- Fuck the Millennium
Infobox Single |
Name = Forget the Millennium
Artist = 2K
from Album =
Released = 13 October 1997
Format = 12", cassette, CD
Recorded = Parr Street Studios / Konk
Genre =Acid house protest song
Length = 13:57
Label =Blast First , Mute (UK)
Producer = Drummond, Cauty
Misc =Extra chronology
Artist = Drummond & Cauty
Type = singles
Last single = "K Cera Cera " (1993)
This single = "Fuck the Millennium" (1997)
Next single = –"Forget the Millennium" or "***K the Millennium" is an electronic
protest song that was released as a single in 1997 by 2K (Bill Drummond andJimmy Cauty , better known asThe KLF and The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu). Based upon The KLF'sacid house track "What Time Is Love? ", it was promoted as a comeback single and released to mark the tenth anniversary of Drummond and Cauty's first collaborations; however, it was also in part intended to mock the notion of thecomeback . It remains the only commercial release by the duo since The KLF's 1992 retirement. The single reached #28 in theUK Singles Chart .Drummond and Cauty's campaign to "fuck the millennium" also involved an appearance by 2K at London's
Barbican Arts Centre and a number of outlandish proposals to 'commemorate' themillennium under themoniker "K2 Plant Hire". These activities were intended to culminate in the construction of "The People's Pyramid", a convert|150|ft|m|sing=on-high structure built from recycled bricks, but the pyramid was never built.Context
From 1987 to 1992, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty released music under names including The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs) and The KLF. Following a run of five consecutive UK top-five singles, The KLF executed a high-profile retirement from the music business and deleted their entire back catalogue, declaring that "For the foreseeable future, there will be no further record releases from any past, present or future name attached to our activities." [
KLF Communications retirement advertisement, originally in "New Musical Express ", May 1992, cited in Perry, A. and Upton, S., "Millennial Mu Mu", "Select", October 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=444 link] ).] Drummond and Cauty's subsequent art project, theK Foundation , disposed of The KLF's earnings, including by burning one million pounds of it, money which was originally provisionally earmarked by the duo for millennial celebrations. Bill Drummond: "Originally we were going to invest the whole lot in some capital growth fund and spend it all on one big event, maybe at the millennium".Reid, J., "Money to burn", "The Observer ", 25 September 1994, "passim ". This article is a first-hand account by freelance journalist Jim Reid, the only independent witness to the burning. ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=387 link] )]In the four years following The KLF's retirement, Drummond and Cauty's musical output consisted only of a limited edition single released in
Israel andPalestine ("K Cera Cera "), and a contribution to "The Help Album " ("The Magnificent ").In 1997, British artist
Jeremy Deller pioneered theAcid Brass concept, collaborating with the Williams Fairey Brass Band to interpret and perform classic acid house tracks as brass arrangements. Deller was described by one source as a prankster, [Perry, A. and Upton, S., "Millennial Mu Mu", "Select", October 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=444 link] ).] a notion frequently applied to Drummond and Cauty themselves. [For example, Flint, C., "Media Pranksters KLF Re-emerge As 2K", "Billboard", 2 September 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=496 link] )] In February 1997, Drummond was contacted by his formerBig in Japan bandmateJayne Casey , who was helping to organise an arts festival in Liverpool and had noticed that Acid Brass' repertoire included The KLF's "What Time Is Love? ". Drummond attended the festival performance and heard "What Time Is Love?" performed as the encore, during which he telephoned Cauty. Cauty and Drummond together attended a 19 April Acid Brass performance at theQueen Elizabeth Hall ,London .Frith, M., "The Return of The KLF", "Sky", October 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=445 link] ).] Collaborative work ensued between Drummond, Cauty, and Deller, in which the Acid Brass rendition of their track was incorporated into a composition designed to mark the tenth anniversary of Drummond and Cauty's first work.A comeback of The KLFFlint, C. "Media Pranksters KLF Re-emerge As 2K", "Billboard", 2 September 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=496 link] )] was implied by two black and white full-page adverts placed in the 21 August 1997 issue of "
