The KLF

:This article refers to the band The KLF (Kopyright Liberation Front). For other "KLF" articles, see KLF (disambiguation).

History

Their first taste of UK number one success was the novelty-pop single, Doctorin' The Tardis, by The Timelords. Some people claim that Drummond later lamented about the decision not to release the single under the JAMs moniker. Others dispute this.

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They also published the infamous book The Manual, and gained notoriety for various anarchic situationist manifestations which included billboard advert defacements, a Brit awards protest involving a dead sheep and buckets of blood, weird mainstream press adverts, the staging of an alternative art award for the worst artist of the year (The Alternative Turner Prize), and burning a million pounds sterling. The resultant film, Watch The K-Foundation Burn A Million Quid, was toured around the UK. Drummond and Cauty signed a contract preventing them from talking about the incident for 23 years (the number 23 is a reference to the numerology referenced in the "Illuminatus!" books).

Related Topics:
The Manual - Situationist - Brit awards - Turner Prize - Watch The K-Foundation Burn A Million Quid - UK - Illuminatus!

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Leaving aside all the other incarnations, there were three main phases to their musical career (as the KLF).

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• In 1988-1989 they described their sound as "pure trance", and released a number of (largely) instrumental acid house rave anthems including What Time Is Love? and 3AM Eternal.
• In 1989-1990 they became "ambient house" and released seminal ambient LP Chill Out as well as ambient video Waiting. Jimmy Cauty was also involved in the ambient side-projects The Orb and Space.
• In 1990-1992 they became "Stadium House". The original pure trance singles were re-recorded with rap vocals, a pop-rock production and crowd noise samples. These singles, including What Time Is Love?, 3AM Eternal, Last Train to Trancentral, and Justified And Ancient were worldwide hits along with their 1991 UK top ten album, The White Room. Notably, Justified And Ancient featured vocals from American country star Tammy Wynette.