''Who Killed The JAMs?'' is the second studio album by

The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band formed in London in 1987. Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D) and Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock) began by releasing h ...

(The JAMs), and the final one under the JAMs moniker before renaming themselves

The KLF The KLF (also known as the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, the JAMs, the Timelords and other names) are a British electronic band formed in London in 1987. Bill Drummond (alias King Boy D) and Jimmy Cauty (alias Rockman Rock) began by releasing ...

. Similar in style to the preceding ''

1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?) ''1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?)'' is the debut studio album by British electronic band The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (the JAMs), later known as the KLF. ''1987'' was produced using extensive unauthorised samples that plagiarised a wide ...

'', the album is a fusion of hip hop, drum machines and samples of a diversity of musical works, although in general the samples are more covertly integrated here than they are in ''1987''.

Background

Early in 1987,

Bill Drummond William Ernest Drummond (born 29 April 1953) is a Scottish artist, musician, writer, and record producer. He was a co-founder of the late-1980s avant-garde pop group the KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with wh ...

and

Jimmy Cauty James Francis Cauty (born 19 December 1956), also known as Rockman Rock, is an English artist and musician, best known as one-half of the duo The KLF, co-founder of The Orb and as the man who burnt £1 million. He is married to artist and mu ...

formed The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu and released their debut single, "

All You Need Is Love "All You Need Is Love" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in July 1967. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song was Britain's contribution t ...

". This was followed in June 1987 by their debut album, ''

'', an "energetic ... ndloopy dance album" but with "too few ideas being spread too thin". In October 1987, The JAMs destroyed most remaining copies of the album following a copyright complaint from

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...

and the

Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society The Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) is an organisation that collects royalties and protects rights for music publisher, song writer and composer members, when their music is reproduced, in any format – including online, physical a ...

. The JAMs released several other singles that year and made regular appearances in the British

music press Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. In a December 1987 interview, Rockman Rock claimed that The JAMs' second album would be heavy metal... "We're gonna do heavy metal covers. We thought we'd do the whole of ''

Deep Purple in Rock ''Deep Purple in Rock'' is the fourth studio album by Deep Purple, released on 5 June 1970. It was the first studio album recorded by the Mark II line-up of Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice. Work on ''In Rock ...

''." King Boy D continued: "Before we ever did the '1987' LP, we were gonna do one called 'The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu In Rock' and do all

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

songs. Then we got all these reviews treating us seriously so we thought maybe we should do a bit more of this stuff." In actuality, the duo's second LP, ''Who Killed The JAMs?'', was "more of this stuff" – a fusion of hip hop, drum machines and samples of a diversity of musical works, albeit with the samples generally more covertly integrated than on ''1987''. "It's like when you have a crap and you squeeze it out and think 'I'm never going to need another one'", they told ''Melody Maker'' when discussing plans for a second album, "Then half an hour later you're thinking that maybe you will". Released in February 1988, the sleeve of ''Who Killed The JAMs?'' pictured Drummond and Cauty with Cauty's

Ford Galaxie The Ford Galaxie is a full-sized car that was built in the United States by Ford for model years 1959 through to 1974. The name was used for the top models in Ford's full-size range from 1958 until 1961, in a marketing attempt to appeal to the e ...

, later to become credited as the 'writer' of "

Doctorin' the Tardis "Doctorin' the Tardis" is a 1988 electronic novelty pop single by the Timelords ("Time Boy" and "Lord Rock", aliases of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, better known as The KLF). The song is predominantly a mash-up of the ''Doctor Who'' theme m ...

". In the foreground – and in a close-up shot on the reverse of the sleeve – was a bonfire of unsold copies of ''1987 (What The Fuck Is Going On?)'', which The JAMs had been ordered to destroy following their copyright dispute with ABBA. The fire is referenced in the song "Burn The Bastards", and The JAMs' career story to date told in the song "Prestwich Prophet's Grin". Upon release, the album was interpreted by sections of the music press to be The JAMs' last album,''Who Killed The JAMs?'' Review (February 1988), ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

''. and, excepting the compilation ''

Shag Times ''Shag Times'' is a UK compilation and remix double album released in 1989 by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs). The album also introduced Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty's new incarnation – and one which would become considerably more ...

'', it was. Most subsequent releases by Drummond and Cauty would be under their new moniker,

. Drummond: "After all the notoriety we seemed to get on the rock papers news pages over the last year (something we began to feel more and more uncomfortable with) we are going to attempt to keep a low profile in 1988.... lthoughwe might put out a couple of 12" records under the name The K.L.F..... As far as sampling is concerned, I'm sure we will continue doing it and from time to time get into trouble because of it, but it has always been only a part of the process of how we put our records together and not the reason for them existing. We will carry on doing what we want to do, when we want to do it, our motivation, everything we see and hear."

Reception

'' declared ''Who Killed The JAMs'' to be "divine

nihilism Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by Ivan ...

", "an outward show of self-deception, irrationality and bankruptcy that worries and rejoices itself to death". ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

'' thought the album "a masterpiece of pathos", referring to "hopeless bravado in the face of massed corporate opposition", and awarded the maximum five stars.

Track listing

The track listing was not actually printed on the album sleeve because, according to Drummond, "to get the record out as fast as possible after we had finished recording it, we had to deliver the art work to the printers before Christmas at which time we didn't know what the tracks were to be called."

Side one

#"The Candystore" – 3:07 #"The Candyman" – 3:29 #"Disaster Fund Collection" – 5:38 #"King Boy's Dream" – 0:58

Side two

#"The Porpoise Song" – 5:43 #"Prestwich Prophet's Grin" – 5:01 #"

Burn the Bastards "Burn the Bastards" is a 1988 song by Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), from their second, and final before changing names, album '' Who Killed The JAMs?''. The "bastards" of the title are copies of The J ...

" – 5:58

References

Sources

* {{Authority control The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu albums KLF Communications albums 1988 albums Hip hop albums by British artists House music albums by British artists Albums produced by the KLF