164-563: James Francis Cauty (born 19 December 1956), also known as Rockman Rock , is an English artist and musician, best known as one-half of the duo the KLF , co-founder of the Orb and as the man who burnt £1 million . He is married to artist and musician Alannah Currie , a former member of Thompson Twins . Cauty was born on the Wirral Peninsula . As a 17-year-old artist, he drew a popular The Lord of
328-421: A "rock inkie", NME was the first British newspaper to include a singles chart , adding that feature in the edition of 14 November 1952. In the 1970s, it became the best-selling British music newspaper. From 1972 to 1976, it was particularly associated with gonzo journalism then became closely associated with punk rock through the writings of Julie Burchill , Paul Morley , and Tony Parsons . It started as
492-511: A band are so good and exciting." The JAMs re-edited and re-released "All You Need Is Love" in May 1987, removing or doctoring the most antagonistic samples; lyrics from the song appeared as promotional graffiti , defacing selected billboards. The re-release rewarded the JAMs with praise (including NME 's "single of the week") and the funds necessary to record their debut album. The album, 1987 (What
656-596: A big scam.' But I firmly believe it's over". "For the very last spectacularly insane time", the magazine concluded, "The KLF have done what was least expected of them". The final KLF Info sheet discussed the retirement in a typically offbeat fashion, and asked "What happens to 'Footnotes in rock legend'? Do they gather dust with Ashton, Gardner and Dyke , the Vapors , and the Utah Saints , or does their influence live on in unseen ways, permeating future cultures? A passing general of
820-535: A bimonthly release. NME was acquired in 2019 by Singaporean music company BandLab Technologies , which put all of its music publications under the NME Networks brand in December 2021, when the company was restructured. The paper was established in 1952. The Accordion Times and Musical Express was bought by London music promoter Maurice Kinn for £1,000, just 15 minutes before it was due to be officially closed. It
984-458: A canon of work. We wanted to see where we'd got to, sort out this huge amount of stuff that had poured out since the mid '60s. Everyone on the paper was into this. Led Zeppelin topped the " NME Pop Poll" for three consecutive years (1974–76) under the category of the best "Vocal Group". In 1976, NME lambasted German pioneer electronic band Kraftwerk with this title: "This is what your fathers fought to save you from ..." The article said that
1148-405: A comprehensive examination of the KLF's announcement and its context, Select called it "the last grand gesture, the most heroic act of public self destruction in the history of pop. And it's also Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty's final extravagant howl of self disgust, defiance and contempt for a music world gone foul and corrupt." Many of the KLF's friends and collaborators gave their reactions in
1312-464: A concert at Finsbury Park where Morrissey was seen to drape himself in a Union Jack . The series of articles (starting with Fadele's one) which followed in the next edition of NME (featuring the story on the front cover) soured Morrissey's relationship with the paper, and this led to Morrissey not speaking to the paper again for the next 12 years (i.e., until 2004). Later in 1992, Steve Sutherland, previously an assistant editor of Melody Maker ,
1476-503: A couple of 12" records under the name The K.L.F., these will be rap free just pure dance music, so don't expect to see them reviewed in the music papers". King Boy D also said that he and Rockman Rock were "pissed off at [them]selves" for letting "people expect us to lead some sort of crusade for sampling." In 1990, he recalled that "We wanted to make [as the KLF] something that was... pure dance music, without any reference points, without any nod to
1640-406: A deal in 1989 for the Orb to play the chill-out room at London nightclub Heaven . Resident DJ Paul Oakenfold brought in the duo specifically as ambient DJs for his "The Land of Oz" event at Heaven. Though initially the Orb's Monday night performances had only several "hard-core" followers, their "Chill Out Room" act grew popular over the course of their six-month stay at Heaven to the point that
1804-624: A decade and a half before. Some commented at this time that the NME had become less intellectual in its writing style and less inventive musically. Initially, NME writers themselves were ill at ease with the new regime, with most signing a letter of no confidence in Lewis shortly after he took over. However, this new direction for the NME proved to be a commercial success and the paper brought in new writers such as Andrew Collins , Andrew Harrison , Stuart Maconie , Mary Anne Hobbs and Steve Lamacq to give it
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#17328846570591968-653: A devastating riot. The sculpture , constructed by modifying components of traditional model railway kits, took approximately 8 months to complete includes nearly 3,000 police figures and a soundtrack pitched to match the 1:87 scale. The piece "makes a political statement about societal freedom and state control". The Aftermath Dislocation principle then toured the Netherlands, being shown at Piet Hein Eek Gallery, Eindhoven (November 2013), Cultuurwerf, Vlissingen (April 2014), and Mediamatic, Amsterdam (July–August 2014). In 2015,
2132-426: A few weeks after they had taken place. In the mid-1960s, the NME was primarily dedicated to pop while its older rival, Melody Maker , was known for its more serious coverage of music. Other competing titles included Record Mirror , which led the way in championing American rhythm and blues , and Disc , which focused on chart news. The latter part of the decade the paper charted the rise of psychedelia and
2296-501: A field near Stonehenge . The K Foundation was an arts foundation established by Drummond and Cauty in 1993 following their 'retirement' from the music industry. From 1993 to 1995 they engaged in art projects and media campaigns, including the high-profile K Foundation art award (for the "worst artist of the year"), and in 1993 released a limited edition single – " K Cera Cera " – in Israel and Palestine "to create awareness of peace in
2460-655: A figure of 306,881 for the period from January to June 1964. The Beatles and the Rolling Stones were frequently featured on the front cover. These and other artists also appeared at the NME Poll Winners' Concert, an awards event that featured artists voted as most popular by the paper's readers. The concert also featured a ceremony where the poll winners would collect their awards. The NME Poll Winners' Concerts took place between 1959 and 1972. From 1964 onwards, they were filmed, edited, and transmitted on British television
2624-690: A free title, featuring Rihanna. Editor in Chief Mike Williams received the Editor Of The Year Award at the BSME Awards 2016, the judges stating that under Williams' leadership, NME had "bounced back from an uncertain future and established itself confidently and creatively in a new market." In March 2018, The Guardian reported that the NME was to cease publication in print after 66 years. The online publication would continue. In 2019, TI Media,
2788-461: A hip-hop band with former colleague Cauty, and they would be called the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu: It was New Year's Day... 1987. I was at home with my parents, I was going for a walk in the morning, it was, like, bright blue sky, and I thought "I'm going to make a hip-hop record. Who can I make a hip-hop record with?". I wasn't brave enough to go and do it myself, 'cause, although I can play
2952-631: A more authoritative tone. The first issue of the redesign featured a free seven-inch Coldplay vinyl single. Krissi Murison was appointed editor in June 2009, launching a new redesigned NME in April 2010. The issue had 10 different covers, highlighting the broader range of music the magazine would cover, and featured Jack White , Florence and the Machine , LCD Soundsystem , Rihanna , Kasabian , Laura Marling , Foals , M.I.A. , Biffy Clyro and Magnetic Man . Murison
3116-466: A more straightforward and populist style. The paper also became more openly political during the time of punk. Its cover would sometimes feature youth-orientated issues rather than a musical act. It took an editorial stance against political parties like the National Front . With the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979, the paper took a broadly socialist stance for much of the following decade. In
3280-466: A music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s and 1990s, changing from newsprint in 1998. The magazine's website NME.com was launched in 1996, and became the world's biggest standalone music site, with over sixteen million users per month. With newsstand sales falling across the UK magazine sector in the early 21st century, the magazine's paid circulation in the first half of 2014
