With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

On This Day As The KLF Leaves The Business, Madge Leaves Her Clothes, Bono Dons Lingerie, Joe Gets A Train In Vain, And Winston Gets Karma, Instantly! February 12, 2024

Filed under: On This Day — justwilliam1959 @ 4:51 pm
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February 12th has been a busy day in music history and therefore this is possibly the longest title of any post I have ever done before. So let’s start with February 12th, 1992 the KLF took to the stage at the Brit Awards to perform their hit “3 a.m. Eternal”, but not in its original dance classic form, but wonderfully supported by ace thrash metallers Extreme Noise Terror. The highlight of the performance featured Bill Drummond strafing the audience with a machine gun, obviously, no one was hurt and no real bullets were used. It was later announced that “The KLF have left the music business“. Later Drummond and Cauty dumped a dead sheep with the message: “I died for ewe – bon appetit” tied around its waist at the entrance to one of the post-ceremony parties. The KLF remains one of my favourite acts from the 1990s.

On 12th February 2009 a nude photo of Madonna taken in 1979 a little while before she became famous, was sold at auction for $37,500. The monochrome shot was taken when Madonna was a 20-year-old dancer trying to make ends meet in New York.

As far as I know, Bono has not worn lingerie, well not in public at least. Anyway on 12th February 1997 U2 held a press conference in the Lingerie Department at the Greenwich Village Kmart store in Manhattan, New York City, to announce their Pop Mart world tour, which began in Las Vegas in April 1997. This is kind of interesting as the big U2 show at the moment is in the Sphere in Las Vegas.

Just over two years after his death on 12th February 2005 Clash frontman Joe Strummer had a train named after him. It was the Class 47 locomotive 47828 and it was made official at a ceremony in Bristol. It is a diesel train, owned by Cotswold Rail.

John Lennon became the first Beatle to appear on BBC’s Top Of The Pops show since 1966 when he performed “Instant Karma” on 12th February 1970. In 1970, John Lennon performed “Instant Karma!” with the Plastic Ono Band. The tune is one of the fastest-released songs in pop music history. Lennon wrote, recorded, and mixed the single in one session and released it within ten days. It also became the first solo single by a member of The Beatles to sell a million copies in the USA.

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2023 a trilogy by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu October 4, 2017

Filed under: Book,Review — justwilliam1959 @ 6:00 am
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Ever since the hey days of those magnificent art terrorists Jim Cauty and Bill Drummond when they went under the various guises of the KLF, the Jamms, the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu and the Timelords to name but a few I have been a fan. When they made the statement that the KLF had left the building in the early 90s they pretty much stood by it. Apart from the odd release “Fuck the Millennium” was one we never really heard from them. I can’t say that I loved everything Cauty and Drummond did, with the exception of everything released by the KLF of course. But burning a million quid? Seriously what did that achieve?

Anyway the boys are back with a novel which was launched with a three day ‘happening’ in Liverpool back in August. The book is ‘2023 – A Trilogy by the Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu’. The blurb on the back cover describes the tale as “a utopian costume drama , set in the near future, written in the recent past”. It is clearly fiction and includes appearances from many people that you know, although not necessarily in the way they are portrayed in the story; John and Yoko, Banksy, Jonathan King, Extreme Noise Terror, Vladimir Putin, Michelle Obama, David Hockney, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Alan Moore, Aloysius Parker (off of Thunderbirds), Lady Gaga (or M’Lady Gaga), Azealia Banks, Will Gompertz, George Orwell, Lord Saatchi, Sam & Dave and of course Jim Cauty and Bill Drummond.

It is probably one of the weirdest books that I have ever read and I have read some weird stuff! There are some thought provoking moments and some proper laugh out loud elements. But it works and for me it works bloody well. Is it set in a parallel universe, an alternative future? Well yes and possibly. Was it worth the wait? Damned right it was. If I say much more about this book I will probably have to add some massive spoiler alerts. Is it the last we will here of Cauty and Drummond for another 23 years? I bloody hope not. Now go out and buy the book and listen to some classic KLF tracks.

 

“Move to the flow of the pyramid blaster” – Advent post day 3 December 3, 2013

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 8:10 am
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Are you ready to open the next box on the advent calendar? What delightful chocolate awaits us? well none actually because this is the With Just A Hint Of Mayhem Advent Calendar blog post for 3rd December so instead of chocolate you’ll get two songs. Incidentally what advent calendar do you have at home? Does it contain sweets or chocolate? Mine is a Spiderman one and Catwoman, my lovely wife, has a Maltesers calendar.

Is Mr Richie wearing a Christmas jumper?

Is Mr Richie wearing a Christmas jumper?

