, but we never felt we went out and did things to get reactions. Everything we've done has just been on a gut level instinct."Morton, R., "One Coronation Under A Groove", New Musical Express, 22 January1991 (link).
In addition to resembling the fictional JAMs attitudinally and tactically, references to themes of Discordianism and Illuminatus! also manifested Drummond and Cauty's musical, visual and written work, meticulously and often covertly.
The JAMs' debut single "All You Need Is Love" includes the words "Immanentize the Eschaton!", in reference to the opening line of Illuminatus!, "They immanentized the Eschaton", interpreted as "they brought about the end of the world" or "they brought heaven to Earth". The JAMs' "The Porpoise Song", from the album Who Killed The JAMs?, in which King Boy D and a talking porpoise converse, references Howard, the talking porpoise in 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 final single, "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.
Drummond and Cauty's output is also highly self-referential, in common with Illuminatus!. In particular, original vocal samples are reused in a variety of musical contexts. For example, the ring modulated "Mu Mu!" sample that first appeared on "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!, where instances of the number are both overtly and surreptitiously placed. 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 periods of time: for instance, they reportedly signed a contract preventing either of them from publicly discussing the burning of a million pounds for a period of 23 years;K Foundation, "Cape Wrath" advertisement, in The Guardian (G2), 8 December1995(link). their 1997 return as 2K was "for 23 minutes only".2K press advert (link, overview) * In numbering schemes: 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. * In significant dates during their work: for instance, a rare public appearance by The KLF, at the Liverpool Festival of Comedy, was on 23 June1991; they announced the winner of the K Foundation award on 23 November1991;"K-Foundation nailed", New Musical Express, 11 December1993 (link) and they burned one million pounds on 23 August1994.
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. It's not very beautiful once you know"."Freak Show", i-D magazine, December 1994 (link). 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 (33.3 and 45 rpm).
The "Pyramid Blaster" logo.
The "Pyramid Blaster" is a logo and icon frequently and prominently depicted within the duo's collective work: a pyramid, in front of which is suspended a ghetto blaster displaying the word "Justified". This references the All-Seeing Eye icon, often depicted as an eye within a triangle or pyramid, a significant symbol of Illuminatus!. The pyramid was also a theme of the duo's 1997 re-emergence, with the proposed building by K2 Plant Hire of "a massive pyramid containing one brick for every person born in the UK during the 20th century".Fortean Times, referencing The Big Issue, 15 September1997 and The Guardian, 5 November1997 (link).
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. KLF has been variously reported as being an acronym for "Kopyright Liberation Front", "Kallisti Liberation Front" and "Kings of the Low Frequencies". This mirrors Illuminatus!, where the fictional JAMs are in alliance with The LDDâ€"who regularly change the origins of their nameâ€"and The ELF ("Erisian Liberation Front").
Although Drummond accounted for the adoption of The JAMs name in the first KLF Communications Info Sheet, the reasoning behind Drummond and Cauty's decision to reference the Illuminatus! mythology with such consistent intricacy is unknown. 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. In a review of Drummond's 1999 book, 45, and an appraisal of The KLF's career, Poole stated that "[Bill Drummond] and collaborator Jimmy Cauty are the only true conceptual artists of the [1990s]. And for all the eldritch beauty of their art, their most successful creation is the myth they have built around themselves."Poole, S., "Hit man, myth makerâ€"45", The Observer, 26 February2000 (link) He concluded,
Trancentral, Eternity, Sheep
Trancentral (aka the BenioMead, H. (1990), Chill Out review, New Musical Express (link).) was the operations centre of The KLF, their mythological home, and their studios. Despite the grandiose lyrics of "Last Train To Trancentral", Trancentral was in fact Cauty's residence in Stockwell, South London, "a large and rather grotty squat" said David Stubbs in Melody Maker. "Jimmy has lived [there] for 12 years. ('I hate the place. I've no alternative but to live here.') There's little evidence of fame or fortune. The kitchen is heated by means of leaving the three functioning gas rings on at full blast until the fumes make us all feel stoned.... And, pinned just above a working top cluttered with chipped mugs is a letter from a five-year-old fan, featuring a crayon drawing of the band."
Eternity is a recurring theme in song titles ("3 a.m. Eternal", "Madrugada Eterna") and lyrics, and also Drummond and Cauty asserted that 'Eternity' was the author of an ambiguous, far-reaching contract offered to The JAMs. See The KLF films: The White Room.