3444-526: A number of high-profile international pop stars on the cover such as Coldplay , Taylor Swift , Lana Del Rey , Kanye West and Green Day alongside emerging talent like Zara Larsson , Years & Years , Lady Leshurr and Christine and the Queens . The free, pop-oriented NME magazine was praised for reconnecting NME with its target audience, and was awarded a silver at the 2016 Professional Publishers Association Awards for its historic first-ever cover as
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#17328846570593608-425: A phrase, 'where I was coming from'". A week later, the JAMs had recorded their debut single, " All You Need Is Love ". Several singles and three albums as the JAMs followed (their debut, 1987 ; the follow-up, Who Killed the JAMs? ; and compilation Shag Times ) before a change of direction saw the duo mutate into dance and ambient music pioneers, the KLF . The duo had their first British number one hit single as
3772-419: A political symbol. The NME was generally thought to be rudderless at this time, with staff pulling simultaneously in a number of directions in what came to be known as the "hip-hop wars". It was haemorrhaging readers who were deserting NME in favour of Nick Logan 's two creations The Face and Smash Hits . This was brought to a head when the paper was about to publish a poster of an insert contained in
3936-424: A private army has the answer. 'No', he whispers 'but the dust they gather is of the rarest quality. Each speck a universe awaiting creation, Big Bang just a dawn away'." There have been numerous suggestions that in 1992 Drummond was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Drummond himself said that he was on the edge of the "abyss". The KLF's BRITs statuette for "Best British Group" of 1992 was later found buried in
4100-738: A sample-heavy pop-rock production and crowd noise samples. The first "stadium house" single, "What Time Is Love? (Live from Trancentral)", released in October 1990, reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart and hit the top-ten internationally. The follow-up, "3 a.m. Eternal (Live at the S.S.L.)", was an international top-five hit in January 1991, reaching #1 in the UK and #5 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The album The White Room followed in March 1991, reaching #3 in
4264-797: A solid network of distribution without stepping on each other's toes. We are distributed by the Cartel." When Rough Trade Distribution collapsed in 1991 it was reported that they owed KLF Communications £500,000. Plugging (the promotion to TV and radio) was handled by longtime associate Scott Piering . Outside the UK, KLF releases were issued under licence by local labels. In the US, the licensees were Wax Trax (the Chill Out album ), TVT (early releases including The History of The JAMs a.k.a. The Timelords ), and Arista Records ( The White Room and singles ). The KLF Communications physical catalogue remains deleted in
4428-440: A strand embodied by the [Arctic] Monkeys, Babyshambles and Muse – bands who you don't need specialist knowledge to write about and who are just "indie" enough to make readers feel they're part of a club. Like everything else in publishing, this particular direction must be in response to reader demand, but it doesn't half make for a self-limiting magazine. In May 2008, the magazine received a redesign aimed at an older readership with
4592-400: A string of top 5 singles, becoming the biggest selling singles act in the world in 1991. In 1992, suddenly and very publicly, the KLF retired from the music industry and deleted their entire back catalogue. Drummond and Cauty re-emerged in 1993 as the K Foundation , releasing one limited edition single (" K Cera Cera ") and awarding the £40,000 K Foundation art award for the "worst artist of
4756-469: A stronger identity and sense of direction. Lewis prioritised readership over editorial independence, and Mark Sinker left in 1988 after Lewis refused to print his unfavourable review of U2 's Rattle and Hum ("the worst album by a major band in years"), replacing it with a glowing Stuart Baillie review intended to be more acceptable to readers. Initially many of the bands on the C86 tape were championed as well as
4920-469: A symbol of "non-violent direct action" and as a practical self-protective measure for his step-daughter during the Occupy St Paul's eviction. Cauty was married to Cressida ( née Bowyer), with whom he has twins and a younger son. He later married artist and musician Alannah Currie (formerly of Thompson Twins ) in 2011. The KLF The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu ,
5084-406: A symbol of the KLF, and Drummond conceded that the "sheep hacking" idea was akin to a suicide. Associates reasoned that the plan was to generate such revulsion towards the KLF that they would be ostracised from the music industry and a comeback would be impossible. The dead sheep purchased but the plan thwarted, Drummond considered chopping his hand off with an axe live on stage. The performance
Jimmy Cauty - Misplaced Pages Continue
5248-514: A three day event, " Welcome to the Dark Ages ". Ending their self-imposed moratorium, the festival included a debate asking "Why Did The K Foundation Burn A Million Quid?" The JAMs also announced new plans for a People's Pyramid to be built from bricks each containing 23 grams of human ashes. New bricks will be laid at the annual " Toxteth Day Of The Dead". Cauty emphasised to the BBC in 2018 that
5412-562: A wealth of sound effects and samples from science fiction radio plays, nature sounds, and Minnie Riperton 's "Lovin' You". The Orb changed the title to " A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules from the Centre of the Ultraworld ". In 1990, Cauty and Drummond held a chillout party at Trancentral , Cauty's squat . A recording of Patersons DJing was made with a view to releasing it as an LP but
5576-482: A week we had recorded our first single. Early in 1987, Drummond and Cauty's collaborations began. They assumed alter egos – King Boy D and Rockman Rock respectively – and adopted the name the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (the JAMs), after the fictional conspiratorial group "The Justified Ancients of Mummu" from The Illuminatus! Trilogy . The JAMs' primary instrument was the digital sampler with which they would plagiarise
5740-412: A week, although its then-publisher Time Inc. UK claimed to have more than 13 million global unique users per month, including 3 million in the UK. In March 2018, the publisher announced that the print edition of NME would cease publication after 66 years and become an online-only publication. However, this decision was reversed in 2023, with NME announcing that it would revive its print magazine as
5904-515: Is a vast 1:87 scale model in a 40-foot shipping container which tours historic riot sites around the world. L-13 continue to collaborate with Cauty and Drummond, running "dead perch merch", official merchandise operatives to The JAMs. Following 2003 media speculation that Saddam Hussein could launch a poison chemical attack on London, Cauty designed the Stamps of Mass Destruction for Blacksmoke Art Collective. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd class stamps featuring
6068-443: Is for other people to wonder at it. It's not very beautiful once you know." NME New Musical Express ( NME ) is a British music , film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "rock inkie", the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a free publication, before becoming an online brand which includes its website and radio stations. As
6232-518: Is itself part of the conspiracy, so the pop myth of the KLF can never be blown apart by anything they do, no matter how dumb or embarrassing. The myth will suck it up, like a black hole. Drummond and Cauty have also been compared to Stewart Home and the Neoists . Home himself said that the duo's work "has much more in common with the Neoist, Plagiarist and Art Strike movements of the nineteen-eighties than with
6396-487: Is practical and above all curious, quick to get his hands dirty, experiment and see what happens. He is a catalyst. In the late 1980s, Cauty met Alex Paterson and the duo began DJing and producing together as the Orb . Paterson and Cauty's first release was a 1988 acid house anthem track, "Tripping on Sunshine" released on the compilation Eternity Project One , put together by Paterson's childhood friend and Cauty's ex-bandmate, Martin "Youth" Glover . The following year,
6560-401: Is the myth they have built around themselves." This deep and perplexing mythology, he suggested, results in all their subsequent activities (as a partnership or otherwise) being absorbed into their mystique: A myth like the KLF's is peculiarly omnivorous. Just as there can never be any evidence to disprove a conspiracy theory because the fabrication of such evidence – don't you see? –
6724-514: The BRIT Awards in February 1992, they fired machine gun blanks into the audience and dumped a dead sheep at the aftershow party. This performance pre-announced the KLF's departure from the music business and, in May of that year, they deleted their entire back-catalogue . Drummond and Cauty established the K Foundation and sought to subvert the art world , staging an alternative art award for
