2023: A Trilogy
{{Short description|2017 book by Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond}}
{{Infobox book
| name = 2023: A Trilogy by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu
| image = 2023, a trilogy by The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu.jpg
| image_size = 180px
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| author = The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu
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| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
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| genre = {{hlist|Alternative histories|Science fiction{{Cite web|url=https://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk/search?q=9780571338085&rn=1|title=2023 : a trilogy|publisher=Library Hub Discover}}}}
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| publisher = Faber and Faber
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| pub_date = 2017
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| published = London
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| isbn = 9780571338085
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| oclc = 1041418081
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| notes = REMEMBERED – TOLD – TRANSCRIBED
for K 2 Plant Hire Ltd
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| website = http://k2planthireltd.com/
}}
2023: A Trilogy is a book by Jimmy Cauty and Bill Drummond writing as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu. The book was published in 2017, 23 years after the duo had burnt one million British pounds they earned in the music industry as The KLF.
Background
Music-industry figure Bill Drummond and artist/musician Jimmy Cauty began recording together in 1987 as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (also known as The JAMs), naming themselves after the fictional conspiratorial group "The Justified Ancients of Mummu" from The Illuminatus! Trilogy.{{LibraryOfMu|mu-id=479|first=Ian|last=Cranna|title=1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?) review|work=Q|date=1987|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161004150537/http://www.libraryofmu.net/display-resource.php?id=479|archive-date=4 October 2016}} In 1988 they had a UK number one hit single—"Doctorin' the Tardis"—as The Timelords,{{Cite web|last=Paphides|first=Peter|title=Making the law|work=The Observer Music Monthly|date=22 February 2004|url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,13887,1150729,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040223035125/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,13887,1150729,00.html|archive-date=23 February 2004}}{{Cite web|title=Official Singles Chart Top 100|publisher=Official Charts Company|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/19880612/7501/}} and subsequently wrote their first book together—The Manual—documenting the process of making a hit record.{{Cite book|isbn=0-86359-616-9|title=The Manual|first1=Jimmy|last1=Cauty|authorlink1=Jimmy Cauty|first2=Bill|last2=Drummond|authorlink2=Bill Drummond|publisher=KLF Publications|year=1988|location=United Kingdom}}
After transitioning into The KLF, Cauty and Drummond became the biggest-selling singles act in the world for 1991.{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=mn0000074853|title=KLF|first=John|last=Bush|tab=biography|accessdate=5 March 2020}}{{LibraryOfMu|mu-id=309|title=Timelords gentlemen, please!|work=New Musical Express|date=16 May 1992|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011034313/http://www.libraryofmu.net/display-resource.php?id=309 |archive-date=11 October 2016 }} In May 1992, the KLF announced their immediate retirement from the music industry and the deletion of their back catalogue.{{LibraryOfMu|mu-id=315|title=Who Killed The KLF|work=Select|date=July 1992|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011034454/http://www.libraryofmu.net/display-resource.php?id=315 |archive-date=11 October 2016|first=William|last=Shaw|author-link=William Shaw (writer)}} Flush with cash from their pop career, the duo formed the K Foundation, a creative outlet for their art projects and media campaigns.{{LibraryOfMu|tl=news|mu-id=366|title=The Best Of Artists, The Worst of Artists|work=The New York Times|date=29 November 1993|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916115344/http://www.libraryofmu.net/display-resource.php?id=366|archive-date=16 September 2016}}{{LibraryOfMu|tl=news|mu-id=362|last=Ellison|first=Mike|title=Terror strikes at the Turner Prize / Art at its very best (or worst)|work=The Guardian|date=24 November 1993|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916112851/http://www.libraryofmu.net/display-resource.php?id=362 |archive-date=16 September 2016 }} On 23 August 1994, the K Foundation infamously burnt what was left of their KLF earnings—a million pounds—and filmed the performance.