Titus writes:
The KLF are one of the most obtuse,
anti-establishment, anti-commercial bands I have ever encountered, and
I’m sure I speak for many others who hold similar opinions. KLF
actually stands for Kopyright Liberation Front, but the band have also
been known as The Timelords, The Justified Ancients of Mu-Mu, the JAMS,
K Foundation, 2K, and K2 Plant Hire. They originated in Liverpool
& London and pioneered a genre called Stadium House, which was in
effect rave music with a pop-rock production plus sampled crowd noise.
Their founder members were Scottish musician Bill Drummond (a.k.a.
King Boy D) and English musician Jimmy Cauty (a.k.a. Rockman Rock), and
they remain to this day. Not a lot of people know that Cauty
co-founded cult band The Orb, who were championed by John Peel. During
the 1990’s the KLF produced many chart hit records, such as ‘3
a.m.Eternal’, & ‘Last Train to Trancentral’ (that is not a spelling
mistake – this is the way they chose to spell what was the name of
their studios).
They
frequently indulged in cynical, anarchic or situationist
manifestations – none more so than their ‘farewell’ performance at the
1992 Brit Awards. Here, the band appeared with one of my favourite
grindcore bands Extreme Noise Terror, and performed a version of ‘3a.m.
Eternal’. It was Drummond’s original intention to disembowel a dead
sheep onstage, but this intention didn’t come to fruition due to
Extreme Noise Terror’s vegetarian beliefs, and also the intervention of
BBC Lawyers. The appearance of the KLF & ENT, was concluded by
Drummond firing blanks from an automated weapon over the heads of the
crowd! Promoter and Narrator Scott Piercing announced over the public
address system “The KLF have now left the music business”. Later that
evening the band dumped the dead sheep at the entrance to one of the
post awards parties with the message “I died for you – bon appetit”. In
another bizarre piece of anarchy on 23 August 1994, on the Island of
Jura they burnt a million pounds in cash in protest about the corrupt
music industry, but vowed to be back within 23 years. I somehow think
that the number 23 was important to them.
In
the weeks following the Brit Awards, the band issued a statement
confirming their retirement and the deletion of their back catalogue.
“We have been following a wild and wounded, glum and glorious shit but
shining path these past five years. The last two of which has led us up
onto the commercial high ground. We are at a point where the path is
about to take a sharp turn from these sunny uplands, down into a
netherworld of we know not what. For the foreseeable future there will
be no further record releases from us – as of now all of our past
releases are deleted and if we meet further along , be prepared – our
disguise may be complete”. Select magazine called it “The last grand
gesture. The most heroic act of public self destruction in the history
of pop”. The anarchist band Chumbawamba apparently expressed their
admiration for the KLF’s anti commercial stance. The KLF’s Brit Award
Statuette was later found buried in a field near Stonehenge.
Twenty
three years after the burning of a million pounds, the KLF kept to
their word and arrived in Liverpool in typical style. At 23 seconds
past midnight on 23 August 2017, Drummond & Cauty appeared in an
Ice Cream van with Ukrainian insignia to kick start their own version
of book signing, followed by three days of obscure events, like selling
goods (such as a Starbucks’ cup) at £20.23 per item. A 2017 piece in
The Guardian noted that “In the 23 years since their disappearance,
nobody else has come up with anything that matches the duo’s
extraordinary career”. Everything in this article aside, it’s the
music that matters to me and I always felt that the band made pretty
darn good records. I have asked Lex to play ‘What time is love?’ from
the ‘White Room’ album which can be found here.