Jimmy Cauty - Misplaced Pages Continue
6888-589: The Buzzcocks and Ian Dury . A second tape titled C86 was released in 1986. From 1981 to 1988 the magazine released 36 cassette compilations. The NME responded to the Thatcher era by espousing socialism through movements such as Red Wedge . In the week of the 1987 election , the paper featured an interview with the leader of the Labour Party , Neil Kinnock , who appeared on the paper's cover. He had appeared on
7052-469: The Dead Kennedys ' album Frankenchrist , consisting of a painting by H.R. Giger called Penis Landscape , then a subject of an obscenity lawsuit in the US. In the summer and autumn of 1987, three senior editorial staff were sacked, including Pye, media editor Stuart Cosgrove , and art editor Joe Ewart. Former Sounds editor Alan Lewis was brought in to rescue the paper, mirroring Alan Smith's revival
7216-452: The Illuminatus! books, Situationism , and tactics often interpreted by media commentators as " Situationist pranks . In a 2000 review of Drummond's book 45 , and an appraisal of the duo's career to date, writer Steven Poole stated that Drummond and Cauty "are the only true conceptual artists of the [1990s]. And for all the eldritch beauty of their art, their most successful creation
7380-669: The L-13 Light Industrial Workshop , London which he explains "is not a gallery, it's a support system, spiritual home and technical epicentre for a small group of artists" which includes Billy Childish , Jamie Reid , and Harry Adams. Cauty first worked in conjunction with L-13 on the Cautese Nationál Postal Disservice. Subsequent collaborations included the Riot in a Jam Jar exhibitions and the ADP Riot Tour -
7544-589: The Liverpool Dockers and Gimpo ; a performance at which "Two elderly gentlemen, reeking of Dettol , caused havoc in their motorised wheelchairs . These old reprobates, bearing a grandfatherly resemblance to messrs Cauty and Drummond, claimed to have just been asked along." The song performed at the Barbican – " ***k the Millennium " (a remix of "What Time Is Love?" featuring Acid Brass and incorporating elements of
7708-455: The NME , and was replaced as editor by 26-year-old Melody Maker writer Ben Knowles. In the same year, Melody Maker officially merged with the NME , and many speculated the NME would be next to close, as the weekly music-magazine market was shrinking - the monthly magazine Select , which had thrived especially during the Britpop era, was closed down within a week of Melody Maker . In
7872-579: The New Musical Express "started to champion underground, up-and-coming music....NME became the gateway to a more rebellious world. First came glamrock , and bands such as T. Rex , and then came punk ....by 1977 it had become the place to keep in touch with a cultural revolution that was enthralling the nation's listless youth. Bands such as Sex Pistols , X-Ray Spex and Generation X were regular cover stars, eulogised by writers such as Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons , whose nihilistic tone narrated
8036-694: The Queen 's head wearing a gas mask were released as limited edition prints and exhibited at Artrepublic Gallery, Brighton. Following a legal battle over alleged copyright infringement , the stamps were sent to Royal Mail for destruction. In 2004, Cauty installed a gift shop, Blackoff , at the Aquarium Gallery, based on the UK government's Preparing for Emergencies leaflet. The installation included "terror aware" items, such as "terror tea towels ", "attack hankies" and "bunker-buster jigsaw puzzles" (the latter missing one piece). He commented, "The gift shop becomes
8200-486: The Situationist avant-garde of the fifties and sixties." Drummond and Cauty "represent a vital and innovative strand within contemporary culture", he added. Drummond was the set designer on Ken Campbell 's 1976 stage production of The Illuminatus! Trilogy . In the first KLF Communications Info Sheet, Drummond explained that The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu name was "pinched" from Illuminatus! which he had been reading
8364-655: The "electronic melodies flowed as slowly as a piece of garbage floating down the polluted Rhine ". The same year also saw punk rock arrive on what some people perceived to be a stagnant music scene. The NME gave the Sex Pistols their first music press coverage in a live review of their performance at the Marquee in February that year, but overall it was slow to cover this new phenomenon in comparison to Sounds and Melody Maker , where Jonh Ingham and Caroline Coon respectively were early champions of punk. Although articles by
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#17328846570598528-411: The "pop comeback", in which Cauty and Drummond appeared as grey-haired pensioners and wheeled around the stage in electric wheelchairs. They returned as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu in 2017, with a novel - 2023: A Trilogy - and a 3-day festival, " Welcome to the Dark Ages ". Cauty confirmed that the duo's work is an ongoing project. Throughout their career, Drummond has often been the mouthpiece of
8692-443: The 1980s, the NME became the most important music paper in the country. It released the influential C81 in 1981, in conjunction with Rough Trade Records , available to readers by mail order at a low price. The tape featured a number of then up-and-coming bands, including Duran Duran , Aztec Camera , Orange Juice , Linx , and Scritti Politti , as well as a number of more established artists such as Robert Wyatt , Pere Ubu ,
8856-427: The 1990 remix EP What Time Is Love? (Remodelled & Remixed) , integrated in the new mix. On 23 April 2021, The White Room (Director's Cut) was officially released as the fourth part of the series. The album's edition includes tracks from the unreleased 1989 album, as well as an extended version of "Last Train to Trancentral" from the 1991 album. The documentary Who Killed the KLF? , directed by Chris Atkins ,
9020-441: The 2008 NME Award nominations, Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian criticised the magazine's lack of diversity, saying: "NME bands" fall within very narrow parameters. In the 80s, the paper prided itself on its coverage of hip hop, R&B and the emerging dance scene which it took seriously and featured prominently – alongside the usual Peel-endorsed indie fare. Now, though, its range of approved bands has dramatically shrunk to
9184-589: The Asian music scene and acts such as The Itchyworms, SEVENTEEN, Voice Of Baceprot, Sponge Cola and I Belong To The Zoo from countries such as South Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia. On 20 July 2023, NME announced that it would be relaunching its print magazine that summer. Starting with a July/August issue featuring D4vd , each bimonthly issue will showcase a rising musical talent. NME Networks' chief operating and commercial officer Holly Bishop explained that
9348-589: The Canadian post-rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor saw the paper dip to a sales low, and Sutherland later stated in his weekly editorial that he regretted putting them on the cover. For many, this was seen as an affront to the principles of the paper, and sales reached a low point at the turn of the millennium. From the issue of 21 March 1999, the paper was no longer printed on newsprint, and more recently, it has shifted to tabloid size with glossy colour covers. In 2000, Steve Sutherland left to become brand director of
9512-544: The Cautys' squat in Stockwell , London) and driving the "JAMsmobile" (Cauty's 1968 Ford Galaxie American police car ) as their regular, everyday vehicle. Cressida, too, helped out, taking on an organisational role for KLF Communications, in addition to design and choreography work for The KLF, and her own work as an artist. Engineer Mark Stent recalled Drummond as providing "big concepts and insane ideas", whereas Cauty - he said -
9676-507: The Children's Free Revolutionary Volunteer Guards"). " The Magnificent " is a drum'n'bass version of the theme tune from The Magnificent Seven , with vocal samples from DJ Fleka of Serbian radio station B92 : "Humans against killing... that sounds like a junkie against dope". On 17 September 1997, Drummond and Cauty re-emerged briefly as 2K. 2K made a one-off performance at London's Barbican Arts Centre with Mark Manning , Acid Brass ,
9840-418: The E generation." Throughout 1989, Paterson, Cauty, Drummond and Youth developed the musical genre of ambient house through the use of a diverse array of samples and recordings. The culmination of Cauty and Paterson's musical work came towards the end of the year when the Orb recorded a session for John Peel on BBC Radio 1 . The track, then known as "Loving You", was largely improvisational and featured
10004-640: The F**k Is Going On?) , was released in June 1987. Included was a song called "The Queen and I", which sampled the ABBA single " Dancing Queen ". After a legal showdown with ABBA and the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society , the 1987 album was forcibly withdrawn from sale. Drummond and Cauty travelled to Sweden in hope of meeting ABBA and coming to some agreement, taking an NME journalist and photographer with them, along with most of