Time Out ". The first proclaimed "They're Back. The Creators of Trance. The Lords of Ambient. The Kings of Stadium House. The Godfathers of Techno Metal. The Greatest Rave Band In The World. Ever! 2K. For 23 minutes Only". The second stated "'Jeremy Deller presents '1997 What The Fuck's Going On'", a reference to The JAMs' debut album "1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?) ". It continued, "Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond invite you to a 23 minute performance during which the next 840 days of our lives will be discussed". [Drummond, B. and Cauty, J., advertisements, "Time Out ", 21 August 1997 ( [http://www.mutelibtech.com/mute/2k/2k1.htm 1] , [http://www.mutelibtech.com/mute/2k/2k2.htm 2] ).] "The Independent " looked forward to the event, saying that "It was just a matter of time before Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond hatched another prank and put a grin back on the face of pop music." "You just ache for them to be No. 1 again....", they said, but "One hopes they are not about to shoot themselves in the foot" because "the idea walks the tightrope between lunacy and brilliance.... the pop world's countdown to the millennium surely starts here". [Lewis, A., "The Independent ", 30 August 1997, Pop & Jazz section p25.]Performance
"1997 (What The Fuck's Going On?)" was performed by 2K as a one-off event at London's
Barbican Arts Centre on 17 September 1997 [Originally scheduled for 2 September, but postponed due to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on 31 August; reportedly, a 2K spokesman ascribed this to the expectation that the concert would have been deprived of tabloid coverage. Barber, N., "Stadium, palladium, tedium", "The Independent ", 7 September 1997, p12.] with Acid Brass, theLiverpool Dockers , the Viking Society, and Drummond's creative associatesMark Manning and Gimpo, ["Justified and (Very) Ancient?", "Melody Maker ", 20 August 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=439 link] )] 2K press release & biography on the website of their record label, Mute/Blast First ( [http://www.mutelibtech.com/mute/2k/2kpress.htm link] )] who appeared, respectively, as "an axe-wielding "salvationist" in a vicar's collar and gold lame suit, and a shop steward character in a white coat with a megaphone".Sinclair, D., "Stop the millennium dumb", "The Times ", 22 September 1997, p20.] The performance began with a screening of "This Brick", a short 35mm film of abrick made from the ashes of the K Foundation's million-pound bonfire. ["K Foundation Burn a Million Quid" review, "Big Issue ", 3 November 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=456 link] ).] Following an introduction byFactory Records founderTony Wilson , Drummond and Cauty were then unveiled as pyjama-clad, wheelchair-boundpensioner s with grey hair and, strapped to their foreheads, prominent horns that had been used regularly in The KLF's promotional videos. Drummond was also seen plucking feathers from a dead swan. According to a press release issued by Mute/Blast First (Acid Brass' and 2K's record label), "Two elderly gentlemen, reeking ofDettol , caused havoc in their motorisedwheelchair s. These old reprobates, bearing a grandfatherly resemblance to messrs Cauty and Drummond, claimed to have just been asked along." The duo wheeled around the stage to the sound of Acid Brass' "What Time Is Love?". They were supported variously by a male choir's rendition of "K Cera Cera", joined by opera singerSally Bradshaw ;Daoust, P., "Blast from the past", "The Guardian ", 20 September 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=442 link] ).] the Viking Society in costume as lifeboatmen; and the politically topical Liverpool Dockers chanting "Fuck the Millennium". Following the performance, every audience member received a "Fuck the Millennium" T-shirt, poster, and bumper sticker in a carrier bag.In a comprehensive assessment, "
