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Speaker 1: Where Were You in ninety two is a production of

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Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. They want you to do something different,

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Speaker 1: They want the shock people. They want you to kind

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Speaker 1: of like almost destroy their own myth and that's where

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Speaker 1: it went to the dark side. Literally, Welcome to Where

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Speaker 1: Are You in nine two, a podcast in which I

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Speaker 1: your host Jason Lamfier, look back at the major hits,

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Speaker 1: one hit wonders, shocking news stories, and irresistible scandals that

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Speaker 1: shaped what might be the wildest, most eclectic, most controversial

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Speaker 1: twelve months of music effort this week. With their brazen sampling,

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Speaker 1: outrageous pr stunts and bizarre performances, pop house anarchists the

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Speaker 1: Kleft set out to blow up the music industry, pairing

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Speaker 1: electric guitars with dance beats, rapping with New Age lyricism,

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Speaker 1: and the nightlife with a contemporary art world. The mysterious

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Speaker 1: UK duo of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cardy Or all

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Speaker 1: about breaking rules and defying expectations. They reached their crazy

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Speaker 1: sonic peak when They're left Field collaboration with the country

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Speaker 1: icon Tammy Wynett became an unlikely global smash, hitting number

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Speaker 1: one in eighteen countries. The response to their newfound fame.

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Speaker 1: Just as fervent fans and bewildered journalists felt like they

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Speaker 1: were arriving at the fictitious Mumu land at the center

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Speaker 1: of the song, the group abandoned music altogether and vanished,

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Speaker 1: taking their catalog with them. In this episode, we explore

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Speaker 1: the KLFs wild ride to stardom, from their doomed road

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Speaker 1: trip to meet Abba to their infamous performance in which

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Speaker 1: one of them took a machine gun and fired blanks

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Speaker 1: into the audience, to their mind boggling decision to film

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Speaker 1: themselves burning their earnings a staggering one million pounds. The

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Speaker 1: year was seven. Scotsman Bill Drummond had been toiling away

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Speaker 1: in the music industry for several years and now found

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Speaker 1: himself disillusioned. In the late nineteen seventies, he'd formed the

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Speaker 1: Liverpool punk group Big in Japan. His bandmates included Holly Johnson,

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Speaker 1: could go on to score an eighties hit called Relaxed

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Speaker 1: with his group Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Budget, who

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Speaker 1: would eventually become part of Susie and the Banshees. After

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Speaker 1: Big in Japan broke up, Drummond and another member, David

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Speaker 1: balf founded Zoo Records, which released early work from Echo

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Speaker 1: and The Bunnyman, whose debut album, Crocodiles they produced. In

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Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties, Drummond had taken a job as an

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Speaker 1: A and R guy for the record label Warner Electra Atlantic,

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Speaker 1: working out of its London office and pouring a ton

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Speaker 1: of time and energy into promoting the rock act Brilliant,

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Speaker 1: But the band never really took off, and by the

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Speaker 1: age of thirty three, Drummond was jaded with the corporate

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Speaker 1: side of the music industry. He wanted to be an artist,

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Speaker 1: so in nineteen eighties six, he resigned from his position

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Speaker 1: is shooting a fake press release. Soon after, he put

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Speaker 1: out his solo album The Man, a well received blend

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Speaker 1: of American country and Scottish folk. Drummond loved music, in

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Speaker 1: particularly the mystery that surrounded it. What do the songs mean?

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Speaker 1: How are they made? What were the artists behind them

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Speaker 1: really like? But he found himself bored with the pop

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Speaker 1: music dominating the charts. It had become so formulaic. While

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Speaker 1: out walking on January one, he decided the way forward

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Speaker 1: was hip hop. That's where innovation was thriving. He thought

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Speaker 1: trouble was Drummond didn't know how the hell to make

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Speaker 1: a hip hop record. He'd need to sample other songs,

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Speaker 1: but he didn't have a sampler. He knew someone who did, though,

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Speaker 1: Jimmy Cauty, a member of Brilliant, the group he'd signed

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Speaker 1: and promoted as an A n R guy. Brilliant had disbanded,

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Speaker 1: and Cauty was not only free to explore his next adventure,

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Speaker 1: but instantly intrigued by the idea of trying his hand

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Speaker 1: at hip hop. By March, the pair We're sending out

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Speaker 1: forty five with their first track to DJ's and music

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Speaker 1: journalists under the alias The Justified Ancients of Mumu a

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Speaker 1: k a. The Jams. The name was inspired by Robert

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Speaker 1: Shay and Robert Anton Wilson's The Illuminatous Book trilogy, a

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Speaker 1: sci fi satire peppered with sex, drugs, and conspiracy theories

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Speaker 1: that Drummond and Couty would source for ideas throughout their career.

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Speaker 1: The Jams debut song All You Need Is Love sampled

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Speaker 1: not only the Beatles song of the same name, but

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Speaker 1: also m C five's kick Out. The Jams. British pin

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Speaker 1: up pop vixen Samantha Foxes touch Me and the voice

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Speaker 1: of John Hurt from the British ps A Don't Die

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Speaker 1: of ignorance about the impact and dangers of AIDS, over

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Speaker 1: beat box rhythms, Drummond and his heavy Scottish accent, wrapped

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Speaker 1: with this killer of virus. Who needs war? I said, Shag, Shag,

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Speaker 1: shag some more. The cut also included snippets of erotic

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Speaker 1: hunting and the nursery rhyme ring around the Rosie, which

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Speaker 1: some have speculated was about the bubonic plag in Europe.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, this was a far cry from say, beastie boys,

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Speaker 1: fight for your right. Michaelangelo Mattos is a music journalist, critic,

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Speaker 1: and author of The Underground is Massive. How Electronic Dance

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Speaker 1: Music Conquered America. He describes the Jam's late eighties work

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Speaker 1: as a type of punk playful tongue and cheek approach

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Speaker 1: to sampling, not just more expansive, but also intentionally messy

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Speaker 1: and silly. There are all these DJ records, There was

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Speaker 1: this big efflorescence of James Brown sampling hip hop tracks

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Speaker 1: and in dance music. That sound became, you know, instrumental

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Speaker 1: versions of those sorts of things, cut ups that those

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Speaker 1: became very popular in clubs at that point, and so

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Speaker 1: the Kleft was like a piss take of that. Basically,

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Speaker 1: they were basically taking that idea and just throwing it

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Speaker 1: in the blender. You know, you think you know what

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Speaker 1: sampling can be. Here's what sampling can be. We're going

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Speaker 1: to just sample every damn thing we want. Drummond and

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Speaker 1: Catty hadn't gotten permission to use any of the samples, but,

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Speaker 1: as Ian Shirley writes in his book Turn Up the Strobe,

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Speaker 1: the Koft, The Jams, the Time Lords, a History, Drummond

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Speaker 1: rejected claims that this was theft. As he explained in

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Speaker 1: an interview in the music paper Sounds quote, it's like

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Speaker 1: saying Andy Warhol just stole other people's graphics, which he didn't.

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Speaker 1: He took other people's images and recycled them and reused them.

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Speaker 1: That doesn't mean he's robbed them and left them with nothing.

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Speaker 1: We're just doing musically what he did with the Campbell's

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Speaker 1: soup cans in a picture of Marylyn Monroe. In June seven,

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Speaker 1: the Justified Ancients of Mumu released her debut album, What

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Speaker 1: the Funk Is going On. To promote it, Drummond and

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Speaker 1: Catty climbed onto the roof of the National Theater of

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Speaker 1: the south bank of the River Thames and painted the

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Speaker 1: name of the record on the building. They got away

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Speaker 1: with it, a fusion of house music and hip hop.

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Speaker 1: Ninth and eighty seven included married samples. The Jams remained

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Speaker 1: unapologetic about incorporating other artists music without permission. Is Drummond

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Speaker 1: told the Music paper Record Mirror quote, It's like, and

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Speaker 1: you've got yourself an electric guitar, and then somebody from

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Speaker 1: the Acoustic Guitar Society comes around and says, I'm sorry,

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Speaker 1: you can't do that. It's against the law to use

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Speaker 1: electricity and instruments. And that's what it feels like. We've

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Speaker 1: got these samplers, how are we meant to use them?

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Speaker 1: Included samples from major acts like The Monkeys, James Brown,

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Speaker 1: Led Zeppelin, Jimmie Hendrix and Stevie Wonder, and even lifted

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Speaker 1: a bit from The Lonely goat Herd from the Sound

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Speaker 1: of Music for its final track Next. But it was

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Speaker 1: our greedious sample of a certain beloved Swedish pop group

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Speaker 1: on their song The Queen and I that caused the

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Speaker 1: Jam's trouble, says Turn up the strobe author Ian Shirley.

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Speaker 1: They used Whitney Houston, They sample Whitney Houston. They sampled

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Speaker 1: lots of different artists and different sounds, a bunch of

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Speaker 1: bit of hot balza. Obviously with Abba, they sampled Appa

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Speaker 1: and Apple allegedly suited them. After meeting with the Mechanical

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Speaker 1: Copyright Protection Society, who were about as fun as they sound,

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Speaker 1: Drummond and Couty received a letter notifying them that they

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Speaker 1: had violated the Copyright Act of nineteen fifty seven by

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Speaker 1: not seeking permission to use other musicians work to produce

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Speaker 1: their own. Not only had they breached copyright, but Abba

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Speaker 1: was not willing to grant them permission to use their

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Speaker 1: disco classic Dancing Queen, and demanded that they cease production

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Speaker 1: and distribution of their album, as well as acquire and

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Speaker 1: surrender all copies of it so they could be destroyed.

