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]

1992 is referred to as one of the worst years in British chart history, partially because of a series of ABBA tributes which made runs at number one. Combine that with a great year for Simply Red, and even the Shamen start to sound good:

Although it appeared on the 1991 album Screamadelica, Primal Scream's "Movin' On Up" saw a single release in 1992, which is connection enough for my purposes. It's no Loaded, but it's still pretty great:

I'm not making the contention that this song is worth hearing again, but keep in mind that Wet Wet Wet were doing pretty well the same year. Context really is everything.

Of course, 1992 saw the farewell of geniuses KLF, marked by this brilliant BRIT Awards performance:

Is it too much to ask for "What Time Is Love '08"? KLF, we need you more than ever!

1992 in British Music [Wikipedia]

But that one day will be significant this year in Scotland, with BBC Radio's decision to abstain from music. The producer responsible, David McGuinness, said it would mean "no songs, no bands, no orchestras."

"But it will also mean no music in trails and no jingles to introduce the news, which will make a qualitative difference to the little bits of sound furniture that make up a radio station," he said. "We're also closing down for the day the BBC Scotland music Web site, which is a huge music portal. And to get the message on the streets we're sending out a No Music Day squad to effect citizen's arrests of people wearing headphones."

In other words, a stunt.

"No, absolutely not." Mr. McGuinness said. "Of course there's an element of fun, or I hope there will be. But there's also a very serious statement here. We want people to realize how ubiquitous music has become, how it invades their lives in ways they don't realize, and we want to challenge them to stop and think what that means, to consider how they might become more informed in their choices. These are important things. No way are they a stunt."

Important, yes, but c'mon dude: totally a stunt. In many ways the BBC joining in on No Music Day just emphasizes the cheeky futility of the campaign on any kind of mass scale, especially for a country without a state run radio station. And even if we Americans could get Clear Channel to agree to kneecap their profitability for a single day, I'd still be listening to my next door neighbor blaring Alice In Chains' "The Rooster" right now. David Toop devotes large parts of his essential Haunted Weather to the inability to get any peace in world that's always got the ambient musical/industrial soundtrack cranked full volume, and like most trends relating to modernization, there's no real turning back, hence why I spend 75 percent of my time outdoors with earbuds jammed in (at least when I'm alone). A world where I'm defending myself against sound by immersing myself in sound isn't bad so much as the only world I've ever known. If Drummond wants to start a "No Blogs Day," however, I'm all for it. (Just make it a Friday so I can have a three day weekend, Bill.)

Who'll Stop The Ring Tones [New York Times]

Bidding is currently at £203 ($401). What better shirt to wear while perusing The Manual on a hot summer day?

KLF T SHIRT TRANCENTRAL LARGE WHITE 91 3 AM MU RARE 12 [eBay]

KLF founder Bill Drummond is suffering from clogged ears, so he's called tomorrow—and every Nov. 21 following—No Music Day, where people can shut themselves off to all recorded sound. Drummond outlined the impetus behind his holiday in the Observer last month:

I decided I needed a day I could set aside to listen to no music whatsoever. Instead, I would be thinking about what I wanted and what I didn't want from music. Not to blindly - or should that be deafly - consume what was on offer. A day where I could develop ideas. This day I would call No Music Day.

St Cecilia is the patron saint of music. I have no idea why and I am not interested in finding out. But her Saint's Day is on 22 November. This is the day we are supposed to celebrate music, thank God for its existence. I decided that No Music Day should be on the day before St Cecilia's Day, using the same principles as having Halloween the day before All Saints' Day or Mardi Gras on the day before Lent kicks in.

Now, Drummond is in the always-tweaking KLF, so he may very well be using this as a setup to erect huge speakers throughout the UK and blare "Justified And Ancient" through them at a prescribed time. But we actually like this idea—even if we can't participate—and we're just going to say that if you ever needed a reason to not watch tomorrow's Jimmy Kimmel-hosted crapfest ("Mariah Carey, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Black Eyed Peas and Nickelback lead the nominations..."), we've just given you a huge out.

No Music Day [nomusicday.com]