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#173288465705910168-621: The Iraqi people. In Operation Magic Kingdom "the rules of engagement have been changed to include 'try and be more fun' before firing." The images were launched at the Bayswater Road Sunday Art Exhibition, bombed onto billboards and fly-posted across London, as well as being released by The Aquarium as limited edition prints and stamps. In 2008, Jimmy Cauty held a public exhibition in The Aquarium L-13 named "Splatter", which
10332-629: The JAMs , the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band who originated in Liverpool and London in the late 1980s. Scottish musician Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D) and English musician Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock) began by releasing hip hop -inspired and sample -heavy records as the JAMs. As the Timelords, they recorded the British number-one single " Doctorin' the Tardis ", and documented
10496-547: The JAMs' "KLF Communications" independent record label. Both reflected a shift towards house rhythms. According to NME , the JAMs' choice of samples for the first of these, " Whitney Joins the JAMs " saw them leaving behind their strategy of "collision course" to "move straight onto the art of super selective theft". The song uses samples of the Mission: Impossible and Shaft themes alongside Whitney Houston 's " I Wanna Dance with Somebody ". Drummond has claimed that
10660-488: The KLF and grindcore group Extreme Noise Terror performed a live version of "3 a.m. Eternal" at the BRIT Awards , the British Phonographic Industry 's annual awards show. Drummond and Cauty had planned to throw buckets of blood over the audience, or to disembowel a dead sheep on stage, but were prevented from doing so due to opposition from BBC lawyers and vegetarians Extreme Noise Terror; Sheep were
10824-556: The KLF and that more "musical treasure" would be the result. In the weeks following the BRITs performance, the KLF continued working with Extreme Noise Terror on the album The Black Room , but it was never finished. On 14 May 1992, the KLF announced their immediate retirement from the music industry and the deletion of their back catalogue: We have been following a wild and wounded, glum and glorious, shit but shining path these past five years. The last two of which has [sic] led us up onto
10988-474: The KLF to fans and the media) was sent out by the label. KLF Communications releases were distributed by Rough Trade Distribution (a spinoff of Rough Trade Records ) in the South East of England, and across the wider UK by the Cartel . As Drummond and Cauty explained, "The Cartel is, as the name implies, a group of independent distributors across the country who work in conjunction with each other providing
11152-500: The KLF were later offered the job of producing or remixing a new Whitney Houston album as an inducement from her record label boss ( Clive Davis of Arista Records ) to sign with them. The second single in this sequence – Drummond and Cauty's third and final single of 1987 – was " Down Town ", a dance record built around a gospel choir and " Downtown " by 1960s star Petula Clark , with lyrics that commented on poverty and homelessness. These early works were later collected on
11316-420: The KLF's " ambient house " LP Chill Out ambient video Waiting were released in 1990, as was a dance track, " It's Grim Up North ", under the JAMs' moniker. Throughout 1990, the KLF launched a series of singles with an upbeat pop-house sound which they dubbed " stadium house ". Songs from The White Room soundtrack were re-recorded with rap and more vocals (by guests labelled "Additional Communicators"),
11480-562: The Love Reaction , in 1985. Cauty joined with Bill Drummond to form the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (the JAMs), a collaboration that played out in various guises and media over much of the next decade. As an A&R man, Drummond had signed Brilliant to WEA . Concocting a scheme for a hip-hop record on New Year's Day 1987, Drummond needed a like-minded collaborator with expertise in current music technology, and so contacted Cauty. Drummond later commented that Cauty "knew exactly, to coin
11644-594: The Magic, starring Debbie Harry , Nick Lehan and Branko Tomović , at Tate Modern as part of the annual Merge festival. The ideas of A Riot in a Jam Jar evolved into the Aftermath Dislocation Principle, shown at the Hoxton Arches in October 2013. The 448-square-foot installation at 1:87 scale (representing approximately one square mile) details the desolate and charred aftermath of what appears to have been
11808-582: The Manics, some new British bands were beginning to appear. Suede were quickly hailed by the paper as an alternative to the heavy grunge sound and hailed as the start of a new British music scene. Grunge, however, was still the dominant force, but the rise of new British bands would become something the paper would focus on more and more. In 1992, the NME also had a very public dispute with Morrissey due to allegations by NME ' s Dele Fadele that Morrissey had used racist lyrics and imagery. This erupted after
11972-535: The Orb released the Kiss EP , a four-track EP based on samples from New York City's Kiss FM on Paterson and Youth's new record label WAU/Mr. Modo Records . After spending a weekend of making what Paterson described as "really shit drum sounds", the duo decided to abandon beat-heavy music and instead work on music for after-hours listening by "taking the bloody drums away". Paterson and Cauty began DJing in London and landed
12136-448: The People's Pyramid project, inspired by his brother's death, is serious: "It's easy to make it sound like a joke", he said, "but it isn't a joke, it's deadly serious and it's a long-term project." He also confirmed that The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu are a going concern: "It's interesting to be in a band that doesn't make records but only makes pyramids of dead people. On 31 December 2020,
12300-465: The Rings poster (and later, a counterpart based on The Hobbit ) for British retailer Athena . In 1981–82, Cauty was guitarist in a band called Angels 1–5, who recorded a Peel session on 1 July 1981. Lead vocalist was Cressida Bowyer , whom Cauty later married. He then joined the band Brilliant with which he remained until its break-up in 1986. Cauty was also an original member of Zodiac Mindwarp and
12464-737: The Strokes , the Vines , and the White Stripes . In 2002, Conor McNicholas was appointed editor, with a new wave of photographers including Dean Chalkley , Andrew Kendall, James Looker, and Pieter Van Hattem, and a high turnover of young writers. It focused on new British bands such as the Libertines , Franz Ferdinand , Bloc Party , and the Kaiser Chiefs , which had emerged as indie music continued to grow in commercial success. Later, Arctic Monkeys became
12628-609: The Timelords with the Gary Glitter / Dr. Who novelty-pop mash-up " Doctorin' the Tardis ", claimed to be sung by Cauty's 1968 Ford Galaxie American police car . During this period, Cauty also worked with Tony Thorpe of the Moody Boys ; besides remix and production work by the Moody Boys for the KLF and vice versa, Thorpe and Cauty recorded the single "Journey into Dubland" together at the KLF's Trancentral studios. The KLF released two albums, Chill Out and The White Room , and
12792-483: The UK. A substantial reworking of the aborted soundtrack, the album featured a segued series of "stadium house" songs followed by downtempo tracks. The KLF's chart success continued with the single "Last Train to Trancentral" hitting number two in the UK, and number three on the Eurochart Hot 100 . In December 1991, a re-working of a song from 1987 , " Justified & Ancient " was released, featuring Tammy Wynette . It
12956-445: The US, mainly from Seattle . These bands would form a new movement called grunge , and by far the most popular bands were Nirvana and Pearl Jam . The NME took to grunge very slowly ("Sounds" was the first British music paper to write about grunge with John Robb being the first to interview Nirvana. Melody Maker was more enthusiastic early on, largely through the efforts of Everett True , who had previously written for NME under
13120-463: The United Kingdom. Several threads and themes unify the many incarnations of Drummond and Cauty's creative partnership, many of these influenced by The Illuminatus! Trilogy ; combined, these themes, threads and their activities over the years have been said to form a "mythology." Drummond and Cauty made heavy references to Discordianism , popularised by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson in
13284-591: The Worst Artist of the Year, and burning one million pounds sterling (approximately £2.35m as of 2022). The duo have released a small number of new tracks since 1992, as the K Foundation, the One World Orchestra , and in 1997, as 2K . Drummond and Cauty reappeared in 2017 as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, releasing the novel 2023 , and rebooting an earlier campaign to build a "People's Pyramid". In January 2021,
