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The KLF - also known by various other names including '''The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu''', '''The Timelords''', The ''' K Foundation ''', and '''2K''' - were one of the seminal bands of the British Acid House movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Beginning in 1987, Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D, Time Boy) and Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock, Lord Rock) released Hip Hop inspired and Sample-heavy records as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu and, on one occasion (the British number one hit single " Doctorin' The Tardis "), as The Timelords. As The KLF, Drummond and Cauty pioneered the genres " Ambient House " and "stadium house" (a form of Rave Music designed to fill stadiums and large nightclubs). They also recorded Trance and Heavy Metal . The KLF released a series of international 'top ten' hits on their own KLF Communications record label, and were the highest internationally-selling UK band of 1991. From the outset they adopted the philosophy of a fictional cult from Esoteric novels '' The Illuminatus! Trilogy '', gaining notoriety for various anarchic Situationist manifestations, including the defacement of billboard adverts and the posting of their own weird adverts in '' NME '' magazine and the mainstream press. Their most famous musical performance was a Brit Awards protest involving a machine gun, a dead sheep and buckets of blood, although their highly distinctive and unusual performances on Top Of The Pops were also renowned. They published the infamous book '' The Manual '' and worked on a road movie called '' The White Room '' with director Bill Butt. In February 1992 - at their incendiary Brits appearance with Extreme Noise Terror - they announced that they had left the music business, and in May of that year they 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 a million Pounds Sterling . Although Drummond and Cauty remained true to their word of May 1992 - the KLF Communications catalogue remains deleted - they have released a small number of new tracks since then, as the K Foundation , as 2K, and - on '' The Help Album '' (a charity record) - as The One World Orchestra. HISTORY Origins and motivation '', December (?) 1986 ( link )., and "a work of humble genius: the best kind". Artist and musician it was seen by a young Jimmy Cauty. '', Drummond & Cauty's first album]] Re-reading ''Illuminatus!'' in late 1986, and influenced by hip-hop, Drummond felt inspired to react against what he perceived to be the stagnant soundscape of popular music. Recalling the moment in a radio interview, Drummond said that the plan came to him in an instant. He would form a hip-hop band with former colleague Jimmy Cauty, and they would be called The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. He recounted this - in a more hyperbolic fashion - in the October 1987 KLF Communications "Info Sheet", the first in a series of despatches from Drummond and Cauty to subscribers and journalists: This was an attitude that, despite the international mainstream popularity of their later work, did not soften, manifesting Drummond and Cauty's combined output in a variety of forms throughout their creative partnership. The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu ", depicting a billboard with "Shag Shag Shag" graffiti.]] Early in 1987, Drummond and Cauty's collaborations began. They assumed alter egos - Kingboy 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 yet seldom in conventional ways. The JAMs' primary instrument was the new rhythms, and overlayed with Drummond's Raps , of social commentary, esoteric metaphors and mockery. The JAMs' debut single ", defacing selected Billboards . The re-release rewarded The JAMs not just with further praise (including New Musical Express (NME) "single of the week"Kelly, D., "All You Need Is Love" review, '' New Musical Express '', 23 May 1987.), but also with the funds necessary to record their debut album. Said Drummond,
The JAMs again ran afoul of copyright laws due in large part to the song "The Queen and I", which sampled large portions of the '' magazine, offering to sell the last five copies for £1000 each. This served Drummond and Cauty's legend-making aspirations well, and added to the notoriety of the album. '' : a photograph of the bonfire of illegal ''1987'' discs.]] Two new singles followed ''1987'', on The JAMs' renamed "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, ''" follow, as Bill Drummond ecstatically announces "Whitney Houston joins the JAMs!". 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 ) to sign with themInterview 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 ). . Drummond turned the job down but nonetheless The KLF signed with Arista as their American distributors. The second single in this sequence - Drummond and Cauty's third and final single of 1987 - was "Down Town", a rather more conventional dance record built around " Downtown " by 60s star Petula Clark Reviewed by '' NME '' writer James Brown in the 28 November 1987 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.). The Timelords )]] In 1988, Drummond and Cauty became "Time Boy" and "Lord Rock", and released a 'novelty' pop single, " Doctorin' The Tardis ", as The Timelords. The song is predominantly a Mash-up of the Doctor Who Theme Music and Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll (Part Two), with sparse vocals inspired by The Daleks and Harry Enfield 's "Loadsamoney" character. "Doctorin' the Tardis" reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 12 June , and also charted highly in Australia and New Zealand . 