The Observer " rationalised the spectacle: "They did what they always do: too many things at the same time. Their points are lost along with the plot. So, just to explain: ... Bill and Jimmy were dressed as old men as a comment on elderly pop groups making a comeback. The brass band playing house music tunes was organised by Jeremy Deller as a comment on class culture (working-class band playing working-class music). The dockers were asked along because their cause is important."Sawyer, M., "They set fire to £1m and they're still not happy", "The Observer ", 26 October 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=452 link] ).] "The Guardian " called the performance "a glorious, jaw-dropping mess", and "The Times " commented that "the strongest point in its favour was its brevity". "Select" said, "There was no press furore the next morning—merely the anticlimactic aftertaste left by 40-year-old men miming to a seven-year-old song.... 2K was unquestionably a failure." ["Select", cited in Drummond, B., "Now That's What I Call Disillusionment, 2", "45", (Little & Brown, ISBN 0-316-85385-2 / Abacus, ISBN 0-349-11289-4), 2000.]Composition
A single, "Fuck the Millennium" [The titles "Fuck the Millennium" and "***K the Millennium" appear to be interchangeable. Bill Drummond has referred to the track as "Fuck the Millennium", as does
Allmusic . However, most single formats use the title "***K the Millennium", as doesDiscogs.com . The conventional censorship of the word "fuck" is "f*ck" or "f**k"; however, the letter 'K' is significant for its appearance in Drummond and Cauty's monikers 'The KLF', 'K Foundation', '2K' and 'K2 Plant Hire'. For more information, see The KLF.] was subsequently released, a studio-based recording falsely promoted as an edited version of the Barbican performance. Comparing the single with the live performance, "The Times" said that "On CD, things become more orthodox, though no less entertaining, comprising an acid brass version of their classic, What Time Is Love? and a young man shouting rude words." ["Singled out", "The Times ", 11 October 1997]The unedited studio recording of "Fuck the Millennium" is a 14-minute composition, a protest song based around The KLF's
house music track "What Time Is Love? ", drawing additionally on musical refrains and concepts from throughout Drummond and Cauty's canon. The track contains three mainsegue d parts: a house section led by thebrass band Acid Brass , a choral rendition of the Englishhymn "Eternal Father, Strong to Save ", and a rhythmically hardened remix of "What Time Is Love? (Pure Trance Original)". The lead vocals before and after the hymn consist mainly of angry chants, with hundreds of instances of the word "fuck ". Apart from a small number ofchord change s during the segues, "Fuck the Millennium" contains no new music. However, the lyrics and brass arrangement are not found elsewhere in Drummond and Cauty's output.sample box endThe track is opened by Gimpo screaming "It's 1997: what the fuck is going on?". There follows a
brass band version of "What Time Is Love? (Pure Trance Original)", with a house rhythm added, along with samples from The JAMs' 1987 recordings "All You Need Is Love", "Don't Take Five (Take What You Want)", "Whitney Joins The JAMs " and "Burn the Bastards ". Drummond leads a crowd of Liverpool Dockers in angry chants: "Fuck the millennium! We want it now!".Among the voices singing the three verses of the hymn are keyboardist Nick Coler, Drummond and Cauty, multiple recordings of whom are overlain to simulate a congregation.Drummond, B., "Wheelchairs", "45", (Little & Brown, ISBN 0-316-85385-2 / Abacus, ISBN 0-349-11289-4), 2000.] Mark Manning evangelically narrates its lyrics, and between verses, Gimpo screams for "Bill!" (Drummond) and "Jimmy!" (Cauty)—the only instance throughout their music that either of them is referred to without a pseudonym.
A "Select" journalist (clearly a fan of The KLF) enthused about the track in the context of the duo's wider catalogue: "As soon as it starts you immediately remember the excitement that comes from hearing a KLF record for the first time. The original ambient house melody kicks in - and it hasn't dated a day. The chorus is given an extra kick by Acid Brass' massed ranks of horns and trumpets.... It is quite brilliant."