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Speaker 1: The Swedish darlings weren't about to uh take a chance

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Speaker 1: on these crooked pranksters. They've been slapped with a cease

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Speaker 1: and desist order and God only knew what the legal

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Speaker 1: and monetary repercussions would be. But the Jams had an idea,

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Speaker 1: why not take this as an opportunity to use Abba

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Speaker 1: again to make more art. Their next act of Loopy

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Speaker 1: the version to truck it to Sweden and ask the

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Speaker 1: group in person for permission to use Dancing Queen on

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Speaker 1: their song The Queen and I, Drummond asked, have you

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Speaker 1: ever met Abba? I'd love to meet Abba? Well, yeah,

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Speaker 1: who wouldn't, But now he and Cotty were actually going

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Speaker 1: to try to make that happen. Their pick or asque

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Speaker 1: A journey would be one of the first PR stunts

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Speaker 1: of their career. To maximize the exposure, they called on

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Speaker 1: journalist James Brown, not the musician who was then working

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Speaker 1: at the New Musical Express, and photographer Lawrence Watson to

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Speaker 1: accompany them on their quest. So I'm sure you're already

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Speaker 1: wondering what happened when these thieving rogues showed up at

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Speaker 1: ABBA's doorstep. What did the Swedish superstars say? Well, Drummond

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Speaker 1: and Cotty never made it to Abba. Instead, Catty's American

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Speaker 1: police car transporting the band of misfits puttered out, They

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Speaker 1: hit a moose and they ended up getting chased a

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Speaker 1: way by a piste off farmer with a shotgun. After

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Speaker 1: they sent a bunch of copies of their album seven

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Speaker 1: on fire on his property. Destroying your music was symbolic

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Speaker 1: They're grandiose way of apologizing to Aba and ceasing and desisting,

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Speaker 1: but it also made for good copy and imagery for

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Speaker 1: their enemy story. They also asked Watson to shoot them,

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Speaker 1: throwing copies of the album off the ferry into the

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Speaker 1: seed during the adventure, as journalist Brown recalls and Ian

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Speaker 1: Shirley's book Turn Up the Strobe, when they arrived in Stockholm,

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Speaker 1: they couldn't find Aba. They didn't even have their address.

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Speaker 1: So three in the morning and another symbolic gesture, they

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Speaker 1: gave a gold record to a local prostitute they encountered

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Speaker 1: on the street. On it, they had written their Maya

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Speaker 1: koopa and surrendered to the pop stars. Their message read

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Speaker 1: presented to Benny, Bjorn and Stig to celebrate sales and

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Speaker 1: access of zero copies of the Justified Agents of Mumu's

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Speaker 1: LP seven. Like they've done with the records, they burned

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Speaker 1: and tossed off the ferry, asked Watson to snap a

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Speaker 1: pick up the prostitute with her new gift. This whole

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Speaker 1: excursion was basically pointless, but the enemy story ran and

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Speaker 1: the Jams came one step closer to cementing their reputation

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Speaker 1: as tricksters. They'd go on to record other singles with

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Speaker 1: blatant samples. Their track Whitney Joins The Jams contained snippets

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Speaker 1: from the Mission Impossible theme, Isaac Hayes's Shaft theme, and

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Speaker 1: Whitney Houston's I Want to Dance with Somebody. Another Downtown

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Speaker 1: sampled the nineteen sixty whtwe the Clark song of the

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Speaker 1: same name, but Drummond and Coudy knew they couldn't continue

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Speaker 1: pilfering other acts music. Their next pr stunt to release

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Speaker 1: a new version called The Jams forty five edits that

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Speaker 1: left out the samples and instead included instructions on the

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Speaker 1: record sleeve for how to create the original album with

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Speaker 1: a twelve inch a turntable and the music they've used.

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Speaker 1: The only way for fans to get this version of

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Speaker 1: the album was that they brought their original copy into

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Speaker 1: record shops and surrendered them. Less than a year after

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Speaker 1: their botched attempt to go meet Abba, Drummond and Catty's

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Speaker 1: penchant for sampling transformed them from cult Darling's into bona

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Speaker 1: fide charttoppers, dropping their Moniker the Jams, and rebranding themselves

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Speaker 1: as the Time Lords. The pair released their new single,

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Speaker 1: Doctor and the Tartist, a novelty track that lifted the

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Speaker 1: theme from the Smash UK show Doctor Who, and mashed

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Speaker 1: it up with Gary Glitter's seventy two glam rock song

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Speaker 1: Rock and Roll Part two and bits from the glam

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Speaker 1: rock band Suits nineteen seventy three UK number one blockbuster.

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Speaker 1: Doctor and the Tartist referenced the name of the blue

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Speaker 1: phone booth, time machine and doctor Who. Tartis is an

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Speaker 1: acronym for time and relative dimension in space. The song

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Speaker 1: wasn't a house record. It's keewed closer to spacey stadium rock,

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Speaker 1: something to channel along with its sporting events. Its lyrics

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Speaker 1: simply repeated Doctor Who The Tartist, add infinitum. That's likely

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Speaker 1: why this song scored Drummon and Caudi their first number

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Speaker 1: one single, despite being widely panned by critics who called

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Speaker 1: it everything from quote excruciating to quote rancid. Of course,

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Speaker 1: the Time Lords were in on the joke. They recognize

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Speaker 1: the song's absurdity, but they also understood the kind of

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Speaker 1: tunes that would invigorate the British masses. Doctor and the

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Speaker 1: tartist spent a week at the summit of the UK charts,

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Speaker 1: inspiring the Time Lords to publish a book titled The

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Speaker 1: Manual How to Have a Number One The Easy Way.

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Speaker 1: A case studying the song's success, it offered a step

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Speaker 1: by step guide to writing a number one single with

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Speaker 1: no money or musical aptitude. They understood this was a

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Speaker 1: foolish and reductive premise, but like their sample heavy music,

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Speaker 1: it was more of an ironic art piece, a commentary

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Speaker 1: on the methodic nature of the pop music industry complex

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Speaker 1: and on late eighties capitalism. Drummond explained his reasoning for

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Speaker 1: putting out the book inview quote, there was an excuse

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Speaker 1: to say a lot of things I wanted to say

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Speaker 1: about how the industry worked. It was an excuse to

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Speaker 1: go out and say to people all they can say

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Speaker 1: to themselves. If you want to do something, go and

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Speaker 1: do it. Don't wait to be asked, don't wait for

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Speaker 1: a record company to come and want to sign you,

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Speaker 1: or a management company. Just go and do it. Also,

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Speaker 1: it was saying if you want to have a number one,

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Speaker 1: you can have it. But it won't make you rich,

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Speaker 1: it won't make you happy, but you can have it.

240
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Speaker 1: Of course, the book was just another chance for the

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Speaker 1: duo to get some media coverage, something they were adept dad,

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Speaker 1: says Michaelangelo Matos. They knew the press, They had the

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Speaker 1: press on their sides. There was a certain amount of

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Speaker 1: let's see what we can get away with because we

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Speaker 1: know exactly how much I think we can generate from this.

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Speaker 1: The Timelords other strategy for building buzz using caudis old

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Speaker 1: American police car, the one they've taken to try to

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Speaker 1: meet Aba for all the publicity for the single, naming

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Speaker 1: it forward Time Lord, they credited the car with writing

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Speaker 1: the song and said it to all their photo shoots,

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Speaker 1: appearances and interviews. Someone affiliated with the group would hide

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Speaker 1: in the vehicle under a pile of carpets and field

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Speaker 1: frustrated journalists questions. The singles cover featured an image of

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Speaker 1: it with the speech bubble that read, Hi, I'm for

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Speaker 1: a time Lord, I'm a car, and I've made a record.

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Speaker 1: The Time Lords were short lived, finished as soon as

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Speaker 1: they started. Drummond and Couty would release a second hip

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Speaker 1: hop house album as The Jams, but they were growing

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Speaker 1: uncomfortable with their rising popularity. In the flak they were

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Speaker 1: getting for all their sampling, Who Killed the Jams marked

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Speaker 1: the end of the justified Agents of Mumu and the

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Speaker 1: beginning of the duo's new iteration, The Kleft. Little did

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Speaker 1: they know they were about to become the most famous

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Speaker 1: they'd ever be Up next after the break, Drummond and

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00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:05,920
Speaker 1: Cotty reached their commercial and creative peak, scoring a string

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Speaker 1: of worldwide hits and enlisting an American country legend to

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Speaker 1: craft one of their craziest and most enduring singles yet.

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Speaker 1: Plus will explore the staggering acts of self sabotage that

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Speaker 1: ended their musical careers. Before Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cotty

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Speaker 1: had spent a year audaciously experimenting with samples to make strange,

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Speaker 1: very Scottish sounding, and frankly very awkward hip hop. They'd

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Speaker 1: hit number one with their Doctor Who's Sampling novelty song

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Speaker 1: Doctor and the Tartis. With their offbeat sound collages and

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Speaker 1: over the top publicity stunts, they'd garnered the attention and

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Speaker 1: for the most part, the respect of the music press.

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Speaker 1: They also spent a fair share of their time pulling

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Speaker 1: the music industries etels. Now casting aside their previous stage names,

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Speaker 1: the jams and the Time Lords. They were ready to

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Speaker 1: get serious about dance music, specifically house music, and more

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Speaker 1: specifically acid house. Acid House was a direct descendant of

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Speaker 1: Chicago House and Detroit techno, a mostly underground dance movement

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Speaker 1: that had failed to infiltrate the mainstream. By the late eighties, however,

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Speaker 1: clubs were playing in a lot more and it eventually

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Speaker 1: became synonymous with UK rave culture. Promoters would throw DJ

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Speaker 1: parties and warehouses, fields and other clandestine places where revelers

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Speaker 1: would dance all through the night and well into the morning.

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Speaker 1: The drug ecstasy was a major player. Under their new

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Speaker 1: name the k LEF, supposedly an acronym for the Copyright

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00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:52,680
Speaker 1: Liberation Front, Drummond and Couty were drawn to Acid Houses trademarks.

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Speaker 1: The basse created by the Roland TB three or three

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Speaker 1: synthesizer and beats crafted from Roland t R E O

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Speaker 1: eight drum machine. Acid House was dark, stabby, squelchy and trippy.

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Speaker 1: Their first true crack in an asset House influenced track

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Speaker 1: was the instrumental cut what Time Is Love? Released in October.

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00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:17,960
Speaker 1: The song became popular in clubs across Europe. The Kleft

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00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:19,840
Speaker 1: would go on to record two more versions of What

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00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,400
Speaker 1: Time Is Love, adding vocals and flushing it out more.

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Speaker 1: In July, they released What Time Is Love live at

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Speaker 1: trans Central. Trans Central was their recording studio. The house

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00:18:31,359 --> 00:18:34,720
Speaker 1: pop take on the song catapulted them into the mainstream,

301
00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:38,040
Speaker 1: peeking at number five on the UK charts. By that point,

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00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:41,359
Speaker 1: the duo had already released chill Out, an ambient house

303
00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:45,120
Speaker 1: concept album meant to chronicle a railroad journey from Texas

304
00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,480
Speaker 1: to Louisiana, though neither Drummond nor Carty had been to

305
00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:50,919
Speaker 1: that part of the US, this was simply their impression

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00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:53,920
Speaker 1: of what it was like, and press materials included with

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Speaker 1: revue copies of the record, they joked, quote ambient house

308
00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:05,680
Speaker 1: is that the Angels chill out too after the Christmas rush.