{{LibraryOfMu|tl=news|mu-id=387|last=Reid, Jim|title=Money to burn|work=The Observer|date=25 September 1994|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916120338/http://www.libraryofmu.net/display-resource.php?id=387 |archive-date=16 September 2016 }} This article is a first-hand account by freelance journalist Jim Reid, the only independent witness to the burning.{{cite magazine|title=Interview: The KLF's James Cauty |last=Butler |first=Ben |url=http://rocknerd.org/article.pl?sid=03/06/18/0539252 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210011728/http://rocknerd.org/article.pl?sid=03%2F06%2F18%2F0539252 |archivedate=10 December 2007 |url-status=dead|type=interview with Jimmy Cauty for The Big Issue Australia|magazine=Rocknerd|date=18 June 2003}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,3962686,00.html |title=Burning question |last=Smith |first=Andrew |date=13 February 2000 |newspaper=The Observer |access-date=30 May 2015}} They later issued a statement that on 5 November 1995 they had signed a "contract" at Cape Wrath in northern Scotland agreeing to wind up the K Foundation and not to speak about the money burning for a period of 23 years.{{LibraryOfMu|tl=news|mu-id=519 |title=Cape Wrath |author=K Foundation |date=8 December 1995 |work=The Guardian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916113827/http://www.libraryofmu.net/display-resource.php?id=519 |archive-date=16 September 2016|type=advertisement}}
On 5 January 2017, a poster attributed to Cauty and Drummond's company K2 Plant Hire Ltd was sighted in Hackney, London with the heading "2017: WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?",{{cite web|last1=Doran|first1=John|title=KLF Announce Return After 23 Year Absence|url=http://thequietus.com/articles/21514-klf-jamms-to-return-slam-film|work=The Quietus|accessdate=5 January 2017|date=5 January 2017}} echoing the press advert for—and title of—the KLF's 23 minute comeback performance as 2K in 1997—"1997 (What The Fuck's Going On?)",{{Cite web|url=http://www.mutelibtech.com/mute/2k/2k2.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060327005818/http://www.mutelibtech.com/mute/2k/2k2.htm |archive-date=27 March 2006 |website=mutelibtech.com | title=Jeremy Dellar Presents |url-status=usurped|publisher=Mute Records}} and a reference to The JAMs' debut album 1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?).{{Cite news|last=McCormick|first=Neil|author-link=Neil McCormick|title=Yes, this is the cutting edge of rave music|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|department=The Arts|page=26|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4710794/Yes-this-is-the-cutting-edge-of-rave-music.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160226082656/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4710794/Yes-this-is-the-cutting-edge-of-rave-music.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 February 2016|date=11 October 1998|access-date=11 March 2020}} The poster announced that the Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu "are currently at work in their light industrial unit", and that the work would be made public on 23 August 2017, but Drummond denied that the duo had any plans "to reform the KLF or exploit our back catalogue in any way".{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/bill-drummond-responds-klf-reunion-rumours-1935404|title=The KLF respond to reunion rumours with mysterious messages|first=Andrew|last=Trendell|date=5 January 2017|access-date=25 February 2020|work=New Musical Express}} Nonetheless, rumours were rife that The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu would be making a return to the music business, this assumption being made by at least The Guardian,{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2017/jan/05/klf-comeback-bill-drummond-jimmy-cauty?CMP=fb_gu|title=The KLF are back (sort of) – and it's exactly what 2017 needs|date=5 January 2017|access-date=25 February 2020|first=Peter|last=Robinson|author-link=Peter Robinson (journalist)|work=The Guardian}} Fact Magazine{{Cite web|url=https://www.factmag.com/2017/01/05/the-klf-return-poster/|title=The KLF confirm return with mysterious poster|date=5 January 2017|access-date=25 February 2020|work=Fact Magazine|first=John|last=Twells}} and the NME.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/klf-tease-return-music-2017-1932564|title=The KLF tease return to music in 2017?|first=Andrew|last=Trendell|date=3 January 2017|access-date=25 February 2020|work=New Musical Express}} It soon became apparent, however, that the JAMs would be releasing not music but a novel titled 2023: A Trilogy.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/the-klf-new-book-faber-2017-1968514|title=The KLF announce new book|date=6 February 2017|first=Luke|last=Morgan Britton|website=nme.com|publisher=NME|access-date=4 March 2020}}
Book launch
