In 1987, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty's collaborations began in London, En… Read Full Bio ↴In 1987, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty's collaborations began in London, England. They assumed alter egos - King Boy D and Rockman Rock respectively - and they adopted the name The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), after the fictional conspiratorial group "The Justified Ancients of Mummu" from The Illuminatus! Trilogy. In those novels, the JAMs are what the Illuminati (a political organisation which seeks to impose order and control upon society) call a group of Discordians who have infiltrated the Illuminati in order to feed them false information. As The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, Drummond and Cauty chose to interpret the principles of the fictional JAMs in the context of music production in the corporate music world. Shrouded in the mystique provided by their disguised identities and the cultish Illuminatus!, they mirrored the Discordians' gleeful political tactics of causing chaos and confusion by bringing a direct, humorous but nevertheless revolutionary approach to making records, often attracting attention in unconventional ways. The JAMs' primary instrument was the digital sampler with which they would plagiarise the history of popular music, cutting chunks from existing works and pasting them into new contexts, underpinned by rudimentary beatbox rhythms and overlayed with Drummond's raps, of social commentary, esoteric metaphors and mockery.

The JAMs' debut single "All You Need Is Love" dealt with the media coverage given to AIDS, sampling heavily from The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" and Samantha Fox's "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)". Although it was declined by distributors fearful of prosecution, and threatened with lawsuits, copies of the one-sided white label 12" were sent to the music press, receiving positive reviews and being made "single of the week" in Sounds. A later piece in the same magazine called The JAMs "the hottest, most exhilarating band this year.... It's hard to understand what it feels like to come across something you believe to be totally new; I have never been so wholeheartedly convinced that a band are so good and exciting."

The JAMs re-edited and re-released "All You Need Is Love" in May 1987, removing or doctoring the most antagonistic samples; lyrics from the song appeared as promotional graffiti, defacing selected billboards. The re-release rewarded The JAMs not just with further praise (including NME´s "single of the week") but also with the funds necessary to record their debut album. The album, 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?), was released in June 1987. Included was a song called "The Queen and I" which sampled large portions of the ABBA single "Dancing Queen". The recording came to the attention of ABBA's management and, after a legal showdown with ABBA and the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society, the 1987 album was forcibly withdrawn from sale. Drummond and Cauty travelled to Sweden in hope of meeting ABBA and coming to some agreement, taking an NME journalist and photographer with them, along with most of the remaining copies of the LP. They failed to meet ABBA, so disposed of the copies by burning most of them in a field and throwing the rest overboard on the North Sea ferry trip home. In a December 1987 interview, Cauty maintained that they "felt that what [they]'d done was artistically justified."

Two new singles followed 1987, on The JAMs' "KLF Communications" independent record label. Both reflected a shift towards house rhythms. According to NME, The JAMs' choice of samples for the first of these, "Whitney Joins The JAMs" saw them leaving behind their strategy of "collision course" to "move straight onto the art of super selective theft". The song uses samples of the Mission: Impossible theme alongside Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". Ironically, Drummond has claimed that The KLF were later offered the job of producing or remixing a new Whitney Houston album as an inducement from her record label boss (Clive Davis of Arista Records) to sign with them. Drummond turned the job down, but nonetheless The KLF signed with Arista as their American distributors. The second single in this sequence—Drummond and Cauty's third and final single of 1987—was "Down Town", a dance record built around a gospel choir and "Downtown" by 1960s star Petula Clark. These early works were later collected on the compilation album Shag Times.

A second album, Who Killed The JAMs?, was released in early 1988. Who Killed The JAMs? was a rather less haphazard affair than 1987, earning the duo at least one five-star review (from Sounds Magazine, who called it "a masterpiece of pathos".

JAMS aka.. time lords, and the KLF, and 2k.

Drummond was once a manager of Echo and the Bunnymen, Cauty has worked with the Orb.

