The KLF
The KLF are a British electronic band who originated in Liverpool and London in the late 1980s. Scottish musician Bill Drummond and English musician Jimmy Cauty began by releasing hip hop-inspired and sample-heavy records as the JAMs. As the Timelords, they recorded the UK Singles Chart number-one single "Doctorin' the Tardis", and documented the process of making a hit record in a book The Manual . As the KLF, Drummond and Cauty pioneered stadium house and, with their 1990 LP Chill Out, the ambient house genre. The KLF released a series of international hits on their own KLF Communications record label and became the biggest selling singles act in the world in 1991.
On 23 August 2017, in Liverpool, 23 years after they burnt a million pounds, Drummond and Cauty returned as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. The duo launched a novel, 2023: A Trilogy, and staged a three day event, "Welcome to the Dark Ages". Ending their self-imposed moratorium, the festival included a debate asking "Why Did The K Foundation Burn A Million Quid?" The JAMs also announced new plans for a People's Pyramid to be built from bricks each containing 23 grams of human ashes. New bricks will be laid at the annual "Toxteth Day Of The Dead". Cauty emphasised to the BBC in 2018 that the People's Pyramid project, inspired by his brother's death, is serious: "It's easy to make it sound like a joke", he said, "but it isn't a joke, it's deadly serious and it's a long-term project." He also confirmed that The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu are a going concern: "It's interesting to be in a band that doesn't make records but only makes pyramids of dead people.
Background
Bill Drummond was an established figure within the British music industry, having co-founded Zoo Records, played guitar in the Liverpool band Big in Japan, and worked as manager of Echo & the Bunnymen and the Teardrop Explodes. Artist and musician Jimmy Cauty was the guitarist in the three-piece Brilliant – an act that Drummond had signed to WEA Records and managed. In July 1986, Drummond resigned from his position as an A&R man at record label WEA, citing that he was nearly 33⅓ years old (33⅓ revolutions per minute being the speed at which a vinyl LP revolves), and that it was "time for a revolution in my life. There is a mountain to climb the hard way, and I want to see the world from the top". In the same year he released a solo LP, The Man. Drummond intended to focus on writing books once The Man had been issued but, as he recalled in 1990, "That only lasted three months, until I had an[other] idea for a record and got dragged back into it all". Recalling that moment in a later interview, Drummond said that the plan came to him in an instant: he would form a hip-hop band with former colleague Cauty, and they would be called the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu:
The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu
Early in 1987, Drummond and Cauty's collaborations began. They assumed alter egos – King Boy D and Rockman Rock respectively – and 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. 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 overlaid 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; it received positive reviews and was made "single of the week" in Sounds. A later piece in the same magazine called 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 Timelords
In 1988, Drummond and Cauty released a 'novelty' pop single, "Doctorin' the Tardis" as the Timelords. The song is predominantly a mash-up of the Doctor Who theme music, "Block Buster!" by Sweet and Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll (Part Two)". Credited on the record was "Ford Timelord" (Cauty's 1968 Ford Galaxie American police car), "Lord Rock" (Cauty), and "Time Boy" (Drummond). The Timelords claimed that Ford Timelord was the "Talent" in the band and had given them instructions on how to make the record; Ford fronted the promotional campaign for the single and was "interviewed" on TV. The car would later be banger raced at Swaffham Raceway in 1991.
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)). The duo's first release as the KLF was in March 1988, with the single "Burn the Bastards"/"Burn the Beat" (KLF 002). Although the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu name was not retired, most future Drummond and Cauty releases went under the name "The KLF". The name change accompanied a change in Drummond and Cauty's musical direction. As 'King Boy D', Drummond said 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 said that he and Rockman Rock were "pissed off at [them]selves" for letting "people expect us to lead some sort of crusade for sampling." 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."
BRIT Awards and retirement from the music business
On 12 February 1992, the KLF and grindcore 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. Drummond and Cauty had planned to throw buckets of blood over the audience, or to disembowel a dead sheep on stage, but were prevented from doing so due to opposition from BBC lawyers and vegetarians Extreme Noise Terror; Sheep were a symbol of the KLF, and Drummond conceded that the "sheep hacking" idea was akin to a suicide. Associates reasoned that the plan was to generate such revulsion towards the KLF that they would be ostracised from the music industry and a comeback would be impossible. The dead sheep purchased but the plan thwarted, Drummond considered chopping his hand off with an axe live on stage.
K Foundation and other pre-millennium 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 art projects and media campaigns, including the high-profile K Foundation art award (for the "worst artist of the year"), and in 1993 released a limited edition single – "K Cera Cera" – in Israel and Palestine "to create awareness of peace in the world". They burnt what was left of their KLF earnings – a million pounds sterling in cash (equivalent to £2.35m as of 2022) – and filmed the performance. Cauty and Drummond announced a 23-year moratorium on all K Foundation activities in November 1995.
From their very earliest releases as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu until their retirement in 1992, the music of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty was independently released in their home country (the UK). Their debut releases – the single "All You Need Is Love" and the album 1987 – were released under the label name "The Sound Of Mu(sic)". 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. KLF Communications releases were distributed by Rough Trade Distribution (a spinoff of Rough Trade Records) in the South East of England, and across the wider UK by the Cartel. 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." When Rough Trade Distribution collapsed in 1991 it was reported that they owed KLF Communications £500,000. Plugging (the promotion to TV and radio) was handled by longtime associate Scott Piering.
