i am writing this blog on 23rd august 2024: exactly 30 years after the KLF did perhaps one of the most infamous things in music history. there sure are plenty of scandals but this story really is unique. important note- what i'm going to write here is VERY LARGELY insipired by John Higgs' book The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Milion Pounds, which is really the reason that i care about this so much. you can visit his website here- i highly recommend his other works as well. the KLF book seriously changed the way i am as a person, and was one of the deciding factors in me going on to study philosophy at a higher level because of the just, fascinating concepts Higgs discusses. with that being said, this is the (somewhat abbridged) story of the KLF and the burning of £1 million pounds. (sidenote i'm writing this in the small hours of the morn i apologise if this is incomprehensible)
the KLF, who were also the Timelords and the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu(the JAMs), are a band who wrote electronic dance/rave music throughout the late 1980s and 1990s. comprised of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, the KLF were rather influential in the increased use of sampling in music. they wrote many popular tracks that reached high numbers in the charts, such as what time is love?, last train to trancentral, and doctorin' the tardis (this one was released under the Timelords as previously referenced). there's definitely a generation of people (which i am very much not part of lol) for whom the KLF are still a source of fond and perhaps hazy memories.
on the isle of Jura, just off the coast of Scotland, in the early hours of 23rd august 1994, bill drummond and jimmy cauty, accompanied by jim reid (a journalist), took a suitcase containing £1 million, and burned it. it's as simple as that, really, in terms of the event itself. the aftermath was of course full of anger- everyone wanted to know why the K Foundation (the klf -> the k foundation at this point) would just waste so much money like that, and completely negate its value. since the burning was film, drummond and cauty toured the country showcasing the film. when asked WHY they burned one million pounds, they didn't really have an answer. sure, it was somewhat of a statement against the music industry, and a statement of art, and pure privalleged bollocks, but why? there isn't really an answer. what can be said is that after this, the K Foundation took a 23 year long break- note the number 23 is VERY intentional, as they subscribe to the superstitions surrounding it (which i don't understand well enough to try and explain).
this wasn't the only extreme action the KLF took. in 1992 at the BRIT awards ceremony, bill drummond fired blanks from an automatic weapon over the heads of the crowd that they were performing for. the original plan was much more drastic as well. the KLF were into sheep imagery, and so the plan was to dismember a dead sheep on stage and throw it into the audience. this did not happen, but the dead sheep was purchased, and was dumped on the venue steps. the point of all this was for the KLF to announce their exit from the music industry. they later deleted their entire back-catalogue, but have since uploaded music onto streaming services in recent years.
this is what i find really interesting- the fact that the KLF are still fairly highly revered by those that were listening to their music at the time of release. it for sure is good music, but i just find it so fascinating that the legacy of this band is BURNING ONE MILLION POUNDS and yet even when i was a kid, my dad was playing medoctorin' the tardis and i was rocking out!! it's also why i wanted to make this post, because it really does surprise me how few people are aware that this even happened. it's the type of event you'd expect to be common knowledge as a little "hey wasn't that fucking crazy" and yet its not!!! if anyone today burned a million quid, everyone would know about it. and yet, i genuinely do not believe that anyone WOULD act quite as the KLF did. i think they're wholey unique in what they did. this isn't the sort of thing that will happen again. no matter why they did it, the KLF have contributed a fascinating event to the history of the music industry, and music in general.