Fuck the Millennium

The song was released as a comeback single to mark the tenth anniversary of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty’s first collaborations. It was also in part intended to mock the notion of the comeback. The single reached #28 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1997. As of March 2020 the single remains the only international commercial release of music by the duo since The KLF’s 1992 retirement.

About Fuck the Millennium in brief

Summary Fuck the MillenniumThe song was released as a comeback single to mark the tenth anniversary of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty’s first collaborations. It was also in part intended to mock the notion of the comeback. The single reached #28 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1997. As of March 2020 the single remains the only international commercial release of music by the duo since The KLF’s 1992 retirement. The song was inspired musically by Jeremy Deller’s Acid Brass project where a traditional brass band play acid house classics. It is also a protest song against the then-forthcoming end of the second millennium and the plans to celebrate it. The JAMs rebooted the idea in 2017 at their next comeback event, Welcome to the Dark Ages. The track was incorporated into a millennium-themed composition in the first issue of The Back-and-white issue of Back Out Of The Box, which was released on August 21, 1997. The first issue also featured a full-page adverts placed by 2K in the back of the Back Out of the Box issue of the British Vogue magazine. The back-page ads were placed in the 21 August 1997 edition of The Vogue Magazine. The issue was also the first in which the band’s name was proclaimed as ‘2K’, a play on the word ‘k2’ (pronounced ‘kee-kah’). The song is a protest against the plans for a ‘Millennium Dome’ to be built in London to celebrate the millennium.

The ‘Dome’ was never built and was never funded by the National Lottery or the UK government. The band’s next single, ‘‘What Time Is Love?’’ is a cover of the KLF’S ‘What Is Love?’’ single from the album ‘The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu’.’ The single was released in September 1997 and was the first international release of the duo’s music since the retirement of The KLf in 1992. It remains their only international release since the release of The Help Album in 1994. The duo have released no further music since. The KL f have deleted their entire back catalogue, declaring that ‘For the foreseeable future, there will be no further record releases from any past, present or future name attached to our activities’  and ‘The K Foundation’ has been set up to dispose of their earnings, including by burning one million pounds of it, money which was originally earmarked for millennium celebrations. In February 1997, Drummond was contacted by his former Big in Japan bandmate Jayne Casey, who was helping to organise an arts festival in Liverpool. Drummond attended the festival and heard Acid Brass’ repertoire. Acid Brass’ repertoire included the KLf’s “What Time?” Drummond then attended the performance and heard the encore, during which he excitedly telephoned Cautsy.