Several threads and themes unify the many incarnations of Drummond and Cauty's creative partnership, many of these influenced by The Illuminatus! Trilogy; combined, these themes, threads and their activities over the years have been said to form a "mythology." Drummond and Cauty made heavy references to Discordianism, popularised by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson in the Illuminatus! books, Situationism, and tactics often interpreted by media commentators as "Situationist pranks. In a 2000 review of Drummond's book 45, and an appraisal of the duo's career to date, writer Steven Poole stated that Drummond and 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." This deep and perplexing mythology, he suggested, results in all their subsequent activities (as a partnership or otherwise) being absorbed into their mystique:
Illuminatus!
Drummond was the set designer on Ken Campbell's 1976 stage production of The Illuminatus! Trilogy. In the first KLF Communications Info Sheet, Drummond explained that The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu name was "pinched" from Illuminatus! which he had been reading the year before. A notable theme of Illuminatus! is the number 23, placed overtly and surreptitiously, both in the book and later throughout the band's career: 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."
Trancentral
Trancentral (a.k.a. the Benio) was the band's studios. Despite the grandiose lyrics of "Last Train to Trancentral", the Trancentral was in fact Cauty's residence in Stockwell, South London (.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct,.mw-parser-output .geo-inline-hidden{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}51°28′17″N 0°07′41″W / 51.471373°N 0.128167°W / 51.471373; -0.128167 (55 Jeffrey's Road, Stockwell, London)), "a large and rather grotty squat." According to Melody Maker's David Stubbs, "Jimmy has lived [there] for 12 years. 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."
Sheep
Following the February 1990 release of Chill Out (the press release for which credited sheep as guest vocalists), 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 the cover of the Pink Floyd album Atom Heart Mother.
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", "Justified & Ancient" and "America: What Time Is Love?", as well as the aborted film project The White Room. The Chill Out album depicts a journey across the U.S. Gulf Coast. In his book 45, Drummond expressed his admiration for the work of artist Richard Long, who incorporates physical journeys into his art. 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 (18 m) tall wicker man was burnt at a ceremony in which journalists were asked to wear yellow and grey robes and join a chant; the journalists' money was also burnt.
Promotion
Drummond and Cauty were renowned for their distinctive and humorous public appearances (including several on Top of the Pops), at which they were often costumed. 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. 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.[n 3]
Reputation as "pranksters"
Cauty and Drummond's tactics have often been labelled by media commentators as "pranks" or "publicity stunts". In 1991, Drummond told an NME journalist that "we never felt we went out and did things to get reactions. Everything we've done has just been on a gut level instinct", whilst acknowledging that people would likely not believe him. On the morning after the BRITs performance, an impassioned Drummond told the NME that "I really hate it when people go on about us being 'schemers' and 'scammers'. We do all this stuff from the very depths of our soul and people make out its some sort of game. It depresses me." Cauty has expressed similar feelings, saying of the KLF, "I think it worked because we really meant it."
Chill Out is cited by AllMusic 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". The Guardian has credited the KLF with inventing "stadium house"; NME named the KLF's stadium house album The White Room the 81st best album of all time whilst Q listed it as the 89th best British album of all time, in 2000.
Opinions of contemporaries
In 1991, Chris Lowe of 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. 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 cliché has become their particular cliché".
Direct influence
The KLF have been imitated to some degree by German techno band Scooter, being sampled on virtually every album Scooter have released. In the weeks leading up to the 1996 FA Cup Final, a group called "1300 Drums featuring the Unjustified Ancients of M.U." released a novelty single to cash-in on the popularity of Manchester United footballer Eric Cantona. The Timelords' book, The Manual, was used by the one-hit-wonders Edelweiss to secure their hit "Bring Me Edelweiss". The duo "The FLK" released two albums and several singles in the 2010s, appropriating the KLF's aesthetic and musical style and mixing it with samples and references from folk music. Their anonymity, along with details such as their use of a Ford Timelord which was very similar to the one in the KLF's videos and promotional material, led some to believe that the FLK actually were the KLF. However, it emerged in 2018 that they were two ex-members of the Leeds-based indie band The Hollow Men.
Career retrospectives
Drummond and Cauty have appeared frequently in British broadsheets and music papers since the KLF's retirement, most often in connection with the K Foundation and their burning of one million pounds. The NME called them "masters of manipulating media and perceptions of themselves". 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. The British music paper also listed the KLF's 1992 BRIT Awards appearance at number 4 in their "top 100 rock moments of all time". "What's unique about Drummond and Cauty", the paper said in 1993, "is the way that, under all the slogans and the sampling and the smart hits and the dead sheep and the costumes, they appear not only to care, but to have some idea of how to achieve what they want."
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. On later releases, the Greengate DS3 and Apple II were replaced with an Akai S900 sampler and Atari ST computers respectively. The KLF's 1990–1992 singles were mixed by Mark Stent, using a Solid State Logic automated mixing desk, and The White Room album mixed by J. Gordon-Hastings using an analogue desk. The SSL is referenced in the subtitle of the KLF single "3 a.m. Eternal (Live at the S.S.L.)", and the title of their 2021 digital compilation albums Solid State Logik 1 and Solid State Logik 2. The house music of Space and the KLF involved much original instrumentation, for which the Oberheim OB-8 analogue synthesiser was prominently used. Drummond played a Gibson ES-330 semi-acoustic guitar on "America: What Time Is Love?", and Cauty played electric guitar on "Justified & 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. The Roland TB-303 bassline and Roland TR-909 drum machine feature on "What Time Is Love (Live at Trancentral)".
