The band that burned £1,000,000 

What the KLF did is the opposite of selling out. Awesome

Im sorry, the fuck was the mask ripping off thing?!?!

The KLF’s music suddenly appearing on Spotify in early 2021 was one of the things that got me through the last of the lockdowns here in Scotland.

No group of artists so skillfully stuck a middlefinger to the face of the blasted music industry as The KLF.

Didn't they also make one of the most acclaimed ambient albums of all time?

This guy did a really awesome job literally reciting John Higgs book: The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds.

5:47 ...is that actually Gary fucking Glitter??

This is real interesting - I especially like the Extreme Noise Terror part - my old man started that band haha

the KLF was a transcendentally brilliant entity. They're Justified and they're Ancient...

I only learned about the KLF about... 5 years ago? something like that? Every new thing i learn about them makes me love them more and more.

"Before the other gods, there was Mumu, the god of chaos" This is from the "Illuminatus!" trilogy from the mid/late 70s, by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, and was where the name "Justified Ancients of Mumu" (aka "the JAMS") came from. the Timelords and KLF founders were obsessed with these books. References the the Ancients of Mumu are found in the chants in 3am Eternal and especially Justified And Ancient (which featured the late, great country music songstress Tammy Wynett). The KLF was insanely popular in the 90s, with videos played in heavy rotation on MTV, with fans taking the group as seriously as Mariah Carey and every other pop performer, with no clue what the inspiration or intent was. Basically, the KLF was to the music business what Andy Kaufman was to comedy. Either you get the joke, or you take it seriously and become the punch line!

4:02 So are you in the works to getting this exclusive interview on November 5th, or are you just being optimistic?

The KLF are the biggest trolls in music history. Fucking love these guys. Chill out is easily in my top 3 albums of all time.

At the time of the brits I worked night security at Marcus Music in london. I say night security it was more like ordering taxi's, equipment, drugs and food for the artists. KLF were block booked in studio two. they'd probably been there a week before the awards. Now my memory is a bit hazy but I was working the night of the awards. I dont think they were on TV live but it must have been aired on the same night. I had a little portable TV on the desk and a video player and I had recorded the show because we knew they were on. Extreme Noise Terror rocked up at door sometime in the small hours (they were staying at the studio that night) absolutely loaded. we watched the tape and I seem to remember the bass player being super pissed that he couldnt hear his bass. Shortly after they disappeared to the bar and that really was that. The Next day though the KLF didnt turn up or the next or the next or ever again. A few days after or whenever the next edition of music week came out they had taken out a full page ad announcing that they had left the music business. I know its not much of a story but i thought i'd share

The KLF were The Time Lords? Never knew that.

I had heard that Doctor Who song before. Way back when I was really into that show, the friend who introduced me to it sent me a link to the video. This whole story is way more interesting than that song, though. Burning a million pounds is an insane thing to do, but man is it hardcore.

Has anyone else actually tried burning money? As a test we burned two fivers, and a few months later found a tenner just lying in a bush. Burning money raises all kinds of interesting metaphysical questions, such as where does the value of that money go? It has to go somewhere.

Read Drummonds book called 33, in it he leaves hints + clues as to why they burned the money. I won't spoil it here, but it's great story and a big fuck you to the UK legal system.

I've watched everyone of your videos, been waiting all afternoon today to watch the new one, and you post a video about my favorite band since the 8th grade. You complete me.

I was so happy when they put their old stuff on Spotify in 2021. They featured heavily in my 2021 Wrapped.

The KLF was the first 'band' I ever became a fan of, back when I was 8 or so. I remember saving up my pocket money to buy a cassette of The White Room. But burning a million pounds is an unequivocal dick move. It's utterly futile to begin with, and there are literally a billion better things they could have done with it, no matter what their political or social beliefs. It's spitting in the face of anyone, ever, anywhere, who has gone hungry for lack of a dollar, who's foregone medical treatment due to poverty, who's ever suffered any deprivation at all.

I didn't even know YACHT was still a band, lol. NGL though, Psychic City is still a bop all these years later.

And if you haven't read the Illuminatus trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson, you won't ever understand the why. 'Never whistle while you are pissing"

Hail Eris! Discordia forever.

It's worth reading The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds by John Higgs. It not only tells the story of the burning of the money but also the whole KLF ethos and offer suggestions on what was going on. An excellent read.

To destroy money is to destroy the heart of the industry- caring about gaining money. Only by proving in the clearest way possible that they were no longer beholden to money could they feel detached enough from an industry they came to hate.

My mum was a rave Queen. The KLF where my lullabys. Edit: also fuck yacht

2021: In true KLF style, all this is now totally irrelevant, since the KLF are now officially streaming their music online and officially posting their videos on RU-vid. Also, when they withdrew UKP 1,000,000 in cash (!) from a single bank, they nearly caused a bank panic.

yo dude you're making one of the very few great shows in the internets. top 10 for sure. stay strong.

My cousin knows the KLF guys. One of them was born/brought up in same town as my cousin so he's like a local legend.

