This is true. If Lennon had lived, his smaltzy output could not have been overlooked; if Cobain had lived, he would have slowly turned into Reef; even Amy Winehouse is now stuck in aspic. I know Bill and Jimmy didn't die (although they did both say "we should have had a drugs overdose in the K Foundation documentary) but by deleting the back catalogue, they did the next best thing. Their enigma lives on.
The KLF have a lot in common with comedian Chris Morris, I think. Certain, in the early '90s, there was a lot of cross over in their fans, and they both started out sampling and joking around (B&J on vinyl, CM on his radio show). By the mid-'90s, both were short hand for "media terrorism" (whatever that is) with the 2K money burning and "Brass Eye" respectively.
Now, 15 years on, Chris Morris is a film director, and a lot of people who went to see "Four Lions" probably have never seen "The Day Today" or "Jam". In short, he has a fan base beyond his original work - because it is still interesting and relevant. B & J's current work is far, far less relevant to most people than Chris Morris' - as a group, people are far more fond of reminiscing about "that Doctor Who tune" than looking into the ethos of "The 17" or Jimmy's CPND stuff.
Do something something genuinely popular, though, and they will get new fans outwith the KLF. Until then, it'll still be the old fans and the arty mob.
That's what I think, anyway. And I'm probably completely wrong.
If the had continued as a group, then I'm pretty sure this list wouldn't exist.People would care about the stuff they did back then.The KLF would then just had become like any other 90'act (something you listen to when you are drunk at a shite-party).Ulrik> From: chromatest@azburners.org
> Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2011 09:33:25 -0700
> To: klf@mailman.xmission.com
> Subject: Re: [KLF] Are the FLK too slim to be the KLF?
>
>
> Personally, I think they got writer's block. They couldn't figure out
> how to complete the black room, so they started getting all these
> guest artists on to help them... when that wasn't working, they said
> eff it and to make it "artistic" and meaningful, they deleted the
> back-catalog and went out the way they did.
>
> On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 9:24 AM, Dan T. Hutchins <danthutchins@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > To be fair to the fans, is it unreasonable for them to be curious when you quit mysteriouly at the height of success, without explanation, leaving what is considered by many involved to be your greatest masterpiece unfinished along with tons of other unreleased stuff in the vaults, proceed to burn the proceeds, then refuse to discuss it?
> >
> > Dan
> > On Aug 24, 2011, at 10:49 AM, "Michiel [moonstorm.nl]" <michiel@moonstorm.nl> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Why is it so hard to understand that Bill wants credit for what he does in the present?
> >
> >
> >
> > He has done amazing stuff with Jimmy in the KLF-past, they split up and left magic and mystery for us (the fans)
> >
> >
> >
> > What Bill is doing these days has nothing to do with the KLF past, so I can understand that if the audience is filled with KLF fans, the Fans would be disappointed because of the “hey, this isn’t KLF-stuff” and Bill still wouldn’t know if people came for his current project of his past.
> >
> >
> >
> > Though I must say that he could have been a bit more subtle ;)
> >
> >
> >
> > Michiel
> >
> >
> >
> > Van: klf-bounces+michiel=moonstorm.nl@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:klf-bounces+michiel=moonstorm.nl@mailman.xmission.com] Namens Ross Jarvis
> > Verzonden: woensdag 24 augustus 2011 12:11
> > Aan: 'All bound for Mu-Mu Land.'
> > Onderwerp: Re: [KLF] Are the FLK too slim to be the KLF?
> >
> >
> >
> > A few months back I was contacted by a list member directly. It was around the time I was doing the car.
> >
> >
> >
> > To cut a long story short, they had had some very close dealings with Jimmy, and during their time together Jimmy mentioned that he had no inclination to have anything to do with the KLF owing mainly to being put off by fans.
> >
> >
> >
> > If I was to break it down, my own opinion would be that Jimmy is now involved with his art, Bill with The 17. I would imagine that both will have had to work quite hard to distance themselves from their dealings with the KLF in order for their current work to be recognised in its own right. At a 17 talk I went to, Bill invited people to leave if they were there in any way because of the KLF.
> >
> >
> >
> > It seems like it would be more hypocritical than anything else if Bill and Jimmy had any involvement.
> >
> >
> >
> > That’s just my input.
> >
> >
> >
> > From: klf-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:klf-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of John Milne
> > Sent: 24 August 2011 10:06
> > To: All bound for Mu-Mu Land.
> > Subject: Re: [KLF] Are the FLK too slim to be the KLF?
> >
> >
> >
> > Possibly - although Fuck the Millennium was rather pedestrian, I always thought. I think Bill implied this was all part of the whole 1997 2K thing being a "parody" of bands reforming (specifically the Pistols getting together the year before) and the naffness of it. But maybe not. The fact they were sampling the Chemical Brothers on a KLF record always seemed ... odd.
> >
> > But yeah, if they wanted to do something, the one thing it wouldn't be would be what they've done before.
> >
> > On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 9:41 AM, Morphy <themorphy@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > The actual music The FLK are creating really lacks the sheer inventiveness of B&J in my opinion. It's unimaginative and the production is mediocre. One thing B&J always did well (apart from arguably the early JAMS stuff) was turn out a well produced product. I don't see why they would drop all of their music business contacts and now be making boring copy & paste music that sounds like it was made in Reason. The use of samples and editing by Cauty on "Space" outstrips this FLK stuff by a few lightyears - and that was 20 years ago. I just think if this was actually B&J they would have pulled out all the stops, and come out with something, well.. better!
> >
> >
> >
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