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 claimed the car spoke to them, giving its name as Ford Timelord, and advising the duo to become "The Timelords". Drummond and Cauty often claimed that the song was the result of a deliberate effort to write a number one hit single. However, in interviews with SnubTV and '' Magazine - "a record so noxious that a TopTen 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 ). 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 J.A.Ms" 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 KLF's Stadium House tour-de-force ( KLF Communications JAMS LP6 )]] The name change accompanied a change in Drummond and Cauty's musical direction. Said Drummond (as 'Kingboy 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". Kingboy D also claimed that he and Rockman Rock were "pissed off at for letting "people expect us to lead some sort of crusade for sampling"Kingboy D, KLF Communications Info Sheet, 22 January 1988 ([http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=501 link ). In 1990 he recalled that "We wanted to make 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 rave 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 and 1990 The KLF embarked upon the creation of a Said to Jason ", an Electropop record featuring references to Todd Terry , Rolf Harris , Skippy The Bush Kangaroo and BBC comedy programme The Good Life amongst others. In reference to that song, Drummond and Cauty noted that they had worn " Pet Shop Boys infatuations brazenly on {Link without Title} 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 Singles Chart Top 100 and forcing the entire film and soundtrack project to be put on holdKLF Communications, "Information Sheet Eight", August 1990 ( link ). In the meantime, "What Time Is Love?", which had already been deleted, 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 1991 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 vocals, a sample-heavy pop-rock production and crowd noise samples. The Stadium House singles, including "What Time Is Love?", "3 a.m. Eternal" and "Last Train to Trancentral" were international hits along with the 1991 UK top ten album, '' The White Room ''. A new version of " Justified And Ancient " was released featuring vocals from American country star Tammy Wynette . In 1990 and 1991, The KLF '', 25 May 25 1991 ( link ). 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, still incorporating the work of other artists in less gratuitous ways and, in the main, without legal problems. Retirement On 12th February 1992 The KLF and hardcore thrash metal group 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 ewe - bon appetit {Link without Title} " tied around its waist at the entrance to one of the post-ceremony parties. 's infamous appearance at the 1992 Brit Awards .]] Reactions were mixed. 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: " 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 14 1992, The KLF announced their immediate retirement from the music industry and the deletion of their entire back catalogue:
The final KLF Info sheet (number 23 ) 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", '''', Dec 1996 ( link ) Drummond himself said that he was on the edge of the "abyss".Drummond, Bill and Mark Manning, ''Bad Wisdom'' (ISBN 0140261184) K Foundation and post-retirement projects The '''''. - a million pounds in cash - and Filmed the "performance". 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"). "The Magnificent" was 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". 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 '''', 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 reunite with his former partner from The Orb, Alex Paterson. THEMES 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 '' (Little & Brown, ISBN 0316853852 / Abacus, ISBN 0349112894), Drummond documented his love of The Residents as a concept ( link ).. Illuminatus! Drummond and Cauty made heavy references to Discordianism , a modern Chaos -based religion originally described by Malaclypse The Younger in '' Principia Discordia '', but popularised by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson in the ''Illuminatus!'' books, published between 1969 and 1971 . While the duo's well-documented attitudinal and tactical endeavours resembled those of the fictional JAMs, their references to themes of Discordianism and ''Illuminatus!'' also manifested their musical, visual and written work, meticulously and often covertly. " video]] Attitude and tactics The attitude of Drummond and Cauty's partnership matched that of the fictional cult whose name they had adopted, disregarding authority and subverting