Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty of the KLF
The KLF (also known as Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The Timelords and other names) were one of the seminal bands of the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Beginning in 1987, Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D, formerly of Big In Japan as well as ex-manager of Echo & The Bunnymen and Teardrop Explodes) and Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock, also co-founder of the Orb) released hip hop-inspired and sample-heavy records as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, and on one occasion (the British number one hit single "Doctorin' the Tardis") as The Timelords. The abbreviation of the band has long been a mystery; it is widely believed to stand for "Kopyright Liberation Front". Their most notorious performance was a collaboration with Extreme Noise Terror at the February 1992 BRIT Awards, where they fired machine gun blanks into the audience and dumped a dead sheep at the aftershow party. This performance announced The KLF's departure from the music business, and in May 1992 the duo deleted their entire back catalogue.
Links To Peel[]
Peel started playing the KLF sometime in 1987, when they were called the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu and would often play their tracks including their collaboration with Extreme Noise Terror after Bill Drummond heard them on Peel's show. Their collaboration ultimately led to their only 1992 Festive Fifty entry, "3am Eternal", which entered at number 44.
3 A.M. Eternal[]
The KLF vs. Extreme Noise Terror - 3AM Eternal
KLF vs Extreme Noise Terror at the Brits, 12 February 1992.
Towards the end of 1991, Bill Drummond heard Extreme Noise Terror on the Peel show (when he was having a bath, apparently) and decided to approach them with the idea of a collaboration, having first considered Motörhead. The result was a fast, brutal version of KLF's techno anthem 3 A.M. Eternal, the premiere of which was intended for the Top Of The Pops Christmas special, but the BBC bailed out, considering the song unsuitable for daytime TV: consequently, KLF boycotted the show for the remainder of their career. The song saw a limited release on their own KLF Communications label and received Peel's dedicated support (including a competition to win copies), but being available only by mail order, and then only in limited quantities, it had no chance of charting. The two bands worked together on The Black Room, but all recordings of the sessions were deleted when KLF broke up.
The song had one last memorable hurrah, however. KLF won the Best British Group award at the Brits (ironically, jointly with Simply Red), and were booked to open the show. ENT performed 3 A.M. Eternal with Bill Drummond, who was suffering from a broken leg and (after having stumbled over his rap and corpsed as a result), closed the act by spraying the audience with blank machine gun bullets. Their publicist / announcer Scott Piering stated, "Ladies and gentlemen, the KLF have now left the music business" (despite the fact that conductor Sir Georg Solti walked out of the show in disgust, Billy Bragg can be seen in the audience applauding enthusiastically). This was indeed the end of KLF. 3 A.M. Eternal made the 1992 Festive Fifty, and was simultaneously the only entry for ENT, the KLF and extreme music as a whole.
Sessions[]
- No sessions as KLF.
- Bill Drummond: 1 session with Big In Japan (1979).
- Jimmy Cauty: 1 session with Angels One Five (1981), 1 session with Orb (1989).
Festive Fifty Entries[]
- 1992 Festive Fifty: 3 A.M. Eternal (with Extreme Noise Terror) #44
Other Shows Played[]
The list below was compiled only from the database of this site and may be incomplete. Please add further details if known.
