The KLF
The KLF[n 1] (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band who originated in Liverpool and London[10][11] in the late 1980s. Scottish musician Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D) and English musician Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock) began by releasing hip hop-inspired and sample-heavy records as the JAMs. As the Timelords, they recorded the British number-one single "Doctorin' the Tardis", and documented the process of making a hit record in a book The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way). As the KLF, Drummond and Cauty pioneered stadium house (rave music with a pop-rock production and sampled crowd noise) and, with their 1990 LP Chill Out, the ambient house genre.[12] 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.[13][14]
For other uses, see KLF (disambiguation).
The KLF
- The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu
- The JAMs
- The Timelords
- K Foundation
- 2K
- K2 Plant Hire
- 1987–1992
- 1993–1995
- 1997
- 2017–present
- KLF Communications
- Arista/BMG
- Deutsche Grammophon/Universal Classics
- Wax Trax!/TVT
From the outset, the KLF adopted the philosophy espoused by esoteric novels The Illuminatus! Trilogy, making anarchic situationist manifestations, including the defacement of billboard adverts, the posting of cryptic advertisements in New Music Express (NME) and the mainstream press, as well as unusual performances on Top of the Pops. In collaboration with Extreme Noise Terror at the BRIT Awards in February 1992, they fired machine gun blanks into the audience and dumped a dead sheep at the aftershow party. This performance pre-announced the KLF's departure from the music business and, in May of that year, they deleted their entire back-catalogue. Drummond and Cauty established the K Foundation and sought to subvert the art world, staging an alternative art award for the Worst Artist of the Year, and burning one million pounds sterling (approximately £2.35m as of 2022).
The duo have released a small number of new tracks since 1992, as the K Foundation, the One World Orchestra, and in 1997, as 2K. Drummond and Cauty reappeared in 2017 as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, releasing the novel 2023, and rebooting an earlier campaign to build a "People's Pyramid". In January 2021, the band began uploading their previously deleted catalogue onto streaming services, in compilations.[15]
History[edit]
Background[edit]
Bill Drummond was an established figure within the British music industry, having co-founded Zoo Records,[16] played guitar in the Liverpool band Big in Japan,[17] and worked as manager of Echo & the Bunnymen and the Teardrop Explodes.[18][19] Artist and musician Jimmy Cauty was the guitarist in the three-piece Brilliant – an act that Drummond had signed to WEA Records and managed.[20][21]
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".[22] In the same year he released a solo LP, The Man.[23][24] 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".[25] 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:
Instrumentation[edit]
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.[155][156] On later releases, the Greengate DS3 and Apple II were replaced with an Akai S900 sampler and Atari ST computers respectively.[157]
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.[158] Drummond played a Gibson ES-330 semi-acoustic guitar on "America: What Time Is Love?",[159] 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".[158] The KLF track "America No More" features a pipe band.[159] The Roland TB-303 bassline and Roland TR-909 drum machine feature on "What Time Is Love (Live at Trancentral)".[158]