13448-488: The album which was eventually released to mainstream success. A single from the original album was released: " Kylie Said to Jason ", an electropop record featuring references to Todd Terry , Rolf Harris , Skippy the Bush Kangaroo and BBC comedy programme The Good Life . In reference to that song, Drummond and Cauty noted that they had worn " Pet Shop Boys infatuations brazenly on [their] sleeves." The film project
13612-572: The band began uploading their previously deleted catalogue onto streaming services , in compilations . Bill Drummond was an established figure within the British music industry , having co-founded Zoo Records , played guitar in the Liverpool band Big in Japan , and worked as manager of Echo & the Bunnymen and the Teardrop Explodes . Artist and musician Jimmy Cauty was the guitarist in
13776-443: The best layouts, that sense of style of humour and a feeling of real adventure. We also set out to beat Melody Maker on its strong suit: being the serious, responsible journal of record. We did Looking Back and Consumer Guide features that beat the competition out of sight, and we did this not just to surpass our rivals but because we reckoned that rock had finished its first wind around 1969/70 and deserved to be treated as history, as
13940-498: The commercial high ground – we are at a point where the path is about to take a sharp turn from these sunny uplands down into a netherworld of we know not what. For the foreseeable future there will be no further record releases from The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, The Timelords, The KLF and any other past, present and future name attached to our activities. As of now all our past releases are deleted .... If we meet further along be prepared ... our disguise may be complete. In
14104-477: The company was "inspired by the resurgence we've seen in vinyl and cassette tapes" to bring a physical edition back for music fans. In December 2018, BandLab Technologies announced the launch of NME Australia . Initially a website only, new interviews were given covers and numbered as issues, with Amyl & The Sniffers on the inaugural cover. At the time BandLab announced the Australian edition would not have
14268-560: The compilation album Shag Times . A second album, Who Killed the JAMs? , was released in early 1988. Who Killed the JAMs? earned the duo a five-star review from Sounds magazine, who called it "a masterpiece of pathos". In 1988, Drummond and Cauty released a ' novelty ' pop single, " Doctorin' the Tardis " as the Timelords. The song is predominantly a mash-up of the Doctor Who theme music , " Block Buster! " by Sweet and Gary Glitter 's " Rock and Roll (Part Two) ". Credited on
14432-473: The continued dominance of British groups of the time. During this period some sections of pop music began to be designated as rock. The paper became engaged in a sometimes tense rivalry with Melody Maker ; however, NME sales were healthy, with the paper selling as many as 200,000 issues per week, making it one of the UK's biggest sellers at the time. By the early 1970s, NME had lost ground to Melody Maker , as its coverage of music had failed to keep pace with
14596-427: The cover once two years before, in April 1985. Writers at this time included Mat Snow , Chris Bohn (known in his later years at the paper as ' Biba Kopf '), Antonella Gambotto-Burke (known by her pseudonyms Antonella Black and, because of her then-dyed orange hair, Ginger Meggs ), Barney Hoskyns , Paolo Hewitt, Don Watson, Danny Kelly , Steven Wells , and David Quantick . However, sales were dropping, and by
14760-455: The cover price and becoming a free publication. This was confirmed in July 2015. The free NME launched on 18 September 2015, with Rihanna on the cover. Distributed nationwide via universities, retail stores and the transport network, the first circulation numbers published in February 2016 of 307, 217 copies per week were the highest in the brand's history. Since relaunch the magazine has featured
14924-413: The creation of a road movie and soundtrack album , both titled The White Room , funded by the profits of "Doctorin' the Tardis". Neither the film nor its soundtrack were formally released, although bootleg copies exist. The soundtrack album contained pop-house versions of some of the "pure trance" singles, as well as new songs, most of which would appear (in radically reworked form) on the version of
15088-431: The development of rock music, particularly during the early years of psychedelia and progressive rock . In early 1972, the paper was on the verge of closure by its owner IPC (which had bought the paper from Kinn in 1963). According to Nick Kent (soon to play a prominent part in the paper's revival): After sales had plummeted to 60,000 and a review of guitar instrumentalist Duane Eddy had been printed which began with
15252-588: The earlier The Sound of Mu(sic) ). The duo's first release as the KLF was in March 1988, with the single " Burn the Bastards"/"Burn the Beat " (KLF 002). Although the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu name was not retired, most future Drummond and Cauty releases went under the name "The KLF". The name change accompanied a change in Drummond and Cauty's musical direction. As 'King Boy D', Drummond said in January 1988, "We might put out
15416-491: The early 2000s, the NME also attempted somewhat to broaden its coverage again, running cover stories on hip-hop acts such as Jay-Z and Missy Elliott , electronic musician Aphex Twin , Popstars winners Hear'say , and R&B groups such as Destiny's Child . However, as in the 1980s, these proved unpopular with much of the paper's readership, and were soon dropped. In 2001, the NME reasserted its position as an influence in new music, and helped to introduce bands including
15580-486: The entrance to one of the post-ceremony parties. Piering's PA announcement was largely not taken seriously at the time; even he and other close associates of the band thought the announcement was a joke. NME' s detailed piece on the events at the BRIT Awards and the after-party, which included an interview with Drummond the day after, assured readers that the "tensions and contradictions" would continue to "push and spark"
15744-430: The first ambient house album. When offered an album deal by Big Life, the Orb found themselves at a crossroads. Cauty preferred that albums by the Orb were released on his KLF Communications label, whereas Paterson wanted to ensure the Orb did not become an offshoot of The KLF. Due to these issues, Cauty and Paterson split in April 1990, with Paterson keeping the name the Orb . Cauty removed Paterson's contributions from
15908-528: The first incarnations of later international chart successes. The KLF described the new tracks as "Pure Trance". In 1989, the KLF appeared at the Helter Skelter rave in Oxfordshire . "They wooed the crowd", wrote Scotland on Sunday some years later, "by pelting them with... £1,000 worth of Scottish pound notes , each of which bore the message 'Children we love you ' ". Also in 1989, the KLF embarked upon
16072-449: The first place. Maybe because there's less inherent 'meaning' in the KLF's music, or maybe just because the 'meaning' in house music is less fragile". After successive name changes and dance records, Drummond and Cauty ultimately became, as the KLF, the biggest-selling singles act in the world for 1991, still incorporating the work of other artists but in less gratuitous ways and predominantly without legal problems. On 12 February 1992,
16236-476: The first time on the band's official YouTube channel, marking the first activity of Cauty and Drummond as the KLF since 1992. On 23 March 2021, the collection was followed by its part 2 featuring 12" versions of the singles. On 4 February 2021, a re-edited version of Chill Out was released, retitled Come Down Dawn , with previously unlicensed samples from the original release removed, and added "What Time Is Love? (Virtual Reality Mix)," originally from
16400-472: The group and was sometimes viewed, subjectively, as their chief protagonist. NME , for example, wrote: "One suspects that the real boiling genius of the duo is initiated by Drummond. The elements of the K Foundation affair are classic Drummond – honesty mixed with deranged publicity-seeking, pop terrorism ideas mixed with utter strangeness and mysticism..., and a sense that the things pop groups do should be visionary and above all should not be mundane." However,
16564-402: The guitar, and I can knock out a few things on the piano, I knew nothing, personally, about the technology. And, I thought, I knew [Jimmy], I knew he was a like spirit, we share similar tastes and backgrounds in music and things. So I phoned him up that day and said "Let's form a band called The Justified Ancients of Mu-Mu". And he knew exactly, to coin a phrase, "where I was coming from"... Within
16728-513: The history of popular music, cutting chunks from existing works and pasting them into new contexts, underpinned by rudimentary beatbox rhythms and overlaid with Drummond's raps , of social commentary, esoteric metaphors and mockery. The JAMs' debut single " All You Need Is Love " dealt with the media coverage given to AIDS , sampling heavily from the Beatles ' " All You Need Is Love " and Samantha Fox 's " Touch Me (I Want Your Body) ". Although it
