The KLF: Beyond The Band That Burnt £1,000,000 I New British Canon
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- čas přidán 11. 06. 2024
- If you’ve heard of the KLF, you probably know them as a band that burnt a million pounds. But that is only the conclusion to their story. The journey that led them to the Isle of Jura on that fateful August morning in 1994 is even more fascinating.
A journey that includes getting sued by ABBA, gaining a number one single in the guise of a talking car, pioneering at least one genre of dance music and becoming one of the most successful singles bands of the early 90s. They were two men compelled by the forces of chaos to spread as much confusion as possible and they transformed that into a pop career. This is New British Canon and this is the Story of The KLF.
#theklf #90sdancemusic #musicdocumentary
Fact-checking by Serenity Autumn and Chad Van Wagner.
Thanks also to Rex The Younger for having archived a lot of this footage
Also thanks to @ROBERTTONUS for uploading footage of The KLF show at Helter Skelter
00:00 Introduction
00:48 It Begins: The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu
07:33 The Rise & Destruction of The Timelords
13:37 The KLF, Pure Trance & Chill Out
21:05 Stadium House: The KLF Chart Takeover
26:04 Justified and Ancient (Stand By The JAMs)
30:58 Burning a Million: The End of The KLF
Bibliography
The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds by John Higgs, 2013, W&N
The Manual (How to Have a Number One The Easy Way by Bill Drummond & Jimmy Cauty, 1988, KLF
How Soon is Now?: The Madmen and Mavericks who made Independent Music 1975-2005 by Richard King, 2017, Faber & Faber
Who Killed the KLF? (2021) dir. Chris Atkins
KLF - The Rites Of Mu (1991) dir. Bill Butt
The KLF Burn a Million (£1M) Pounds (1995) dir. Kevin Hull
Music for Misfits - The Story of Indie (2015) dir. Mike Connolly & Siobhan Logue
Top of the Pops - The Story of 1991 (2021) dir. Verity Newman
Scottish Pop Music: The Story Of The KLF (2018) dir. Pete Stanton
"The KLF - Interview" Rapido, 1991 ( • The KLF - Interview Ra... )
"The KLF - The Manual" Reportage, 1989 ( • The KLF - Reportage - ... )
"Bill Drummond Interview" The Tom Robinson Show, 2004 (www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p05...)
"The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu: Feeling The Pinch" James Brown, Sounds, May 1987
"The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu: Physical Graffiti" Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, Jul 1987
"The JAMS: Wizards of Scam" Jack Barron, NME, Jun 1988
"The KLF" Martin Aston, Independent, Feb 1990
"The KLF" Push, Melody Maker, Mar 1990
"KLF: Tales From The White Room" John McCready, The Face, Sep 1990
"The KLF: Doctorin' The Charts" Roy Wilkinson, Sounds, Nov 1990
"The KLF: Pranks for the Memory" David Stubbs, Melody Maker, Feb 1991
"KLF: Hang On! I've Got An Idea!" Andy Gill, Q Magazine, Mar 1991
"The KLF: Off The Orbitals" Simon Reynolds, The Observer, Apr 1991
"Inside The KLF" Mark Prendergast, Sound on Sound, Apr 1991
"The KLF: Great Luminaries of Our Time" Roy Wilkinson, Sounds, May 1991
"KLF IS GONNA ROCK YOU" Ernie Longmire, X Magazine, Jul 1991
"Big in Japan: Where Are They Now?" Martin Aston, Q Magazine, Jan 1992
"Who Killed The KLF?" William Shaw, Select, Jul 1992
"Stand By Your Van: Tammy Meets the KLF" Terry Staunton, NME, Nov 1992
"Hey, DJ - The chilled-out charms of ambient techno" Pat Blashill, Details, Nov 1993
"Burning question: The KLF" Andrew Smith, The Observer, Feb 2000
"Bill Drummond: Pop's prankster heads for destruction" Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, Aug 2008
"The KLF: Getting Arrested With Bill & Jimmy" David Stubbs, The Quietus, Aug 2008
"Bill Drummond: Recorded Music Has Run Its Course" John Doran, The Quietus, Aug 2008
"IN ABOUT FOUR SECONDS A TEACHER WILL BEGIN TO SPEAK-DR. ALEX PATERSON OF THE ORB" Rich Thomas, Magnetic Magazine, Nov 2011
"From the Crate: KLF - The White Room" Ed Jupp, Gods in the TV Zine, Mar 2016
"Your guide to The KLF, pop music’s original pranksters" Jack Needham, Dazed, Jan 2017
