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The KLF were formed, in 1987 as The JAMMS (the Justified and Ancients Of Mu Mu) - a front for Drummond and Cauty's assault on the music industry. The two at the time had a No.1 in the UK Charts with the blatant copyright infringment that was The Timelords' (another front for the two) 'Doctorin' The Tardis', which was an excellent floor filling party record, sampling Doctor Who, Harry Enfield, The Sweet, and many other British cultural institutions! Prior to taking his own forays into the world of popular music (apart from a stint as part of Big In Japan in the post-punk era), Drummond contributed to the great lexicon of British music by unleashing The Teadrop Explodes and Echo and The Bunnymen on the pop scene, whilst Cauty was a member of ill-started band Brilliant, who blazed a bright but very short trail in the mid-80's. The success of 'Doctorin' The Tardis' led the two to release The Manual, basically a very comprehensive guide on how to make an attempt on pop glory. It worked for the people who brought us 'Bring Me Edelwiess' in 1988 - and proved to the world that The JAMMS weren't a flash in (cultural) pan after all... Under the guise of the KLF, Drummond and Cauty turned their heads to Ambient House, and released the groundbreaking and quite rightly critically acclaimed Chill Out - the author recommends playing this album whilst driving a long distance on a summer's day, it is an experience to be enjoyed. So, you've conquered the pop charts, written a book on how to get to the top of the charts (and had it proved by someone else), made a grand statement of Ambient House - so now what? Well, you start making House for the masses... and that was 'The Stadium House Trilogy'. The first release in the 'trilogy' was 1990's What Time Is Love? - a very loud, very catchy dance record with beats so meaty, rhythms so funky and generally a noise that could not be resisted by even the most luddite of music lovers. The record is notable for the contribution of Ricardo Da Force on vocals, who would be found on all three of the trilogy in some shape or form. Da Force would later be found on N-Trance's cover of 'Stayin' Alive'... shame really. The second in the trilogy was the relatively more chilled out '3 AM Eternal' - again, the usual themes are here - Da Force on the mic, constant shouts of "KLF!!! A-HA, A-HA" and "ANCIENTS OF MU MU!", and very deep bass. It went to show that the KLF were not a one off, and were capable of a lot of good music. The third, 'Last Train To Trancentral', with the catchline of "All aboard, all aboard, oh-woah-oh" is probably the most commercial of the lot, mimicing a lot of the tracks around at the time, and also developing the aforementioned themes running through the trilogy. If you weren't hooked by this, the third, then you were never going to be. All three tracks are excellent in their own right, but if you can do, try and get hold of a copy of The White Room, the album that collects all these together. The difficulty in obtaining this is that the KLF decided to delete all their records in 1994, and as such getting hold of any KLF/JAMMS recordings is a struggle, but a worthy one. Post-trilogy, the KLF recorded that example of mickey-taking eccentricity that was 'Justified and Ancient' with Tammy Wynette, and as such made another worty assault on the charts. Again, another reason to have great faith in the wonder that is British Popular Music. Also released was 'It's Grim Up North' under the JAMMS moniker - basically a list of all the big towns north of Leicester, with an industrial sound. Again, a blatant p*ss-take, but the public still lapped it up. How Drummond and Cauty managed to get a such a hold on the music loving public and make bucket loads of dosh in the process no-one will ever know, but they did, and they could probably still do if they could be bothered. The KLF/JAMMS have been involved in other stuff (most notably the burning of a million quid, the sods, and unleashing a death metal version of 'What Time Is Love' on the audience of the Brit Awards, which was frankly genius) but they never topped the heights of the trilogy, which is a shame, in the author's opinion. The author recommends reading Bill Drummond's book 45, which give a good insight into the crazy minds that gave all that magic to the world all those years ago... Amir Arezoo, May 2004
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