309
00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:09,760
Speaker 1: Sure they were being their cheeky selves with that description. However,

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00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:13,800
Speaker 1: Chill Out proved that the duo were capable of more restrained,

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00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:21,800
Speaker 1: well curated, sophisticated music, says Matos. So, basically, Jimmy Cauty

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00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,840
Speaker 1: is playing as a DJ in the ambient room at

313
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Speaker 1: Land of Oz, which is Paul o'kin Folls Club. They're

314
00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:32,920
Speaker 1: playing ambient music and found sound recordings things like Electronic

315
00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:36,960
Speaker 1: Counterpoint by Steve Reich or whatever. They're playing this stuff

316
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:47,560
Speaker 1: in that room. That's stuff would inspire. Chillout arguably the

317
00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:52,879
Speaker 1: Kalph's most influential release. Over forty five continuous minutes, steel

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00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:56,520
Speaker 1: guitar and samples of Elvis, Fleetwood, Mac and Van Halen

319
00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:00,920
Speaker 1: rub up against bits of bird song, crickets, chugging, train bleating,

320
00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,880
Speaker 1: sheet news reports, and two in throat singers. Chill Out

321
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,639
Speaker 1: manages somehow to be both barely there and to totally

322
00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:11,399
Speaker 1: envelope you. It's the sound of waking up the morning

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Speaker 1: or the afternoon after the rave. Nothing like it had

324
00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:24,480
Speaker 1: ever been put to take, but the trip depicted on

325
00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:28,280
Speaker 1: Chillout was just a detour. The Kaloff were still enthralled

326
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Speaker 1: by asset house and techno, and the success of What

327
00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,720
Speaker 1: Time Is Love showed that listeners were too. In March,

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00:20:36,200 --> 00:20:39,600
Speaker 1: they released The White Room, the closest rave culture had

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00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:43,280
Speaker 1: ever come to top forty radio. Most of the album's

330
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:47,160
Speaker 1: cuts have been recorded in some form as the soundtrack

331
00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:50,600
Speaker 1: for a film of the same name, featuring scene shot

332
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Speaker 1: and the mountainous Sierra Nevada region of Spain. The movie

333
00:20:54,160 --> 00:20:56,800
Speaker 1: followed them as they searched for the mystical White Room

334
00:20:57,000 --> 00:21:01,280
Speaker 1: that would release them from their contract with Eternity, but

335
00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,080
Speaker 1: it turned out to be just another expensive k left lark,

336
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:08,120
Speaker 1: and it was ultimately scrapped. The album in the White

337
00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,680
Speaker 1: Room came on the heels of the act's first number

338
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Speaker 1: one single, as the KLF three AM Eternal. It would

339
00:21:14,359 --> 00:21:18,120
Speaker 1: also become their highest charting US hit, peaking at number five.

340
00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:23,680
Speaker 1: Three A M Maternal is the quintessential Klef stadium house track,

341
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:27,439
Speaker 1: even including the sound of rapturous stadium applause, though the

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00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:31,159
Speaker 1: guys actually recorded it in the studio. Drummond and Caudy

343
00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:34,160
Speaker 1: extended this by to the whole first side of the album,

344
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Speaker 1: which unfurrowed like a live concert with its more polished,

345
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:42,040
Speaker 1: accessible sound and soul full diva vocals. Three M Maternal

346
00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,280
Speaker 1: appealed to both American pop fans and party hopping lovers

347
00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:47,639
Speaker 1: of acid house, which had begun to seep into certain

348
00:21:47,680 --> 00:22:07,399
Speaker 1: dance clubs and underground parties, says Mike Lent. Lamata's ninety

349
00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:11,880
Speaker 1: one is when the sort of rave sound emerges from

350
00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:18,680
Speaker 1: European producers, basically copying underground resistance. The techno banned from Detroit,

351
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:23,159
Speaker 1: and then by ninety two it's being sold back to America,

352
00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:27,080
Speaker 1: which is this weird euro euros thing where black American

353
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:31,320
Speaker 1: music has been transmogrified by Europeans and sold back to

354
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:37,119
Speaker 1: America under the auspices of it being European, which it

355
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:41,640
Speaker 1: in some ways is and in many ways is not.

356
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:44,720
Speaker 1: A lot of that music was by black people in Detroit,

357
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:49,840
Speaker 1: and American independent labels weren't going to sell that. They

358
00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:52,399
Speaker 1: weren't gonna like put that face on it because they

359
00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:54,200
Speaker 1: didn't want to. They were trying to sell it to

360
00:22:54,280 --> 00:23:08,399
Speaker 1: the newly emergent alternative crowd. The follow up single to

361
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:12,120
Speaker 1: three M Maternal Last Train to trans Central, didn't chart

362
00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:13,920
Speaker 1: in the U S Hot one hundred, but it's soward

363
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,959
Speaker 1: to number two in the UK in the spring. It

364
00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:19,520
Speaker 1: wasn't until late November that year that The k Left

365
00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,840
Speaker 1: would release their next single, Justified an Ancient stand by

366
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Speaker 1: the Jams, but Drummond and Couty didn't want to just

367
00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:27,840
Speaker 1: release the album version of Justified an Ancient, a song

368
00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 1: that actually showed up in its original form on the

369
00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:35,359
Speaker 1: Jams debut album on the White Room. Justified an Ancient

370
00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:38,440
Speaker 1: was a piano lead soul track featuring blissed out vocals

371
00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,879
Speaker 1: from reggae artist and multi instrumentalist Errol Nicholson a K

372
00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,679
Speaker 1: Black Steel, but the remix single version would follow in

373
00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:49,359
Speaker 1: its predecessor's thomping footsteps and keep the rave going with

374
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:53,399
Speaker 1: more beats, more samples, and a very surprising choice for

375
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:58,320
Speaker 1: a guest vocalist. Singer Maxine Harvey, who sang on three

376
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,280
Speaker 1: M Maternal, had originally hoarded lead vocals for the updated

377
00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:04,040
Speaker 1: version of Justified an Ancient, but she couldn't take the

378
00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:08,520
Speaker 1: song subject matter seriously, specifically the lines They're justified and

379
00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,960
Speaker 1: they're ancient, and they drive an ice cream fan, as

380
00:24:11,960 --> 00:24:13,960
Speaker 1: she told Ian Shirley in his book Turn Up the

381
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,960
Speaker 1: Strobe quote, even though I was working with different people,

382
00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 1: I've always been conscious about lyrics, and I weren't singing

383
00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:25,320
Speaker 1: about ice cream. In his book, Drummond notes, without naming her,

384
00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:29,320
Speaker 1: that the singer quote unquote, sounded uninspired, but that Cody

385
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:33,080
Speaker 1: had an epiphany one day suggesting they enlist none other

386
00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,679
Speaker 1: than country legend Tammy Wayne Nott for the song. A

387
00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 1: major country fan, Drummond jumped at the idea and claims

388
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 1: he was on the phone with Wynett twenty minutes later,

389
00:24:43,760 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 1: playing her the track as she stood backstage at a

390
00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:50,200
Speaker 1: concert in Tennessee. As the story goes, Drummond flew to

391
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:54,160
Speaker 1: Tennessee a week later to meet Tammy way Nett in person. Well,

392
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:57,480
Speaker 1: she was still Country Royalty and touring. The forty nine

393
00:24:57,560 --> 00:25:00,119
Speaker 1: year old singer was no longer climbing the chart sin

394
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:03,400
Speaker 1: she had in her sixties and seventies. Heyday, if Drummond

395
00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:05,600
Speaker 1: was stoked to work with a hero, why Not was

396
00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:08,440
Speaker 1: enticed by the idea of fronting a dance pop single

397
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:12,359
Speaker 1: with some trendy new hit makers. She, Drummond, and her

398
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,399
Speaker 1: manager and fifth husband, George Ritchie went to a local

399
00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:18,120
Speaker 1: studio where why Nott was such a recorder vocals over

400
00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:21,680
Speaker 1: Drummond's backing track. But there was a snag. You see,

401
00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:24,160
Speaker 1: why Not was used to singing with a live backing

402
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:27,320
Speaker 1: band who took her lead. This process was foreign to

403
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,119
Speaker 1: her and she kept singing too quickly or slowly for

404
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:34,680
Speaker 1: the beats. Drummond was pretty mortified, feeling silly for forcing

405
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:36,679
Speaker 1: one of his idols to sing about ice cream and

406
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:40,800
Speaker 1: being quote bound for Moomoo Land. He remembers the recording

407
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:44,360
Speaker 1: process as being a complete disaster, with him coming back

408
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,840
Speaker 1: to the UK worried he had nothing and that you'd

409
00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: have to nix the whole thing. But Collegie had good news.

410
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:55,280
Speaker 1: By using some fancy editing program, they could sample why

411
00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:58,320
Speaker 1: Nott's vocals and sync them up with the music, turning

412
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:01,399
Speaker 1: what Drummond thought was a shattered dream collaboration into a

413
00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:17,359
Speaker 1: sparkling singular reality. Errol Nicholson lent some backing vocals, and

414
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:20,560
Speaker 1: Drummond and Couty layered in vocals from some Zulu singers.

415
00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,720
Speaker 1: They'd save the track and soon enjoy the fruits of

416
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 1: their labor. The Ice Cream Band and their retooled version

417
00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,600
Speaker 1: of Justified an Ancient was not only a bound from Moonmuland,

418
00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:35,520
Speaker 1: but also for the charts, parking at number two on

419
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:39,240
Speaker 1: the UK Singles Charts, number two on the US Dance Charts,

420
00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:43,360
Speaker 1: and number one in several countries including Austria, Denmark, Finland

421
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:48,480
Speaker 1: and Sweden. If the Kaleps collab with why Not sounds

422
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:53,840
Speaker 1: like a risky, gonzo polarizing experiment, it was Justified an

423
00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:57,200
Speaker 1: Ancient as damn close to indescribable. So if you don't

424
00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,760
Speaker 1: know it, remember it. Pass this podcast right now and

425
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:07,080
Speaker 1: go put it on. But also let me try to

426
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,480
Speaker 1: describe it. What you'll hear or what you have heard

427
00:27:11,119 --> 00:27:14,280
Speaker 1: is a country rave mash up by way of South Africa,

428
00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:19,440
Speaker 1: a trancy tribal curio about yes, an ice cream band

429
00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:23,760
Speaker 1: chugging along towards MoMu. But it's also a tune sprinkled

430
00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:28,680
Speaker 1: with mysticism. Take for example, of the line new Style meanwhile,

431
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,520
Speaker 1: always on a mission while fishing in the rivers of

432
00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:36,640
Speaker 1: life from the duo's guest rapper Ricardo di Force. Justified

433
00:27:36,720 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 1: an Ancient is a perfect musical specimen of cheesy hetty,

434
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:50,119
Speaker 1: random all over the place, totally weird, totally fascinating. Here's

435
00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:53,120
Speaker 1: how Turn Up the Strobe author Ian Sureley describes it.

