2023: A Trilogy by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu
AuthorThe Justified Ancients of Mu Mu
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre
  • Alternative histories
  • Science fiction[1]
PublishedLondon
PublisherFaber and Faber
Publication date
2017
ISBN9780571338085
OCLC1041418081
Websitehttp://k2planthireltd.com/
REMEMBERED - TOLD - TRANSCRIBED
for K 2 Plant Hire Ltd

2023: A Trilogy is a book by Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond writing as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. The book was published in 2017, 23 years after the duo had burnt one million British pounds they earned in the music industry as The KLF.

Background

Music-industry figure Bill Drummond and artist/musician Jimmy Cauty began recording together in 1987 as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (also known as The JAMs), naming themselves after the fictional conspiratorial group "The Justified Ancients of Mummu" from The Illuminatus! Trilogy.[2] In 1988 they had a UK number one hit single—"Doctorin' the Tardis"—as The Timelords,[3][4] and subsequently wrote their first book together—The Manual—documenting the process of making a hit record.[5]

After transitioning into The KLF, Cauty and Drummond became the biggest-selling singles act in the world for 1991.[6][7] In May 1992, the KLF announced their immediate retirement from the music industry and the deletion of their back catalogue.[7][8] Flush with cash from their pop career, the duo formed the K Foundation, a creative outlet for their art projects and media campaigns.[9][10] On 23 August 1994, the K Foundation infamously burnt what was left of their KLF earnings—a million pounds—and filmed the performance.[11][12][13] They later issued a statement that on 5 November 1995 they had signed a "contract" at Cape Wrath in northern Scotland agreeing to wind up the K Foundation and not to speak about the money burning for a period of 23 years.[14]

On 5 January 2017, a poster attributed to Cauty and Drummond's company K2 Plant Hire Ltd was sighted in Hackney, London with the heading "2017: WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?",[15] echoing the press advert for—and title of—the KLF's 23 minute comeback performance as 2K in 1997—"1997 (What The Fuck's Going On?)",[16] and a reference to The JAMs' debut album 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?).[17] The poster announced that the Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu "are currently at work in their light industrial unit", and that the work would be made public on 23 August 2017,[15] but Drummond denied that the duo had any plans "to reform the KLF or exploit our back catalogue in any way".[18] Nonetheless, rumours were rife that The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu would be making a return to the music business, this assumption being made by at least The Guardian,[19] Fact Magazine[20] and the NME.[21] It soon became apparent, however, that the JAMs would be releasing not music but a novel titled 2023: A Trilogy.[22]

Book launch

At 23 seconds past midnight on 23 August, 23 years after they burnt a million pounds,[23][24][n 1] Drummond and Cauty arrived at the "News From Nowhere" bookshop in Liverpool in their ice cream van and officially launched 2023: A Trilogy.[26][24] The number 23 - or the 23 enigma - is a recurring theme in both The Illuminatus! Trilogy and the work of the KLF.[24][27] Following a book stamping,[28] Cauty and Drummond staged a three-day festival called "Welcome to the Dark Ages".[26][24][28][29]

Plot

Hannah Ellis-Petersen writing in The Guardian describes the book as "a multi-layered, self-referential meta tale."[27]

Cover

Like Illuminatus!, the cover of 2023 features a pyramid. The pyramid on the cover of The Illuminatus! Trilogy references the Eye of Providence icon, often depicted as an eye within a triangle or pyramid.[30] The pyramid has been another consistent feature in the duo work's: KLF Communications' logo was the "Pyramid Blaster", a pyramid, in front of which is suspended a ghetto blaster displaying the word "Justified".[31][32] During the duo's 1997 re-emergence, they proposed the building by K2 Plant Hire of a "People's Pyramid" to be built with as many bricks as there were births in the 20th century in the UK,[32][33] and the plan was rebooted during "Welcome to the Dark Ages" with the pyramid now to be built from bricks containing the ashes of dead people.[34]

Critical reception

Jake Arnott, in a review for The Guardian, said the book was "enslaved by its sources", pointing to its many references to pop culture and its "disparate backstories", but "there is too much borrowing and simply not enough stealing".[35]

Notes

  1. ↑ A journalist participant from The Guardian reported the arrival as 23 minutes after midnight.[25]

