Last week I mentioned that I am running a bit out of Nineties topics, but that there were a few bands that I would like to highlight as they truly represent the Nineties....at least for some of us I hope.
Of course, I could have picked Suede for this first one as they made their mark on my Nineties but I want to look a little beyond my comfort zone and see those bands that totally dropped off my radar.
And not just my Radard these guys disappeared to never come back!
Pop Provocateurs A.K.A. The Jams, A.K.A. The KLF, A.K.A. The Justified Ancients of MuMu, A.K.A. The K Foundation, A.K.A. The Timelords
From Timelords Doctor In The Tardis.
They wrote the book on how to create a #1 Song
And then came with the biggest banger of the Nineties!
Lol no not Kylie Said To Jason, although a great joke about Nineties Stars Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan it's not exactly the song that people remember,
They only lasted a few singles but they made a justified impression that lasted way beyond 3 AM, that was an eternal impression.
No wonder I was impressed by this 30-something-year-old guy Bill Drummond who had been in the music industry for years and now wanted to take hip-hop to the next level. A fan of the Beasty Boys sound.... but he added a not-so-famous guitarist Jimmy Cauty to make it more fun
They started The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, a name stolen from a cult novel in the 70s, about how The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu spread Chaos and Misinformation.
Chaos and Misinformation
Bill and Jimmy would go and do exactly that for the years to come:
They started with a sampling machine and stealing sorry sampling whatever they liked. A trick Jimmy had learned from Stock Aitken & Waterman....you know the guys behind all the superficial 80s hits and Kylie and Jason.
No not behind Sam Fox but she was such a hot Sample:
I am sure you picked up on a sample of 10! And yes they sounded like a Scottish version of the B Boys.
They also got some stage names just like the Beasty Boys;
Bill became King Boy D and Jimmy Rockman Rock just to keep it easy.
Still, in 87, they got sued by AbbA I have no clue why:
From Hip Hop to House
Mu Mu became Timelords as the duo did not want to be linked to the album 1987 that got banned. They loved the Acid House scene and well what the hell they knew how to sample.
They loved to put some British culture into their first release and the whole single took them a total of 3 days!
And as you can see these guys love symbolism and bring ancient symbols back to new bands.
KLF The Book
They got a #1 hit and wrote the book on it:
Their book worked because this next band read the book, wrote the song, and had a huge hit.
Even though the book has become slightly outdated by MP3.
Trancentral
After that one hit wonder the guys moved on, and squatted in a place they called Trancentral, the birthplace of the KLF sound!
It all started with What Time Is Love but not this 1991 version you all know:
Neither this 1990 version, that still feels Like Dr Who:
But this 1988 original version, that nobody remembers:
And if you thought that 3 versions of the same song was an accident...guess again. You all know the 1991 3 AM eternal (including a more modern version of the robots and other stuff from the Timelords days and even before:
That song was released an eternity after the 1989 original:
And there is more:
Last Train To Transcentral sounded like this in 1990:
But became a hit in 1991 with again many of the same images we by that time knew so well:
The White Room
Those original songs disappeared and kept the musical mystery around KLF alive while the guys went to go shoot a 40+ minute music video:
They were totally broke after that failure movie, but What Time Is Love was doing what nobody expected.
Cauty would work on the Afterparty Project The Orb, making music that suited the after-E feel Ambient House was born...and again they stole like Mofos just that Supertramp intro is worth a million:
KLF made an Ambient House Album:
And it was largely stolen from the other The Orb guy Alex Paterson but hey being ripped off by the KLF makes you famous!
The Album did not do shit, but the guys noticed that the Dance Scene exploded and popified their sound. That brought those new releases of: What Time Is Love, 3AM Eternal, and Last Train To Trancentral to the charts all over the world.
These guys stole, refurbished, and became the best-selling single band in the early nineties.
The White Room was the Album of the early Nineties. But the two artists never saw the fame coming and quickly withdrew from the music scene.
It Needed A Bit Of Tammy
But the biggest banger had been in the making since 1987:
All it needed was to be popified and a bit of Tammy.
On Top of The Pops Dear Tammy could not join due to another concert but these guys fixed it:
These guys were the band that knew what a hit song should sound and look like, although they struggled with their own fame vs art duality.
They had their Anti-Establishment Actions and were known for their provocative stunts, such as dumping a dead sheep at the Brit Awards after announcing their departure from the music industry.
They critiqued the music industryβs commodification of art, often lampooning its conventions.
The last ever release by The KLF was also a little controversial. It was removed from the US release of the single 'America: What Time is Love?' because of its anti-war sentiment.
Burning Β£1 Million
In 1994, Drummond and Cauty burned Β£1 million in cash on a remote Scottish island. This act shocked the world and has been the subject of endless speculation and debate.
Their secrecy and refusal to explain their actions left them an enduring mystery.
They burned that million just to show that they were done with KLF being about money if you ask me.
They were all about Chaos & Confusion from the start, and they loved to call that art.
But I think I found the video that explains what the KLF is really about I hope you get the picture!
Bikini Bottom Line
These two guys knew what the early nineties sounded like before the Nineties themselves did, they were the two-faced bastards, the duality that made the nineties what they were.
#NinetiesFriday was brought to you by My Nineties New Years Rant
WTF do I do on #NinetiesFriday?
Well, don't do what I do because that would be copy/pasta!
But some ideas are music, movies, television, sports, or really anything Nineties related.
I assume movie, TV, or music topic reviews or talk will be most common, but you could also talk about a sports memory or something else.
Thank Goodness you made it till the end Pees, Love and I am out of here!
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