436
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:55,399
Speaker 1: It kind of reached into the history of America of

437
00:27:55,440 --> 00:27:58,199
Speaker 1: country music, which is your kind of along with the

438
00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:01,240
Speaker 1: blues and jazz, is your photo music. So there was

439
00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:04,640
Speaker 1: a kind of modern song with this sort of element

440
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,920
Speaker 1: of classic American folk music with it. She had singing

441
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,560
Speaker 1: a line that they're justified and their ancient and they

442
00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:14,439
Speaker 1: drive an ice cream band. I mean that kind of

443
00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:19,240
Speaker 1: like lyric is just insane really when you write it down,

444
00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:21,080
Speaker 1: but when you actually put it in the context of

445
00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:24,760
Speaker 1: a song, because she's singing about their myth. She is

446
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,920
Speaker 1: an American myth singing about this new band's own mythology.

447
00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:31,879
Speaker 1: It's all that kind of link in of myths and

448
00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,919
Speaker 1: kind of like old law together and it's it's just

449
00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:38,080
Speaker 1: it's so striking. That is the thing that makes it work.

450
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:42,800
Speaker 1: And since this was the Kalf the music world ruling

451
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:47,000
Speaker 1: stunt Kings, the video for Justivated Ancient also had to

452
00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:52,120
Speaker 1: represent these things. There is so much muchness in it,

453
00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:58,800
Speaker 1: says Michelangelo Matos. It's a big, splendiferous video. It's very

454
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:02,800
Speaker 1: you know, it's a very like opulent and very ridiculous,

455
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:07,640
Speaker 1: and so that was wonderful. I have great memories of that.

456
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,080
Speaker 1: To execute their vision of Moonoland for the video, Drummond

457
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,680
Speaker 1: and Coddy had an ancient temple constructed at Pinewood Studios,

458
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:17,560
Speaker 1: the sound stage where some James Bond movies have been shot.

459
00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 1: During the video's production, Alien three was being filmed there.

460
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:25,040
Speaker 1: The pair then brought in dancers, Zulu singers, and actors

461
00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:28,000
Speaker 1: posing as warriors to join my Net, who was decked

462
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,880
Speaker 1: out in a snug, sparkly blue dress. Says he and Shirley.

463
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,680
Speaker 1: You know the funny thing about KLFT, everyone thought they

464
00:29:35,680 --> 00:29:39,280
Speaker 1: were live band because they thought that these videos were

465
00:29:39,320 --> 00:29:42,800
Speaker 1: like Parliament Funkadelic. This was just a representation of the

466
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:46,360
Speaker 1: live show and that's why they did it. It was

467
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 1: to make it look like a massive performance because, like

468
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:53,280
Speaker 1: I said, lots of house and dance bands, they were

469
00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:56,760
Speaker 1: literally just a couple of guys behind synthesizers or computers

470
00:29:57,000 --> 00:29:59,360
Speaker 1: and a girl seeing it, well, was this. It looked

471
00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:01,480
Speaker 1: like there was ramas, It looked like there was like

472
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:05,280
Speaker 1: bass guitarists, they were backing singers. There was sort of

473
00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:09,040
Speaker 1: like nudency. There was closed there was you know, Tammy

474
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,320
Speaker 1: Whine and all this kind of a top thing on

475
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 1: these massive Marshall stacks, you know, all of the amplification.

476
00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,280
Speaker 1: So this is great, big pageantry, and it's just a

477
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 1: shame that they actually never played live. The whole thing

478
00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,720
Speaker 1: was insane. But Tammy why Nott was game. I like

479
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:30,200
Speaker 1: to think of her, Tammy why not. When Enemy interviewed

480
00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 1: went out about the collaboration, she was ecstatic, though she

481
00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,360
Speaker 1: admitted she had no idea what the hell the song

482
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 1: was about. I know about ice cream bands, but I've

483
00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:40,560
Speaker 1: never heard of a ninety nine before she said, referring

484
00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,440
Speaker 1: to the line make mine and nine. A ninety nine

485
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:45,719
Speaker 1: is basically a special ice cream cone with a chocolate

486
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 1: flake bar shoved into the top of it. Side note.

487
00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:52,280
Speaker 1: At one point Drummond and Coddy considered executing a pr

488
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:54,800
Speaker 1: stunt in which they had a Jams ice cream vand

489
00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:57,400
Speaker 1: and they would hand out cones to people, but also

490
00:30:57,480 --> 00:30:59,520
Speaker 1: give them a hit of ecstasy if they said make

491
00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:05,560
Speaker 1: mine a nine nine. That plan was abandoned. One outrageous

492
00:31:05,560 --> 00:31:08,160
Speaker 1: stunt the KLEF did instigate to promote the White Room

493
00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:12,600
Speaker 1: was the Rights of Move, an exclusive and extraordinary event

494
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:15,320
Speaker 1: in which Drummond and Catty invited a select group of

495
00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:17,440
Speaker 1: journalists to the Isle of Jura, off the coast of

496
00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:21,520
Speaker 1: Scotland for the summer solstice on June one. The invitation

497
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:25,760
Speaker 1: read the KLEP require your presence, you'll be transported to

498
00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 1: the Lost Continent Move bring your passports. As the group

499
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 1: arrived by ferry to Jura that weekend, sure enough, Drummond

500
00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:35,840
Speaker 1: was there to stamp the guest passports with the Jam's

501
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:40,240
Speaker 1: signature pyramid logo. What unfolded was an elaborate ritual filmed

502
00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:42,760
Speaker 1: by Bill Botton, who had directed videos for Echo and

503
00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:45,440
Speaker 1: the Bunny Man and The kalf Shelves White Room Movie.

504
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:49,120
Speaker 1: Dressed in hooded robes and faunting big tusks coming out

505
00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:52,240
Speaker 1: of their foreheads, Drummond and Catty as escort of their visitors,

506
00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:54,520
Speaker 1: who were also wearing robes. They had been provided to

507
00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,040
Speaker 1: a massive wicker man by the sea. They're a group

508
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:01,680
Speaker 1: of Japanese women donning diaph in white gowns and blonde wigs.

509
00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,120
Speaker 1: Took a personal item from each guest and placed it

510
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:09,720
Speaker 1: beneath the Wickerman. Drummond recited some nonsense language, they set

511
00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:13,680
Speaker 1: the Wickerman on fire, and then soon enough corks were

512
00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:17,080
Speaker 1: popped and drinks were poured. This was a media event,

513
00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:23,120
Speaker 1: after all. The next day, the quartet of Japanese women

514
00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:26,320
Speaker 1: hired to portray the Angels of MoU were filmed emerging

515
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:28,880
Speaker 1: from the sea, with Errol Nicholson popping up to sing

516
00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:31,680
Speaker 1: John to Fide an ancient you know, to promote the

517
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:35,400
Speaker 1: actual music. At the end of the weekend, attendees were

518
00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,080
Speaker 1: dropped off at the Liverpool Festival, a comedy where during

519
00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,040
Speaker 1: the intermission of a show at the Royal Court, some

520
00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:45,000
Speaker 1: took to the stage to sing along to justify it

521
00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:48,160
Speaker 1: an ancient and then enjoy ice cream served by Drummond

522
00:32:48,200 --> 00:32:52,040
Speaker 1: and Couty from their trademark ice Cream van. Ian Shirley

523
00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:54,760
Speaker 1: estimates that the rights of new event cost about seventy

524
00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:59,640
Speaker 1: thousand pounds or eighty dollars. And to think nowadays, all

525
00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:01,200
Speaker 1: you need is were some kids to do a TikTok

526
00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:04,480
Speaker 1: challenge to one of your songs. Still, the exposure of

527
00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:07,080
Speaker 1: the Kalf gout was significant, with journalists reporting on the

528
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:10,720
Speaker 1: experience and Butts footage running on MTV, But the kalps

529
00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:14,400
Speaker 1: most career defining and ultimately career ending spectacles were still

530
00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:17,400
Speaker 1: to come. At one time it was stunts, which was

531
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:20,760
Speaker 1: all good for good copy. Then as as it went on,

532
00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:23,600
Speaker 1: it got its darker because it's almost like they wanted

533
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,400
Speaker 1: to sort of do something even more extreme, and that's

534
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:31,600
Speaker 1: where it kind of got across the line into this

535
00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:36,400
Speaker 1: kind of strange sort of thing. What can we do

536
00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:51,080
Speaker 1: that is going to shock people more? Up next, after

537
00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:53,760
Speaker 1: the break, I talked to turn Up the Strobe author

538
00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:58,240
Speaker 1: and Kalf expert Ian Shirley about the band's notorious self

539
00:33:58,280 --> 00:34:02,160
Speaker 1: sabotaging performance at the eighteen ninety two brit awards and

540
00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:05,920
Speaker 1: their astonishing decision to destroy their earnings and abandon the

541
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:23,600
Speaker 1: music industry altogether. Yea, the year was and after a

542
00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:28,080
Speaker 1: string of hits and stunts, the Kalif were massive and minted.

543
00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,759
Speaker 1: Says k left expert ian Shirley. It wasn't that they

544
00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:35,080
Speaker 1: had a big record label. They got a deal through

545
00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:39,280
Speaker 1: rough Trade and distributed their music, so if they made

546
00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:42,520
Speaker 1: a dollar a record, they kept the ballow a record.

547
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:46,160
Speaker 1: It wasn't that big dollar went to the record label,

548
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:50,239
Speaker 1: who then gave them twelve cents. They owned all their products,

549
00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:53,400
Speaker 1: They pressed up their products, so they were making a

550
00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:56,920
Speaker 1: tremendous amount of money and don't aget they weren't touring,

551
00:34:57,719 --> 00:35:00,360
Speaker 1: so there wasn't that kind of overhead to play for that.

