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The KLF
- Author
- John Higgs
- Narrator
- John Higgs
- Publisher
- Orion
- Publish Date
- 8 March 2018
- Run Time
- 6 hours 51 minutes
- Format
- x-book®
- Rating
- 5.0 (1 review)
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What to expect
'Magical ... stunning' Dan Schreiber, No Such Thing as a Fish
'Brilliant, discursive and wise' Ben Goldacre
'Utterly irresistible and totally brilliant' Quietus
They were the bestselling singles band in the world. They had awards, credibility, commercial success and creative freedom. Then they deleted their records, erased themselves from musical history and burnt their last million pounds in a boathouse on the Isle of Jura. And they couldn't say why.
This is not just the story of the KLF. It is a book about Carl Jung, Alan Moore, Robert Anton Wilson, Ken Campbell, Dada, Situationism, Discordianism, magic, chaos, punk, rave, the alchemical symbolism of Doctor Who and the special power of the number twenty-three. Wildly unauthorised and unlike any other music biography, The KLF is a trawl through chaos on the trail of a beautiful, accidental mythology.
10th ANIVERSARY EDITION UPDATED WITH NEW MATERIAL
'A pop biography for people who don't read pop biographies' Dorian Lynskey, Guardian
'A thing of endlessly fascinating, utterly demented genius' Alexis Petridis
'Brilliantly captures the anti-establishment attitude of Drummond and Cauty, and makes you wish the pop charts were full of such madness these days' The Big Issue
See what readers are saying:
'A fantastic and often mind-bending trip' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'A potted history of two men who, bored with the music business, started an anarchic art project pretending to be a band' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Engrossing' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Fascinating' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'I have given this book as a present five times since I read it about two weeks ago' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'A wild ride - charming, crazy, brilliant, a bit like the KLF' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'A modern mythological epic' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Why can't all books be like this?' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Critics Review
-
The best non-fiction book I've ever read. It's magical. Stunning
NO SUCH THING AS A FISH
-
A pop biography for people who don't read pop biographies. Higgs approaches the short career of the early 90s top 10 provocateurs like Adam Curtis brainstorming with Thomas Pynchon, exploring all manner of magical thinking and conspiracy theories. Touching on Dada, Doctor Who and Discordianism, it's as playful and sui generis as the KLF themselves, which is saying something
GUARDIAN
-
Might well be the best music book of the 2010s . . . eccentric, bizarre, confusing, hilarious and more than a little pretentious but utterly irresistible and totally brilliant
THE QUIETUS
-
The book brilliantly captures the anti-establishment attitude of Drummond and Cauty, and makes you wish the pop charts were full of such madness these days
THE BIG ISSUE
See more reviews See fewer reviews
-
This wildly entertaining thesis speculates on how the KLF arrived at a crowning act of transgression even they did not understand, drawing together threads including practical magic, strange patterns of coincidence and punk
MOJO
-
Succeeds by ignoring music for much of the story, in favour of the group's philosophical and psycho-geographical underpinnings in Discordianism, situationism, art and magic. Sometimes, the music is just a means to an end - in their case, a million-quid bonfire that Higgs suggests may be "a magical act that forged the 21st century". Well, maybe . . .
INDEPENDENT
-
Book of the Century. Most pop biographies are a dull patchwork of clippings - this is something else
-
By far the best book this year, brilliant, discursive and wise
-
I am going to bang on about THE KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band who Burned a Million Pounds rather a lot. Fascinating . . . Enthralling'
-
John Higgs's book about the KLF is - like its subject - a thing of endlessly fascinating, utterly demented genius
User Reviews
Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
- No written reviews yet.
Details
- Author
- John Higgs
- Narrator
- John Higgs
- Duration
- 6 hours 51 minutes
- Release Date
- 8 March 2018
- ISBN
- 9781409180401
- Format
- x-book®
- Publisher
- Orion
- Genre
- Biography: arts and entertainment, Electronic music, Popular culture
- Rating
- 5.0(1 review)
- Narration
- 5.0(1 review)
Synopsis
THE STRANGE TALE OF DEATH, LIFE AND LEGACY OF THE HUGELY SUCCESSFUL BAND'Magical ... stunning' Dan Schreiber, No Such Thing as a Fish'Brilliant, discursive and wise' Ben Goldacre'Utterly irresistible and totally brilliant' QuietusThey were the bestselling singles band in the world. They had awards, credibility, commercial success and creative freedom. Then they deleted their records, erased themselves from musical history and burnt their last million pounds in a boathouse on the Isle of Jura. And they couldn't say why.This is not just the story of the KLF. It is a book about Carl Jung, Alan Moore, Robert Anton Wilson, Ken Campbell, Dada, Situationism, Discordianism, magic, chaos, punk, rave, the alchemical symbolism of Doctor Who and the special power of the number twenty-three. Wildly unauthorised and unlike any other music biography, The KLF is a trawl through chaos on the trail of a beautiful, accidental mythology.10th ANIVERSARY EDITION UPDATED WITH NEW MATERIAL'A pop biography for people who don't read pop biographies' Dorian Lynskey, Guardian'A thing of endlessly fascinating, utterly demented genius' Alexis Petridis'Brilliantly captures the anti-establishment attitude of Drummond and Cauty, and makes you wish the pop charts were full of such madness these days' The Big IssueSee what readers are saying:'A fantastic and often mind-bending trip' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A potted history of two men who, bored with the music business, started an anarchic art project pretending to be a band' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Engrossing' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Fascinating' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'I have given this book as a present five times since I read it about two weeks ago' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A wild ride - charming, crazy, brilliant, a bit like the KLF' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'A modern mythological epic' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐'Why can't all books be like this?' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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