Following the February 1990 release of Chill Out, sheep had recurring roles in the duo's output until their 1992 retirement. Drummond has claimed that the use of sheep on the Chill Out cover was intended to evoke contemporary rural raves, and insisted that the dead sheep gesture at the 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 launch of The KLF's ultimately unreleased film The White Room. It is unclear whether the theme of sheep had any particular artistic meaning. Indeed, the inner sleeve of The White Room CD pictured Drummond and Cauty each holding a sheep, with the caption "Why sheep?".
Ceremonies and journeys
Drummond and Cauty's work often involved notions of ceremony and journey. Journeys are the subject of the KLF Communications recordings Chill Out, Space, "Last Train to Trancentral", The White Room, "Justified and Ancient" and "America: What Time Is Love?", as well as the aborted film project The White Room. In his book 45, Drummond expressed his admiration for the work of artist Richard Long, who incorporates physical journeys into his art.Drummond, B., "A Smell Of Money Under Ground", 45, Little & Brown, ISBN 0316853852 / Abacus, ISBN 0349112894, 2000.
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. The KLF's short film The Rites of Mu depicts their celebration of the 1991 summer solstice on the Hebridean island of Jura: a 60-foot tall wicker man was burnt at a ceremony in which journalists were asked to wear yellow and grey robes and join a chant. Chanting also featured in "3 a.m. Eternal", Chill Out andâ€"aggressivelyâ€""Fuck the Millennium".
Promotion
A K2 Plant Hire advertisement, exhibiting the stark quality of Drummond and Cauty's press adverts, and the characteristic typeface.
Drummond and Cauty's promotional tactics were unconventional. The duo were renowned for their distinctive and humorous public appearances (including several on Top of the Pops), at which they were often costumed.Frith, M., "The Return of The KLF", Sky, October 1997 (link). They granted few interviews, communicating instead via semi-regular newsletters, or cryptically phrased full-page adverts in UK national newspapers and the music press. Such adverts were typically stark, comprising large white lettering on black. A single typeface became characteristic of all KLF Communications' 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". Much as The JAMs' early recordings carried messages on the back of existing musical works, their promotional graffiti often derived its potency from the context in which it was placed. For instance, The JAMs' "SHAG SHAG SHAG" graffiti, coinciding with their release of "All You Need Is Love", was drawn over the "HALO HALO HALO" slogan of a Today billboard that depicted Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable James Anderton, who had decried homosexuals amidst the UK media's AIDS furore.
Music press journalists were occasionally invited to witness the defacements. In December 1987, a Melody Maker reporter was in attendance to see Cauty reverse his car Ford Timelord alongside a billboard and stand on its roof to graffiti a Christmas message from The JAMs.Smith, M., "The Great TUNE Robbery", Melody Maker, 12 December1987 (link) 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 ParliamentJoe Ashton regarding regional imbalance."The JAMs: centre of political interest", New Musical Express, 9 November1991 (link). In September 1997, on the day after Drummond and Cauty's brief remergence as 2K, the graffiti "1997: What The Fuck's Going On?" appeared on the outside wall of London's National Theatre, ten years after the slogan "1987: What The Fuck's Going On?" had been similarly placed to mark the release of The JAMs' debut album."Pre-millennium tension hits new high", New Musical Express27 September1997 (link).
Despite their protestations of 1988 about not wishing to be seen as crusaders for sampling, The JAMs continue to be associated with the cultural movement which retrospectively bundles together those literary and artistic works that make use of 'creative plagiarism'. 1987: What the Fuck Is Going On?, is considered a landmark work in the early history of sampling music in the United Kingdom. (See Bastard pop.)
KLF Communications' advert for "Justified and Ancient", with a quote from the lyrics: "They travel the world in their ice cream van, they've voyaged to the bottom of time. They've been to the place where the Mu-Mu mate, and the children still cry 'Mine's a 99!'"
Similarly, Chill Out is cited as "one of the essential ambient albums".Bush, J., Chill Out review, All Music Guide. Retrieved 6 April2006. 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".Philips, D., "50 Greatest Dance Albums: # 5", Mixmag, March 1996 (link).
The Guardian have credited The KLF with inventing "stadium house"O'Reilly, J. "The horny old devils", The Guardian, 29 August1997 (link) and NME named The KLF's stadium house album The White Room the 81st best album of all time.http://microsites.nme.com/top100/site/90.htmlhttp://microsites.nme.com/reviews/top100.html Elements of The KLF's stadium house concept (sampled crowd noise, and signatory vocal samples reused on different songs) were adopted by several less successful rave acts of the early 1990s, including Utah Saints, N-Joi and Messiah.
