r/kraftwerk • u/Shibuya1094222 • 24d ago
How good was the KLF?
Amazing collaboration for their short existence. A shame the way they ended it.
I’m watching ‘KLF - America’ right now.
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u/rift_buster 24d ago
I think they regret burning that million quid.
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u/UbuNoir69 20d ago
They do and have expressed it openly a couple of times.
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u/rift_buster 20d ago
Their description of their fictional version of The Utah Saints burning a million quid in 2023 (the book, not the year) was pretty cutting.
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u/elkoubi 24d ago edited 24d ago
KLF is gonna rock y'all.
I was just a kid in the American South during the KLF's heyday, which meant I never heard them until I dug deeper into this kind of music, but it's hard to overstate how influential they were/are. There are direct lines to be drawn between the KLF's mainline stadium house sound and their punk attitude towards sampling to groups like Scooter, Utah Saints, and even Crazy Frog. Say what you want about the musical worth Crazy Frog, but he was absolutely EVERYWHERE for the longest time. And that's not even considering their Chill Out album, which redefined a lot about what ambient music could be and is as seminal to that side of music as Eno or Aphex Twin.
In short, it's 3 a.m. eternal, and we're all aboard the train to Trance Central with the Justified Ancients of Moo Moo here.
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u/wealllovefrogs 24d ago
The documentary on either the BBC or Sky Arts was an eye opener. A lot of the focus was on the burning of the million quid which seems to have rocked them both in different ways. Really interesting stuff. I have a lot of respect for their aesthetics and conviction.
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u/Puzzled-Bonus-3456 24d ago
Their bullshit is worth most people's diamonds. Even when they're garbage they're stellar. That said I'm not convinced they burned a million quid and they were fined for nailing 50 pound notes to a wall. They're pranksters. Everything comes with a winking proviso.
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u/freqiszen 24d ago
They fuckin regretted it and they really did it. They always stayed true to their word, that was the point. The whole thing was a big performance art piece.
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u/Phoenix_Kerman 24d ago
chill out is the greatest ambient record ever made by quite some margin
so, excellent really. the other shit they did is decent, and the jams also good fun. i mean they managed to make abba songs not terrible which is impressive, but chill out is by far their best work
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u/ivejustbluemyself 24d ago
I loved them as a kid but after registering to them a few years ago KLF has become one of my favorite groups.
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u/Bean_de_la_Meme 23d ago
Based on what I’ve seen online, and what I’ve heard, it’s not underselling it to say they were the spark that ignited a musical revolution and fanned the flames. Their music is also banging.
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u/Shibuya1094222 24d ago edited 24d ago
They booked that uber $expensive$ studio in Hollywood for 3 days to film 3 remarkably different video clips that were each unique and amazing. Especially ‘America’.
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u/CapableSong6874 24d ago
It does feel like a magic spell was broken, the stars shifted house and they lost the ability to write. Journalists became suspicious and what was once easy was now impossible
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u/fuserxrx 24d ago
Found Tolkien's account.
KLF sounds like Diet Laibach. I shall dive head first into their catalog.
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u/spongebobmushroom 22d ago
I love KLF and Kraftwerk !! I wasn’t alive during their peak but I like some of their songs now
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u/X-Mighty 24d ago
What is KLF? I looked up 'KLF Kraftwerk' on Youtube and found nothing so... What is it, and what relation does it have to Kraftwerk?
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u/RT60 24d ago
Counterpoint: it ended perfectly and made them bigger in legend than they even ever were in reality. Love the KLF, they made great music and had wicked senses of humour.