The KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned £1M • Hacker News Board

Re: The KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned £1M

#51

Post by bratwurst3000 » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 8:43 AM UTC

Baeocystin wrote: post #12

ilamont wrote: post #6

I used to work for Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond's record label. This book looks interesting ... but I really wish the focus was on the art and the music, and not the "the guys who burnt 1 million quid" incident. One thing that the media have a tough time recognizing is the fact that Bill and Jimmy are legit experimental artists, and still love making art of all kinds. And they also happened to have some amazing musi…

>More often than not, it's the one-off act of Burning a Million Quid in 1994. Their ground-breaking music, the books, the anti-establishment statements and art ... it's almost an afterthought. The pain of not having enough is a fundamental human experience, and to see someone who had more than most will ever see in their lifetime literally burn it away hurts. I thought it was deeply selfish stunt then, and still do n…

See it this way. Other organization are also spending money on „statements“. They are only calling it ads. For example greenpeace is spending more money on statements on ads then those two burned away.

Re: The KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned £1M

#52

Post by thackerhacker » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 8:46 AM UTC

MrVandemar wrote: post #45

Baeocystin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>More often than not, it's the one-off act of Burning a Million Quid in 1994. Their ground-breaking music, the books, the anti-establishment statements and art ... it's almost an afterthought. The pain of not having enough is a fundamental human experience, and to see someone who had more than most will ever see in their lifetime literally burn it away hurts. I thought it was deeply selfish stunt then, and still do n…

> The pain of not having enough is a fundamental human experience, and to see someone who had more than most will ever see in their lifetime literally burn it away hurts. I thought it was deeply selfish stunt then, and still do now. If they had spent it on a yacht would that be better? It represents an exchange of money for an object, and I suspect you don't regularly get hurt by the fact that people buy largely poin…

The story in the press about this insinuates David Cameron might have done this as it is apparently a Bullingdon Club (which Boris Johnson was also a member of) “thing”. It would be quite surprising for someone who went into Labour politics to do this: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bullingdon-club-initia...

Re: The KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned £1M

#53

Post by Towaway69 » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 8:57 AM UTC

logifail wrote: post #37

techno_tsar wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deeply selfish? There are literally millions and millions of extremely wealthy people who would spend that amount doing nothing, buying a yacht, their 20th property, or do actual terrible things. I don’t resent them for burning their money. They could have bought toys, instead they made a statement. We live in a world where many of us (myself included) have to live with the pain of not having enough. I’m reminded of…

> instead they made a statement What does that mean? I mean really mean? Follow-up question: did they achieve anything .. other than (even more) notoriety?

They achieved that some 30 years later we are having this discussion about their art.

I hope that we all are able to be that creative - that we achieve something that humankind speaks of 30 years later.

Re: The KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned £1M

#54

Post by leoedin » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 9:00 AM UTC

msla wrote: post #41

leoedin wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they piss it away though? That single statement was so powerful it's still causing emotional arguments about it 20 years later. Can you say that about other things people spent £1m on in 1994?

> That single statement was so powerful it's still causing emotional arguments about it 20 years later. I hate this argument, because it's worse than vacuous: It makes out that art is about as meaningful as a gunshot in a crowded room. Is that art? It'll damn well get a reaction, especially from the person who was just shot. Shouldn't we demand more from art? Like actual meaning and maybe, just maybe, a positive impa…

> Shouldn't we demand more from art? Like actual meaning and maybe, just maybe, a positive impact on the world?

I'm too young to have heard about the KLF when they did it. But learning about it later - the emotional response it triggers, the questions it poses about the nature of money, about personal responsibility to society, and the extent to which it reveals the hypocrisy of people who are outraged - I think it's an incredibly powerful act. Certainly far more powerful than a random shooting.

