My only knowledge of The KLF before reading this book is a faint memory of hearing their song “3AM Eternal” on the radio in my senior year of high school, thinking, “What is this?” The music I was into at the time – mainly of the new wave and alternative genres – left little room for a British techno band. I ignored them. Which is why, in the year 2025, when I saw this book in the library and the chorus, “KLF IS GONNA ROCK YOU… ANCIENTS OF MU-MU” popped into my head, I felt the need to investigate why on earth anyone would write a whole ass book about a British one-hit-wonder band from the late 80s/early 90s.
People. I have been enlightened.
First of all, The KLF was not a one-hit band. They had several hits that went under my radar (some recorded under different names). Second, they were in no way a superficial, flash-in-the-pan dance music group that was out for a quick score. In fact, this band might be one of the few actual artists with a true philosophy to their music and performances from that era. These guys were insane, in the best possible way.
In The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned a Million Pounds, John Higgs takes on the monumental task of trying to explain the artistic and economic motivations behind a group of avowed artistic renegades whose decade-long antics culminated in the ultimate stunt – the literal incineration of one million pounds. He takes us deep into KLF lore – the origins of the band, their strange chemistry, their unironic embrace of magic as a tool for art, and the literary and music influences that made them pioneers. We learn that The KLF pioneered sampling, yet loathed the idea that they existed to fight for their (and others’) right to employ it in their music. They were a band that, like so many other artists with an agenda, were too easily written off as “pranksters” or “attention seekers” by those who didn’t understand the nature of their social and economic beefs.
Ultimately, The KLF existed not to make art but to be art. Everything they did was to stand for defiance of a corrupt, exploitative, and money-driven industry of which the members were intimately familiar. They understood that the human mind is complex, combining learned logic and the inherent, dark depths of creative meaning-making that has served our species well for a millennium; and that the purpose of art is to speak to, provoke, and inspire the latter.
Whether you like The KLF or not, this is a book for people who love art. Whatever criticisms can be lobbed against the band, it’s safe to say that nothing they did was gratuitous. There was (and still is) thought, meaning, and purpose behind what they were doing.