established order, in a range of humorous, innovative and unpredictable ways. They wilfully violated copyright law; their publication of ''The Manual'' challenged the credibility of the UK Singles Chart s, by offering the premise that the top position in the charts was available to anyone, irrespective of talent; and they made several extravagant Situationist attempts to subvert the art world. Throughout the partnership, these tactics were often interpreted by media commentators as "pranks" or " Publicity Stunt s". However, according to Drummond, "That's just the way it was interpreted. We've always loathed the word scam. I know no-ones 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 January 1991 ( link ). Lyrics and self-reference 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 Kingboy D and a talking Porpoise converse, references the talking porpoise, Howard, 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, the The KLF's hit singles of 1991 and 1992 reference themselves and each other extensively, re-using original vocal samples in a variety of musical contexts. 23 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:
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", '''' with the standard revolution speeds of a turntable (33.3 and 45 rpm). "Pyramid Blaster" The "Pyramid Blaster" was a logo and 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 September 1997 and '' The Guardian '', 5 November 1997 ( link ). 'K' 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 ) original Completeist List doesn't mention them.-->, " Kallisti Liberation Front" and "Kings of the Low Frequencies". This mirrors ''Illuminatus!'', where the fictional JAMs are in alliance with The LDD - who regularly change the origins of their name - 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 " Drummond and collaborator Jimmy Cauty are the only true Conceptual Artist s of the 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 maker - ''45''", '' The Observer '', 26 February 2000 ([http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=487 link ) He concluded, Other themes Other themes in the KLF's work include:
CAREER RETROSPECTIVE AND LEGACY As pioneers Despite their protestations of 1988, The JAMs continue to be associated with the cultural movement which has come to be termed samplism and which retrospectively bundles together those literary and artistic works which make use of what could be termed 'creative plagiarism'. ''1987: What the Fuck Is Going On?'', is considered a seminal work in the early history of Sampling music in the United Kingdom . (See Bastard Pop ). ", 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 , '', March 1996 ( link ). ''The Guardian'' have credited The KLF with inventing "stadium house"O'Reilly, J. "The horny old devils", '', N-Joi and Messiah . '' Sound On Sound '' magazine credited The KLF with "set {Link without Title} the trend for a new approach to mixing". Engineer Mark "Spike" 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 Jan 1991 ( {Link without Title} ) 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 {Link without Title} 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...". Direct influence
Wanda D as "The KLF" has a place in here somewhere -- possibly, is she notable enough to mention?--> The KLF have been imitated to some degree by German techno band Scooter , and were themselves 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 footballer Eric Cantona . 1300 Drums even made a KLF-style Top Of The Pops appearance, with the "band" wearing Cantona masks. The Timelords' book, ''The Manual'', was reportedly used by the one-hit-wonders Edelweiss to secure their number one hit "Bring Me Edelweiss". "Last Train to Trancentral (Live from the Lost Continent)" is used in the finale of the Blue Man Group 's theatrical show. Blue Man Group's Complex Rock Tour featured 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 restrospectives In 1992, ''NME'' referred to The KLF as "Britain's greatest pop group" and "the two most brilliant minds in pop today", and in 1993 listed the duo in their "Top 50 Icons" (at number 48)"Top 50 NME Icons", '' newspaper 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 September 2003 ( 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 '' magazine called them "noted self-publicists" and "media pranksters"). PERSONNEL Cauty and Drummond were writers, producers and performers of the original music they recorded. However, as The KLF they often called upon the services of recurring contributors to provide vocals, instrumentation and production support. The KLF often referred to such contributors as "additional communicators" and, on some "Stadium House" singles, as "The Children of the Revolution".
The JAMs' earlier work sampled from the popular works of established artists, whereas The KLF's international reputation allowed their later work to feature guest vocals from such established performers as Tammy Wynette, Gary Glitter and Glenn Hughes . INSTRUMENTATION
SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY See Also: The KLF discography Albums
UK top 10 singles
REFERENCES
FOOTNOTES EXTERNAL LINKS
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