"Who Were The KLF?" Jonny Coleman, Pitchfork, Feb 2017
"Return of the KLF: ‘They were agents of chaos. Now the world they anticipated is here’" Andrew Harrison, The Guardian, Apr 2017
"KLF's Welcome to the Dark Ages: What time is chaos?" Barbara Ellen, The Observer, Aug 2017
"The KLF's Greatest Protégés Didn't Really Know What Was Going On" Jason Roth, The Record, Jul 2017
"The KLF “3 A.M. Eternal”" Jonny Coleman, Insomniac, Aug 2017
"Chill Out The KLF Review" Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, Feb 2020
"When the KLF and Extreme Noise Terror outgunned the Brits: what happened next?" Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, Feb 2020
"What Time Is Love? The KLF Primer" Nick Roseblade, Clash, Jan 2021
"Making KLF: The White Room" Mark Lindores, Classic Pop, Feb 2022
Soundtrack
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What I respect about the KLF is their integrity. It's inarguable. They're the most punk band ever, without being punk. They worked out the nonsense, contrived music business and could write banging tunes with a captivating element of mystique. Quitting at the top, after firing a machine gun over the heads, quite literally, of the pop music establishment they understood and loathed. Disillusionment done right. Perfect.
It's literally something I don't think that CAN ever be seen again. They "Player 1" 'd the fuck out of the music industry lmfao AND BEAT THE BOSS
As a kid in the early 90's, watching all these great tunes roll out on the radio and music video shows... I might even go as far as calling the KLF "THE SOUND OF 1991".... I had no idea all this anarchy was going on. Mucho, mucho respeto.
They literally stole an album from a man and you respect their integrity? Ok....
@@Davivd2 exact that, don’t mind sampling on itself, but they sound entitled
@@Davivd2 I typed this before I heard that part. Yeah, that's not on... I didn't once consider them perfect.
“A sound system loud enough to bother the surrounding islands. The event ended with the burning of a wicker man and a rave. As usual, no explanation was given.” Absolute legends.
The original Burning Man
@@IAgreeLetsGoBrandon not really; that happened in 1991, Burning Man started in 1986
+1, er, fuck that : +2k !
@@OriginalGabriel The festival, yup.
Not sure how close it was related to the 1973 movie (The wicker man), based on a 1967 novel 🙂
Legends Definitely
I'm 50 years old, I'm a New Yorker, I'm a musician, I'm an avid music lover of multiple genres, I've been in bands, I've worked as a recording engineer, I've been a music producer, I've been a DJ, I've been an electronics repair guy and a music sales guy. I've worked with famous names and with nobodies. I still find new stuff whenever I watch one of your videos. These are absolutely the best music docs out there.
Because it’s witchcraft.
And now I’m subscribing- thanks!
Now that’s a portfolio career 👏😎
@@tim_odonovan I wish, but thanks. At least it's been consistent.
and he didn't even mention The Black Room...
I was a dumb kid in rural Missouri that was fed a musical diet of Garth Brooks and Mariah Carey: hearing 3 AM Eternal for the first time was a revelation and it broke my preadolescent brain
As a dude in his early 20s in-between pretty much everything is his life, driving through Lake Jackson while listening to Dreamtime in Lake Jackson was a pretty defining experience.
Poor you! And congratulations for finding superb music.
Garth brooks ha ha
I hear ya, I was a youth in Montana and heard 3 AM Eternal and was blown away (and hooked)
still get chills from 3AM and their other hits
3 AM Eternal KLF
24:23 this hook man it gets me every time
My favorite KLF tangent has to do with German dancepop band Scooter. Apparently when they broke in the UK, people were contacting radio stations and their label demanding they admit that Scooter was secretly a KLF project. HP Baxxter has said in interviews that being compared to The KLF like that is the greatest compliment the band could ever get.
HOW MUCH IS DA FIIIIISSSSHHH?!?!?
@@misorodzinak8829 IM NOT SURE BUT ITS A SLIPPERY LITTLE SUCKER
Respect to the man in the ice cream van.