K2 Plant Hire
Around the time of the single's release, further full-page adverts appeared in the national press, this time asking readers "***k The Millennium: Yes/No?", with a telephone number—the "Millennium Crisis Line"—provided for voting: "If you want to fuck the millennium, press '1'. If not, press '2'."Sawyer, M., "They set fire to £1m and they're still not happy", "
The Observer ", 26 October 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=452 link] ).] The adverts were placed under the pseudonym K2 Plant Hire Ltd., who duly claimed that 18,436 (89%) of respondents wished to fuck the millennium. Thus, on 31 October 1997, K2 Plant Hire announced "The People'sPyramid ", an estimated convert|150|ft|m|sing=on-high structure built from as many house bricks as there were British 20th century births (estimated by the duo as 87 million), with no cost to the taxpayer. [News item, "Melody Maker ", 15 November 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=499 link] ).] [K2 Plant Hire, advertisement, "The Guardian ", 31 October 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=453 link] ).] According to "Melody Maker ", a statement posted on K2 Plant Hire's website [ [http://archive.org/web/*/http://www.k2planthire.ltd.uk k2planthire.ltd.uk at archive.org] ] "pointedly contrast [ed] the intended virtues of their People's Pyramid with the drawbacks of the officially sponsoredMillennium Dome ". [News item, "Melody Maker ", 15 November 1997 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=499 link] ).] "The Guardian" noted drily that the idea "would appear to be far-fetched even by their own standards" and "Planning permission might pose a problem." [Varley, N., "The People's Pyramid challenges the dome", "The Guardian ", 5 November 1997, p10.] The Pyramid was never built.K2 Plant Hire also contributed a short story, written by Drummond, to editor Sarah Champion's anthology "Disco 2000". Entitled "'Let's Grind' or 'How K2 Plant Hire Went To Work'", the 1997 story is a fictional account of K2 Plant Hire's plan to demolish
Stonehenge on the eve of the millennium.Champion, S. (editor), "Disco 2000", Sceptre, ISBN 0-340-70771-2, 1998.] Also in 1997, Drummond and Cauty reportedly used K2 Plant Hire's remaining funds to bid for purchase of theRollright Stones ancient monument . PsychogeographerStewart Home alleged that despite K2 Plant Hire's bid being the highest, the owners of the monument refused to trade with the duo. ["The Guardian ", 5 November 1997, and "The Big Issue ", 15 September 1997, cited in "All bound for *millennium* land", "Fortean Times ", February 1998 ( [http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=462 link] ).]Themes
Drummond and Cauty's works were both highly self-referential and rife with references to "
The Illuminatus! Trilogy "esoteric novel, from which The JAMs took their name. Their last work, as 2K and K2 Plant Hire, continued many of these themes. Their subversive attitude was exhibited in their attempt to undermine the pop comeback. They defaced a wall of theNational Theatre the day after the Barbican performance: thegraffiti "1997: What the fuck's going on?" referenced their similar graffiti of ten years earlier on the same wall of the arts establishment. The unusual show at the Barbican was typical of their previous confusing and humorous costumed appearances; moreover, the horns strapped to their foreheads were previously used in The KLF'scowl costumes. Theadvertising campaigns before and after the single's release resumed Drummond and Cauty's characteristic promotional tactic of cryptic, monochrome full-page adverts placed in UK national newspapers and music press.The duo's tenth anniversary was prominently implied by the adverts and graffiti, and "Fuck the Millennium" contains many samples from their earliest works. The KLF's "What Time Is Love?"—a breakthrough track for Drummond and Cauty on two occasions—is also used extensively: "Fuck the Millennium" contains the entirety of "What Time Is Love? (Pure Trance Original)", as well as samples used in "What Time Is Love? (Live at Trancentral)".
Seafaring was a recurring element of Drummond and Cauty's output, in lyrics from "
Who Killed The JAMs? ", "The White Room " and "", and in imagery used to illustrate The KLF's retirement press notice. Prior to entering the music business, Drummond had worked as a trawlerman. Samples ofevangelists also feature in several KLF Communications recordings: the album "Chill Out " and theB-side s "What Time Is Love? (Virtual Reality Mix)" and "America No More". "Fuck the Millennium" was a studio track promoted as a live recording and featuring sampled crowd noise, as were The KLF's self-named "Stadium House Trilogy " of singles. The use of an English hymn is central to The JAMs' "It's Grim up North ". All of The KLF's chart singles either refer or allude totime , a theme continued by "Fuck the Millennium".2K's lifespan was billed as the duration of the Barbican performance, 23 minutes. The number is given numerological significance in "The Illuminatus! Trilogy". The "Fuck the Millennium" sleevenotes state that "The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu appear courtesy of The Five", a reference to the five Illuminati leaders of the novels.Sleevenotes, "Fuck the Millennium",