552
00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:03,319
Speaker 1: So they were making a tremendous amount of money. It

553
00:35:03,520 --> 00:35:07,960
Speaker 1: was they were literally making millions of dollars. Jimmy Cotty

554
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:10,520
Speaker 1: and Bill Drummond had loved doing press, but they were

555
00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:13,880
Speaker 1: suddenly feeling tons of requests for interviews, TV appearances and commercials,

556
00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:16,839
Speaker 1: many of which they declined. Pressure also rose for them

557
00:35:16,840 --> 00:35:19,560
Speaker 1: to tour, but as thirty something family men, they couldn't

558
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: fathom life on the Road. They even turned down an

559
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:25,240
Speaker 1: offer to perform as guests for Prince. At that point,

560
00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,920
Speaker 1: the Kalif single sales were through the roof. One chart

561
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,840
Speaker 1: declared them the third biggest selling singles act in the

562
00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:34,880
Speaker 1: UK after Brian Adams and Queen, who had become popular

563
00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:38,960
Speaker 1: again after singer Freddie Mercury's death. To commemorate their success,

564
00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:42,160
Speaker 1: the brit Awards, the UK equivalent of the American Grammys,

565
00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 1: invited the duo to perform at their ceremony at the

566
00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:49,239
Speaker 1: Hammersmith Odeon in February. Maybe they fell honored to be

567
00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:52,880
Speaker 1: nominated for three awards Best British Group, Best Single and

568
00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:56,960
Speaker 1: Best Album, but Drummond and Catty agreed to actually perform live,

569
00:35:57,239 --> 00:36:01,480
Speaker 1: which they never did. Of course, this was the Kalef.

570
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:04,560
Speaker 1: So the rendition of three Am Maternal came with a twist.

571
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:09,640
Speaker 1: They would recruit UK hardcore group Extreme Noise Terror for

572
00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:13,319
Speaker 1: a thrashing, barely recognizable heavy metal version of the song.

573
00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:16,120
Speaker 1: You see. The pair had started to record their follow

574
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,359
Speaker 1: up album to The White Room, titled The Black Room

575
00:36:18,360 --> 00:36:28,680
Speaker 1: with the Band, but that project was shelved now they

576
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:31,360
Speaker 1: deserted their original plan, which was to cut up a

577
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:34,720
Speaker 1: sheep corpse on stage and toss buckets of its blood

578
00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:37,840
Speaker 1: and pieces of it under the audience. But the Kaliph's

579
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:40,720
Speaker 1: birth performance still involved some of the most mind blowing

580
00:36:40,800 --> 00:36:44,600
Speaker 1: hyjunks yet. Drummond, dressed in a kilt and holding a

581
00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:47,799
Speaker 1: crutch with a cigar pinched between his teeth, ended it

582
00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:52,080
Speaker 1: by taking a machine gun and firing blanks into the crowd,

583
00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:55,279
Speaker 1: Allah said Vicious in the nineteen documentary The Great Rock

584
00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:59,440
Speaker 1: and Roll Swindle. The Insane set concluded with an announcement

585
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:03,080
Speaker 1: riffing on the final line of three am turtle Ladies

586
00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:07,680
Speaker 1: and Gentlemen, that KLF have now left the building. In

587
00:37:07,719 --> 00:37:12,160
Speaker 1: a more ominous definitive statement, the duo's publicists, Scott Pearing,

588
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:17,399
Speaker 1: declared that KLF have left the music business. Later that night,

589
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:20,360
Speaker 1: they deposited the dead sheep they planned to slice and

590
00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,799
Speaker 1: dice at the show on the red carpeted steps of

591
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:26,120
Speaker 1: the Royal Lancaster Hotel, where the Brits after party was held.

592
00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:29,680
Speaker 1: A note attached to the carcass read, I died for

593
00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:35,080
Speaker 1: you bone appetite. For many, the stunt crossed the threshold

594
00:37:35,120 --> 00:37:38,360
Speaker 1: and too gratuitous and grizzly. It wasn't so much funny

595
00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:41,880
Speaker 1: as it was bewilsering and to some infuriating. Meanwhile, I

596
00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:43,600
Speaker 1: want to sort of funk you to the Brits and

597
00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,280
Speaker 1: to the whole notion of prestige and accolades in general.

598
00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:49,600
Speaker 1: COTTI took the Pairs Award for Best British Group that

599
00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:53,440
Speaker 1: they won that night and buried it near Stonehenge. According

600
00:37:53,480 --> 00:37:56,760
Speaker 1: to the two thousand one documentary Who Killed the KLF.

601
00:37:57,320 --> 00:37:59,960
Speaker 1: After it was uncovered two months later and turned over

602
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,840
Speaker 1: to the police, the k left went back and buried

603
00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:09,280
Speaker 1: it deeper. Bill Drummond and Jimmy Carty seemed to think

604
00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:12,400
Speaker 1: they'd reached the pinnacle of success and that the only

605
00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:16,279
Speaker 1: place to go from there was down. Why do that?

606
00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:18,640
Speaker 1: If they could go out in a high note and

607
00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:22,720
Speaker 1: break up the party themselves, says he and Shirley did everything,

608
00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:27,239
Speaker 1: and it was that kind of all encompassing mad madness

609
00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:29,799
Speaker 1: that probably exhausted them. And then after a while they

610
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:32,759
Speaker 1: realized that they've done so much they just couldn't top it,

611
00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:35,080
Speaker 1: and the fact that people love what they were doing

612
00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:38,000
Speaker 1: kind of like turn them off. That's the interesting thing.

613
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:40,680
Speaker 1: They wanted to kind of like destroy what they left

614
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:44,799
Speaker 1: their own with and the spring of shortly after their

615
00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 1: infamous brit spectacle, the k Left stopped pressing albums and

616
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:53,120
Speaker 1: singles and set out to obliterate their entire catalog. A

617
00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:55,479
Speaker 1: statement they released to the press and placed some ads

618
00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:59,560
Speaker 1: and music papers read. For their foreseeable future, there will

619
00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:03,280
Speaker 1: be no further record releases from the Justified Ancients of Mumu,

620
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:07,320
Speaker 1: the Timelords, the Jams, the Kalf, and any other past,

621
00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:11,279
Speaker 1: present and future name attached to our activities. As of now,

622
00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:15,640
Speaker 1: all our past releases are deleted. Answering machines and fax

623
00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:19,040
Speaker 1: machines were shut off. Drummond and Cardi disappeared to Mexico,

624
00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:23,760
Speaker 1: but the story doesn't end there. After engaging in another

625
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:25,759
Speaker 1: pr stunt and crashing the art world with the k

626
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:29,720
Speaker 1: Foundation Award, which to the artists who produced the worst

627
00:39:29,719 --> 00:39:32,640
Speaker 1: body of work from the previous twelve months, the Klef

628
00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:37,440
Speaker 1: made their biggest, most shocking artistic statement yet. They decided

629
00:39:37,719 --> 00:39:40,319
Speaker 1: that they not only wanted to obliterate their music, but

630
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:44,680
Speaker 1: obliterate any trace of their profits from it. So on

631
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:49,719
Speaker 1: August they returned to the island of Jura in Scotland,

632
00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:53,760
Speaker 1: struck a match and set fire to their earnings burning

633
00:39:54,160 --> 00:40:01,800
Speaker 1: one million pounds. They had originally tried to get Lendon's

634
00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:03,640
Speaker 1: Take Gallery to allow them to display the money now

635
00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:06,840
Speaker 1: to the wall, but it, among other galleries, refused to

636
00:40:06,880 --> 00:40:10,239
Speaker 1: showcase this quote unquote art, so Drummond and Catty took

637
00:40:10,239 --> 00:40:13,240
Speaker 1: matters into their own hands, filming their hard earned cash

638
00:40:13,520 --> 00:40:16,200
Speaker 1: as it turned to numbers and presenting footage of their

639
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:18,759
Speaker 1: act of self annihilation and various cities a year later.

640
00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:24,959
Speaker 1: Audiences who saw it were flabbergasted. Many were enraged, says

641
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:28,640
Speaker 1: Michelangelo Maato's I mean, that's really the most audacious thing

642
00:40:28,760 --> 00:40:32,560
Speaker 1: you could do. I don't know how else to describe it.

643
00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:36,359
Speaker 1: It's just it's sort of breathtaking. I mean, in a way,

644
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:41,680
Speaker 1: it's callous. It's an almost an act of you know,

645
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:53,640
Speaker 1: class warfare. I tracked out Ian Shirley, Who's two thousand

646
00:40:53,680 --> 00:40:56,600
Speaker 1: seventeen book Turn Up the Strobe chronicles Arise and Self

647
00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:59,920
Speaker 1: Induce Fall of the Kala to discuss that notorious Brits performance,

648
00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:03,240
Speaker 1: their career literally going up Your Flames, and their decision

649
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:05,840
Speaker 1: to finally make their music available on streaming services in

650
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:10,640
Speaker 1: two thousand twenty one, basically right around the time that

651
00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:16,040
Speaker 1: uh you know, Justified an ancient was was charting. They

652
00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:18,000
Speaker 1: you know, are invited to perform at the at the

653
00:41:18,040 --> 00:41:22,600
Speaker 1: brit Awards and uh in early So tell me about

654
00:41:22,760 --> 00:41:25,879
Speaker 1: tell me about their thought process going into the brit

655
00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:30,040
Speaker 1: Awards in two and uh and what they had planned,

656
00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:32,120
Speaker 1: because I think this is maybe sort of the beginning

657
00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 1: of the the unraveling of it all. Yeah, but it

658
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:40,720
Speaker 1: already started. What happened was normally you have to submit

659
00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:45,359
Speaker 1: the song before performing because obviously the actual show wants

660
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:48,360
Speaker 1: to know what you're going to play. And this was

661
00:41:48,440 --> 00:41:52,359
Speaker 1: such a radically different version of their own song. They

662
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:55,160
Speaker 1: almost sort of told them that they couldn't play it,

663
00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:59,480
Speaker 1: but they had They allowed the care left to play it.