References

  1. ↑ "2023 : a trilogy". Library Hub Discover.
  2. ↑ Cranna, Ian (1987). "1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?) review". Q. Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 4 October 2016.
  3. ↑ Paphides, Peter (22 February 2004). "Making the law". The Observer Music Monthly. Archived from the original on 23 February 2004.
  4. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  5. ↑ Cauty, Jimmy; Drummond, Bill (1988). The Manual. United Kingdom: KLF Publications. ISBN 0-86359-616-9.
  6. ↑ Bush, John. KLF at AllMusic. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  7. 1 2 "Timelords gentlemen, please!". New Musical Express. 16 May 1992. Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 11 October 2016.
  8. ↑ Shaw, William (July 1992). "Who Killed The KLF". Select. Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 11 October 2016.
  9. ↑ "The Best Of Artists, The Worst of Artists". The New York Times. 29 November 1993. Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 16 September 2016.
  10. ↑ Ellison, Mike (24 November 1993). "Terror strikes at the Turner Prize / Art at its very best (or worst)". The Guardian. Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 16 September 2016.
  11. ↑ Reid, Jim (25 September 1994). "Money to burn". The Observer. Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 16 September 2016. This article is a first-hand account by freelance journalist Jim Reid, the only independent witness to the burning.
  12. ↑ Butler, Ben (18 June 2003). "Interview: The KLF's James Cauty". Rocknerd (interview with Jimmy Cauty for The Big Issue Australia). Archived from the original on 10 December 2007.
  13. ↑ Smith, Andrew (13 February 2000). "Burning question". The Observer. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  14. ↑ K Foundation (8 December 1995). "Cape Wrath". The Guardian (advertisement). Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 16 September 2016.
  15. 1 2 Doran, John (5 January 2017). "KLF Announce Return After 23 Year Absence". The Quietus. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  16. ↑ "Jeremy Dellar Presents". mutelibtech.com. Mute Records. Archived from the original on 27 March 2006.
  17. ↑ McCormick, Neil (11 October 1998). "Yes, this is the cutting edge of rave music". The Arts. The Daily Telegraph. London. p. 26. Archived from the original on 26 February 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  18. ↑ Trendell, Andrew (5 January 2017). "The KLF respond to reunion rumours with mysterious messages". New Musical Express. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  19. ↑ Robinson, Peter (5 January 2017). "The KLF are back (sort of) – and it's exactly what 2017 needs". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  20. ↑ Twells, John (5 January 2017). "The KLF confirm return with mysterious poster". Fact Magazine. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  21. ↑ Trendell, Andrew (3 January 2017). "The KLF tease return to music in 2017?". New Musical Express. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  22. ↑ Morgan Britton, Luke (6 February 2017). "The KLF announce new book". nme.com. NME. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  23. ↑ Paterson, Colin (23 August 2017). "The KLF return 23 years after bowing out of the music industry" (video). BBC News. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  24. 1 2 3 4 Pilley, Max (24 August 2017). "The Ice Kream Van Kometh: The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu Return". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  25. ↑ Ellen, Barbara (26 August 2017). "KLF Welcome to the Dark Ages review – what time is chaos?". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  26. 1 2 "The KLF: Pop's saboteurs return after 23 years". BBC News. 23 August 2017. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  27. 1 2 Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (23 August 2017). "The return of the KLF: pop's greatest provocateurs take on a post-truth world". The Guardian. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  28. 1 2 Beaumont, Mark (23 August 2017). "The KLF return: all of the rules of their bizarre book 'signing'". New Musical Express.
  29. ↑ Ray, Josh (30 August 2017). "Welcome To The Dark Ages: The JAMs Return". Super Weird Substance. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  30. ↑ Adams, Cecil (23 May 1997). "Is the dollar bill's eye-on-a-pyramid the symbol of a secret society?". The Straight Dope. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  31. ↑ "The White Room - Information Sheet Eight". KLF Communications. August 1990. Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 5 October 2007.
  32. 1 2 Graham, Ben (1 February 2017). "Embrace The Contradictions: The Strange World Of... The KLF". The Quietus. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
  33. ↑ "2K: Brickin' it!". NME (News item). 8 November 1997. Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 16 September 2016.
  34. ↑ Youngs, Ian (26 November 2018). "KLF's Jimmy Cauty: 'We don't make records, we make pyramids out of dead people'". BBC News. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  35. ↑ Arnott, Jake (September 7, 2017). "2023: A trilogy by the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu review – the KLF are back". The Guardian. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
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