OK, this brand-new feature might be one that will run “every so often” more than “weekly,” but who better to kick it off: Bill Drummond of the legendary KLF will be reading from his new book 17 in London this Thursday. (Theoretically, anyway.)
I’m dubious of recommending any Bill Drummond appearance, partially because there might be the chance it’ll result in physical injury to your person. But he was in the KLF! What more could anyone ask for?
So, what has Bill been up to since he set fire to a million pounds in protest of something or other?
Drummond recalls how, having had his mind blown and his ambitions fired by the Beatles’ Strawberry Fields Forever, he grew increasingly dismayed by the way pop music’s excitement and creativity dwindled into self-parody.
He tried to revive his wilting passion by stratagems such as spending a year listening only to musicians whose names began with B, but Drummond believes that now that all music ever recorded can be loaded on to an iPod and played anywhere at any time, it has become a meaningless commodity divorced from its inspiration and the circumstances of its creation.
He sums it up like this: “I no longer believe in recorded music because it no longer triggers the right emotions in me, so no longer helps give my life meaning.”
The imaginary choir he found reverberating inside his head apparently originated in his love for choral music, whether by Bach or the doleful Estonian Arvo Pärt, and tended to materialise with particular force when Drummond was driving along the M62 in his Land Rover.
Apparently, Drummond’s artistic breakthrough involves rounding up drunks and having them hold a note, which earned him a grant from the British Arts Council. And te book features rants about how Drummond hates Bono and Eric Clapton which sent me straight to Amazon to order a copy for myself. If someone who reads this happens to live in London, we’ll reimburse you the £2 for a book-signing ticket from our budget. All we ask is that you take photos and send in at least a sentence about what all went down.
KLF’s Bill Drummond to make London appearance [NME]
Review: 17 by Bill Drummond [The Telegraph]
That book, like everything else the man has been a part of, is genius.
KLF legendary? Really?
Yeah, heard many good things. Really enjoyed 45 so I have high hopes.
I can’t help but ask:
What’s the difference between KLF and C+C Music Factory?
I think I was 12 around KLF’s heyday and all I remember was a bunch of annoying dance pop that fell somewhere between “Gonna Make You Sweat” and Snap’s “The Power”. Now that I know more about them, I see that they fall in line with a lot of other Brits who think drugged out dance music will somehow save the world. Brilliant.
Weren’t these guys Neil Young’s stage crew on the Rust tour?
Why were the KLF genius?
Anyone who can get Tammy Wynette to sing “they’re justified and they’re ancient…and they drive an ice-cream van” gets a life-long pass in MY book!
Drummond could record covers of Coldplay songs with (John Fields producing) for the rest of his life and I’d STILL bow to him.
@Cos: maura, ban plz. because i’ve forgotten the password.
@Cos: The difference is an album they made called “Chill Out”, before all the dance pop. Unbelievable ambient music.
What’s up with the rock star books? I just got the Juliana Hatfield one and the Mark Everett one is fantastic.
I like this trend. I read too much and buy too much music.
Mine’s a 99.