Sound on Sound magazine credited The KLF with "set[ting] the trend for a new approach to mixing". Engineer Mark Stent is quoted as saying:
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. I liked it when they said EMF nicked the F from KLF.Morton, R. "One Coronation Under A Groove", New Musical Express, 12 January1991 ([1]) They're from a different tradition to us in that they're pranksters and we've never been pranksters."
At the time of The KLF's retirement announcement, Drummond's old friend and colleague David Balfe said of Drummond's KLF career that "the path he's trod[den] is a more artistic one than mine. I know that deep down I like the idea of building up a very successful career, where Bill is more interested in weird stuff.... I think the very avoidance of cliche has become their particular cliche".
In March 1994, members of the anarchist band Chumbawumba 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."Maconie, S., Chumbawumba interview, Select, March 1994 (link).
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.U." released a novelty single to cash-in on the popularity of Manchester United footballer Eric Cantona. 1300 Drums even made a KLF-style Top of the Pops appearance, with the "band" wearing Cantona masks. The authorship of "Ooh Aah" remains unresolved: at least one source maintains that Drummond and Cauty were 1300 Drums.RedMuze biography of The KLF at BBC Online (link)
The Timelords' book, The Manual, was reportedly used by the one-hit-wonders Edelweiss to secure their number one hit "Bring Me Edelweiss".Longmire, E. "KLF Is Going to Rock You" X Magazine, July 1991 (link)Reighley, K.B. "Hear No Evil", Seattle Weekly, 26 May1999 (link)
"Last Train to Trancentral (Live from the Lost Continent)" is used in the finale of the Blue Man Group's theatrical show, The Complex Rock Tour, which features pieces from "The Rock Concert Instruction Manual", a tongue-in-cheek deconstruction of pop music and the rock concert experience. Their album Audio also uses samples from The KLF's The White Room.
Career retrospectives
In 1992, NME referred to The KLF as "Britain's greatest pop group" and "the two most brilliant minds in pop today", and in 2002 listed the duo in their "Top 50 Icons" at number 48."Top 50 NME Icons", New Musical Express. See also "Roll over, Beatles - Smiths top the pops: Oldies and goldies in hall of fame", The Guardian (Manchester), 17 April2002, "Guardian Home Pages" section, p6. The British music paper also listed The KLF's 1992 Brits Awards appearance at number 4 in their "top 100 rock moments"."100 Rock Moments", NME.com. Retrieved 21 April2006. 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).Thompson, B. "The 10 greatest publicity stunts", The Observer, 27 September2003 (link)
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".
Drummond and Cauty have made frequent appearances in the British broadsheets 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. This may or may not be due to what NME called their "Master[y] of manipulating media and perceptions of themselves"."Fresh JAMMS?", New Musical Express, 6 September2001 ([2]) (Similarly, Billboard magazine called them "noted self-publicists" and "media pranksters".)
Early releases by The JAMs, including the album 1987, were performed using an Apple II computer with a Greengate DS3 sampler peripheral card, and a Roland TR-808 drum machine.KLF Communications, sleevenotes, "1987: The JAMs 45 Edits", JAMS 23T, 1987. On later releases, the Greengate DS3 and Apple II were replaced with an Akai S900 sampler and an Atari computer respectively. The house music of Space and The KLF involved much original instrumentation, for which the Oberheim OB-8 analogue synthesiser was prominently used.KLF Communications, sleevenotes, The White Room, JAMS LP6, 1991.
The KLF's 1990â€"1992 singles and The White Room LP were mixed by Mark Stent, using a Solid State Logic (S.S.L.) automated mixing desk. This is referenced in the subtitle of The KLF single "3 a.m. Eternal (Live at the S.S.L.)". The Roland TB-303 bassline and Roland TR-909 drum machine feature on "What Time Is Love (Live at Trancentral)".
Several of Drummond and Cauty's compositions feature distinctive original instrumentation using non-synthesised instruments. Drummond played a Gibson ES-330 semi-acoustic guitar on "America: What Time Is Love?",KLF Communications, sleevenotes, "America: What Time Is Love?", KLF USA4, 1992. and 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.m. Eternal" and "Make It Rain". The KLF track "America No More" features a pipe band, and 2K's "Fuck The Millennium" incorporates a full brass band.
