The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords, The KLF. Episode 226 of the Nialler9 Podcast is a look at the UK band that simultaneously topped the pop charts while being divisive art provocateurs.
Two British men, the Scotsman Bill Drummond and Englishman Jimmy Cauty created a notorious music project that engulfed the charts, aggravated the art world, upset the capitalists, annoyed the record industry and almost everyone else.
Other musicians have been known as provocateurs before but The KLF were on an whole other level, because they became a massive chart success, while posing questions about the validity of art, original ideas, creativity, commerce and capitalism.
This is the story of a band who did things like no one else, who had number 1 hits, who created art installations, defaced billboards, made cryptic advertisements, gave manic performances on Top of the Pops, fired machine gun blanks into the audience, became known as pranksters, and blew all the money in one huge notorious stunt.
We discuss their flagrant sampling of Abba and pop hits, their stadium house/rave chart-topping music, how to have a number one hit according to The Manual, a cult weekend on a Scottish Island, involving journalists, Wicker Man and Martin Sheen, The KLF’s Brit Awards shenanigans, The K Foundation art stunts, and the literal burning of a million quid.
The KLF is a story like no other.
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Show notes
- Songs played on the Nialler9 Podcast Spotify Playlist
- KLF on the Late Late Show in 1995
- The Manual: How to Have a Number One the Easy Way, 1988
References: KLF.De / Who Killed The KLF documentary (2021)
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