16892-433: The history of rock and roll. It was the type of music that by early '87 was really exciting me ... [although] we weren't able to get our first KLF records out until late '88." The 12" records subsequently released in 1988 and 1989 by the KLF were indeed rap free and house-oriented; remixes of some of the JAMs tracks, and new singles, the largely instrumental acid house anthems " What Time Is Love? " and " 3 a.m. Eternal ",
17056-547: The hymn " Eternal Father, Strong to Save ") – was also released as a single. These activities were accompanied by the usual full page press adverts, this time asking readers "***k The Millennium: Yes/No?" with a telephone number provided for voting. At the same time, Drummond and Cauty were also K2 Plant Hire , with plans to build a "People's Pyramid" from used house bricks; this plan never reached fruition. K2 Plant Hire Ltd had been registered at Companies House since 1995; Cauty and Drummond are directors. The Directors' Report for
17220-459: The idea of starting over is exciting. Starting over on what? Well, they have such great ideas, like buying submarines". Even Kenny Gates, who as a director of the KLF's distributors APT stood to lose financially from the move, called it "Conceptually and philosophically... absolutely brilliant". Mark Stent reported the doubts of many when he said that "I [have] had so many people who I know, heads of record companies, A&R men saying, 'Come on, It's
17384-461: The initial idea for the K Foundation's one million incineration was Cauty's, although he was beginning to express regret in 1995 at which time Drummond remained resolute. Contrasting with Drummond's image, Jimmy Cauty was perceived, or presented, as "Rockman Rock – cool dude"; the "quiet", enigmatic one, a "long-haired and quietly spoken chain-smoker: a leather-jacketed misfit [who] has carried his adolescent rock obsession into adulthood". However, as
17548-475: The likes of Mick Farren (whose article "The Titanic Sails at Dawn" called for a new street-led rock movement in response to stadium rock) were published by the NME that summer, it was felt that younger writing was needed to credibly cover the emerging punk movement, and the paper advertised for a pair of "hip young gunslingers" to join their editorial staff. This resulted in the recruitment of Tony Parsons and Julie Burchill . The pair rapidly became champions of
17712-404: The logo still used on the paper's masthead today (albeit in a modified form) – this made its first appearance towards the end of 1978. Spencer's time as editor also coincided with the emergence of post-punk acts such as Joy Division and Gang of Four . This development was reflected in the writing of Ian Penman and Paul Morley . Danny Baker , who began as an NME writer around this time, had
17876-466: The lowest common denominator. According to the British music press, the result was "rancid", "pure, unadulterated agony" and "excruciating" and from Sounds "a record so noxious that a top ten place can be its only destiny". A single of the Timelords' remixes of the song was released: "Gary Joins the JAMs" featured original vocal contributions from Glitter, who also appeared on Top of the Pops to promote
18040-459: The magazine jumped by 50%. The first of these singles charts was, in contrast to more recent charts, a top twelve sourced by the magazine itself from sales in regional stores around the UK. The first number one was " Here in My Heart " by Al Martino . During the 1960s, the paper championed the new British groups emerging at the time. The NME circulation peaked under Andy Gray (editor 1957–1972) with
18204-433: The magazine. Movie director Bill Butt said that "Like everything, they're dealing with it in a very realistic way, a fresh, unbitter way, which is very often not the case. A lot of bands disappear with such a terrible loss of dignity". Scott Piering said that "They've got a huge buzz off this, that's for sure, because it's something that's finally thrilling. It's scary to have thrown away a fortune which I know they have. Just
18368-418: The mid-1980s, NME had hit a rough patch and was in danger of closing. During this period (now under the editorship of Ian Pye, who replaced Neil Spencer in 1985), they were split between those who wanted to write about hip hop , a genre that was relatively new to the UK, and those who wanted to stick to rock music. Sales were apparently lower when photos of hip hop artists appeared on the front and this led to
18532-410: The mix contained many uncleared samples and other records and was unusable. Later that year Cauty and Drummond went to the isle of Jura, Scotland to record a techno record called Gate. Instead they created a long form ambient film called Waiting (1990) . During the same year Cauty and Drummond went into the studio and made the ambient LP Chill Out . The Grove Dictionary suggests Chill Out to be
18696-467: The music of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty was independently released in their home country (the UK). Their debut releases – the single " All You Need Is Love " and the album 1987 – were released under the label name "The Sound Of Mu(sic)". By the end of 1987 Drummond and Cauty had renamed their label to "KLF Communications" and, in October 1987, the first of many "information sheets" (self written missives from
18860-627: The name Custerd . Subsequently, they settled on the name " Transit Kings ". Cauty left the band in 2004 to work on other projects. Two years later, the Transit Kings released their debut album, Living in a Giant Candle Winking at God ; Cauty is listed as a composer on seven of the album's 12 tracks. In 2002, Cauty's two remixes of U2's "New York" were featured as B-sides on the band's Electrical Storm single. Cauty was, until mid-2005, part of art/music collective Blacksmoke , together with James Fogarty and manager Keir Jens-Smith. Cauty works with
19024-405: The name "The Legend!"). For the most part, NME only became interested in grunge after Nevermind became popular. Although it still supported new British bands, the paper was dominated by American bands, as was the music scene in general. Although the period from 1991 to 1993 was dominated by American bands like Nirvana, British bands were not ignored. The NME still covered the indie scene and
19188-599: The name Solid Gold Chartbusters. It was released as competition for the Christmas Number One but only reached Number 62 in the UK Singles Chart . In 2001, Cauty joined with former collaborators Alex Paterson and Pratt in a London recording studio, together with Dom Beken, an associate of Pratt. Recording later continued in Cauty's Brighton studio. In 2003, the group released their first single, "Boom Bang Bombay", under
19352-421: The paper being criticised for not supporting rock or indie music. The paper did attempt to return to its highly politicised 1980s incarnation by running a cover story in March 1998 condemning Tony Blair , who had previously associated himself with Britpop bands such as Oasis, and this received a certain level of attention in the wider media. Sutherland did attempt to cover newer bands, but a 1998 cover feature on
19516-470: The paper suffering as the lack of direction became even more apparent to readers. A number of features entirely unrelated to music appeared on the cover in this era, including a piece by William Leith on computer crime and articles by Stuart Cosgrove on such subjects as the politics of sport and the presence of American troops in Britain, with Elvis Presley appearing on the cover not for musical reasons but as
19680-470: The period ending 31 March 1996 listed the company's activities as "a music company," and the accompanying accounts noted a transaction with "KLF Communications Residual Royalties", a Cauty-Drummond partnership. On 23 August 2017, in Liverpool, 23 years after they burnt a million pounds, Drummond and Cauty returned as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. The duo launched a novel, 2023: A Trilogy , and staged
19844-497: The place we can explore our branding ideas, Cash for trash – it represents the futility and the glory of it all." In response to the Iraq War troop surge of 2007 , Cauty developed Operation Magic Kingdom, a series of images showing US forces in Iraq wearing masks of lovable and friendly Disney characters, adopting the UK's "winning hearts and minds" tactics in a bid to gain the confidence of
20008-457: The poll. In October 2006, NME launched an Irish version of the magazine called NME Ireland . This coincided with the launch of Club NME in Dublin . Dublin-based band Humanzi was first to appear on the cover of NME Ireland. The Irish edition of the magazine could not compete with local competitors such as Hot Press therefore it was discontinued after its fourth issue in February 2007. After
20172-407: The previously quoted NME piece cautioned, "We can't underestimate the importance of Jimmy Cauty". Cauty was the musical bedrock of The KLF, whether laying down the starting track for "Doctorin' the Tardis", or playing electric guitar, bass, drums and keyboard on " America: What Time Is Love? ". He and his wife, Cressida, were at the centre of KLF operations, living and working at Trancentral (actually
