Background Early in 1987,
Jimmy Cauty and
Bill Drummond formed a musical outfit, The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), later to also be known as
The Timelords and, more famously,
The KLF. The JAMs deliberately invited controversy by spending a year producing incendiary electronic music that was built around plagiarised
samples of other artists, underpinned by
beatbox rhythms and political
raps. The song "Burn the Bastards", which was the duo's final single in this mould, was inspired in part by the legal backlash of their provocative output. Their debut album,
1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?), had been investigated by the
Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society, who in August 1987 ordered The JAMs to recall and destroy all unsold copies of
1987, for its illegal use of extensive samples from
ABBA's "
Dancing Queen". The JAMs journeyed to Sweden—with their unsold LPs and an
NME journalist in tow—in an attempt to negotiate with ABBA. When this failed, The JAMs made a bonfire in the Swedish countryside and burnt the LPs. Back in the UK, they continued with their plagiaristic productions, which culminated with a second LP,
Who Killed The JAMs?. Its sleeve depicts the
1987 bonfire, and it contains "Burn the Bastards", a sample-heavy celebration of the fire set to
house music.
Ritualistic burnings became a recurring aspect of Drummond and Cauty's work, including the burning of a 60-ft (18-m)
wicker man during the 1991
summer solstice (
The Rites of Mu), and, as the
K Foundation in 1995, their burning of
£1 million.
Release On 7 March 1988, Drummond and Cauty released
The KLF's debut single "Burn the Beat", an instrumental house music version of "Burn the Bastards", on their own
KLF Communications label. The single also featured instrumental remixes of other tracks from
Who Killed The JAMs?. All 5,000 pressed copies of the single—catalogue number JAMS 26T—were exported. On 18 April 1988, another single, "Burn the Bastards", was released in the UK, to fill the hitherto overlooked catalogue number KLF 002. This single, also by The KLF, featured the LP version of "Burn the Bastards" alongside another instrumental version, "Burn the Beat (Club Mix)". The single releases marked a change in direction of Drummond and Cauty's music, to an upbeat and uptempo house music tone. Indeed, the printed label of "Burn the Bastards" stated, "This is a transition record". Neither "Burn the Bastards" nor "Burn the Beat" entered the UK Singles Chart, although the release peaked at number 15 in the UK Indie Singles Chart. ==Composition==