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and, after a legal showdown with ABBA and the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society, the 1987 album was forcibly withdrawn from sale.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.
It's Grim Up North
The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Brighouse, Bootle, Featherstone, Speke, Runcorn, Rotherham, Rochdale, Barrow, Morecambe, Macclesfield, Lytham St. Annes, Clitheroe, Cleethorpes, the M62.
Pendlebury, Prestwich, Preston, York, Skipton, Scunthorpe, Scarborough-on-Sea, Chester, Chorley, Cheadle Hulme, Ormskirk, Accrington, Stanley, and Leigh, Ossett, Otley, Ilkley Moor, Sheffield, Manchester, Castleford, Skem, Doncaster, Dewsbury, Halifax, Bingley, Bramhall, are all in the North.
The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu's song It's Grim Up North is a gritty and thought-provoking commentary on the bleak reality of life in the northern part of England. The song is essentially a list of towns and cities in the North, and it paints a picture of struggle, hardship, and tough living conditions. The list is long and exhaustive, and it includes both well-known and lesser-known places in the North. From Bolton to Oldham, from Hull to Glossop, the song is a reminder that life is tough up here.
The lyrics are purposely repetitive, driving home the message that life in the North is a constant struggle. The use of place names also serves to highlight the specific challenges faced by each community, from post-industrial decline to poverty and crime. Despite the bleakness of the song, there is also a sense of pride and resilience in the North, which is reflected in the chorus, "It's grim up North, but we don't care." Overall, the song is a powerful commentary on the social and economic realities of life in the North, and it stands as a testament to the strength and perseverance of the people who live there.
Line by Line Meaning
Bolton, Barnsley, Nelson, Colne, Burnley, Bradford, Buxton, Crewe, Warrington, Widnes, Wigan, Leeds, Northwich, Nantwich, Knutsford, Hull, Sale, Salford, Southport, Leigh, Kirkby, Kearsley, Keighley, Maghull, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Oldham, Lancs, Grimsby, Glossop, Hebden Bridge.
All these cities and towns mentioned are located in the North of England.
Brighouse, Bootle, Featherstone, Speke, Runcorn, Rotherham, Rochdale, Barrow, Morecambe, Macclesfield, Lytham St. Annes, Clitheroe, Cleethorpes, the M62.
These are additional towns, cities and a motorway located in the North of England.
Pendlebury, Prestwich, Preston, York, Skipton, Scunthorpe, Scarborough-on-Sea, Chester, Chorley, Cheadle Hulme, Ormskirk, Accrington, Stanley, and Leigh, Ossett, Otley, Ilkley Moor, Sheffield, Manchester, Castleford, Skem, Doncaster, Dewsbury, Halifax, Bingley, Bramhall, are all in the North.
These are additional cities and towns located in the North of England, tying back to the overall theme of the song.
Contributed by Josiah Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@manuelaklotzing9054
I loved this song so much when it came out. It's ingenious just to name citys along a motorway and make a song out of it. I loved this band so much. They were my heros when I was 13 and I still think that they are magnificent! Hope Bill and Jimmy are gong to publish "The black room" one day. I'm still waiting!!!
@narc78
Lol, same here! We had definitely a good taste in music in our early teen years.
@JuanMartinez-kq1ms
My daughter´s name is Manola. I must say that you have a great taste in music 🖖🏻🇲🇽
@akf2000
is there an order in the towns they name then?
@nige3801
@Asif Khan no they random northern towns
@RIXRADvidz
Get Your Kicks on Route 66
@OliHarris
Basically one of the greatest dance tracks ever recorded - Cauty is a tech-musical genius. The liner notes in the original release are beautiful as well. Long live The KLF 🔥🔥🔥
@bubcentral23
There was no liner in the 12"
@OliHarris
Sure I meant the sleevenotes further elaborated on The JAMs' inspiration: "Through the downpour and diesel roar, Rockman and Kingboy D can feel a regular dull thud. Whether this is the eternal echo of a Victorian steam driven revolution or the turbo kick of a distant Northern rave is irrelevant. Thus inspired, The JAMS climb into the back of their truck and work."
@tonyttt31
Imagine that their peers at this point we're The Prodigy and Altern-8.