- (unknown date, January or March 1987): All You Need Is Love [1] [2]
- 02 November 1987: Whitney Joins The JAMS (7")
- 06 April 1988: Candyman (LP - Who Killed The Jams?) KLF Communications
- 26 October 1991: It's Grim Up North (12") KLF Communications JAMS 028R (Under the name of Justified Ancients of Mu Mu)
- Disco 2000 (KLF's backing singers)
- 30 November 1987: I Gotta CD (7") KLF Communications
- Timelords
- 25 May 1988: Doctorin' The Tardis (7") KLF Communications
- 27 June 1988: Gary Glitter Joins The J.A.M.S. (12" - Gary In The Tardis) KLF Communications (under the name of the Timelords)
- KLF
- 04 September 1989: 3 A.M. Eternal (Pure Trance 2) (12") KLF Communications
- 18 September 1989: 3 A.M. Eternal (12" - 3 A.M. Eternal (The UK Mixes)) KLF Communications KLF 005R
- 02 January 1990: Last Train To Trancentral (Remix) (12") KLF Communications
- 08 January 1990: Last Train to Trancentral (Remix 1) (12") KLF Communications KLF 008 R
- 16 January 1990: Last Train To Trancentral (Pure Trance Version) (12" - Last Train To Trancentral (Remix)) KLF Communications KLF 008 R
- 03 February 1990 (BFBS): Last Train to Trancentral (Remix 1) (12") KLF Communications KLF 008 R
- 11 July 1990: What Time Is Love? (Live At Trancentral) (12") KLF Communications KLF 004X
- 13 July 1990 (BFBS): What Time Is Love (Techno Gate Mix) (12") Possum POS 5174
- 25 July 1990: What Time Is Love (Techno Gate Mix) (12") Possum POS 5174
- 31 July 1990: What Time Is Love (The Techno Gate Mix) (12") Possum POS 5174
- 17 August 1990 (BFBS): What Time Is Love (Techno Gate Mix) (12") Possum POS 5174
- 21 August 1990: What Time Is Love (Echo and the Bunnymen Remix)
- 06 January 1991: 3 A.M. Clonk Blip Every Trip (Moody Boys Remix)
- 13 January 1991: 3 A.M. Clonk Blip Every Trip (Moody Blues Remix)
- 25 January 1991 (BFBS): 3 A.M. Clonk Blip Every Trip (Moody Boys Remix)
- 17 February 1991: Make It Rain (LP - The White Room)
- 17 February 1991: Build A Fire (LP - The White Room)
- 09 March 1991 (BFBS) (Peel 175 (BFBS)): 'Build A Fire (LP-The White Room)' (KLF Communications)
- 16 March 1991 (BFBS) (Peel 176 (BFBS)): 'Make It Rain (LP-The White Room)' (KLF Communications)
- 30 March 1991: Last Train To Trancentral (Live From The Lost Continent) (12") KLF Communications
- 16 November 1991: Justified & Ancient (7")
- 04 January 1992: 3 A.M. Eternal (with Extreme Noise Terror) (7") (JP: 'It seems about 3 or 4 weeks ago Bill Drummond was listening to this programme, in his bath it was the way it was told to me, and he heard me playing a track by Extreme Noise Terror, and he had the idea of getting them to work with him and the KLF, to rerecord 3AM Eternal for the Christmas Top Of The Pops. Now if you watched the Christmas Top Of The Pops, you'll know that this actually never got shown, but I was sent an acetate of it, which disappeared into the internal Radio 1 Christmas post, and has not as yet resurfaced. So this afternoon before the match at Portman Road I met up with Dean from Extreme Noise Terror and he gave me his tape of it.')
- 11 January 1992: 3 A.M. Eternal (with Extreme Noise Terror) (7")
- 18 January 1992: America What Time Is Love (12")
- 19 January 1992: 3.A.M. Eternal (with Extreme Noise Terror) (7") (Peel wanted to reveal the winners of a singles competition to win this, but he hasn't physically got his hands on the prizes yet)
- 31 January 1992 (BFBS): America: What Time Is Love? (Radio Edit) (12")
- 18 December 1992: 3 A.M. Eternal (with Extreme Noise Terror) (7") 1992 Festive Fifty #44 (JP:'A great moment. Only 2 minutes and 45 seconds of it, but it was excellent stuff.')
- 08 May 1997: 3 A.M. Eternal (with Extreme Noise Terror) (7")' (KLF Communications)
- Bill Drummond
- 21 October 1986: True To The Trail (LP - The Man) Creation
- 22 October 1986 : Julian Cope Is Dead (LP - The Man) Creation
- 03 November 1986: Julian Cope Is Dead (LP - The Man) Creation