@@djsquarewave Mmmm.. sometimes ive chased that fker down block after block like predator after Arnie only to get a pasteurized creamy milk treat and say.. well i had more enjoyment in the quest rather than the attainment
it's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice.
A legendary band along with 808 State, The Prodigy, Bomb the Bass and The Shamen.
Their track “It’s Grim Up North” is still a song that gives me the chills. One of the hardest, most raw techno tracks I’ve ever heard. Fucking masterpiece.
And funny too [Major] sorry [stranger] Tom.
That breakdown into Jerusalem at the end is 👌
@@acidmack1041 Yup. Couldn’t have been a better ending. The north will rise again
@@tomhekker the north will always be culturally rich but unfortunately will forever be a geographical social backwater.
the KLF / Tammy Wynette combination is, in my humble but correct opinion, the greatest collaboration in the history of popular music. On sheer WTF-ness alone, it stands unrivaled. It's what a collaboration should be: A collision of disparate worlds that, somehow, still works.
Forever i had thought this lady was like a country goddess who had been kidnapped and taken to a country of pyramids and somehow the poor KLF had to also be kidnapped
Tammy had to praise the moomooians and say they were justified... having had no knowledge of moomooian culture i had to take her word
I also like Ex Page 3 Girl Samantha Fox teaming up with Hawkwind to do a version of Gimme Shelter
It's magic, in every sense including the literal.
In the year of our lord 993.. correction 992
Would you be in reading an article I wrote about this song?
LOVE them. LOOOOOVE. The world needs batshit insane pop art geniuses who genuinely don't play by any established rules. I fear we'll not see anyone as remotely talented or frothingly unhinged as these two ever again.
Check out AMM All-Stars, baby.
There are a lot of unhinged people, both inside and outside the music industry, but having the talent to make a bunch of top 5 singles doesn't normally come along at the same time as that level of derangement. Most of pop's mad people can only do one or the other. (Syd Barrett, Kurt Cobain, and Kanye West are in the same conversation, but none of those could make pure radio-friendly pop while doped up to the eyeballs in a squat. The KLF were special).
Yeah - yeah... The 90s was the explosion of techno sound in Europe and all the world... I have listen to hundreds talented electronic musician like the KLF...
Death Grips did a few things like the KLF, mainly only to fuck with the corporate music labels though, not so much the press
If these two blocks were "geniuses", my poop is the holly grail.
I got the album when I was 13 and fell in love with it. Now I have a six year old kid that will rock out to Last Train to Trancentral with me in the car.
They deserve my thanks for giving Tammy Wynette one last chart appearance, even if it wasn’t on Country!
I love how she just embraced it totally.
Jimmy actually had Dolly Parton in mind but as Bill pointed out it wouldn't have worked without Tammy. Try and track down the doco "Who Killed the KLF" you'll thank yourself.
I absolutely loved her for getting involved with such pure silliness, it was so joyful.
what a Queen, that was awesome
IMHO, great documentary. The subject of such? Somehow a cross between Spinal Tap and a pop version of an “Emperor wears no clothes” sort of phenom.
The doc captured my attention far longer than any of the “music” could have.
Just last year I watched the documentary on them called Who Killed the KLF? and I am still flabbergasted about how they were the biggest band in the world... and then just decided to stop. Truly made music for the sake of art and when they felt they've said everything they wanted they moved on.
Yeah that is a brilliant documentary.
I just watched that last week and now this one dropped.
Haha, that's why this seemed so familiar, I've seen that.
I definitely wouldn't call them the biggest band in the world, but they were definitely everywhere for a few minutes, and they left their mark.
This documentary is superb. KLF crew needs more love all the time. Thesr guys are legit
Very cool that you covered this. "KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds" is a fantastic book on the subject.
That’s 36 minutes of absolute music history. I don’t know why I got this in my feed, but after this video I’m fan of yours. I’ve known some of their story, but you gave all the background to it.
Right, here's my KLF story. I was a kid. One day, living in Paisley, Scotland, I found my parents rubbing graffiti off my front door. Someone had spraypainted "KLF" on our front door. Apparently several cars on the street had it done too. They were scraping and scraping and I asked my dad, what does KLF mean. He played me Last Train To Trancentral. He had a KLF tape. I remember how deep the biro was on the tape label. It was serious. K. L. F. He played them to me. They started my journey into being creative, being a musician, being an artist. My first album was The While Room. The KLF are sacred to me, almost holy. Thank you for thus video. Because I always had this patchy recollection of the KLF. All I know is that they started my creative career. Thank you so much for doing this video. I'm going to send it to my dad.
