KLF: Chaos Magic Music Money

by J.M.R. Higgs

In an age when speed metal is used to sell energy drinks, it is perhaps hard to appreciate just how incomprehensible bands like Extreme Noise Terror were at that time.

As the Situationists put it, "opposition to the spectacle can produce only the spectacle of opposition." Or to quote Raoul Vaneigem, "pissing on the altar is still a way of paying homage to the Church." In this way the music of The Sex Pistols was eventually played to the Queen at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, and the music of Kurt Cobain was eventually covered by The Muppets.

This boundary period is a cultural blind spot; we choose not to look at it.