Candyman
The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I love you
Get past the beat, can't pass the...hit me!
Get past the beat, can't pass the...hit me!
Lucy
So Candyman I'm here
I've come to your house
we a proposition to lay bare
On the track before this with the crazy black chicks

I was only feigning despair
I've come with my sole and know its nae white
and it's stained with your cancerous weight
but it's nae for sale an there's a deal to be struck by the
fired off faustian? days?
Neither brother of Job nor the son ? and Carl was nae cousin unto me
but I know where I've wronged and I've turned to the left and I've
travelled too far to see. I've lost in a line and have taken a lung
and spend money that was nae mine.I've stared at the stars while I laid
in a ditch with my belly a-full of wine
Come on party people
Come on party people
So Candyman come let me tell you some more
we'll fix a time to settle the score
you pick the place I'll be there
a blasted heath of ??
I'll use my wit you use your powers
and we'll battle it out hour by hour
and when it's done and you're laid to rest
i'll get him rapping rhymes of jest?

Rappin
I love you
Rappin
Rappin to
Rappin to the beat
Rappin to the beat
Rappin to the beat
Rappin to the beat

Here we go again
yeah boy

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu's song Candyman seem to be a conversation between two people - the singer and Candyman. The singer says that they have come to Candyman's house with a proposition to lay bare. In the previous track, the singer was pretending to be in despair, but now they have come with their soul, which is not white and is stained with Candyman's cancerous weight. However, they are not willing to sell their soul, but they want to make a deal with Candyman. The singer mentions fired off Faustian days, which could be a reference to the character Faust who sold his soul to the devil. They also mention Job and Carl, who may be biblical references. The singer admits that they have made mistakes, but they have turned to the left and have travelled too far to see. They have lost in a line and spent money that was not theirs. They have also stared at the stars while lying in a ditch with their belly full of wine. The singer then invites Candyman to listen to more and suggests settling the score at a blasted heath. They propose battling it out hour by hour and when it's done, the singer will get Candyman rapping rhymes of jest. The song ends with the words "here we go again, yeah boy".

The lyrics are a commentary on the music industry and the selling of souls for fame and fortune. The Candyman could represent record company executives who exploit artists for their own gain. The singer seems to be offering an alternative - a battle of wits and talents, where the winner gets to keep their soul and the loser has to rap rhymes of jest. The song's repetition of "Get past the beat, can't pass the...hit me!" could be interpreted as the struggle to get past the superficial, commercial aspects of the music industry to create something meaningful and true.

Line by Line Meaning

I love you
Expressing affection

Get past the beat, can't pass the...hit me!
The beat is intense and hard to ignore, but the lyrics are also meaningful and impactful

Lucy
Reference to the psychedelic drug LSD

So Candyman I'm here
Direct address to a person named Candyman

I've come to your house we a proposition to lay bare
Visited Candyman's house to discuss a proposal

On the track before this with the crazy black chicks I was only feigning despair
Previous song was only pretending to be sad

I've come with my sole and know its nae white and it's stained with your cancerous weight but it's nae for sale an there's a deal to be struck by the fired off faustian? days?
Offering a deal despite being burdened by Candyman's negative influence and impact

Neither brother of Job nor the son ? and Carl was nae cousin unto me but I know where I've wronged and I've turned to the left and I've travelled too far to see. I've lost in a line and have taken a lung and spend money that was nae mine.I've stared at the stars while I laid in a ditch with my belly a-full of wine
Acknowledging past mistakes and hardships endured

Come on party people
Inviting people to join the festivities

So Candyman come let me tell you some more we'll fix a time to settle the score you pick the place I'll be there a blasted heath of ??
Continuing the discussion with Candyman, proposing to settle a dispute in a specific location

I'll use my wit you use your powers and we'll battle it out hour by hour and when it's done and you're laid to rest i'll get him rapping rhymes of jest?
Proposing a battle of wits and talents, with the winner getting to make the other joke and rhyme

Rappin I love you Rappin Rappin to Rappin to the beat Rappin to the beat Rappin to the beat Rappin to the beat Here we go again yeah boy
Celebrating the joy and rhythm of rap music

Contributed by Amelia I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS