"Burn the Bastards" is a 1988 song by Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), from their second, and final before changing names, album Who Killed The JAMs?. The "bastards" of the title are copies of The JAMs first album, 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?), which Drummond and Cauty burnt on a bonfire in a Swedish field after a copyright dispute with the Swedish pop group ABBA. The song (which is based upon Sly and the Family Stone's "Dance to the Music") was released as a single, along with a separate single of remixes titled "Burn the Beat". Both singles were credited to The KLF, marking a change of name and with it a change of musical genre, from The JAMs' sample-fuelled political hip-hop to The KLF's upbeat and uptempo house music.
Early in 1987, Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond formed a musical outfit, The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), later to also be known as The Timelords and, more famously, The KLF. The JAMs deliberately invited controversy by spending a year producing incendiary electronic music that was built around plagiarised samples of other artists, underpinned by beatbox rhythms and political raps. The song "Burn the Bastards", which was the duo's final single in this mould, was inspired in part by the legal backlash of their provocative output.
Their debut album, 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?), had been investigated by the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society, who in August 1987 ordered The JAMs to recall and destroy all unsold copies of 1987,[1] for its illegal use of extensive samples from ABBA's "Dancing Queen". The JAMs journeyed to Sweden—with their unsold LPs and an NME journalist in tow—in an attempt to negotiate with ABBA.[2] When this failed, The JAMs made a bonfire in the Swedish countryside and burnt the LPs. Back in the UK, they continued with their plagiaristic productions, which culminated with a second LP, Who Killed The JAMs?. Its sleeve depicts the 1987 bonfire,[3] and it contains "Burn the Bastards", a sample-heavy celebration of the fire set to house music. Ritualistic burnings became a recurring aspect of Drummond and Cauty's work, including the burning of a 60-ft (18-m) wicker man during the 1991 summer solstice (The Rites of Mu), and, as the K Foundation in 1995, their burning of £1 million.
Release
On 5 March 1988, Drummond and Cauty released The KLF's debut single "Burn the Beat", an instrumental house music version of "Burn the Bastards", on their own KLF Communications label. The single also featured instrumental remixes of other tracks from Who Killed The JAMs?. All 5,000 pressed copies of the single—catalogue number JAMS 26T—were exported. On 18 April 1988, another single, "Burn the Bastards", was released in the UK, to fill the hitherto overlooked catalogue number KLF 002.[4] This single, also by The KLF, featured the LP version of "Burn the Bastards" alongside another instrumental version, "Burn the Beat (Club Mix)".[5] The single releases marked a change in direction of Drummond and Cauty's music, to an upbeat and uptempo house music tone. Indeed, the printed label of "Burn the Bastards" stated, "This is a transition record".[6] Neither "Burn the Bastards" nor "Burn the Beat" entered the UK Singles Chart, although the release peaked at number 15 in the UK Indie Singles Chart.
Drummond sings "Throw them on, and watch the bastards burn", accompanied by the "Mu Mu!" sample. The Jackson Five and Michael Jackson's "Bad" are used extensively.
"Burn the Bastards" is a celebratory house music song based upon Sly Stone's "Dance to the Music":[7] a trumpet break and drum line are sampled, and the lyrical structure of that song is also mirrored. Whereas "Dance to the Music" vocally introduces the instruments used, so "Burn the Bastards" has Drummond sing of The JAMs' methods, such as "All we need is a beatbox, for people who only need a beat". The choral line "Dance to the music" is modified to "JAMs have a party".
Referring to the fate of the 1987 LPs, Drummond sings "Build a fire, stoke it good, throw them on, and watch the bastards burn", accompanied by a stark, ring modulated chorus, "Mu Mu!". A later portion of the lyrics alludes to New Year's Eve 1987: "Five to twelve, almost gone. 1987, what the fuck have we done?".
A driving 4/4 rhythm and a sampled Roland TB-303 loop provide acid house overtones. These elements are brought further to the fore in "Burn the Beat", which dispenses with Drummond's vocals.
Announcing a change of name in January 1988, Bill Drummond had said "We might put out 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".[8] As predicted, "Burn the Beat" and "Burn the Bastards" attracted little attention from the music press.
Reviewing Who Killed The JAMs?, Sounds described "Burn the Bastards" as "a JAMs manifesto" which "assumes a sinister edge alongside the pile of blazing copies of 1987 pictured on the sleeve", citing the track as evidence that The JAMs were "defiant, outspoken, still a wily step ahead".[7]
Formats and track listings
"Burn the Beat" was originally a KLF Communications 12" limited to 5,000 copies exported from the UK. In 1989, it was released in the US by TVT Records. "Burn the Bastards" was released by KLF Communications for a UK audience.
Format (and countries)
Track number
1
2
3
4
Burn the Beat
12" single (UK, KLF Communications JAMS 26T)
J
M
G
P
7" single (US, released 1989)
J2
P
12" single (US, released 1989)
J
M
C
L
Burn the Bastards
12" single (UK, KLF Communications KLF 002T)
J
C
Key
L - "Burn the Bastards" (LP version) (6:28)
J - "Burn the Bastards (JAMs Have A Party / LP edit)" (4:11)
P - "The Porpoise Song (Instrumental Remix)" (5:09)
G - "Prestwich Prophet's Grin (Instrumental Remix)" (4:14)
Notes and references
↑ See for example Davage, I., a letter from the MCPS to The JAMs, reproduced in "The KLF 1987 Completeist List" [sic], an insert supplied with the album Who Killed The JAMs?, KLF Communications JAMS LP2, 1988.