What is important in the context of burning a million pounds: They first had the million pounds nailed to a wooden wall and tried to show it in art galleries. But no gallery would show it, claiming insurance/security problems. (Which is strange, because most galleries show even more expensive art). As a reaction, the KLF (as The K Foundation) instated a price for worst art and handed it to the winner of the Turner prize for best art. On the same evening:) These guys were, and still are, FOR REAL!

Is that Simpson's wave I see on your This Exists list? That's awesome! I really hope you do that in an episode! :)

you know, if they didnt want that money they could have just given to me. #PayMyStudentLoansForMeAsPerformanceArt

I love ThisExists, and this video is one of the best uploads in awhile. Question: How have you guys NOT done an episode on the Voynich Manuscript?!

Oddly enough, I was made aware of the KLF through my interest in country music because of their collaboration with Tammy Wynette on "Justified and Ancient."

I saw the title and immediately recognize that this video is about the KLF. They truly did it for the art.

what? no mention of *Robert Anton Wilson*? the names K.L.F. and Justified Ancients of Mu Mu are from his groundbreaking "*The Illuminatus Trilogy*"

Before Drummond and Cauty allegedly burned a million pounds on the Scottish Isle of Jura, they first tried to sell £1,000,000 nailed to a board to London’s Tate Gallery for £750,000. The Tate said it was a security risk, despite the K Foundation pointing out that they would immediately make a profit of a quarter of a million, which they could use to buy some ‘real’ art. However!!! There's some sources who said that money wasn't current GBP, that was after denomination of GBP... So that 50 bills wasn't really worth it 50 as they were out of date... Also one of dudes from KLF - Drummond is regrading of doing it!!! In my opinion: For that money they could do much more than just made pointless statement!!!

Awesome episode! I love "The White Room"! Also KLF released "it's grim up north" under the name "The Jamms" AND, correct me if I'm wrong, they premiered a new KLF single over the speaker system at Glastonbury but said it wouldn't be released as a single until there was world peace. No delusions of grandeur there!

I feel like 90% of episodes are about music or bands that I don't really care about, but it's so weird that I still love it.

This has been my favorite episode. Thank you.

I'm so glad I have a physical copy of the Best of the Jams/Timelords.

Excellent job as always Sam. A lot of ground covered in this vid, but there's a lot more layers to the KLF story, incredible how much stuff they did in 5yrs or so. Their first project together was the album "1987 (What the Fuck is Going on?)" in that year. I reckon it's one of the first British rap albums ever released, and it's full of Illuminati references and unlicensed samples. One of them ("Dancing Queen" by Abba) earned the duo a lawsuit and took the album from the shelves; so for their next act, they travelled by car/ferry to Sweden accompanied by a NME reporter (and all remaining copies of the record) to have a meeting with the Swedes. Unsurprisingly, they failed their goal, so they burned the records in some remote farm - whose owner later shot at their car. They got towed back to England by the AAA or something. Also, the Chill Out album is amazing.

would you ever do an episode on extreme body modification / biomechanics ? Artists like Stelark and Orlan come to mind. Love the show !

Bill Drummond has a book coming out soon I think, probably called 23

Thank you for doing this episode! I've always thought that The KLF would eventually be covered on This Exists.

It must be so frustrating trying to describe The KLF to stupid people.

The Time Lords, huh? did not know that. *fondly reminisces of the days he listened to Dr Demento*

If the KLF - or rather the K Foundation as they were by then had done anything else with that million quid rather than burning it nobody would be talking about it. I have a lot of respect for them for doing that - it was entirely their money and they got a lot of value from it.

I like the KLF for them playing the game while flipping everyone off. They created totally glossy pop songs, took the money and ran ….then set it on fire. Another group I think was truly subversive in a completely different way that people don't usually think of are the Village People. So super GAY and they licensed "In The Navy" to the US Navy. The "YMCA" is a staple of sport events and family theme restaurants when it's a song about cruising for dick at the Y ….and they had Halloween costumes of the "Leatherman" and "Cowboy" marketed to 6 -12 year olds made by Collegeville that you could buy at K-Mart. It's amazing!

You should do a this exist about speedcore

Love the klf, yeah I was in my early teens at the time they released records but stadium house still sounds massive.

Wow, did not expect that collaboration with Extreme Noise Terror. KLF was fucking brutal.

Those Yacht people seem to be the worst, did they go on to have any sort of success?

My favorite thing about the time lords song is the car in the video actually has the writing credits to the song

The moment "Doctorin The TARDIS" came up my mind was blown. I love that song and I'd never even thought to investigate it.

I read The KLF's music and antics were inspired about Discordianism, a sort of anarchist philosophy/religion based around Eris, the Goddess of Chaos and Discord. You should do an episode on religions like that, and the Church of the SubGenius, Dudism, Woodism, and so forth.

You gotta' admire their balls.

I remember watching this vid when it came out and having ”doctor whoooooo, doctor who” in my brain for several weeks afterwards

I JUST heard about the KLF like yesterday from a Grimes interview (she's totally awesome by the way). Great video!

