KLF donate a copy of reconstructed album ‘1987’ to the British Library
A reconstructed physical version of a KLF album has been donated by the group to the British Library. Most of the original copies of the 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?) were destroyed by the duo – comprised of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty – after a legal dispute with ABBA.
Per The Guardian, the British Library has revealed it received The Acetate, the only physical copy of the new version of 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?) by the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, who later renamed themselves as The KLF.
The original album was released in June 1987 and featured a host of samples, including one of ABBA’s hit ‘Dancing Queen’ on ‘The Queen and I’. However, due to a legal complaint, with the Swedish band rarely allowing their songs to be sampled, all unsold copies of the record were forcibly removed from sale. The Mechanical Copyright Protection Society also ordered the duo to give up the master tape and “any other parts commensurate with manufacture of the record”.
To try and repair the damage, Drummond and Cauty travelled to Sweden in an attempt to meet ABBA, but the convergence never happened. Instead, The KLF burned copies of the album in a Gothenburg field, with a photograph from the stunt used on the cover of their following album, 1988’s Who Killed the JAMs? The pair also threw the remaining copies overboard on the ferry journey back to the United Kingdom.
The new version of 1987 (What the Fuck Was Going On?) is credited to Ice Kream Van and has been uploaded to the British Library’s Sound Gallery for one week. Afterwards, it will be available to listen to in the reading rooms “in perpetuity for research, inspiration and enjoyment”. Additionally, all surviving master tapes from the group’s record label, KLF Communications, have been given to the library.
Issuing a statement from the Ice Kream Van, The KLF said: “As a lifetime, card-carrying and founding member of the KLF Re-enactment Society, I felt it my duty to not only ‘re-enact’ the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu’s album 1987 (Blah, Blah, Blah?) but present it to the world in a way far superior than their original version.”
Continuing: “That said, I am very aware, even if they are not aware that I am aware, that my ageing Ice Kream Men have ‘pirated’ a copy of my re-enactment and have had an acetate cut of it and have ‘donated’ their pirated copy to the British Library for those that visit such places.”
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