in praise of KLF - the white room

In the end, we are *all* bound for Mu-Mu land.

It is strange, though, to come to things I once loved unreservedly, with new eyes. Watching those wonderful KLF videos of yore, which at the time were so amazingly over the top and just incredible and strange, and now this twinge of discomfort and "did they really just do that?"

You can never really look at the art of the past with today's eyes and see it the same way (Lex and I joking over Boxing Day lunch: can you ~imagine~ the controversy on Twitter, had the Windowlicker been released today? Hahahahahah... oh god.) and is it even really appropriate to talk about "cultural appropriation" with regards to an artist whose entire raison d'etre was "appropriation" in every way, shape and form. But a lot of stuff that was "let's put culture in a blender" at that point does read kinda differently now and it feels dishonest to pretend it's just not there. Cressida jumping up and down wearing a Native American head-dress between someone dressed as a Viking and someone in Xhosa warrior gear seemed all "rave is beyond time and space and culture itself!!!" at the time and now is a a bit "hmmm." But still. Nostalgia wins.

or maybe "rave is plugged into a set of global historical practices"? don't think twice it's alright

From my distant memories (I was a. in my late teens/early 20s when this music came out and b. in another country) it was part of a whole ecstasy-fuelled ethos of "in rave there is no black nor white, in rave there is no east nor west, in rave there is no man nor woman, Jew nor gentile etc." which was written into the music from inception (listening to Can You Feel It specifically right now, as this being what House Music was about) and much of the imagery which reads now as "appropriation" was written within the spirit of that moment and that philosophy.

It's also interesting that my copy of the White Room (I have the American reissue of course, because this is the only legal way to own it - haha, I feel like I'm disregarding artistic intention by owning it "legally" in and of itself) all of the samples are credited, and more specifically, all of the vocalists are credited. I do not remember what the original records were like (had some on cassette, some on 12", all long gone) - if this was the KLF legally covering their arses after their prior experiences with copyright liberation. Or if it was a deliberate statement against artists like e.g. C&C Music Factory? who would sample one woman on the record, then have another (younger, thinner, more commercial) woman "interpreting" the vocals in videos and performances? It just seems such an "of its time" moment.

When "thinking too hard about stuff" becomes part of the pleasure of listening to it.

I hadn't heard there was a book on the KLF until this thread was revived. I've just finished reading it and it was tremendous - it ties together a lot of stuff I'm interested in outside the KLF in a satisfying and surprising way and the author's 'magical thinking' explanation for burning the million quid is hilariously provocative and entirely in the mythmaking spirit of the KLF.

The white room album felt compromised at the time, but on retrieval it's actually a "Keep for all time" great record.

The 'original' was on Spotify last year until 'someone' 'noticed'..

recent(ish) book is so so good

I wish I could find out for myself! I ordered it off the Guardian over a week ago, but of course it hasn't turned up. :-/

So so good

This is an amazing book. And is bringing together so many different threads of things I had been interested in. In so many ways.

But I really don't know if this is a good book for me to be reading right now.

I just really hope they get their souls back.

If you have Amazon Prime and a Kindle in the US, you can "borrow" this book for free - not sure about the UK.

Oh, what a chiz of an ending! Why oh why did I keep reading on past the warning of "if you are satisfied with magical thinking, stop here and proceed on to the epilogue"?

After setting up this entire rollicking tale, encompassing everything from Discordianism and the JFK assassination to the fall of communism and the birth of rave, with bits of Dada and situationsim and psychogeography and the Liverpool punk scene, plus digressions and discourses on the nature of Art and Magic and the Collective Subconscious and the social construct that is money, liberally watched over by Celtic giant rabbit spirits, and basically whipping this huge stringy mess into the most amazing and contrived of fantastic synchronicities, he then goes and... Well, I won't spoiler it for those who haven't read it. But I feel like a child who has had the most wonderful confection displayed in front of their greedy eyes, only to have it whipped away at the last minute and replaced with the chopped spinach of a Moral Lesson.

Bah.

