The Bizarre World of THE KLF
It’s a tricky world to navigate, not least because your destiny is at the whim of so many variables. It’s hard to understand, then, that a band that got a good grasp on success should choose to let go of it, and do so in such an eyebrow-raising fashion. That band was the KLF, and shrugging off chart success and all that comes with it wasn’t even the oddest thing that they did.
The KLF is down to two men, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty. Drummond’s first band was Big In Japan, which included now familiar names such as Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds.
The band was short lived but allowed him to become the co-founder of Zoo Records which produced Echo & The Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes. From there he got involved in A&R for the WEA label, throwing his all – and half a million pounds – into a band called Brilliant. He envisaged a global behemoth, but the band flopped and Drummond was left reconsidering his choices.
After dabbling as a solo artist, Drummond conceived of creating a hip-hop record. Although he could play a few instruments, he wasn’t confident with tackling the tech that allowed for the sampling and mixing of a hip-hop track. For that, he’d need help. Fortunately, he knew a guy: Jimmy Cauty.
Cauty was one of the members of Brilliant, the band that never made it. The two men had got on so well that it seemed like a natural fit, and, sure enough, Cauty was up for the challenge. The new partnership was called The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (or the JAMs), and the first single was released in early 1987: ‘All You Need Is Love’. This was followed in June by the album, 1987 (What the F**k Is Going On), landing them straight into their first controversy.
It centred around a copyright dispute with none other than ABBA. In fact, the album used a plethora of samples from many sources, all without permission. Sampling was still a relatively new concept and the rights and wrongs of it not nailed down. It was a far more exciting prospect to pinch and use a bit of someone else’s record to create something new simply because you could than it was to sit back and consider if you should.
ABBA put in a complaint to the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society regarding the use of chunks of ‘Dancing Queen’. The MCPS then ordered all unsold copies of the album to be destroyed. Drummond and Cauty weren’t going to comply submissively, though. They chose to make a spectacle of the records’ disposal, then went further by releasing a new version of the album with all the samples taken out – meaning there were plenty of empty gaps. This bold and performative response would characterise much of their future collaborations.
By 1988, the duo released a new single under a different name: The Timelords. ‘Doctorin’ the Tardis’ can only be characterised as a novelty record, but with some degree of edge that helped carry it off, taking it to a UK Number One. It was again compiled and arranged around samples, including ‘Blockbuster’ by The Sweet and Gary Glitter’s ‘Rock and Roll Parts 1 and 2’.
Critics hated it, but Drummond and Cauty saw it as a celebration of something uniquely British. They acknowledged it wasn’t good, but enjoyed the process all the same. And it certainly got them noticed.
As an immediate follow-up, they released a book called ‘The Manual (How To Have A Number One The Easy Way)’ in which they shared the process of how the record had been made. It was incredibly informative and witty, but fully aware of its limited relevance and shelf-life. In an act of precognition, it predicts how, in the near future, shrinking technology will allow everyone to create records in their bedrooms. The book was reprinted several times, was translated for other countries, and proved to be extremely influential.
But the spotlight they were under due to their sampling was proving a distraction. They made a deliberate decision to move away from hip-hop and focus on dance music. Under the name the KLF, the duo released two singles previously released from the JAMs’ last album, and then a new song called ‘What Time Is Love?’ It wasn’t the first time they’d release it, tweaking and reworking it several times.
Considering themselves a Trance act now, they put out a few 12” singles and took part in a rave in Oxfordshire where, as part of their set, they hurled a thousand pounds worth of pound coins into the crowd. It seemed to go down well.
The wealth accumulated by the Timelords release was lavished on a road movie and accompanying soundtrack album, but spending got out of control. All their hopes were pinned on an electropop single called ‘Kylie Said To Jason’, and embodied much of the process extolled in ‘The Manual’. Despite this, it was a catastrophic flop, not even getting into the Top 100, and now bankruptcy beckoned.
Fortunately, those 12” singles were...