Okay, obvious question… was it the KLF who spraypainted “KLF” on your door?
@@DeflatingAtheism I really, really like to think it was.
Chill out is a great album. Never gets old.
Made to be timeless, a fitting masterpiece by the Timelords
I bought The White Room on cassette in 1991, and loved all of the songs. Then Justified & Ancient hit the airwaves, and I was further blown away…mind-bending and gloriously insane! 🤯😱😃
No mention of "America: what time is love"? I blew my speakers with that track back then - twice.. and the video to that one can be descriped with one word: AWESOME
Was surprised by that myself, especially seeing as it managed to pull off another surprise guest appearance by the Voice of Rock himself, Glenn Hughes, singing at the top of his bent with Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" thundering across the track.
Thank you for posting this. As an American, I only knew of some of their music at the time, and none of the peripheral things they had done. Clearly, I missed out on the cleverest people to get into pop!
I'm so glad you did this one. I was incredibly into their music but as an American I had no idea what the act was about or their non-philosophy. In those days it was pretty rare for Americans even to know about, let alone be into, Dr Who. But it was huge in the nerd culture circles I inhabited, particularly the Tom Baker years. So that hook made The KLF also instant hits in those circles.
I’m American. I loved Doctering the Tardis and loved KLF. But I had no idea it was their song. This is all so interesting to learn.
Colour me excited, met Bill several times and he's always been an absolute gent but clearly with an artistic bent that pushes beyond. Loved the music at the time, then later fell in love with the movement, around six years ago was lucky enough to be at Toxteth Day of the Dead, ended up dancing with Jarvis Cocker as I'd come straight from work and we were the only two guys in suits
Jesus... I had no idea the Orb and the KLF were even loosely related. And never really understood where either band came from or went after their rise in the early 1990's.
Excellent video!
Growing up in the Midwest US I fell hard for the The KLF just before my teen years after I heard 3AM Eternal on MTV one day. I was a fan of stuff like Technotronic and Black Box but something about 3AM Eternal really hooked me. I got The White Room on CD and was in heaven! It just so happened that shortly after that I visited a cousin who was a few years older than I and he happened to be playing Chill Out and I recognized one of the melodies in it. Only then did I start to go down the rabbit hole that was The KLF and boy what a ride it was back then! I had to wait until the early 2000s before I got my hands on 1987 via internet file sharing but in the early 90s I had managed to find all the other singles & albums on CD from Doctorin' the Tardis through Justified and Ancient. I still listen to The White Room and Chill Out a couple of times each year!
"this wasn't the woman I was expecting" sent me 💀💀💀💀
I loved them then and I love them now
and Tammy WAS precisely the right choice. Both legends, cool dames and great singers, but Dolly would have taken over the story bc she's more famous
I love how the KLF remained subversive whilst having huge hits and pissing off all and sundry.
I absolutely love this band and the more and I learn about them as I grow older (they were in their prime when I was about 13-17) the more I love them.
About a year ago I went into a rabbithole reading about The KLF and I'm so stoked you've covered them in even more detail. I can't help but admire them.
If you didn't find Bill Drummond's book 45 in your rabbit hole you should. It's one of the more unique books I've read! I also loved the Youw***res website they did, but I think that has been taken down now. It was a site where people listed ridiculous things they'd do for money and some were absurd, others were satirical. "I'll laugh at your Chihuahua" is a title of one of the entries...
You should read Albert Pikes “Morals and Dogma” page 321 if you really want to know where the rabbit hole goes. Believe me, it’s a very deep and dark destination.
@@memyselfandi8544
I just found this short clip about that page of the book. What does this have to do with the KLF?
czcams.com/video/X0LCq780FPg/video.html
@@memyselfandi8544 Does this section of the rabbit hole have cliff notes?
@@dbubd czcams.com/video/XAx5W821tqQ/video.html
3AM Eternal was a music beacon for me when I discovered it as a 13 yr old in a northern town with no culture.