664
00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:01,560
Speaker 1: But and this is where he got really dark, because

665
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:04,040
Speaker 1: there's all these talks of what they were going to

666
00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:07,600
Speaker 1: do on stage. I mean, one time Bill was going

667
00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:10,239
Speaker 1: to cut up a sheep live on stage. So on

668
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:12,400
Speaker 1: the morning of the show, he goes and gets a

669
00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:15,560
Speaker 1: sheep that is pre ordered. He was going to throw

670
00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:18,040
Speaker 1: blood over the front of the audience, the front row

671
00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:19,799
Speaker 1: of the audience, so he went up and got all

672
00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:23,719
Speaker 1: this blood. Uh, he was gonna at one time chop

673
00:42:23,760 --> 00:42:26,439
Speaker 1: off on his arms or something I've read somewhere. It's

674
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:30,120
Speaker 1: just this absolute kind of using this moment to sort

675
00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:36,279
Speaker 1: of act have this amazingly visual kind of darkness. And

676
00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:40,400
Speaker 1: what's so funny is extreme noise terror. We're all vegetarians,

677
00:42:40,440 --> 00:42:43,399
Speaker 1: so the thought of actually build cutting up a sheep

678
00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:46,520
Speaker 1: live on stage didn't really go down well with them.

679
00:42:46,680 --> 00:42:49,840
Speaker 1: The thought of actually build throwing blood over on the

680
00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:53,360
Speaker 1: front row of the audience didn't go well with them.

681
00:42:53,360 --> 00:42:55,320
Speaker 1: And it's a classic thing that when they did perform,

682
00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:58,880
Speaker 1: it all sort of went wrong because Jimmy talked about

683
00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:01,560
Speaker 1: having this great big guitar our solo he'd always wanted

684
00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:03,600
Speaker 1: he was a guitarist and won't have this massive big

685
00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:06,320
Speaker 1: guitar solo, and they had already decided it would be

686
00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:09,960
Speaker 1: the last ever performance, And of course, when he actually

687
00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:13,040
Speaker 1: went step forward to playing his guitar, he pulled the

688
00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:15,799
Speaker 1: lead out of the amplifier, and so by the time

689
00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:20,000
Speaker 1: he got it back in, it was all over and

690
00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:22,439
Speaker 1: it was just and also builded this classic thing when

691
00:43:22,440 --> 00:43:24,760
Speaker 1: he came out in the trench coat with a cigar

692
00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:27,839
Speaker 1: in his mouth, firing and blanks of a machine gun

693
00:43:28,360 --> 00:43:31,120
Speaker 1: at the audience, which is all very much synficious my

694
00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:35,000
Speaker 1: way thing, and of course all the audience thought this

695
00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:38,040
Speaker 1: was just part of the spectacle, you know, it was.

696
00:43:38,160 --> 00:43:40,600
Speaker 1: It was sort of transgressive, but it was just all

697
00:43:40,600 --> 00:43:44,200
Speaker 1: well done. That was exciting. Who's the next act? You

698
00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:46,480
Speaker 1: know the fact that they sent a courier bike courier

699
00:43:46,520 --> 00:43:48,560
Speaker 1: to click their award again, it's just sort of like

700
00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:51,520
Speaker 1: a modern kind of you know, what someone would do

701
00:43:51,600 --> 00:43:54,799
Speaker 1: today to get attention on social media, and of course

702
00:43:54,840 --> 00:43:57,839
Speaker 1: at that time there was no social media. And that

703
00:43:58,000 --> 00:44:01,719
Speaker 1: was their last performance, and that was I think they

704
00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:03,520
Speaker 1: went to the studio they were going to carry on

705
00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:07,120
Speaker 1: recording with extreme noise terror and then Jimmy said, look

706
00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:09,880
Speaker 1: that's it. I think we should stop, and they literally

707
00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:12,400
Speaker 1: did stop at that point. That was the last time

708
00:44:12,880 --> 00:44:16,359
Speaker 1: they actually appeared. And then obviously in the UK they

709
00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:20,440
Speaker 1: deleted their entire back catalog, they deleted everything. But in

710
00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:22,880
Speaker 1: America I don't think they could delete the back catalog

711
00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:25,319
Speaker 1: because of the deal with a rister, so records over

712
00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:28,320
Speaker 1: there sould for some time. But you know, it's insane

713
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:31,640
Speaker 1: that an artist, you imagine, like Snoop Dogg or mcdonna's

714
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:34,839
Speaker 1: saying I've stopped now performing. I'm not doing anything more.

715
00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:37,920
Speaker 1: No more streaming of my music, no more physical product.

716
00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:42,600
Speaker 1: I mean, look at the weekend saying, right, I become

717
00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:47,560
Speaker 1: a born again Christian. Music is wrong. So suddenly next

718
00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:50,839
Speaker 1: month you can't stream his music no more, you can't

719
00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:54,239
Speaker 1: download his music no more. It's not a YouTube, you

720
00:44:54,280 --> 00:44:57,600
Speaker 1: can't buy the physical product. It's that kind of level

721
00:44:57,600 --> 00:45:00,319
Speaker 1: of success that they turned their back up. They just

722
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:02,759
Speaker 1: literally said we will press no more records and no

723
00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:06,520
Speaker 1: more CDs, and therefore people will not be able to

724
00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:09,200
Speaker 1: buy it anymore. It was an amazing sort of like

725
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:11,759
Speaker 1: and they cut off their own income stry, you know,

726
00:45:11,760 --> 00:45:14,359
Speaker 1: because really they would have actually made quite a lot

727
00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:18,400
Speaker 1: of money over the years by actually their back catalog

728
00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:22,960
Speaker 1: selling it was it would sell forever. What was the

729
00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:26,600
Speaker 1: catalyst or what were the catalysts for them to call

730
00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:28,840
Speaker 1: it quits? I don't. I mean, this is the thing.

731
00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:31,200
Speaker 1: I mean, when I wrote my book, I never got

732
00:45:31,320 --> 00:45:35,520
Speaker 1: I met I met Finn and Jimmy afterwards. But they,

733
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:38,000
Speaker 1: you know, they kept very tight lipped about their reasons.

734
00:45:38,120 --> 00:45:40,640
Speaker 1: I mean, they had their reasons to stop him. Maybe

735
00:45:40,680 --> 00:45:43,680
Speaker 1: they've had enough, Maybe they got you know, Bill and

736
00:45:43,760 --> 00:45:47,160
Speaker 1: Jimmy thought that what how much more successful. Can we

737
00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:52,720
Speaker 1: be We've had worldwide hits, a worldwide top seven album.

738
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:55,560
Speaker 1: You know, there's no there's no much there's not much

739
00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:58,200
Speaker 1: further you can do. And that's why when they they

740
00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:01,320
Speaker 1: transitioned into these sort of found nation where they actually,

741
00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:04,560
Speaker 1: you know, did the prize, remember the Turner Prize, and

742
00:46:04,600 --> 00:46:07,520
Speaker 1: then they gave their own awards and things like that,

743
00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:11,360
Speaker 1: and they started doing stunts after that where lots of

744
00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:14,279
Speaker 1: the journalists would come along and say, oh, this looks great.

745
00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:16,400
Speaker 1: But when they realized there was no music, there was

746
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:20,720
Speaker 1: no kind of new video, new song, that they lost

747
00:46:20,800 --> 00:46:23,319
Speaker 1: interest in them. That the interest weighed because it was

748
00:46:23,360 --> 00:46:28,040
Speaker 1: no longer these guys doing the merry pranks and there's

749
00:46:28,040 --> 00:46:30,640
Speaker 1: some great music coming out. It was these guys doing

750
00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:34,560
Speaker 1: these quite dark things which kind of like turn people off,

751
00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:37,200
Speaker 1: and they lost kind of a lot of traction, which

752
00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:40,520
Speaker 1: I think in some respects they enjoy it and other

753
00:46:40,520 --> 00:46:43,320
Speaker 1: times they thought, well, we want more attention. It was

754
00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:46,680
Speaker 1: when that's why the ultimate thing of burning a million pounds,

755
00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:50,399
Speaker 1: this insane kind of idea that all the money they

756
00:46:50,520 --> 00:46:54,759
Speaker 1: made from music was tarnished, so therefore they had to

757
00:46:54,800 --> 00:46:58,239
Speaker 1: burn it. And you know, it's kind of It's that

758
00:46:58,440 --> 00:47:01,080
Speaker 1: kind of what mental eight were there in to sort

759
00:47:01,080 --> 00:47:03,480
Speaker 1: of come up with that, and then what mental state

760
00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:06,319
Speaker 1: were they actually actually follow through with it. And I

761
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:08,320
Speaker 1: know that from you know that some of the wives

762
00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:12,840
Speaker 1: weren't happy after that. You know that why why and

763
00:47:13,280 --> 00:47:15,719
Speaker 1: exactly how do they go about doing it? But I

764
00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:18,920
Speaker 1: don't I mean, I think even today, I mean, you know,

765
00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:20,960
Speaker 1: they was one of the things is sad in some

766
00:47:21,120 --> 00:47:23,799
Speaker 1: respects that they're remembered more for burning the money than

767
00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:27,200
Speaker 1: they're after the music. It's something that they decided to

768
00:47:27,239 --> 00:47:29,960
Speaker 1: do and they had to live with it after that,

769
00:47:30,360 --> 00:47:33,600
Speaker 1: and you know, obviously they you know that they actually

770
00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:35,920
Speaker 1: had to we had to pay tax on it or

771
00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:38,400
Speaker 1: something because it was you know, they burnt. It's the

772
00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:41,080
Speaker 1: money that had earned you know, it wasn't not wasn't unearned,

773
00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:43,239
Speaker 1: you know, the money that in fact that the fact

774
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:44,560
Speaker 1: that I love the fact that they could get a

775
00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:48,440
Speaker 1: million pounds out of the bank. People were very upset

776
00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:51,480
Speaker 1: because you know, you're it's their money. They can do

777
00:47:51,520 --> 00:47:52,960
Speaker 1: what they want with it. But people thought it was

778
00:47:52,960 --> 00:47:56,560
Speaker 1: a very kind of strange thing to do. And the

779
00:47:56,600 --> 00:47:58,960
Speaker 1: fact that they didn't come out, they didn't come out

780
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:01,800
Speaker 1: of it people saying, well, that's amazing. People thought, you know,

781
00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:05,040
Speaker 1: you're stupid, why are you burning money? And unfortunately became

782
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:07,720
Speaker 1: a coda. You know, they are the band that burned

783
00:48:07,719 --> 00:48:11,200
Speaker 1: a million dollars or you know, a million pounds, and

784
00:48:11,360 --> 00:48:13,400
Speaker 1: you know, I think for a long time it was

785
00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:16,520
Speaker 1: a shadow whatever Bill and Jimmy did it sort of cut. Mean,