I feel like I should read the Illuminatus! trilogy again (though after reading the Cosmic Trigger trilogy, kinda disillusioned with Robert Anton Wilson). And also read more of Drummond's own books, though I still get the feeling that he doesn't really understand what he did/what happened to him any more than anyone else. It's a very good thing that the book dispells the image of Drummond and Cauty as master manipulators and paints them more as a couple of incredibly lucky people who almost stumbled into their own brilliant ideas.

Is this the book being talked about?
http://www.amazon.ca/KLF-Chaos-Magic-Music-Money-ebook/dp/B00ABFHOS0/

Yes! Ignore my carping above; it's awesome, read it.

I just got one, I recognise the preface which is how far I've got so far, Looking forward to more..

Then again, how are you placed to write the alt:fic version?

I don't understand. Are you suggesting I write KLF fan fiction?

Would it work?

I used to have the same thoughts (well, similar) about the automaton machines that made up the lineup of the Art of Noise. Then they went out of their way to be some blokes and a really great pianist.

No. That would be a very bad idea.

OK, I used them as background characters in the back story of one character in one fiction once, but... NO. NO THIS WOULD BE A BAD IDEA.

Dreamt I saw the KLF live at Wembley. They opened with America: What Time Is Love? Then I woke up. :(

Wow, I wish I could have the KLF back in my dreamspace. They took up residence there for some time in the early 90s (there are pages in the Book of Bernard about them, blossoming out of annoyance that their name was so similar to the name I was going by then, and turning into something warped and strange) but they would be welcome guests now.

In the world of other coincidences, I was pestering my Mum to see if she remembered the Drummond family from when she was small, but her memory's are a 10-year old's. They are just still one of those bands that accumulate coincidences around them, so the coincidence is not that shocking. But the link is still strange to me, because it is so obscure.

about to start reading this book, excited

Yay! I dreamed about the KLF last night! Continuing my "dream up fake songs" tradition, last night I even managed to dream up a complete fake KLF single, including video, with Jimmy Cauty maniacally butchering sheep carcasses. Then Bill Drummond rented me a holiday cottage near Belfast. It was on this long spit of land that stuck out into the sea in what Bill said had to be a secret masonic symbol from the way it looked on the A to Z.

that dream should be a short film or music video imo, or actually i guess i just want to dream it myself

KLF are p much the one band I would most like to see a fictionlised film of the "not really true" story of their adventures, a la "24 Hour Party People" but also they are the one band most likely to never do such a thing. Perhaps I should start writing a film to be made after the 23 years are up, haha.

Isn't the 23 years up, like, already?

since the car bonnet contract? November 2018.

Not long, then..

Bill did bend the contract slightly in this

well, i guess it is time to add this and the 'waiting for the rights of mu' albums to the digital archive.

the 'waiting for the rights of mu' albums

not actually an album

yeah i know ..

but hey lets not spoil the party ..

put the films in yr digital archive instead!

I feel like I found some sort of hidden treasure in the used bins today when I saw Shag Times. Picked it up without hesitation. Love it when I find early KLF in the wild

Double LP version fwiw.

good find.

some of the extra remixes/tracks are a bit superfluous but its a good collection of their various singles.

Richard King, via Twitter...

"Interviews with Bill Drummond & Jimmy Cauty that I couldn't fit into 'How Soon Is Now?' The K Foundation Tapes: http://www.how-soon.com/index.php/blog/entry/the_k_foundation_tapes";

was doing some reading on this album and saw that 3 AM Eternal hit #5 on the Billboard chart in 1991. What kind of radio stations played it?

it was #1 in the uk!

I remember it being on the radio all the time, because I used to listen to it while driving, and there was no tape deck. But I can't remember what kind of stations were playing it.

In addition to 3AM Eternal, Unbelievable by EMF, Right Here Right Now by Jesus Jones, Silent Morning by Noel, True Faith by New Order and other Freestyle/dance tracks made a dent in the charts in the late 80s/early 90s.

The videos for "3AM Eternal" and "Justified and Ancient" got some MTV rotation.

I just found this album for $1.50 and am listening to it for the first time. It's really good. Very much enjoying.

3am was on the top 40 station a LOT here.