Re: The KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned £1M

#55

Post by ehnto » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 9:02 AM UTC

MrVandemar wrote: post #45

Baeocystin wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>More often than not, it's the one-off act of Burning a Million Quid in 1994. Their ground-breaking music, the books, the anti-establishment statements and art ... it's almost an afterthought. The pain of not having enough is a fundamental human experience, and to see someone who had more than most will ever see in their lifetime literally burn it away hurts. I thought it was deeply selfish stunt then, and still do n…

> The pain of not having enough is a fundamental human experience, and to see someone who had more than most will ever see in their lifetime literally burn it away hurts. I thought it was deeply selfish stunt then, and still do now. If they had spent it on a yacht would that be better? It represents an exchange of money for an object, and I suspect you don't regularly get hurt by the fact that people buy largely poin…

I am not exactly pro-frivilous-yacht, but money going into the boatbuilding will have an impact on the local community at least.

Re: The KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned £1M

#56

Post by tinus_hn » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 9:10 AM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #6

I used to work for Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond's record label. This book looks interesting ... but I really wish the focus was on the art and the music, and not the "the guys who burnt 1 million quid" incident. One thing that the media have a tough time recognizing is the fact that Bill and Jimmy are legit experimental artists, and still love making art of all kinds. And they also happened to have some amazing musi…

Unfortunately many of their albums are unavailable to the public at large because the use of samples makes them impossible to license for streaming services.

Re: The KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned £1M

#57

Post by Towaway69 » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 9:20 AM UTC

msla wrote: post #41

leoedin wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did they piss it away though? That single statement was so powerful it's still causing emotional arguments about it 20 years later. Can you say that about other things people spent £1m on in 1994?

> That single statement was so powerful it's still causing emotional arguments about it 20 years later. I hate this argument, because it's worse than vacuous: It makes out that art is about as meaningful as a gunshot in a crowded room. Is that art? It'll damn well get a reaction, especially from the person who was just shot. Shouldn't we demand more from art? Like actual meaning and maybe, just maybe, a positive impa…

For me, their message was that art scene is dominate by money. In fact the entire world is dominated by money. Yes you might do a lot of good with a million quid but humans tend to do bad things when given a choice.

Now if someone is uncomfortable or doesn't understand this message then yes it was just a gunshot.

Re: The KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned £1M

#58

Post by jwildeboer » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 9:21 AM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #6

I used to work for Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond's record label. This book looks interesting ... but I really wish the focus was on the art and the music, and not the "the guys who burnt 1 million quid" incident. One thing that the media have a tough time recognizing is the fact that Bill and Jimmy are legit experimental artists, and still love making art of all kinds. And they also happened to have some amazing musi…

Maybe read the book first? All the things you mentioned (and many more) are in it :)

Re: The KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned £1M

#59

Post by tragomaskhalos » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 9:22 AM UTC

jamal-kumar wrote: post #3

I always thought it was pretty hilarious how they managed to get Tammy Wynette to sing a song about the Illuminatus! Trilogy

There was a documentary on the KLF on tv just last night - apparently Bill went over to the US to do the audio with Tammy and it was very nearly unusable because she wasn't in time with the track - she was used to working with her own band who adjusted to accommodate her, and this obviously wouldn't work with an electronic track. Fortunately though the studio had just got in a bit of kit that allowed them to subtly adjust her voice timings to fit (the details are a little vague but they didn't go into exact details)

Re: The KLF: Chaos, magic and the band who burned £1M

#60

Post by sprkwd » Sat, Feb 04, 2023, 9:24 AM UTC

tinus_hn wrote: post #56

ilamont wrote: post #6

I used to work for Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond's record label. This book looks interesting ... but I really wish the focus was on the art and the music, and not the "the guys who burnt 1 million quid" incident. One thing that the media have a tough time recognizing is the fact that Bill and Jimmy are legit experimental artists, and still love making art of all kinds. And they also happened to have some amazing musi…

Unfortunately many of their albums are unavailable to the public at large because the use of samples makes them impossible to license for streaming services.

There’s a bunch of their tracks on Spotify now.