Why KLF’s “3 a.m. Eternal” Continues To “Rock Me” 17 Years Later
10. At first, the Metropolis-like dystopia of urban ruins and decay conjures a less than dazzling vision of the future. But next thing you know–bam!–there’s the multi-racial KLF collective, guys in leather, and guitar shredding a-plenty. Suddenly, the prospect of dining on squirrels and sundry carrion doesn’t seem so bad after all.
9. Like Snap’s epic economic treatise, “The Power.” “3 a.m. Eternal” features a garbled, heavily accented, crypto-Communist message at the beginning of the song, portending a future filled with widespread mangling of the English language. Clearly, this was intended to foreshadow the emergence of George Bush and Sarah Palin.
8. Rappers named Ricardo Da Force who rock geek glasses and program beats on Zach Morris cell phones. Enough said.
The KLF: Not a Fan of Daylight Savings Time
7. KLF also went by the name Justified Ancients of Mu-Mu. Coincidentally this was also Deerhunter’s original name, for vastly different reasons.
6. For inventing the word, “baseballistics.” Or did they?
5. Because I want to live in a future with girls who dance to hip-house while wearing azure Druid cloaks. Sort of.
4. Arabic Flute Solos.
I’m Just Going To Refrain From Making Some Sort of Really Bad Pun Here, K? K.
3. Because the thought that somewhere upon hearing this song, Cole, Civilles and the entirety of their factory o’ music broke out in tears.
2. The metaphysical questions the song raises. Is time really eternal? Or is it only eternal when you have to sit through a Kansas City Royals-Seattle Mariners game in September. And if time really is eternal, is there even a point to me writing this blog? And if there isn’t a point to me writing this, is there ever a point to me writing anything. (anonymous hate commenters, wink wink, nudge, nudge )
1. Because whether directly or indirectly, 17 years after its release, this song and much of KLF’s influence can heard in 2008’s most vital groups, from Gang Gang Dance to The Knux to Kanye West’s Elegant Emo Extravaganza, to that god awful Wiz Khalifa song where he samples Alice DJ (there aren’t enough “pauses” in the world to atone for that one.)
Download:
MP3: The KLF-”3 a.m. Eternal”
Stumble It!
October 31st, 2008 at 11:22 am
I love this goddam song. Actually I pretty much love everything the KLF ever did, but 3 AM especially. That and “America: What Time Is Love” which has a killer video of its’ own. It always boggles my mind the 2 jaded, middle-aged Scottish music vets managed to bring so many things that were bubbling just beneath the surface (hip hop, acid house, proto-rave culture, sampling - kinda like Steinski for rave culture, etc.) and weld them onto their cryptic, impossibly expansive self-mythologizing. On that super meta-meta tip way before anyone else. Greatest pop group (not band, notice, or artist, but pop group) ever IMO.
There are like a million mixes of this song, most of which don’t feature rapping and which are therefore, as cool as Ricard Da Force is, much better. I think 3 A.M. Eternal also makes better sense if you’ve ever, y’know, been out clubbing/raving/etc. at 3 A.M., on serious drugs, when shit really seems, well, eternal. In true KLF fashion it’s totally naff pop music but simultaneously on some like deep existential tip as well. Anyway…
10 KLF Fun Facts:
Their two main inspirations to form the group were early hip hop & the Illuminatus trilogy.
On their early singles Bill Drummond raps in a super thick Scottish accent. It should be terrible but somehow it’s awesome, probably cause he’s fully aware of how absurd the whole thing is.
Jimmy Cauty, other main KLF dude, co-founded the Orb w/Alex Paterson.
They wrote a satirical manual on how to have a stupid #1 pop hit and then, to prove the point, had a stupid #1 pop hit by following their manual.
Pretty much single-handedly rejuvenated Tammy Wynette’s career by having her do the vocals on “Justified & Ancient (Stand by the JAMs (get it?))” for no other reason that that Drummond was a huge fan of hers.
As seen in the video, they worked with a multi-racial/cultural rotating ensemble/collective of London Acid House Summer of Love types.
They made a movie, White Room, that was never released. I’ve seen some it (there are excerpts on Youtube) - it’s pretty awesome, kinda on some Two Lane Blacktop tip, Drummond driving around the moors in a souped up Mad Max car.
When invited to perform on the UK equal of the Grammies they tapped Extreme Noise Terror (for those who know who that is) to play a crust-as-fuck version of 3 A.M. Eternal with them. Then Bill Drummond fired a machine gun full of blanks over the heads of the crowd of producers/journos/sycophants.
They retired when they said they would, and they’ve never reformed.
They burned a million pounds sterling. Literally. Whatever you think of that, the willpower involved is kinda staggering.
October 31st, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Do you think you’re beeeeter off alo-o-one (duh duh duh duh)
Do you think you’re beeeeeeter off alo-o-one
October 31st, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Padraig: Thanks for dropping knowledge. Completely agree. KLF are uniformly awesome.
Tray: Just admit it, you’re going to be a happy hardcore raver for Halloween. There is no shame in this.
November 1st, 2008 at 12:31 pm
That’s not quite what happened.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Hell yes to the KLF.
The film of them burning a million pounds is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. They even took the freaking thing on tour:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Foundation_Burn_a_Million_Quid
Genius.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:27 pm
…and their ‘Chill Out’ album is the ultimate smoker’s delight. Fire up the Sour Diesel and put it one for one hell of wild (and fun) ride…