The first of todays number themed songs is the Commodores smash hit from 1978, “Three Times A Lady”. The song which was written by Lionel Richie was a number one in the UK and the US. It comes from their album ‘Natural High’. Personally I preferred their more funky efforts and this song for me saw the band and indeed Mr Richie plunge into some bland identikit ballad territory. Songs such as “Still” and “Hello” just didn’t do it for me. I do love a good ballad though and the Commodores have some that are far better than “Three Times A Lady”. In particular “Just To Be Close To You”. “Three Times A Lady” has been covered by artists as diverse as Cobra Starship, Kenny Rogers, Conway Twitty and Bill Bailey. Bill included a German translation of the song in his Part Troll live show. I first saw the Commodores when they supported the Jackson 5 in 1972. Yes I really am that old!

The+KLF

The second song on todays posts comes from one of my favourite acts of all time; the Kopyright Liberation Front, better known as the KLF and sometimes the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu or the JAMMs. This sadly short-lived band was the brainchild of Bill Drummond and Jim Cauty. Drummond co-founded Zoo Records and was also manager of Echo and the Bunnymen and the Teardrop Explodes. In addition to the music the KLF were also infamous for acts of art terrorism which included burning a million pounds on a remote Scottish island. The song I have chosen is the bands only UK number one as the KLF “3 a.m. Eternal (Live At The S.S.L)” from 1990. They also hit the UK number one spot in 1988 as the Timelords with “Doctorin’ The Tardis“. This was apparently achieved by following the rules set out in their book; ‘The Manual (How To Have A Number One The Easy Way)’. Remaining true to their words Cauty and Drummond by withdrawing their back catalogue from sale. This remains the case for most of the world, although some copies of their output are produced via Arista in the USA.

Pyramid_Blaster

 

“What else is in the teaches of peaches?” August 2, 2013

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 8:31 pm
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This is a public service announcement; if you are easily offended by the word FUCK then please read no further. You have been fucking warned ok!

don-t-keep-calm-and-fuck-this-fuck-that-fuck-you-fuck-off-4

I usually listen to my iPod in shuffle mode when I walk from the car to the office every morning. It gives me a good ten minute blast of tunes before I start the day. This morning up popped Eamon with his UK number one from 2004 “Fuck It (I Don’t Want You Back)” I believe that is the first UK number one to feature the F Word in its title. It even generated an answer song in response from Frankee. That was called “FURB (Fuck You Right Back)”. It got me thinking a few things first that FUCK is a rather good word when used in the right context isn’t it?

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The word has featured in plenty of songs; “Working Class Hero” from John Lennon and the MC5 introduced their storming live version of “Kick Out The Jams” with the line ‘kick out the jams motherfuckers!’ The word has perhaps been a little overused by rappers too. But secondly it got me thinking what are my favourite songs with the word fuck in the title. Here are my top choices (plus Eamon and Frankee’s efforts) what are yours?

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fuck-you-i-am-cat

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“Exterminate! Bosh bosh bosh loads of money” April 21, 2010

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 10:37 pm
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I thought I’d better post and tell you of the somewhat bizarre experience I had on my journey to work this morning. But I should warn you that it registers very high on the Boreometer (according to Catwoman anyway!) I was travelling to Sheffield for an all day meeting (how dull is that?). But the all day meeting wasn’t the bizarre part, that happened when I arrived at Sheffield Railway Station. I headed towards the taxi rank and saw a crowd of people outside. Obviously curiosity got the better of me (but that comes from living with Catwoman) and I had to investigate. 

When I saw what all the fuss was about I was quite excited, but many of you would have wanted to hide behind the sofa at this point. I could hardly believe my eyes, there were three Daleks on the station concourse. Apparently they were on their way back to Skaro when they were obviously grounded by the volcanic ash cloud, but one of them did say that they were expecting to be picked up by the Royal Navy at any time soon. Sadly the Doctor was nowhere to be seen. But you can see the story on the BBC site by clicking here 

How do the Daleks know who's who? Well obviously they have names; Meet Derek, Dennis, Deano and Dave

 

In reality they were there to promote a new Dr Who game that will be available free from the BBC in June. I tried to get an autograph, but let’s face it how would a Dalek hold the pen. I did come away with a poster, a postcard and a pen though. You can see more of the New Daleks on the BBC site, just click here. I also had a behind the curtain Wizard of Oz type experience when I saw the man who provides the Dalek voice, Nick Briggs, standing behind a curtain speaking on their behalf. So I guess they’re not real after all, or maybe I’m just back in Kansas! 

So as I have said before this is a music blog so I’ll finish with a few related songs; 

“Doctor Who Theme” – Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. The original theme from the 60s and the best in my opinion. Also includes some great Tardis sound effects. 

 

“Doctorin’ The Tardis” – The Timelords. This was in fact the KLF also known as the Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu also known as Bill Drummond and Jim Cauty. They recorded this song based on their book ‘The Manual’ which was basically a set of instructions to make a number one record. Guess what? This did indeed reach the top of the charts in the UK 

“Tom Baker” – Human League. This is a B Side from relatively early in their career 

And to finish let’s pay a visit to the Gay Daleks! 

 

And those regular readers may have noticed that this blog now contains embedded videos, yep I upgraded 🙂