1991 – they said “Tammy, stand by the JAMs”
The KLF, ‘Justified & Ancient’
They wore ceremonial robes. They rapped the names of Northern towns. They also called themselves The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. And in 1991, they had as many UK Top Ten hits as Madonna.
The KLF helped pioneer the sound of ‘Stadium House’, which combined the beats and bass of acid house with stylistic touches more suited to stadium rock. Fans clamoured for a genre touting big guitar riffs, catchy choruses and eye-popping live performances. Well, between the video for ‘Justified & Ancient’ and their final, gun-toting appearance on live TV, The KLF certainly had the last one covered.
The JAMs based themselves on fictional(?) fucker-uppers derived from Sixties counterculture. The robes are straight out of Robert Anton Wilson, while the heavy sampling proved to be an effective contemporary touch for a group pushing musical misinformation. But their commitment to the bit was to be greatly admired.
Co-founder Bill Drummond was once employed as a set designer on a trippy, nine-hour staging of The Illuminatus! Trilogy. He went out for a tube of glue, kept walking, and didn’t stop until he was back in Liverpool, basecamp for a decade-long climb of the music industry from the inside and out. He founded a band and a label; managed and produced the best of the North West; and then quit as a label executive aged 33-and-a-third, in search of something new.
Jimmy Cauty knew new. He’d been tinkering with the tech that brought sampling and electronica to the forefront of popular music. Together in the studio with Drummond, they initially came to be known as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. According to the Illuminatus! stories, the JAMs were sworn enemies of the shadowy Illuminati, resisting their power plays by spreading mayhem and misinformation. The name would prove a perfect pitch for a self-aware, metatextual assault on the music industry.
But rather than form their duo around a loose association to the myth, the KLF really commits. To all intents and purposes, they really are the continuation of the group designed to bring chaos to order. Lyrics and artwork called attention to genuine causes like homelessness and the AIDS epidemic, all the while weaving the group closer to the continuation of the Illuminatus! myth, with the pyramid blaster and various references to the number 23 – staples of the story. When the sampling got too much, the lawyers got involved, and every unsold copy of their debut album got burned in a bonfire and launched off a ferry – more Happenings for their myth.
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And then the next thing anyone knew, Cauty and Drummond Happened at the top of the charts, as The Timelords, with a million-selling mashup of Gary Glitter and Doctor Who. As you do.
Not content with achieving this lightning-in-a-bottle feat (back when being Number One really mattered), they wrote a book called ‘The Manual’ to lay out indeed just how easily anyone can do it. Of course, Drummond had spent the previous decade living and breathing music as an industry taste-maker, while Cauty was possessed of great musical talent. But apart from that, yeah, piece of piss.
The KLF would go on to string together hit after hit, bringing a burgeoning acid house movement to the top of the charts while maintaining that utterly bizarre air of mystery – a typical Top of the Pops appearance would see the duo hiding their faces under robes, masks and horns, while “Creative Associates” such as Ricardo da Force and Maxine Harvey (given co-writing credits) would hit the songs’ signature bars. These quasi-religious rituals certainly livened up the visuals considering the tight budget of doing the whole thing through their own KLF Communications label. Clearly the duo was saving their cash for a special occasion.
And then, the collaboration with country. The video for ‘Justified & Ancient’ is a fascinating few minutes, as the residents of far-flung Mu Mu Land praise their high goddess in a tribal dance celebration. Two figures identified onscreen as Rockman Rock and King Boy D march up and down with guitars, to be joined by the justified twang of Tammy Wynette’s singing.
Wynette’s turn is accompanied by words whizzing across the screen to tell you which awards she’s won, how many records she’s sold, and overall just what an icon she is. But according to these authors of ‘The Manual’, anyone can have a Number One – so running stats like “First Lady of Country” every second she’s on screen is an interesting way to play it. (By the way, it was 23 years since ‘Stand By Your Man’ when Tammy sings the line “stand by the JAMs”. Spooky.)
Of course, chaos and confusion is part and parcel of the Mu Mu mission. And despite the mixed bag of visuals and the odd mash-up of styles, the song does work fantastically well. To be completely fair to the record-buying public, 1991 was a hell of a mixed bag in itself anyway – Bryan Adams ruled the roost for approximately 3000 weeks during 1991 with that Robin Hood song, so by the time the KLF pulled up in their ice cream van, I think everyone was ready for something a bit different.