Hated the KLF music - loved their balls! I grew up listening to Afx, Squarepusher, Autechre & always admired KLFs ideas, just not the music. You would often hear that RDJ or Autechre did an interview where they sent a mate instead or Afx was at a party and someone said to him "I love that Aphex Twin guy' because no-one knew who he was. Then there is the famous sandpaper on the turntable story... not a patch on KLFs antics though! :-)

idk man you should actually talk about DEATH GRIPS if you want to talk about marketing ploys

what is the background music when he's speaking?

The klf are fucking legends, and more punk than even Crass for doing what they did. I'm glad you mentioned the justified ancients of mumu as I feel at times they were superior to the klf at some times. Like completely butchering ABBA.

I love the KLF. One of my all time favourite bands. Their "Chill Out" album is one of the greatest ever and as a whole they were more punk than most punk bands.

Holy shit less than a year untill we hear from the klf

Bill Drummond is a legend on the British Indie scene. What a guy.

I own on mint all of KLF Vinyl and it is pure artistic genius, I dare anyone to smoke a blunt put a track on vinyl and play it through a decent system and tell me I am wrong.

Aging myself here, but i had the cassette single for doctorin the tardis. God I've missed these guys

One of the most amazing exits from the music industry

You should check out Drummonds book '45' about the things he did during his 45th year including travelling around the M25 25 times.

lol omg, i HAD the cassette single for "Doctorin' the tardis". the b-side was "gary in the tardis" lol

I'm old enough to have been into pop at the time and was aware of the KLF, but too young to pick up on their antics and I thought they had burned through a million pounds metaphorically, as in wasted it. I didn't realise they actually burned it. Mind blown.

I never knew about this before, and just by coincidence, I stumbled onto this on November 5, 2018. How the hell does that even work?

Thank you for this!! I NEVER knew KLF were the Timelords.

I remember this. I remember there was a lot of talk about it being fake but It was a big deal at the time

Legend has it that at a live performance in Glasgow they were pelting front row audiance members with tightly rolled up 1000 pound notes (bills) so hard that it actually hurt.

i live in portland, not surprised that this happened here

Trying to explain The KLF in under 10 minutes is..... kinda impossible.

I remember Doctorin' the Tardis well. I still have it on a mix CD cx

KLF is gonna rock ya! Gotta love these guys. They made a whole un-career out of finding the most entertaining ways to yell FUCK YOU at the music business, and man did it deserve it. It did look, for a while, like the internet was going to have a far reaching and positive impact on the industry, but it's got worse than ever, if anything. We could do with some people like the KLF right about now.

Astounding! Thanks!

i was lucky enough to go clubbing in the 90's when they were played...and babrie girl lol

the dr. who song was also used the in epic album American Edit by Dean Gray, Dr Who on Holiday

if anyones interested you should check out the brit awards full video.. the stunned blank faces in the audience are hilarious

I remember see that Brit Awards performance. I'll be seeing if I can find it on RU-vid.

I remember that one of the guys from the band The Locust, has appeared on Jerry Springer. The bands said that it was a fake story, and that they pranked them.

Quick plug: If anyone wants to know more about the KLF and the mindset that lead up to the burning read Chaos Magic Music Money.

The KLF also made the first trance record, the original '88 what time is love.

There is so much more to The KLF story - it connects to Discordianism, Situationism, Ideaspace, Magic and more. If you want a deeper understanding about The KLF, read the excellent book about them by John Higgs. Drummond's own writings, while often entertaining, rarely offer much in the way of *why* they did the things they did, and that's because much of the time *they themselves didn't know*. They just kinda rolled with it. Higgs's nicely-written and wide-ranging yarn offers a speculative yet believable joining-of-the-dots, tracing out the wiring under the board.

The KLF were an awesome group, but I never knew that stuff about them. Makes them even more cool. Thanks for letting us know. :)

We have got an original pressing of Justified and Ancient at home and it is in good condition. and also we have got one of their cassette singles.

No Music Day is my birthday. Well at least I have a new fun fact.

Here we are in 2021: KLF has now entered the building.

If you thought this was weird, you should see what they did last year. They now run a funeral business...

Haha this is great! Bill Drummond is a friend of my family, he's been round for dinner a few times. Tell ya what, he's got a story to tell... well, in 2018...

Hey Sam, I love This Exists and your weird videos on pop culture, but I was wondering if you would ever consider doing a video on overlooked invasive species that are destroying ecosystems. Yeah, everyone knows about the pythons in the everglades and the Asian carp, but I'm talking things no one really notices like European starlings and feral cats in the US and snakehead fish. It's super interesting and divides people because the animals are thought of as wild/integrated rather than just invasive and feral.

Never knew about the alternative version of What time is Love and the Timelords. "The Doctor in the Tardis" however sounds really interresting. Also, I know he explained it, but who in the blue hell are Yacht? What kind of music do they make and is it worth listening to?

Yay, you finally did the KLF! :D

Read "The Illuinatus Trilogy" by Robert Anton Wilson. KLF got a lot of ideas from that novel.