“1987 (What the Fuck is Going On?)”

Tags

1987, ABBA, Albums, beatbox, British, destroy unsold copies, electronic, Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, KLF, plagiarism, unauthorised samples

1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?) is the debut studio album by British electronic band The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (the JAMs), later known as the KLF. 1987 was produced using extensive unauthorised samples that plagiarised a wide range of musical works, continuing a theme begun in the JAMs’ debut single All You Need is Love. These samples provided a deliberately provocative backdrop for beatbox rhythms and cryptic, political raps.  

Shortly after an independent release in June 1987, the JAMs were ordered by the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society to destroy all unsold copies of the album, following a complaint from ABBA. In response, the JAMs disposed of many copies of 1987 in unorthodox, publicised ways. They also released a version of the album titled 1987 (The JAMs 45 Edits), stripped of all unauthorised samples to leave periods of protracted silence and so little audible content that it was formally classed as a 12 inch single.