It sounded so unique and futuristic. On clear days a radio station 2hrs south of me came through, and I remember recording it off the radio everyday for the week it was in the top 10 count down so I could listen to it over and over again in a row.
I still listen to the Chill Out album once a year or so. The first time I heard it was as a teen after a rave in the early 90s coming down from an acid trip and dancing all night. Gorgeous album! Great video here, so interesting to learn their background. I had no idea their history, this is amazing!
I'd recommend anyone to put it on late coming down with friends, it's brilliant.
Its a great liston to when you're on a journey.
The two and a half hour (or so) re-envisioning of Space (originally an Orb album), This Is Not What Space Is About, is fantastic too
Chill Out is amazing. I discovered it when I was almost 30, but it was released right about the time I was born. It's like Chill Out is what the world sounded like when I entered it, and I was on my way to returning to it.
It's good music for road trips (duh) but also in dealing with a loss.
Have you heard chill out re-release with no bigger samples? It is mostly the same, all the cool bits are still there, but segments that were changed bring different vibes
KLF is gonna rock ya ........
In the US, Doctorin the Tardis was an accidentally subversive masterpiece. You used to have these overly serious tough guys dancing to a mix of a nerdy theme song and a glitter rock band, both which were the height of uncool at the time. It was everything those guys would be mortified to be associated with, and were once it was revealed to them. I think that is why it had such a short spike in popularity in the US. Seemed like it was on the radio for one week then it disappeared without a trace. If I had not had taped it off the radio, you could have convinced me it never existed a week later.
But it only works because it is genuinely so good, despite the creators apparent disdain for it. It takes a certain mentality, knowledge and talent to successfully meld such disparate forms of music. I've heard a million other attempts to do something similar and it rarely pans out.
At least from about 2000 to 2014, that song was a staple in a legendary club in São Paulo, Brazil, called Madame Satã. The kicker? It's primarily a goth/post-punk club.
Just goes to show how wide is the reach of "Doctorin' the Tardis". It was played alongside stuff like "Go" from Tones on Tail and "Rise" from PIL. Good times.
@@50Personas I'm primarily an old punk/post-punk kind of guy that married a gothy girl, so that all checks out. When you really boil it all down, it's all basically the same kind of people with slightly different preferences.
I saw a copy of Doctorin the Tardis at a small town Record Bar. I recognized it thanks to MTV's '120 Minutes' air play but figured I'd come back later and get it. I spent the next 5 years looking for a copy.
I read the title and my brain instantly shouted, "KLF is gonna rock ya!"
I remember hearing The KLF in the 90s and really enjoying their music, but i had no idea why they just disappeared until recently. I guess i do now. Thanks for the awesome documentary.
Sadly no mention of one of the masterpieces of this band "It's Grim Up North", a song like absolutely no other and even nostalgic for those of us who have had the privilege of living near the Yorkshire Moors at one time or another. Fucking geniuses.
I was about to turn 14 when 3AM and the rest of the singles hit Spain, my country. Those tracks were huuuge! My parents listened to a lot of classic Jean Michel Jarre and new age synth/quasy ambient music, though that year was the first time I heard both floaty sounds and pumping beats in the same song... I was hooked for life!
Many years later I fould a beautiful “Justified Ancients of Mu Mu” picture disc with the pyramid, the submarine and Tammy as the queen. Beautiful photo. Amazing collage of sounds. I also found the “What time is love (America we love you remix)” sleeve with the Viking ship and that redhead girl with sunglasses. I’m sure I didn’t pay more that 3 or 4 euros for each record.
They’re now still on my wall, on display and on my playlist... Live from the Trancentral
That is Jimmy Cauty's wife.
@@izzzzzzzzzzzie i've wondeted who she was almost my whole life... thank you, man, for sure!
Cress *was* Jimmy Cauty's partner for over 20 years (she ran the KLF press office for most of it after her earlier pop career with June "Mo" Montana from Brilliant fizzled out), but they split up, she went to college and became a research biologist. Cauty hooked up with Alannah Currie (famous as a member of the Thompson Twins) a few years ago.
Big fan of the KLF and the Chill Out record (I have the CD in my car). Love what you do.
What a bizarre story. Brilliant, but bloody weird.
This is a really well put together piece of music journalism!