James Francis Cauty, 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.
The White Room is the fourth and final studio album by British electronic music group The KLF, released in March 1991. Originally scheduled for 1989 as the soundtrack to a film of the same name, the album's direction was changed after both the film and the original soundtrack LP were cancelled. Most tracks on the original album version are present in the final release, though in significantly remixed form.
Chill Out is the third studio album by British electronic music group The KLF, released on 5 February 1990. It is one of the earliest ambient house concept albums, portraying a mythical night-time journey throughout the U.S. Gulf Coast states, beginning in Texas and ending in Louisiana.
"It's Grim Up North" is a song by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. The song was originally released as a limited edition "Club Mix" in December 1990 with Pete Wylie on vocals. A re-recorded version with Bill Drummond on vocals was released commercially in October 1991. These recordings were the first releases by Drummond and his creative partner Jimmy Cauty under the JAMs moniker since the 1988 compilation album Shag Times, and the last under that name; in the meantime they had operated as the Timelords and the KLF. The 1991 single release reached No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart and entered the top 10 in Denmark and Finland.
This discography lists the key British and notable international releases of The KLF and the other pseudonyms of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty. It also details the other releases on their independent record label, KLF Communications, by KLF-spinoff Disco 2000 and Space. In the United Kingdom—their home country—Drummond and Cauty released six albums and a wide array of 12 " singles on KLF Communications. In other territories their material was typically issued under licence by local labels.
Disco 2000 was a British pop band, a side project of The KLF. Vocals were handled by Cress, then-wife of KLF co-founder Jimmy Cauty, and "Mo". Between 1987 and 1989, Disco 2000 released three singles on the KLF Communications label, none of which entered the top 75 of the UK Singles Chart.
1987 is the debut studio album by British electronic band The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, later known as the KLF. 1987 was produced using extensive unauthorised samples that plagiarized a wide range of musical works, continuing a theme begun in the JAMs' debut single "All You Need Is Love". These samples provided a deliberately provocative backdrop for beatbox rhythms and cryptic, political raps.
Who Killed The JAMs? is the second studio album by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, and the final one under the JAMs moniker before renaming themselves The KLF. Similar in style to the preceding 1987 , the album is a fusion of hip hop, drum machines and samples of a diversity of musical works, although in general the samples are more covertly integrated here than they are in 1987.
"Last Train to Trancentral" is a song released, in different mixes, as a series of singles by The KLF, including "Last Train to Trancentral ", a commercially successful single of April 1991 that reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and achieved international top ten placings. "Last Train to Trancentral" is a central song within The KLF's work, and is distinctive for an uplifting string-synthesiser break.
"What Time Is Love?" is a song released, in different mixes, as a series of singles by the band the KLF. It featured prominently and repeatedly in their output from 1988 to 1992 and, under the moniker of 2K, in 1997. In its original form, the track was an instrumental electronic dance anthem; subsequent reworkings, with vocals and additional instrumentation, yielded the international hit singles "What Time Is Love? " (1990), and "America: What Time Is Love?" (1991), which respectively reached number 5 and number 4 in the UK Singles Chart, and introduced the KLF to a mainstream international audience.
"Justified & Ancient" is a song by British band The KLF. It was featured on their 1991 album, The White Room, but its origins date back to the duo's debut album, 1987 .
Shag Times is a UK compilation and remix double album released in 1989 by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. The album also introduced Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty's new incarnation – and one which would become considerably more famous – The KLF.
"Doctorin' the Tardis" is a 1988 electronic novelty pop single by the Timelords. The song is predominantly a mash-up of the Doctor Who theme music and Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll " with sections from "Blockbuster!" by Sweet. The single was not well received by critics but was a commercial success, hitting number one on the UK and New Zealand singles charts, and reaching the top 10 in Australia, Finland, Ireland and Norway.
"All You Need Is Love" is a song by the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, independently released as their debut single on 9 March 1987. A politically topical song concerning the British media's AIDS furore, the track was initially given a 12" white label release because of its sampling of other records.
"Whitney Joins The JAMs" is a song and 1987 single by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. The song, released on The JAMs' independent label KLF Communications, is built around plagiarised samples of Whitney Houston in which—thanks to studio technology—she "joins The JAMs".
"Down Town" was the a 1987 release by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. The song is gospel music driven by house music rhythms, incorporating a sample of Petula Clark's 1964 single "Downtown".
The KLF are a British electronic band formed in London in 1987. Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty 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 the process of making a hit record in a book The Manual . As the KLF, Drummond and Cauty pioneered stadium house and ambient house. The KLF released a series of international hits on their own KLF Communications record label and became the biggest-selling singles act in the world in 1991.
"Fuck the Millennium", sometimes spelled "***K the Millennium", is a protest song by 2K—Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty—better known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu and the KLF. The song was inspired musically by Jeremy Deller's "Acid Brass" project where a traditional brass band play acid house classics; these include the KLF's "What Time Is Love?", and topically by the then-forthcoming end of the second millennium and the plans to celebrate it.
2023: A Trilogy is a book by Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond writing as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. The book was published in 2017, 23 years after the duo had burnt one million British pounds they earned in the music industry as The KLF.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