At 23 seconds past midnight on 23 August, 23 years after they burnt a million pounds,{{cite web|last=Paterson|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Paterson|title=The KLF return 23 years after bowing out of the music industry|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-41023934/the-klf-return-23-years-after-bowing-out-of-the-music-industry|publisher=BBC News|date=23 August 2017|accessdate=27 February 2020|type=video}}{{refn|group=n|A journalist participant from The Guardian reported the arrival as 23 minutes after midnight.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/aug/26/the-return-of-the-klf-what-time-is-chaos|title=KLF Welcome to the Dark Ages review – what time is chaos?|first=Barbara|last=Ellen|date=26 August 2017|work=The Guardian|access-date=4 March 2020}}}} Drummond and Cauty arrived at the "News From Nowhere" bookshop in Liverpool in their ice cream van and officially launched 2023: A Trilogy.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-41022272|title=The KLF: Pop's saboteurs return after 23 years|date=23 August 2017|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=26 February 2020}}{{Cite web|url=http://drownedinsound.com/news/4151283-the-ice-kream-van-kometh--the-justified-ancients-of-mu-mu-return|title=The Ice Kream Van Kometh: The Justified Ancients Of Mu Mu Return|date=24 August 2017|accessdate=26 February 2020|first=Max|last=Pilley|work=Drowned in Sound|archive-date=26 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200226003707/http://drownedinsound.com/news/4151283-the-ice-kream-van-kometh--the-justified-ancients-of-mu-mu-return|url-status=dead}} The number 23—or the 23 enigma—is a recurring theme in both The Illuminatus! Trilogy and the work of the KLF.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/aug/23/klf-bill-drummond-jimmy-cauty-2023-book|title=The return of the KLF: pop's greatest provocateurs take on a post-truth world|accessdate=October 23, 2017|date=23 August 2017|first=Hannah|last=Ellis-Petersen|newspaper=The Guardian}} Following a book stamping,{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/klf-rules-book-signing-2127756|title=The KLF return: all of the rules of their bizarre book 'signing'|date=23 August 2017|first=Mark|last=Beaumont|work=New Musical Express}} Cauty and Drummond staged a three-day festival called "Welcome to the Dark Ages".{{cite web|url=http://www.superweirdsubstance.com/jams-klf-dark-ages/|title=Welcome To The Dark Ages: The JAMs Return|publisher=Super Weird Substance|date=30 August 2017|accessdate=26 February 2020|first=Josh|last=Ray}}
Plot
Cover
Like Illuminatus!, the cover of 2023 features a pyramid. The pyramid on the cover of The Illuminatus! Trilogy references the Eye of Providence icon, often depicted as an eye within a triangle or pyramid.{{Cite news|url=https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1064/is-the-dollar-bills-eye-on-a-pyramid-the-symbol-of-a-secret-society/|title=Is the dollar bill's eye-on-a-pyramid the symbol of a secret society?|first=Cecil|last=Adams|author-link=Cecil Adams|work=The Straight Dope|date=23 May 1997|access-date=9 March 2020}} The pyramid has been another consistent feature in the duo work's: KLF Communications' logo was the "Pyramid Blaster", a pyramid, in front of which is suspended a ghetto blaster displaying the word "Justified".{{LibraryOfMu|tl=web|mu-id=508|publisher=KLF Communications|title=The White Room – Information Sheet Eight|date=August 1990|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071005024345/http://www.libraryofmu.org/display-resource.php?id=508|archive-date=5 October 2007}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/21674-the-klf-justified-ancients-of-mu-mu-bill-drummond-jimmy-cauty|title=Embrace The Contradictions: The Strange World Of... The KLF|first=Ben|last=Graham|date=1 February 2017|magazine=The Quietus|access-date=10 March 2020}} During the duo's 1997 re-emergence, they proposed the building by K2 Plant Hire of a "People's Pyramid" to be built with as many bricks as there were births in the 20th century in the UK,{{LibraryOfMu|mu-id=457|title=2K: Brickin' it!|work=NME|date=8 November 1997|type=News item|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916114345/http://www.libraryofmu.net/display-resource.php?id=457|archive-date=16 September 2016}} and the plan was rebooted during "Welcome to the Dark Ages" with the pyramid now to be built from bricks containing the ashes of dead people.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46342573|title=KLF's Jimmy Cauty: 'We don't make records, we make pyramids out of dead people'|date=26 November 2018|access-date=26 February 2020|first=Ian|last=Youngs|publisher=BBC News}}
Critical reception
{{expand section|date=February 2020}}
Jake Arnott, in a review for The Guardian, said the book was "enslaved by its sources", pointing to its many references to pop culture and its "disparate backstories", but "there is too much borrowing and simply not enough stealing".{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/07/2023-trilogy-justified-ancients-of-mu-mu-review|title=2023: A trilogy by the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu review – the KLF are back |accessdate=October 23, 2017|date=September 7, 2017|first=Jake|last=Arnott|author-link=Jake Arnott|newspaper=The Guardian}}
Notes
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