Friday, January 06, 2017

Do you want JAMS on that...?



Will they, won’t they and will anyone really give a fucKLF either way? I’m guessing that few people under the age of 30 will know much about the KLF/JAMS/K Foundation (or any of the other names that Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty briefly traded under) but for a year or two at the dawn of the 90s they were arguably one of the more interesting propositions in pop/dance/art. After selling millions of records they went out in a blaze of ‘gory’, firing machine guns over the Brits audience and then dumping dead sheep outside the event. Not content with this they then allegedly took all of the proceeds from their record sales, a million quid no less, and promptly burnt the lot. I say allegedly as there’s some doubt as to whether they really did but, having met Drummond and brought up the subject (yes I know but I just couldn’t help it) I’m pretty sure they did. Having done all that they then deleted their entire back catalogue and disappeared into the nether regions of the art world where they’ve remained ever since. But now, a mere 23 years after their last significant release, they (in their Justified Ancients of Mu Mu guise) may be about to return. Apparently they placed a self imposed moratorium on any activity 23 years ago (the number 23 may be significant...something to do with Discordianism, a self-declared religion based on the premise that discord and chaos are the building blocks of life and/or The Illuminatus! Trilogy) and now they’re free to return but to do what is, typically for a group that thrives on messing with heads, as yet unclear. One thing that’s certain is that music and art could well do with a bit of a K-ick up the arse right now. Here's a quick reminder of some of the KLF/JAMS's greatest moments. 





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