This channel is amazeballs👍💙✌️
Good doc about a great band. I have definitely appreciated them more as I have gotten older (I was a bit young at the time). Glad they are still doing their thing.
Great short story, but missed the "It´s grim up north" part and also no mention of the ice cream van & the 99s :-)
An incredibly comprehensive retrospective! Loved The KLF for 30+ years. Thank you! ❤
My god, I just spent 36 min beaming with a MASSIVE grin on my face, as you took me through my Youth...
I never knew that about the Orb... FFS... MY Business in SK Was Called Orb s.r.o. after that band, and it's music is still my life. Just incredible when you've nommed a couple of bits of blotting paper...
What a totally bangin video.. Cheers Mate!
Back again, they never kicked us out. 20,000 years of shout shout shout!
The best thing about the klf is all of their remixes and mixes of their songs now available to listen to all over the internet.
They have all been on CZcams since CZcams started
Always was available over the internet and the music exchanging programs...
That's because they dropped copyright on everything that was released under their label.
KLF were rebels in pop. they were real artists and burning money in the end is just the icing of the cake.
As the K Foundation they also did an art exhibit called "Nailed to the Wall" where they hung two boards, each with half a million pounds nailed to it, to which they invited the "art establishment" press. The media absolutely shitcanned it as the worst 'art' ever, whilst simultaneously stealing around half the money. When Bill and Jimmy took the un-stolen money back to the bank, they allegedly said "we can't take this, it's all got holes in it."
Subversion right at the intersection of genius and madness.
There is no way that they actually burnt real money. Don't believe everything you're told.
Always loved 3 am, never could have imagined such a compelling history behind it. Great as usual!! Thanx!!!
Great video, well researched and narrated skillfully.
At first I was bewildered by your opening comment “If you’ve heard of The KLF, it’s probably as the band that burned a million pounds”. Eh?! Who hasn’t heard of the KLF? Who doesn’t know them for their brilliant music? But it dawned on me that for those who were too young to remember 1991, the fact that they deleted their catalogue meant that it was easy for their music to slip into oblivion. Some of us kept hold of our copies of the White Room or Chill Out, and never forgot what a timeless series of bangers the Stadium House Trilogy was. There were a lot of great dance tracks in the charts at the time (including Canadian national anthem Pump Up The Jam), but The KLF had a level of bizarre mystique about them that fired the imagination. It’ll be great to have new people introduced to their energy and inventiveness, as well as retelling all their art anarchist bonkers brilliance.
I barely remember them can't even remember what their annoying hit song was.
@@doctornova3015 presumably watching the video will help. They had a bunch of hit singles so there's a few you don't remember but felt the need to tell everyone about not remembering.
Translation: 'I'm old!' 😅
Has any other band "deleted their catalogue" like this? I was only introduced to EDM and pop music in general in 1994 and missed them entirely. When the re-releases popped up in my feed in 2021, it was ...ear-opening? Over 25 years worth of Scooter tracks had hammered a lot of seemingly nonsensical lyrics and weird samples into my brain - and now I realized that a LOT of those, including their overall "stadium house" style, were references to the KLF. If you will, a continuation of this mass-market EDM segment that KLF had started and now refused to serve.
Loved it, wish you had enough time to do so many more of these, rarely do I not look forward a video, just this one hit a touch harder than normal and super well done (not intentionally patronising sorry) for showing that they were in their very own way so much more than merely a band
This is one of my top channels! When I want to learn something new, here I am. Great voice btw!!
In NZ you could hardly go out to the club in the 90's and not hear the KLF. Same in Aussie in the late 90's.
Fantastic mini documentary!! Love it
"Lets make a hit single then.. we haven't tried that hard.."
Creates arguably the best dance tracks in history.
Sometimes it's just a few piano keys and a drum machine .. look at kraftwerk
Loved KLF, they were my gateway drug to so much different music.
There was a talk show on British TV featuring THE KLF. There they admitted the plan of burning 1 mln quid was to show the ashes on their future gigs. The documentary never really mentions the KLF is Kopyright Liberation Front. It is a great documentary by Trash Theory, definitely one of the best. Kudos for the author!
They changed what KLF meant all the time. At one stage it was the Kallisti Love Foundation.