786
00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:19,239
Speaker 1: Jimmy's done lots of art, and Bill's written lots of

787
00:48:19,239 --> 00:48:21,600
Speaker 1: books and done lots of different things. But that's the

788
00:48:21,640 --> 00:48:24,399
Speaker 1: one thing they remember me, if they're remembered by I mean,

789
00:48:24,520 --> 00:48:28,200
Speaker 1: it's rather than the music. Music is great. I can

790
00:48:28,239 --> 00:48:30,440
Speaker 1: see how some people would have thought it was in partaste,

791
00:48:30,440 --> 00:48:34,279
Speaker 1: why not take that million pounds and donated to some charities,

792
00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:40,719
Speaker 1: you know anything, I do wonder if they're plotting some

793
00:48:40,800 --> 00:48:45,160
Speaker 1: sort of comeback or or what is in the works,

794
00:48:45,280 --> 00:48:49,720
Speaker 1: because it was a little strange, you know, the beginning

795
00:48:49,760 --> 00:48:55,040
Speaker 1: of two thousand twenty one, when you know, some of

796
00:48:55,080 --> 00:49:00,640
Speaker 1: their tracks were released on streaming and digitally the first

797
00:49:00,680 --> 00:49:04,520
Speaker 1: time really since they took it all away, right, did

798
00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:06,239
Speaker 1: you did you know this was coming or did you

799
00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:10,480
Speaker 1: wake up surprised to discover that as well? They did

800
00:49:10,480 --> 00:49:12,320
Speaker 1: the twenty after twenty years. They did the thing in

801
00:49:12,400 --> 00:49:14,640
Speaker 1: Liverpool which I went to, where that they had like

802
00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:17,000
Speaker 1: a sort of three day k or ethics traffic anzer.

803
00:49:18,360 --> 00:49:21,400
Speaker 1: I didn't know the music was coming, A lot of

804
00:49:21,400 --> 00:49:23,640
Speaker 1: people didn't, but it's the sort of thing they would do.

805
00:49:23,719 --> 00:49:28,000
Speaker 1: But I don't think they have any plans. I mean,

806
00:49:28,040 --> 00:49:30,080
Speaker 1: Jimmy has been you know, it's quite well known as

807
00:49:30,080 --> 00:49:31,920
Speaker 1: an artist who sort of you know, in a sort

808
00:49:31,960 --> 00:49:35,440
Speaker 1: of banksy moment really, and Bill has always done different

809
00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:39,319
Speaker 1: things from choirs to cook into people. It's just it's

810
00:49:39,320 --> 00:49:41,120
Speaker 1: just not like part of their history. I know they've

811
00:49:41,120 --> 00:49:43,200
Speaker 1: got a very rapid fan base, but I don't think

812
00:49:43,239 --> 00:49:46,839
Speaker 1: they are looking to make new music, to do different things.

813
00:49:46,880 --> 00:49:48,600
Speaker 1: I mean, I think the fact that they put the

814
00:49:48,719 --> 00:49:52,680
Speaker 1: music out is sort of like the fact that you know,

815
00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:54,920
Speaker 1: they said, right, people have forgotten the ballot, so now

816
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:57,480
Speaker 1: and let people listen to it again. I mean obviously

817
00:49:57,560 --> 00:50:01,400
Speaker 1: were streaming now, I mean to make millions and millions

818
00:50:01,400 --> 00:50:03,560
Speaker 1: of plays for them to make any money. They probably

819
00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:06,440
Speaker 1: do make money from it, but I think it's very

820
00:50:06,520 --> 00:50:09,800
Speaker 1: much part of their past. You know, they're not looking

821
00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:13,600
Speaker 1: now to come back and restore the KLF, and nor

822
00:50:13,680 --> 00:50:16,560
Speaker 1: should they. I mean I think what they did now

823
00:50:16,680 --> 00:50:19,759
Speaker 1: sounds sort of test of time. With music. It's still

824
00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:22,560
Speaker 1: the time, test of time of visuals, it's still the

825
00:50:22,600 --> 00:50:25,960
Speaker 1: test of time as sort of pranksters and kind of

826
00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:28,879
Speaker 1: what they did as artists, and you know, people can

827
00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:30,680
Speaker 1: look back on it and enjoy it now. You can

828
00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:33,759
Speaker 1: watch the video and not you know, it's funny they

829
00:50:34,920 --> 00:50:37,160
Speaker 1: I think they've spent a quarter million pounds on some

830
00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:39,839
Speaker 1: of the songs and videos, but no one sort of

831
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:43,040
Speaker 1: like writes that off against them burning a million pounds.

832
00:50:43,520 --> 00:50:45,960
Speaker 1: I mean Michael Jackson remember when he was doing history

833
00:50:46,080 --> 00:50:48,840
Speaker 1: or something. He was like, I don't think he's like

834
00:50:48,960 --> 00:50:51,600
Speaker 1: paying a million dollars attract to work with people or

835
00:50:51,640 --> 00:50:54,560
Speaker 1: something like that. You know, all the pop industry at

836
00:50:54,560 --> 00:50:56,560
Speaker 1: one time, the amount of money that is spent on

837
00:50:56,600 --> 00:50:59,920
Speaker 1: promo videos and things like that, and it just doesn't

838
00:51:00,040 --> 00:51:02,719
Speaker 1: scene to matter. But if you go out and burn

839
00:51:02,760 --> 00:51:06,520
Speaker 1: a million pounds, it's kind of like people do get offended.

840
00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:13,640
Speaker 1: It's interested, it's resonated. Yeah, it's interesting. That is a

841
00:51:13,719 --> 00:51:16,919
Speaker 1: really that is a really fascinating take on it, because

842
00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:19,320
Speaker 1: it almost makes me wonder if it was at least

843
00:51:19,320 --> 00:51:24,560
Speaker 1: partly commentary on the fleeting nature of music and all

844
00:51:24,600 --> 00:51:28,000
Speaker 1: the money that is dumped into these you know, like

845
00:51:28,040 --> 00:51:31,080
Speaker 1: you said, a single, one single perhaps, right, and then

846
00:51:31,160 --> 00:51:35,440
Speaker 1: let's say that single tanks doesn't go anywhere, you know,

847
00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:39,040
Speaker 1: barely scrapes the top forty or not even. And but

848
00:51:39,160 --> 00:51:42,920
Speaker 1: yet they all this money was dumped into the promo video,

849
00:51:43,840 --> 00:51:48,839
Speaker 1: you know, remixes maybe, and and that's just gone. It's

850
00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:52,239
Speaker 1: but it's like with politics. And look in America, every

851
00:51:52,239 --> 00:51:55,920
Speaker 1: time there's a Democratic or Republican campaign, a presidential campaign,

852
00:51:56,239 --> 00:52:00,960
Speaker 1: billions of dollars spent on advertising on all of these things,

853
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:03,640
Speaker 1: and no one questions that is a waste of money.

854
00:52:04,400 --> 00:52:07,600
Speaker 1: No one questions it. Every day on the TV. I mean,

855
00:52:07,640 --> 00:52:10,720
Speaker 1: I like American football when it's on. I watched endless

856
00:52:10,719 --> 00:52:14,560
Speaker 1: adverts for pizza Pizza Hut or these insurance companies, and

857
00:52:14,560 --> 00:52:16,759
Speaker 1: they spend obviously millions of dollars to have it on

858
00:52:16,880 --> 00:52:19,920
Speaker 1: during the American football. No one questions that this money

859
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:23,080
Speaker 1: is spent just to reinforce the brand. It doesn't make

860
00:52:23,120 --> 00:52:25,560
Speaker 1: a blind bit of difference. I mean whether I buy

861
00:52:25,560 --> 00:52:28,399
Speaker 1: a pizza or not. You know, all of these things

862
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:33,160
Speaker 1: whereby money is spent willy nearly on things. If you

863
00:52:33,200 --> 00:52:35,960
Speaker 1: can sum up You've touched on this a little bit already,

864
00:52:36,000 --> 00:52:39,239
Speaker 1: but if you could sum up the legacy and impact

865
00:52:40,120 --> 00:52:44,120
Speaker 1: of the kl AFT in music specively, but then you know,

866
00:52:44,239 --> 00:52:46,880
Speaker 1: in pop culture as a whole, how would you how

867
00:52:46,880 --> 00:52:49,600
Speaker 1: would you sum up their impact and legacy. I think

868
00:52:49,680 --> 00:52:53,280
Speaker 1: the KFT have left sort of like musically as a tombstone.

869
00:52:53,280 --> 00:52:55,960
Speaker 1: They've got the White the White Room album, you know,

870
00:52:56,000 --> 00:53:00,719
Speaker 1: Justified and Ancient Free Am E Turn or What Timer's Love.

871
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:04,560
Speaker 1: You know, these are records and songs that will just

872
00:53:04,600 --> 00:53:07,919
Speaker 1: go on forever and people will discover them because they're great.

873
00:53:07,920 --> 00:53:11,480
Speaker 1: It's great music, and you know, and they do they

874
00:53:11,480 --> 00:53:13,759
Speaker 1: did the right thing, which has to make these amazing

875
00:53:13,840 --> 00:53:18,280
Speaker 1: videos to promote the songs, so that when people look back,

876
00:53:18,440 --> 00:53:21,799
Speaker 1: these young people who look on Spotify, they will think

877
00:53:21,840 --> 00:53:24,000
Speaker 1: that the k left for a big band that toured.

878
00:53:24,440 --> 00:53:27,160
Speaker 1: They will think that they filled stadiums around the world

879
00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:29,319
Speaker 1: because they see these videos. I think that's just a

880
00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:32,560
Speaker 1: little more replication of what they did live on stage.

881
00:53:33,000 --> 00:53:36,400
Speaker 1: So what they've done, they've created this myth and in

882
00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:40,400
Speaker 1: some respects what they did by stopping, they actually solidify

883
00:53:40,520 --> 00:53:43,799
Speaker 1: what they did because there's no kind of post White

884
00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:47,880
Speaker 1: Room albums that don't cut it. There's no kind of

885
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:50,920
Speaker 1: working with you know, they did Tammy win It, and

886
00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:53,920
Speaker 1: then they decided to work with someone like I don't know,

887
00:53:54,000 --> 00:53:58,680
Speaker 1: Tony Christie, or they work with you know, Kirk Gabay

888
00:53:58,840 --> 00:54:01,800
Speaker 1: which didn't come off, or there's no kind of coda

889
00:54:01,880 --> 00:54:04,920
Speaker 1: where the music just sort of like gets tired. They

890
00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:09,799
Speaker 1: stopped making music right at the peak. And that was

891
00:54:09,840 --> 00:54:12,399
Speaker 1: the kind of most savvaest thing they did. They went

892
00:54:12,440 --> 00:54:15,920
Speaker 1: out on top and everything that happened afterwards, people will

893
00:54:16,000 --> 00:54:20,280
Speaker 1: look back and see what they did. These prez absolute

894
00:54:20,320 --> 00:54:24,240
Speaker 1: monster singles, one bigger than the other, in the music,

895
00:54:24,440 --> 00:54:27,840
Speaker 1: in the visuals, and in the chart places around the world.