To read the full article, you’ll need to have a physical copy of the magazine which you can sign up for here for 6 issues delivered to your door from just £16!
https://store.promobile.online/products/pro-mobile-magazine-6-issue-1-year-subscription
You’ll also get full access to this article and the last year of articles, reviews and play lists via the Pro DJ App
The KLF is down to two men, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty. Drummond’s first band was Big In Japan, which included now familiar names such as Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds.
The band was short lived but allowed him to become the co-founder of Zoo Records which produced Echo & The Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes. From there he got involved in A&R for the WEA label, throwing his all – and half a million pounds – into a band called Brilliant. He envisaged a global behemoth, but the band flopped and Drummond was left reconsidering his choices.
After dabbling as a solo artist, Drummond conceived of creating a hip-hop record. Although he could play a few instruments, he wasn’t confident with tackling the tech that allowed for the sampling and mixing of a hip-hop track. For that, he’d need help. Fortunately, he knew a guy: Jimmy Cauty.
Cauty was one of the members of Brilliant, the band that never made it. The two men had got on so well that it seemed like a natural fit, and, sure enough, Cauty was up for the challenge. The new partnership was called The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (or the JAMs), and the first single was released in early 1987: ‘All You Need Is Love’. This was followed in June by the album, 1987 (What the F**k Is Going On), landing them straight into their first controversy.
It centred around a copyright dispute with none other than ABBA. In fact, the album used a plethora of samples from many sources, all without permission. Sampling was still a relatively new concept and the rights and wrongs of it not nailed down. It was a far more exciting prospect to pinch and use a bit of someone else’s record to create something new simply because you could than it was to sit back and consider if you should.
ABBA put in a complaint to the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society regarding the use of chunks of ‘Dancing Queen’. The MCPS then ordered all unsold copies of the album to be destroyed. Drummond and Cauty weren’t going to comply submissively, though. They chose to make a spectacle of the records’ disposal, then went further by releasing a new version of the album with all the samples taken out – meaning there were plenty of empty gaps. This bold and performative response would characterise much of their future collaborations.
By 1988, the duo released a new single under a different name: The Timelords. ‘Doctorin’ the Tardis’ can only be characterised as a novelty record, but with some degree of edge that helped carry it off, taking it to a UK Number One. It was again compiled and arranged around samples, including ‘Blockbuster’ by The Sweet and Gary Glitter’s ‘Rock and Roll Parts 1 and 2’.
Critics hated it, but Drummond and Cauty saw it as a celebration of something uniquely British. They acknowledged it wasn’t good, but enjoyed the process all the same. And it certainly got them noticed.
As an immediate follow-up, they released a book called ‘The Manual (How To Have A Number One The Easy Way)’ in which they shared the process of how the record had been made. It was incredibly informative and witty, but fully aware of its limited relevance and shelf-life. In an act of precognition, it predicts how, in the near future, shrinking technology will allow everyone to create records in their bedrooms. The book was reprinted several times, was translated for other countries, and proved to be extremely influential.
But the spotlight they were under due to their sampling was proving a distraction. They made a deliberate decision to move away from hip-hop and focus on dance music. Under the name the KLF, the duo released two singles previously released from the JAMs’ last album, and then a new song called ‘What Time Is Love?’ It wasn’t the first time they’d release it, tweaking and reworking it several times.
Considering themselves a Trance act now, they put out a few 12” singles and took part in a rave in Oxfordshire where, as part of their set, they hurled a thousand pounds worth of pound coins into the crowd. It seemed to go down well.
The wealth accumulated by the Timelords release was lavished on a road movie and accompanying soundtrack album, but spending got out of control. All their hopes were pinned on an electropop single called ‘Kylie Said To Jason’, and embodied much of the process extolled in ‘The Manual’. Despite this, it was a catastrophic flop, not even getting into the Top 100, and now bankruptcy beckoned.
Fortunately, those 12” singles were...
To read the full article, you’ll need to have a physical copy of the magazine which you can sign up for here for 6 issues delivered to your door from just £16!
https://store.promobile.online/products/pro-mobile-magazine-6-issue-1-year-subscription
You’ll also get full access to this article and the last year of articles, reviews and play lists via the Pro DJ App