@@bearhustler Try and find the doco "Who Killed the KLF" all your answers [and prayers] will materialise. i.e. King Lucifer Forever, Kopyright Liberation Front, Kings of Low Frequencies, *Kiss Lick Fuck *more a street interpretation.
@@bearhustler also Kings Of Low Frequencies and King Lucifer Forever.
Truth is The KLF didn't mean anything, like the majority of stuff they did 😂
I think mostly it was Kopyright Liberation Front tho'. With a nod to the Kurds still struggling for freedom in ErdoStan.
Anyone who wants to know more, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read the John Higgs book “KLF: Chaos, Magick, and the Band Who Burned A Million Pounds”. It’s incredible.
Drummond's book 45 (not 33) is a great read too!
@@Bruisewillies 45?
That was my introduction to the band. John Higgs is an incredible writer!
Yes 45! Not sure why I had it in my head that it was 33
Never heard of these guys, gonna check ‘em out, thanks!
If you can try listen to the music first (just put them in a tab) no video
Because... once you watch the videos yo-
I'll let you figure it out
GAZ Williams sent me here 😊
Enjoyed the documentary !!!!
Subbed and notifications on.
Thanks for this amazingly detailed video. I loved the hell out of KLF and I never understood why did they disappeared. Interestingly enough... I also loved The Orb... not knowing there was a connection. The KLF was more 'punk' than most punk bands. They went out with a bang and I love them even more for it. Legends.
I’m absolutely loving the dance/edm adjacent topics lately. Fingers crossed we’ll get an episode about Underworld someday ;)
3 A.M. Eternal blew my little teen mind back in the day.
I remember one night when I was a kid i was around 10 years old... The 3 am video played and I was hooked ! I was waiting so bad to see and hear that song again ! Then one day I was watching this show called Dan Gallaghers video hits and he said tomorrow you guys are in for a treat ! We will be showing 2 KLF videos so you dont want to miss that ! I immidiately got my VCR and cassette ready and the very next day I taped the 2 videos 3 AM and What time is love ! And I played them to death ! Even put my sound system against the tvs speaker so I could have it on cassette ! Then one day I walked into Woolcos and there was The White room album on cassette ! Got my mother to buy it and I was so happy ! Played it to death also ! Thank you KLF that was a great part of my life ! 😃
I requested this ages ago, the GOAT listens 🐐
I would suggest everyone reads “The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds” it’s a trip.
Time Lords was the first single i ever brought, i was pleasently surprised to discover it was made by the KLF waaaaayyy later.
Whenever my listening gets stuck on the same stuff, these video always either remind me of or introduce something else to check out. Nice work!
Greatest band of all time. I wish they were well known in the states
I love this band and I recommend their books.
Being non-British, I had a giggle at all the mentions of "put a kettle on" in The Manual.
The JAMs are absolutely more than music, they are extremely important to human civilization. Everyone should read bill drummond’s book 45 for a great inside look at how the British music industry was, but by far his best written work is the incredible schizophrenic and neo-illuminatus not-a-novel Bad Wisdom. Co-written by Mark Manning. Absolutely incredible story about the journey of saving the world by burring a portrait of Elvis at the North Pole
DUDE!! I love this channel, I was literally driving home from work listening to the KLF and thinking about this!!!
I'm in America. I remember 3 AM Eternal. I used to love that song. It came on all the time on MTV for a while.
Great video, great story! I loved their hits as a kid and still actually enjoy them, and I knew they went out with some drama....but never knew the extent of that. As for the Timelords, I've seen them only once perform on TV and never seen or heard it again, but that image always stayed with me. Only recently I came across the song again after over 3 decades, but (obviously) immediately recognized it. And that bit about Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton cracked me up 😂
As much as they joke about it all with their "manual", they made some great, groundbreaking music that stood the test of time.
KLF is gonna rock you!!!
Great Video, a mention of the 2017 return of the famous ICE CREAM VAN in Liverpool would have been a nice ending to the video, 23 years to the day after the Million Quid Burning
Good job on the lil mini doc..most information I have read/seen/lived through. Few nee nuggets there I hadn't come across before. Decent watch.
Surprised they never mentioned ‘ What Time is Love - America. That is a banger of a tune with Glen Hughes featured.
And me, always wondering what time, hang on
*shouts up hallway
Now?
