The KLF torched £1m "and are haunted by it daily". John Higgs knows why

John Higgs' brilliant and wide-ranging book 'The KLF: Chaos, Magic and the Band Who Burned A Million Pounds' came out ten years ago and just keeps on selling. It sold initially to the fans who bought their records. Then to those absorbed by the fringe figures in their mythology - Ken Campbell, Alan Moore, Robert Anton Wilson, the Discordians. And then to people who just wanted a staggering and barely believable story about the attacks by two free-wheeling cultural terrorists on the worlds of art and music at the end of the 20th century. It sold so well in fact that it's just been republished in a 10th Anniversary edition with additional material.John Higgs is an exceptional speaker as this pod demonstrates and talks here about the outer reaches of their extravagantly lunatic strategies - the ABBA court case, the dead sheep, the pagan rituals on Jura, the collaboration with Tammy Wynette - and how many backfired on them and why Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty have barely seen each other in almost 30 years. This podcast was recorded in front of an enthralled audience at 21Soho in London on October 30th 2023.Order the 10th anniversary edition here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/KLF-Chaos-Burned-Million-Pounds/dp/139961035XTickets for Word In Your Ear live at 21Soho on November 27th here: https://www.tickettext.co.uk/ZOthfatjxiSubscribe to Word In Your Ear on Patreon for early - and ad-free! - access to all of our content: https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Mark Ellen and David Hepworth have been talking about and writing about music together and individually for a collective eighty years in magazines like Smash Hits, Mojo and The Word and on radio and TV programmes like "Rock On", "Whistle Test" and VH-1.Over thirteen years ago, when working on the late magazine The Word, they began producing podcasts. Some listeners have been kind enough to say these have been very special to them. When the magazine folded in 2012 they kept the spirit of those podcasts alive in regular Word In Your Ear evenings in which they spoke to musicians and authors in front of an audience. Over these years they've produced hundreds of hours of material. As of the Current Unpleasantness of 2020, they've produced yet hundreds of hours more with a little help from guests kind enough to digitally show them around their attics such as Danny Baker, Andy Partridge, Sir Tim Rice and Mark Lewisohn. For the full span of the Word In Your Ear world, visit wiyelondon.com. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.