896
00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:30,160
Speaker 1: And they went out and said, thank you very much.

897
00:54:33,440 --> 00:54:37,440
Speaker 1: Was it mic drop? As they said, A very big,

898
00:54:37,560 --> 00:54:55,839
Speaker 1: very billowy, very smoky, very mic drop. Three decades later,

899
00:54:56,080 --> 00:54:59,480
Speaker 1: the smoke is long cleared, but we're still left wondering

900
00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:01,640
Speaker 1: if that money burning on the Isle of Jurro was

901
00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:05,080
Speaker 1: a the most expensive and dramatic dissilusion of the band

902
00:55:05,160 --> 00:55:08,760
Speaker 1: ever be the product of the k left guys teetering

903
00:55:08,760 --> 00:55:12,000
Speaker 1: on the edge of sanity see the result of a

904
00:55:12,080 --> 00:55:15,520
Speaker 1: lot of drugs and alcohol or d all the above,

905
00:55:16,160 --> 00:55:20,399
Speaker 1: says Mottoes. There's nothing on the record where they ever

906
00:55:20,640 --> 00:55:24,720
Speaker 1: come clean about any other intention other than let's see

907
00:55:24,719 --> 00:55:30,880
Speaker 1: what it's like regardless. On August seventeen, Drummond and Catty

908
00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:34,120
Speaker 1: barreled into Liverpool, England and they're now old and battered

909
00:55:34,160 --> 00:55:36,239
Speaker 1: ice cream van to prove that they still had a

910
00:55:36,280 --> 00:55:39,120
Speaker 1: few treats to serve up to their die hard fans.

911
00:55:39,160 --> 00:55:42,720
Speaker 1: Exactly twenty three years after they scorched all that cash,

912
00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:47,600
Speaker 1: Drummond and Catty resurrected the Justified Ancients of Mumu, releasing

913
00:55:47,640 --> 00:55:52,480
Speaker 1: a dystopian novel two a trilogy, and hosting a three

914
00:55:52,560 --> 00:55:56,080
Speaker 1: day happening called Welcome to the Dark Ages. The event,

915
00:55:56,760 --> 00:56:01,680
Speaker 1: which some four quote unquote volunteers attended, included various role

916
00:56:01,719 --> 00:56:04,680
Speaker 1: playing and a panel debate that posed the eternal question

917
00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:09,000
Speaker 1: why did the k Foundation burn a million quid? Conceptual

918
00:56:09,080 --> 00:56:12,600
Speaker 1: artists and academics weighed in. When Drummond and Caughty themselves

919
00:56:12,640 --> 00:56:16,879
Speaker 1: were asked the question, they simply replied, whatever, So, after

920
00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:20,840
Speaker 1: all that time had passed, still no answer, but guests

921
00:56:21,000 --> 00:56:23,000
Speaker 1: were given torn out pages of the Jam's new novel

922
00:56:23,080 --> 00:56:29,960
Speaker 1: for their time. The Jams also announced their latest endeavor

923
00:56:30,480 --> 00:56:36,120
Speaker 1: no not music, but a literal pyramid scheme, The People's Pyramid,

924
00:56:36,520 --> 00:56:40,759
Speaker 1: a massive structure made of bricks from human ashes. Those

925
00:56:40,800 --> 00:56:44,880
Speaker 1: who wish to contribute to the momification could pay pounds

926
00:56:44,960 --> 00:56:48,400
Speaker 1: to have their remains packaged into said bricks. The slogan

927
00:56:48,440 --> 00:56:52,880
Speaker 1: for the process was by now Die Later. The pyramid

928
00:56:52,920 --> 00:56:56,320
Speaker 1: would be erected in Talks Death in Liverpool and updated

929
00:56:56,440 --> 00:56:59,560
Speaker 1: each year on Talks Death Day of the Dead. After

930
00:56:59,560 --> 00:57:02,279
Speaker 1: the annount Samanth, a yellow robed choir, took to the

931
00:57:02,320 --> 00:57:04,839
Speaker 1: stage of the event held at the Arts Venue the floor.

932
00:57:05,640 --> 00:57:08,640
Speaker 1: They were joined by a blue hooded figure, soon revealed

933
00:57:08,680 --> 00:57:11,480
Speaker 1: to be Jarvis Cocker, the lead singer of the UK

934
00:57:11,640 --> 00:57:14,600
Speaker 1: brit pop band Pulp, who led them in a gospel

935
00:57:14,719 --> 00:57:20,480
Speaker 1: version of Justified an Agent. The happening culminated with the

936
00:57:20,560 --> 00:57:24,000
Speaker 1: volunteers assembling in a field around a large pyramid, onto

937
00:57:24,000 --> 00:57:27,439
Speaker 1: which structure is called Coffins for life were stacked. Then,

938
00:57:28,080 --> 00:57:30,600
Speaker 1: like the Wickerman at the rights of move and like

939
00:57:30,720 --> 00:57:34,080
Speaker 1: the Kleft Millions and Earnings, the whole thing was set

940
00:57:34,080 --> 00:57:37,600
Speaker 1: on fire, Drummond and Caudi sporting horns like they had

941
00:57:37,600 --> 00:57:39,520
Speaker 1: at the rights of the Moon. Nearly thirty years before

942
00:57:39,960 --> 00:57:48,640
Speaker 1: stood in the night, watching from the sidelines. Depending on

943
00:57:48,680 --> 00:57:51,320
Speaker 1: who you are, welcome to the Dark Ages was either

944
00:57:51,360 --> 00:57:54,600
Speaker 1: the comeback of the decade, a failed attempt to recapture

945
00:57:54,760 --> 00:57:57,960
Speaker 1: the chaotic magic of a bygone era, or just a

946
00:57:57,960 --> 00:58:01,160
Speaker 1: bunch of nonsense. But if you cared to remember the

947
00:58:01,240 --> 00:58:04,880
Speaker 1: Kaleps and music as much as their mischief, this wild

948
00:58:04,920 --> 00:58:07,640
Speaker 1: and wooly story has a happy ending. It does for

949
00:58:07,680 --> 00:58:11,720
Speaker 1: me anyway. On January one, two one, I, along with

950
00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:15,200
Speaker 1: many others, awoke to discover with glee that the Kalif

951
00:58:15,320 --> 00:58:17,640
Speaker 1: had finally put some of their songs on streaming services

952
00:58:18,440 --> 00:58:22,120
Speaker 1: Solid State Logic one, a collection of eight remastered singles,

953
00:58:22,200 --> 00:58:25,440
Speaker 1: including three m Maternal and Justified an Ancient, had dropped

954
00:58:25,480 --> 00:58:29,280
Speaker 1: at midnight, while several of their official videos had been

955
00:58:29,320 --> 00:58:32,120
Speaker 1: published for the first time on the duo's YouTube channel.

956
00:58:32,480 --> 00:58:35,080
Speaker 1: Three more releases, including new versions of the album's Chill

957
00:58:35,080 --> 00:58:38,040
Speaker 1: Out in the White Room, followed. The kal Lef had

958
00:58:38,120 --> 00:58:41,640
Speaker 1: re entered the building, their strange and boundary pushing dance music,

959
00:58:41,920 --> 00:58:45,520
Speaker 1: re emerging from its thirty year moratorium. Like an acid

960
00:58:45,560 --> 00:58:50,320
Speaker 1: house Lazarus. I was reminded of their loony, impish brilliance

961
00:58:50,800 --> 00:58:53,080
Speaker 1: and all the ship that went down to those seven

962
00:58:53,120 --> 00:58:58,320
Speaker 1: short years, says Michelangelo Mattos, like fucking Kalef for the coolest,

963
00:58:58,360 --> 00:59:02,880
Speaker 1: Like they're fucking more masks and a wore like Hosmat suits,

964
00:59:02,920 --> 00:59:08,440
Speaker 1: and they were like anonymous and sarcastic, and they pulled stocks. Well,

965
00:59:08,480 --> 00:59:11,360
Speaker 1: it was not to like the records were great. Who

966
00:59:11,400 --> 00:59:13,439
Speaker 1: knows why Bill Drummond and Jimmy Carty decided to break

967
00:59:13,440 --> 00:59:15,680
Speaker 1: their musical silence and make a large chunk of their

968
00:59:15,720 --> 00:59:20,600
Speaker 1: discography available again. Perhaps, like Ian Shirley suggests, they figured

969
00:59:20,640 --> 00:59:23,760
Speaker 1: many had forgotten about it, so why not? And the

970
00:59:23,880 --> 00:59:28,320
Speaker 1: kalf Mythos motives tend to remain mysteries. Logic can't be

971
00:59:28,360 --> 00:59:32,200
Speaker 1: applied here, so then maybe it's best to just hit

972
00:59:32,240 --> 00:59:34,720
Speaker 1: your eye in the ice cream van, follow the trail

973
00:59:34,760 --> 01:00:11,600
Speaker 1: to Mumu Land, and lose yourself in the crazy. Where

974
01:00:11,600 --> 01:00:13,520
Speaker 1: Were You in ninety two was a production of I

975
01:00:13,680 --> 01:00:17,280
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. The executive producers are Noel Brown and Jordan

976
01:00:17,360 --> 01:00:20,800
Speaker 1: run Talk. The show was researched, written and hosted by

977
01:00:20,840 --> 01:00:24,240
Speaker 1: me Jason Laffier, with editing and sound design by Michael

978
01:00:24,280 --> 01:00:27,920
Speaker 1: Alder June. If you like what you heard, please subscribe

979
01:00:27,920 --> 01:00:30,440
Speaker 1: and leave us a review. For more podcasts for my

980
01:00:30,520 --> 01:00:34,000
Speaker 1: heart Radio, check out the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast,

981
01:00:34,200 --> 01:00:35,840
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.