Lady freind: NOPE
Me: see.. never sure
I’ve picked up bits and pieces of this story over the years - owning to the fact 3AM Eternal was the first song dance song I remember hearing at 10 years old - but never knew the whole story!
Awesome work🎉
I remember my brother purchasing their single on cassette tape when I was 9 years old and being mesmerized by their sound.
They've always had a sheen of mystery to me because I had no idea who the "Mumu" were nor how they planned on rocking me.
Thank u for the upload. It was interesting hearing their story.
Chill Out and The Orb's Adventures beyond the Ultraworld are some of my favorite albums. I love the random samples of jets, trains, and animals. Thanks for the great video!
They are mine too, abtu is just genius
Fascinating edutainment. Thanks T.T as usual! I get quite the laugh(etc) myself sampling audio from various sources and making semi-non sequiturs.
The Chill Out Album is one of the all time greats in any genre.
I have been waiting for this New British Canon for ages. I knew it was going to happen
Wickedly good doc man. Thoroughly enjoyed that.
"However because the British public fucking love the 'Doctor Who' theme, and that beat is undeniable, in June 1988, 'Doctorin' the Tardis' went to number 1." - Brilliant prose. 😂
Loved the songs as a teenager. Had no idea about the chaos. Thank you for a fantastic video essay! Now off to rock out to Justified and Ancient which I STILL know all lyrics of 30+ years later.
Bohemian Rhapsody wasnt just rereleased because of Freddie's death.. it's because WAYNE'S WORLD had just repopularised it for the 90s.
Great doco. I read a book about Drummond and Cauty years back, but their story gets funnier and braver the more I hear it.
Love the band. Somehow managed to buy Chill Out in HMV when it was deleted.Julian Cope had his own comment on the £1m burning on the sleevenotes of his album Interpreter when he said, "If you burn a million pounds in a depressed climate, then you burn a million smiles. 'Cause a million kiddies' faces would light up the sky with less than £1 of chocolate each."
Yeah you could buy Chill Out from HMV well into the 2000's as it was released for the American market on Wax Trax so was never deleted.
Same with The White Room as that was released on Arista Records for America so that too was available in shops like HMV well into the 2000's as it wasn't deleted like the KLF Communications releases of the albums
Jesus!!! Your videos are ALWAYS so damn great and informative. This video is amongst my favorites. The KLF were/ are amazing in what they did. They art-ed by the seat of their pants. They were basically an acid trip come to life and expression. ✌🏽❤️🎸🍄
I absolutely devoured that string of KLF hits in 1991 and often wondered why they vanished so suddenly. Thanks for this brilliant account of what happened 👍😀
Great video of this legendary group.
21:48 Guru Josh isn't what I'd call "substandard". It's what I'd call a classic 😜
AAAAh. Thank you for some of the best memories of my clubbing life. 17 and at 7th Heaven Sundays in Melbourne (Australia) peaking and meeting god in the middle of a tiered dancefloor looking over a sea of pounding hands in the air. Their sounds went beyond masterful and took you to a space of absolute pure joy. All bound for
mu
mu
land.
"Do yourself a favour" and track down the doco "Who Killed the KLF" [may still be on SBS play later]
@@izzzzzzzzzzzie thanks man i will do that.
Back in the days, I have been seriously addicted to KLF music (still love and enjoy it). Thanks to this exceptionally perfect documentary, I finally learned a bit about the "ancients of mu mu" and also how come there was an unusually big piece of an ABBA song in that track. Many, many thanks for the hard work behind this
Damn good documentation! So many informations not only about the band but what was going on musically during that time. Really well done!
"Last train to Trancentral" was the track that forever changed my heart and sent me on the path of techno and house music at age 13. I've been DJíng and producing music for a few decades now, and I can say their music has been more of an influence to my walk of life than a lot of other, and maybe more sensible, things... ;)
That one, alongside America: What time is Love? are my absolute favorites from their catalogue.
The KLF are beyond amazing and also insane
Yes i agree and th-
Wait what
I was a dj in 1987. At one of the local record shops I came across the 12” of Doctorin the Tardis. The picture on the cover sold me. I knew I had to buy it. It was a smash the first night it was played!
I was in Japan when The KLF achieved their period of popularity. The great thing about Tokyo music stores is that they get stuff from everywhere; consequently, I was able to get not only most of the KLF catalogue on CD, but also a copy of The Manual.