Burn the Bastards
"Burn the Bastards/Burn the Beat" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu | ||||
Released | 5 March 1988 (Burn the Beat) 18 April 1988 (Burn the Bastards) | |||
Recorded | Trancentral | |||
Genre | House | |||
Length | 4:54 (Burn the Beat (Club Mix)) 4:07 (Burn the Bastards (LP edit)) | |||
KLF Communications (UK) | ||||
Producer(s) | Drummond/Cauty | |||
Drummond & Cauty singles chronology | ||||
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"Burn the Bastards" is a 1988 song by
Conception
Background
Early in 1987,
Their debut album,
Release
On 5 March 1988, Drummond and Cauty released
Composition
"Burn the Bastards" is a celebratory house music song based upon Sly Stone's "Dance to the Music":[7] a trumpet break and drum line are sampled, and the lyrical structure of that song is also mirrored. Whereas "Dance to the Music" vocally introduces the instruments used, so "Burn the Bastards" has Drummond sing of The JAMs' methods, such as "All we need is a beatbox, for people who only need a beat". The choral line "Dance to the music" is modified to "JAMs have a party".
Referring to the fate of the 1987 LPs, Drummond sings "Build a fire, stoke it good, throw them on, and watch the bastards burn", accompanied by a stark, ring modulated chorus, "Mu Mu!". A later portion of the lyrics alludes to New Year's Eve 1987: "Five to twelve, almost gone. 1987, what the fuck have we done?".
A driving 4/4 rhythm and a sampled Roland TB-303 loop provide acid house overtones. These elements are brought further to the fore in "Burn the Beat", which dispenses with Drummond's vocals.
Most of The KLF's work was highly
Reviews
Announcing a change of name in January 1988, Bill Drummond had said "We might put out a couple of 12" records under the name The K.L.F., these will be rap free just pure dance music, so don't expect to see them reviewed in the music papers".[8] As predicted, "Burn the Beat" and "Burn the Bastards" attracted little attention from the music press.
Reviewing Who Killed The JAMs?,
Formats and track listings
"Burn the Beat" was originally a
Format (and countries) | Track number | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
Burn the Beat | ||||
12" single (UK, KLF Communications JAMS 26T) | J | M | G | P |
7" single (US, released 1989) | J2 | P | ||
12" single (US, released 1989) | J | M | C | L |
Burn the Bastards | ||||
12" single (UK, KLF Communications KLF 002T) | J | C |
Key
- L - "Burn the Bastards" (LP version) (6:28)
- J - "Burn the Bastards (JAMs Have A Party / LP edit)" (4:11)
- J2 - "Burn The Bastards" (censored LP edit / 7" edit) (3:52)
- C - "Burn the Beat (Club Mix)" (4:51)
- M - "Burn the Beat (Mu Mu Mix)" (4:43)
- P - "The Porpoise Song (Instrumental Remix)" (5:09)
- G - "Prestwich Prophet's Grin (Instrumental Remix)" (4:14)
Notes and references
- KLF CommunicationsJAMS LP2, 1988.
- ^ Brown, James (19 August 1987). "Thank you for the music". NME.
- KLF Communications. 1988. JAMS LP2.
- KLF Communications. Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 16 September 2016.
- ^ Longmire, Ernie; et al. (2020) [1998]. "Discography: The KLF (including The JAMS, The Timelords, 2K etc.)". Archived from the original on 29 February 2020.
- KLF Communications. 1988. KLF 002T.)
{{cite AV media notes}}
: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link - ^ Sounds(review). 13 February 1988.
- KLF Communications. Archived (via the Library of Mu) on 16 September 2016.