20336-478: The process of making a hit record in a book The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way) . As the KLF, Drummond and Cauty pioneered stadium house (rave music with a pop-rock production and sampled crowd noise) and, with their 1990 LP Chill Out , the ambient house genre. The KLF released a series of international hits on their own KLF Communications record label and became the biggest selling singles act in
20500-569: The process: "When they did the remix of 'So Hard', they didn't do a remix at all, they re-wrote the record ... I had to go and sing the vocals again, they did it in a different way. I was impressed that Bill Drummond had written all the chords out and played it on an acoustic guitar, very thorough." The "stadium house" singles trilogy was characterised by Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger as applying "the possibilities for mass lunacy" to "awe-inpsiring, colossal, unprecedented dancefloor bulldozers." He adds: "For novelty scam-mongers and pranksters, they knew
20664-410: The public well, particularly that strain in British pop listening which likes an occasional brush with the gigantic. The KLF did to house what Jim Steinman did to rock – they turned it into a thing of tottering grand opera absurdity, pushed the excitement in the music to hysteria, traded content for ever-huger gesture. The difference being that the KLF never lost track of what made the music special in
20828-432: The punk scene and created a new tone for the paper. Parsons' time at NME is reflected in his 2005 novel Stories We Could Tell , about the misadventures of three young music-paper journalists on the night of 16 August 1977 – the night Elvis Presley died. In 1978, Logan moved on, and his deputy Neil Spencer was made editor. One of his earliest tasks was to oversee a redesign of the paper by Barney Bubbles , which included
20992-401: The punk years perfectly." By the time Smith handed the editor's chair to Logan in mid-1973, the paper was selling nearly 300,000 copies per week and was outstripping Melody Maker , Disc , Record Mirror and Sounds . According to MacDonald: I think all the other papers knew by 1974 that NME had become the best music paper in Britain. We had most of the best writers and photographers,
21156-439: The record was "Ford Timelord", Cauty's 1968 Ford Galaxie American police car, and "Lord Rock" (Cauty) and "Time Boy" (Drummond). The Timelords claimed that Ford Timelord was the "Talent" in the band and had given them instructions on how to make the record; Ford fronted the promotional campaign for the single and was "interviewed" on TV. The car would later be banger raced at Swaffham Raceway in 1991. They later portrayed
21320-479: The recordings in progress and released the album as Space on KLF Communications . In 1999 Cauty produced several remixes under the alias The Scourge of the Earth for Placebo , Marilyn Manson , Hawkwind , Ian Brown , the Orb , and others. In December 1999 he joined with Guy Pratt , Lloyd Stanton and Denise Palmer to record and release a mobile telephone-themed novelty-pop record " I Wanna 1-2-1 With You " under
21484-469: The release of series of remastered compilations under the collective title Samplecity thru Trancentral was announced on a graffiti and posters hung under a railway bridge on Kingsland Road in Shoreditch , East London . The 30-minute collection of eight remastered singles Solid State Logik 1 appeared at midnight 1 January 2021, on streaming platforms , while high-definition videos were published for
21648-498: The remaining copies of the LP. They failed to meet ABBA, who they didn't realize already lived in Britain at the time, so they disposed of the copies by burning most of them in a field and throwing the rest overboard on the North Sea ferry trip home. In a December 1987 interview, Cauty maintained that they "felt that what [they]'d done was artistically justified." Two new singles followed on
21812-599: The rise of gothic rock bands but new bands such as the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses were coming out of Manchester . One scene over these years was Acid House which spawned " Madchester " which helped give the paper a new lease of life. By the end of the decade, Danny Kelly had replaced Lewis as editor. By the end of 1990, the Madchester scene was dying off, and NME had started to report on new bands coming from
21976-457: The rise of a new group from Manchester called Oasis , Britpop would continue its rise for the rest of 1994. By the end of the year, Blur and Oasis were the two biggest bands in the UK, and sales of the NME were increasing thanks to the Britpop effect. In 1995, NME covered these new bands, many of whom played the NME Stage at that year's Glastonbury Festival , where the paper had been sponsoring
22140-410: The second stage at the festival since 1993. This would be its last year sponsoring the stage; subsequently, the stage would be known as the 'Other Stage'. In August 1995, Blur and Oasis planned to release singles on the same day in a mass of media publicity. Steve Sutherland put the story on the front page of the paper, and was criticised for playing up the duel between the bands. Blur won the "race" for
22304-585: The small room was often packed with around 100 people. The Orb's performances became especially popular among weary DJs and clubbers who sought solace from the loud, rhythmic music of the dancefloor. The Orb would build up melodies using multitrack recordings linked to multiple record decks and a mixer . They incorporated many CDs, cassettes, and BBC sound effects into their act, often accompanied with pieces of popular dance tracks such as " Sueño Latino ". Most often, they played dub and other chill out music which Bill Drummond described as "Ambient house for
22468-496: The song as the result of a deliberate effort to write a number one hit single. In interviews with Snub TV and BBC Radio 1 , Drummond said that they had intended to make a house record using the Doctor Who theme. After Cauty had laid down a basic track, Drummond observed that their house idea wasn't working and what they actually had was a Glitter beat . Sensing the opportunity to make a commercial pop record they went instead for
22632-492: The song with the Timelords. "Doctorin' the Tardis" sold over one million copies. The Timelords released one other product, a 1989 book called The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way) , a step-by-step guide to achieving a number one hit single with little money or talent. By the time the JAMs' single "Whitney Joins the JAMs" was released in September 1987, their record label had been renamed "KLF Communications" (from
22796-418: The standard-bearers of the post-Libertines crop of indie bands, being both successfully championed by the NME and receiving widespread commercial and critical success. In December 2005, accusations were made that the NME end-of-year poll had been edited for commercial and political reasons. These criticisms were rebutted by McNicholas, who claimed that webzine Londonist.com had got hold of an early draft of
22960-452: The successor to IPC, sold NME and Uncut to Singaporean company BandLab Technologies . In 2021, the NME became the main brand for the music publishing division of Caldecott Music Group, when BandLab Technologies was reorganised. As well as publishing print magazines in the United Kingdom and Australia, NME Networks is responsible for a trio of online music publications and the main NME.com website, which now also has an area devoted to
23124-417: The three-piece Brilliant – an act that Drummond had signed to WEA Records and managed. In July 1986, Drummond resigned from his position as an A&R man at record label WEA , citing that he was nearly 33⅓ years old (33⅓ revolutions per minute being the speed at which a vinyl LP revolves), and that it was "time for a revolution in my life. There is a mountain to climb the hard way, and I want to see
23288-405: The top of the charts, and the resulting fallout from the publicity led to the paper enjoying increased sales during the 1990s as Britpop became the dominant genre. After this peak, the paper experienced a slow decline as Britpop burned itself out fairly rapidly over the next few years. This left the paper directionless again, and attempts to embrace the rise of DJ culture in the late 1990s only led to
23452-533: The words "On this, his 35th album, we find Duane in as good voice as ever," the NME had been told to rethink its policies or die on the vine. Alan Smith was made editor in 1972, and was told by IPC to turn things around quickly or face closure. To achieve this, Smith and his assistant editor Nick Logan raided the underground press for writers such as Charles Shaar Murray and Nick Kent, and recruited other writers such as Tony Tyler , Ian MacDonald and Californian Danny Holloway . According to The Economist ,
