As a 14-year-old, I was captivated by the KLF. Their music was unlike anything else, blending wild beats with an otherworldly vibe.
The White Room remains one of my all-time favourite albums, especially the second half, or the ‘B side’ of the tape. I still have this tape today! [Amazing considering it is 33 years old! – I haven’t had anything to play it on for the last 10 years, which may have helped it survive so long]. Anyway, the ‘B side’ is fantastic, I am not sure if I knew it at the time, but it was heavily influenced by an unreleased film By the KLF also called The White Room, which was intended as an ambitious multimedia project. (and as I recently learned it was a kind of black & white road movie filmed in London and the Sierra Nevada mountains in Spain) The tacks on the B-side are apparently either reworked versions or direct derivatives of the film’s conceptual soundtrack. These tracks feel cinematic and moody, featuring ambient sounds, slide guitar and deep base and hip-hop-inspired break beats evoking strong visual imagery when I listened the first time and the 150th, ???? or 1,000th time. It is an amazing 39m40s of Acid house, Ambient, folk, and hip-hop beats sarcastically packaged as pop, and well worth a listen!
I always felt, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty were onto something, something deeper, something beyond the music, but I didn’t know what. Maybe I still don’t. The KLF were a very confusing duo, their performances on the BRITS and on top of the pops, could be dismissed as outrageous publicity stunts or just shockingly bad, maybe they had no talent, maybe there were just awful musicians? I didn’t (at the time) and maybe not many people did know that the intention (perhaps the very purpose of the KLF) was to be a two-fingered salute to the music industry. It is hard to get your head round, working extremely hard to be popular enough to get to number 1, (Hits with Tammy Wynette, performances with a glittery guy, who doesn’t deserve a mention), to get on TOTP the pinnacle of the British pop scene and to win best British Group at the BRITS [But then having to share it with Simply Red (the polar opposite of what the KLF stood for) – was this the music industry flicking the V’s back at The KLF?] And then trashing those opportunities by descending these events into chaos. Was it just ‘Punk’ after all?
They were sensational – Threatening to sacrifice a sheep live on stage at the Brits (allegedly they turned up with buckets of blood and dismembered sheep to throw at the crowd- thankfully this never happened but was it a stunt were they stopped as was claimed at the time, maybe we will never know?) Their story culminates in the burning of £1 million pounds on a remote Scottish island, and the deletion of their entire UK back catalogue (which probably cost them £5-10 million in future earnings).
So why am I writing this now? Well, recently I bought John Higgs’ book The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds, as an audio book on Audible which has reinvigorated my interest in this curious duo.
In Chapter 12, Higgs threw me a curve ball… as he delves into the societal upheaval that followed the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. The cultural ripples of Darwin’s theory of evolution, and its impact on victorian society. This is a really interesting read (well, listen). Higgs describes this as a single event that changed society forever. The impact of this shift on faith, science, and the search for meaning was not something I expected to find in this book about my childhood ‘pop’ heroes – I (thought) I just wanted to know why they did some of those things and why the disappeared taking the music with them.
Interestingly as if it was the plan all along, the KLF owned all the rights to their music and handled the distribution of their music themselves – this is pretty much unheard of for artists with commercial success.
The KLF: Discord, Chaos, and Provocation
The book has revealed or maybe just confirmed to me that The KLF were more than just musicians; they were provocateurs and conceptual artists. From their early days as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, they blended pop culture with subversive ideas, drawing heavily from the Discordian movement.
Discordianism is a parody religion from the 1960s, that celebrated chaos and absurdity as tools for questioning authority and finding ‘enlightenment’.
Drummond and Cauty’s fascination with Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson’s Illuminatus! Trilogy further fuelled their creativity. These novels, are rooted in if not responsible for a large number of conspiracy theories and counterculture thoughts. They explored how belief systems can be manipulated and dismantled. This perspective is evident in the KLF’s infamous actions, such as deleting their back catalogue, subverting the BRIT Awards, and, burning a million pounds in cash.
The KLF’s chaos is a huge statement about value, meaning, and the structures we take for granted.
Darwin and the Secular Shift
Chapter 12 of Higgs’ book, highlights how Darwin’s On the Origin of Species dismantled the previously unshakeable authority of the church in Victorian society. Darwin’s theory proposed that life’s diversity was not the result of divine creation but natural selection—a process driven by chance and adaptation over millennia.
This scientific theory upended the foundations of Western thought. Suddenly, the church’s central role in truth and morality was called into question. Secularism gained momentum, and with it came a shift in societal values. The world tipped towards being dominated by materialism.
For me, as a Christian, Darwin’s theory of evolution poses both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge lies in its seeming contradiction with the Genesis creation narrative. However, many theologians and scientists have found harmony between faith and evolution. Thinkers like C.S. Lewis and Francis Collins (author of The Language of God) argue that evolution reveals the intricate beauty of God’s creation rather than diminishing it.
Faith provides the “why” behind existence, while science explores the “how.” From this perspective, Darwin’s theory doesn’t negate divine purpose; it deepens our understanding of it. By embracing both, we can appreciate the complexity of the universe and our place within it.
While Darwin’s theory expanded humanity’s intellectual horizons, its cultural aftermath wasn’t entirely positive. The rise of secularism, fuelled by the rejection of divine authority, left a moral and spiritual vacuum for many. Rationalism and materialism struggle to provide answers to life’s deepest questions: Why are we here? What is our purpose?
The church historically provided a framework for morality, community, and meaning. When that framework eroded, society faced a crisis of purpose. I see this evident in today’s fragmented world, where individualism and consumerism often replace deeper connections.
The KLF and Chaos as a Mirror
The KLF’s fascination with chaos, in some way, mirrors the cultural disruptions caused by Darwin’s theory. Both Darwin and the KLF forced society to question long-held beliefs. The KLF’s art can be seen as a playful yet profound commentary on the absurdity of modern values, much like Discordianism and the Illuminatus! Trilogy. By burning a million pounds, they highlighted the arbitrary nature of money and the structures we assign meaning to.
As Christians, we can view these as opportunities to reaffirm the importance of spiritual truths. Chaos, whether in art or science, often leads to greater clarity and understanding. By engaging with these disruptions thoughtfully, we can strengthen our faith and find deeper meaning.
When I started the book, I really didn’t expect to be reflecting on the KLF, Darwin, and the cultural shifts they represent but here I am… One thing, however, is clear: chaos is not the enemy of meaning. Instead, it is a catalyst for growth. As a child, I may not have fully grasped what Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty were trying to say, but their art planted a seed of curiosity.
In the spirit of the KLF, I sometimes even find joy in the chaos. And ultimately an album that I have loved for 33 years!