KLF: Chaos Magic Music Money by Higgs JMR

Author:Higgs, JMR [Higgs, JMR]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Big Hand
Published: 2012-11-21T08:00:00+00:00

After the success of their Doctor Who record, Drummond and Cauty suddenly had money, and with money came options and possibilities. It allowed them to build a recording studio of their own, in the basement of the South London squat where Cauty had lived for over a decade. The squat was known as Transcentral and achieved near-mythical status in KLF lore, but Cauty was not keen on it. "I hate the place," he has said, "I've no alternative but to live here."

The pair set themselves a task of releasing a string of club-orientated dance records which were known as the Pure Trance series. The idea was to release one a month for five months, although only the first two, What Time Is Love? and 3am Eternal, saw the light of day. "This was Jimmy and my response to the urge to make music that had no message other than how it existed on the dance floor," Drummond said in 2012. "We wanted to make a minimal masterpiece. What Time Is Love? in its original Pure Trance version is the closest we came to it." The title came when Drummond turned to Cauty at a rave, intending to ask when the MDMA they had taken would kick in, but found himself phrasing the question in the words 'What time is love?' At which point, they both understood that it had started to work.

The Pure Trance records were not expected to be a commercial success but their influence spread slowly through the clubs of Europe, selling continuously, and they brought Cauty and Drummond a great deal of credibility in the dance world, away from the London-based music press.

They were released under the name The KLF. Drummond and Cauty had had this name from the start: The label they had created to release The JAMs records was called KLF Communications. They had a logo which was known as the 'pyramid blaster.' This was based on the 'eye in the pyramid' symbol which features heavily in Illuminatus! The KLF removed the eye from the top of the pyramid and replaced it with a ghetto blaster; their pyramid no longer observed, it broadcast.

The name The KLF worked well within dance culture. It was minimal and anonymous, offering nothing that might overshadow the music. Stories varied as to whether it stood for anything or not. Sometimes it was claimed that it had no meaning, while other times it was claimed that the meaning was transient and shifted over time.

Drummond and Cauty had first released a record under the name The KLF in March 1988, a few months before they found success with their Doctor Who themed single, although it sounded more like a JAMs track than a KLF one. Its name was prophetic, however. The first ever KLF record was a twelve-inch dance track called Burn The Bastards.

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