23616-402: The work was exhibited at Banksy 's Dismaland and then in London. Following this it was re-engineered to fit inside a 40-foot shipping container and now tours historic riot sites around the world. In 2014, Cauty released a series of limited edition Smiley Riot Shields. Each are all ex-police riot gear painted over with a yellow smiley face . He originally designed the riot shields in 2012 as
23780-405: The world from the top". In the same year he released a solo LP, The Man . Drummond intended to focus on writing books once The Man had been issued but, as he recalled in 1990, "That only lasted three months, until I had an[other] idea for a record and got dragged back into it all". Recalling that moment in a later interview, Drummond said that the plan came to him in an instant: he would form
23944-491: The world in 1991. From the outset, the KLF adopted the philosophy espoused by esoteric novels The Illuminatus! Trilogy , making anarchic situationist manifestations, including the defacement of billboard adverts , the posting of cryptic advertisements in New Musical Express ( NME ) and the mainstream press, as well as unusual performances on Top of the Pops . In collaboration with Extreme Noise Terror at
24108-462: The world". They burnt what was left of their KLF earnings – a million pounds sterling in cash (equivalent to £2.35m as of 2022) – and filmed the performance. Cauty and Drummond announced a 23-year moratorium on all K Foundation activities in November 1995. Also in 1995, Drummond and Cauty contributed a song to The Help Album as The One World Orchestra ("featuring The Massed Pipes and Drums of
24272-412: The year before. A notable theme of Illuminatus! is the number 23 , placed overtly and surreptitiously, both in the book and later throughout the band's career: When questioned on the importance that he attaches to this number, Drummond has been evasive, responding enigmatically "I know. But I'm not going to tell, because then other people would have to stop having to wonder and the thing about beauty
24436-452: The year". In 1994, the duo courted infamy by setting fire to one million pounds in cash on the Scottish island of Jura . In 1995, they undertook a screening tour of a film of the burning, before signing a moratorium on K Foundation activities. Cauty worked with Drummond again in 1997 with a campaign to " Fuck the Millennium ", the highlight of which was a 23-minute live performance satirising
24600-556: Was "literally a musical genius". John Higgs wrote in The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds that: A simplified description of their partnership would portray Cauty as the musician and Drummond as the strategist, but this view doesn't hold up to scrutiny. All of the products of their partnership, whether musical or otherwise, came out of mutual agreement. Cauty is just as capable of burning stuff as Drummond.... Cauty
24764-517: Was 15,830. In September 2015, the NME magazine was relaunched to be distributed nationally as a free publication. The first average circulation published in February 2016 of 307,217 copies per week was the highest in the brand's history, beating the previous best of 306,881, recorded in 1964 at the height of the Beatles ' fame. By December 2017, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations , average distribution of NME had fallen to 289,432 copies
24928-539: Was an altered version of several classic Looney Tunes cartoons, with characters, such as Bugs Bunny , Daffy Duck , and others depicted in shocking acts of violence, often murder. The idea was suggested by his 15-year-old son. In June 2011 he held another public exhibition at The Aquarium L-13 entitled A Riot in a Jam Jar consisting of a series of scale dioramas depicting violent confrontations between British rioters and police, each contained within an inverted glass jar. In 2012, Cauty premiered his short film, Believe
25092-544: Was another international hit – peaking at number two in the UK, and number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 – as was " America: What Time Is Love? ", a hard, guitar-laden reworking of "What Time Is Love?". In 1990 and 1991, the KLF also remixed tracks by Depeche Mode (" Policy of Truth "), the Moody Boys ("What Is Dub?"), and Pet Shop Boys ("So Hard" from the Behaviour album, and "It Must Be Obvious"). Neil Tennant described
25256-570: Was brought in as the NME ' s editor to replace Danny Kelly . Andrew Collins, Stuart Maconie , Steve Lamacq , and Mary Anne Hobbs all left the NME in protest, and moved to Select ; Collins, Maconie and Lamacq would all also write for Q , while Lamacq would join Melody Maker in 1997. Kelly, Collins, Maconie, Lamacq and Hobbs would all subsequently become prominent broadcasters with BBC Radio 1 as it reinvented itself under Matthew Bannister . In April 1994, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain
25420-415: Was criticized by the media. The Guardian pointed out that Features Editor Laura Snapes included, in her top 5 "greatest albums of all time", four albums from the same band which was The National . Consequence of Sound similarly observed that "if Laura Snapes had her wish, the top four would all be The National albums". In February 2015, it was reported that the NME was in discussions about removing
25584-540: Was declined by distributors fearful of prosecution, and threatened with lawsuits, copies of the one-sided white label 12" were sent to the music press ; it received positive reviews and was made "single of the week" in Sounds . A later piece in the same magazine called the JAMs "the hottest, most exhilarating band this year .... It's hard to understand what it feels like to come across something you believe to be totally new; I have never been so wholeheartedly convinced that
25748-463: Was found dead, a story which affected not only his fans and readers of the NME , but would see a massive change in British music. Grunge was about to be replaced by Britpop , a new genre influenced by 1960s British music and culture. The term was coined by NME after the band Blur released their album Parklife in the month of Cobain's death. Britpop began to fill the musical and cultural void left after Cobain's demise, and with Blur's success and
25912-408: Was fraught with difficulties and setbacks, including dwindling funds. "Kylie Said to Jason", which Drummond and Cauty were hoping could "rescue them from the jaws of bankruptcy", flopped commercially, failing even to make the UK top 100. In consequence, The White Room film project was put on hold, and the KLF abandoned the musical direction of the soundtrack and single. Meanwhile, "What Time Is Love?"
26076-461: Was generating acclaim within the underground clubs of continental Europe; according to KLF Communications, "The KLF were being feted by all the 'right' DJs". This prompted Drummond and Cauty to pursue the acid house tone of their Pure Trance series. A further Pure Trance release, " Last Train to Trancentral ", followed. By this time, Cauty had co-founded the Orb as an ambient side-project with Alex Paterson . Cauty's ambient album Space and
26240-470: Was instead concluded with a limping, kilted , cigar-chomping Drummond firing blanks from an automatic weapon over the heads of the crowd. As the band left the stage, the KLF's promoter and narrator Scott Piering proclaimed over the PA system that "The KLF have now left the music business". Later in the evening the band dumped the dead sheep, with the message "I died for you – bon appetit" tied around its waist, at
26404-414: Was involved with a war of words with a new band called Manic Street Preachers , who were criticising the NME for what they saw as an elitist view of bands they would champion. This came to a head in 1991, when, during an interview with Steve Lamacq , Richey Edwards would confirm the band's position by carving "4real" into his arm with a razor blade. By 1992, the Madchester scene had died and along with
26568-457: Was relaunched as the New Musical Express , and was initially published in a non-glossy tabloid format on standard newsprint . Under the editorship of Ray Sonin , the paper began publishing artist interviews, industry gossip and, on 14 November 1952, taking its cue from the US magazine Billboard , it created the first UK Singles Chart , a list of the Top Twelve best-selling singles. Sales of
26732-572: Was released on April 4 2022. Atkins began creating the documentary against Drummond's and Cauty's wishes, but was incarcerated in 2016 for tax fraud for two years; he continued editing the film while in prison. According to Atkins, the duo eventually claimed they "love" the film, though they pointed out some minor inaccuracies. The band's master tapes were donated to the British Library in 2023. From their very earliest releases as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu until their retirement in 1992,
26896-527: Was replaced as editor in July 2012 by Mike Williams, who had previously been the magazine's deputy. Williams is now Editor in Chief, with full responsibility for NME's cross platform output. Under Williams, NME has launched the NME Daily app, a new career focussed event called Lifehacks, and successfully relaunched both the NME magazine and NME's website, NME.com. In 2013, NME's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
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