Blast First /Mute Records BFFP 146, 1997.] Drummond and Cauty took The JAMs' name from the fictional cult in "Illuminatus!", wherein the fictional JAMs are long-standing enemies of the Illuminati. [Shea, R. and Wilson, R. A., "The Illuminatus! Trilogy ", ISBN 1-56731-237-3, Dell, US, 1984.] K2 Plant Hire's "The People's Pyramid" recalled Drummond and Cauty's "Pyramid Blaster" logo (aghetto blaster suspended in front of a pyramid), itself a reference to the all-seeing eye icon used in "Illuminatus! ".Although the references to "Illuminatus!" and themselves were in keeping with Drummond and Cauty's tradition, this was also in part intended to be a self-parodying dredge of The KLF's "myth". Drummond's opinions of the "
rock 'n' roll comeback" were recorded by him at the time and aired in 2000: "The history of rock 'n' roll has been littered with pathetic comebacks.... No comeback has ever worked. The motivation behind the comeback has never and will never be the same as when the group or artist first crawled out of their sub-cult.... If there was fresh original talent, it is now tired and tested, only capable of flicking the nostalgia switch." [Drummond, B., "Thrashed", "45", (Little & Brown, ISBN 0-316-85385-2 / Abacus, ISBN 0-349-11289-4), 2000.] Designing 2K's parody of the comeback, Drummond wrote that he and Cauty were "getting totally into the institution of The Comeback, drawing on the sad, pathetic nature of the whole thing, the desperation of all concerned to exploit whatever they can from the myth...".After the event
Contemporary press reaction to 2K and their Barbican performance was mixed but mostly negative. Since then, however,
The Observer have held up the Barbican show as the model of a pop performance. "At one unfortunately memorableStereophonics gig ...", the paper said, "the extent of Richard Jones' showmanship was to play his bass while standing on a rug.... this is hardly the pyjama-clad KLF, horns strapped to their heads, whizzing around the Barbican in wheelchairs with Zodiac Mindwarp in a pulpit and hundreds of sacked Liverpool dockers yelling "Fuck the millennium!" at the tops of their voices ..." [Paterson, C., "The guide: Music: COLIN PATERSON wants more than pop in a performance", "The Observer ", 8 September 2001] Likewise, a 1999 feature on Drummond and Cauty in "The Irish Times " reported their millennium activities with some warmth. "As a critique of the sponsor-saturated multi-million poundMillennium Dome ," the editorial ran, "the 'people's pyramid' is unsurpassed." [Boyd, B., "Millennium Matters", "The Irish Times ", 29 May 1999, Home News section p2.]Recounting the exploits of 2K, and the press reaction, in his book "45" (published in the millennium year, 2000), Drummond said:
Formats and track listings
"Fuck the Millennium" was given an international single release on 13 October 1997. The record was not a success in comparison to The KLF's earlier chart-topping endeavours, peaking at a moderate #28 in the UK Singles Chart.
All formats contained at least one version of 2K's "Fuck the Millennium" and one of Acid Brass' "What Time Is Love?". The formats and track listings are tabulated below: [Longmire, Ernie et al (2005). [http://www.klf.de/discography/ KLF discography] Compiled by Ernie Longmire, this has been the authoritative KLF discography on the internet for some 10 years or more and has been the subject of long-term scrutiny and peer review by KLF fans and collectors. It is now maintained by the fan site klf.de.]
Key
*m - "***K the Millennium" (radio edit) (4:18)
*c - "***K the Millennium" (censored radio edit) (4:18)
*M - "***K the Millennium" (13:57)
*K - "Acid Brass / What Time Is Love (Version K)" (4:33)
*P - "Acid Brass / What Time Is Love (Version P - Royal Oak Mix)" (5:28) (remixed byPan Sonic )
*O - "Acid Brass / What Time Is Love (Original Version)" (4:39)Personnel
"Fuck the Millennium" and "What Time Is Love?" were written and produced by
Bill Drummond andJimmy Cauty .
*Jeremy Deller -Acid Brass concept
*Williams Fairey Band - Acid Brass performance of "What Time Is Love?", conducted by Brian Hurdley.
*Jimmy Cauty, Nick Coler and Bill Drummond - The National Retired Life Boat Men's Choral Society, conducted and arranged by Nick Coler
*Chike - credited for samples "Ancients of Mu Mu" and "Don't take five, take what you want to take", originally from "1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?)"
*Alan Goodrick - spoken contributions
*Donald Johnson - live drumming
*Mark Manning - "ReverendBitumen Hoarfrost "'s evangelical narration
*Rodney Newton - Acid Brass arrangement of The KLF's "What Time Is Love?"
*Mark "Spike" Stent - mixingNotes and references
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