The Manual

Author	The Timelords
Country	United Kingdom
Publisher	KLF Publications
Released	1988
ISBN	ISBN 0-86359-616-9

The Manual (How to Have a Number One the Easy Way) is a 1988 book by The Timelords (Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty), better known as The KLF. It is a tongue-in-cheek step by step guide to achieving a No.1 single with no money or musical skills, and a case study of the duo's UK novelty pop No. 1 "Doctorin' the Tardis". Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Doctorin the Tardis The Timelords was the name used by UK sampling outfit The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu for their 1988 novelty pop single Doctorin the Tardis, a No. ... In the UK, The KLF and their incarnations released six albums and a wide array of diverse 12  singles on their own independent record label KLF Communications during its five-year existence. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Doctorin the Tardis The Timelords was the name used by UK sampling outfit The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu for their 1988 novelty pop single Doctorin the Tardis, a No. ... William Ernest Drummond[1] (Bill Drummond) (born April 29, 1953, Butterworth, South Africa)[2][3] is a Scottish musician, music industry figure, writer and artist. ... James Cauty, Jimmy or Jimi, also known as Rockman Rock, was born in Devon, England in 1956 and not much is known about him until, as a 17-year old artist, he painted a popular Lord of the Rings poster (and later, a counterpart based on The Hobbit) for Athena. ... The KLF (also known as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), The Timelords and other names) was one of the seminal bands of the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s. ... Doctorin the Tardis was a 1988 electronic novelty pop single by The Timelords (Time Boy and Lord Rock, aliases of Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, now better known as The KLF). ...

How to have a number one

The advice dispensed by The Manual includes: "Firstly, you must be skint and on the dole.^[1] Anybody with a proper job or tied up with full time education will not have the time to devote to see it through... Being on the dole gives you a clearer perspective on how much of society is run... having no money sharpens the wits. Forces you never to make the wrong decision. There is no safety net to catch you when you fall." and "If you are already a musician stop playing your instrument. Even better, sell the junk." The book also foretells its own imminent irrelevance, The Timelords admitting that they are writing "a book that will be completely redundant within twelve months. An obsolete artefact. Its only use being a bit of a social history that records the aspirations of a certain strata in British society in the late eighties..."

The book is prophetical when it comes to recording technology: "It's obvious that in a very short space of time the Japanese will have delivered the technology and then brought the price of it down so that you can do the whole thing at home. Then you will be able to sod off all that crap about going into studios."

Bill Drummond explained his motivations in an interview: "It was an excuse to say a lot of things I wanted to say about how the industry worked. It was an excuse to go out and say to people all they can say to themselves: If you want to do something, go and do it! Don't wait to be asked, don't wait for a record company to come and want to sign you or a management company. Just go and do it. Also, it was saying: If you wanna have number one...you can have it. It won't make you rich, it won't make you happy, but you can have it."^[2]

History

The English language version of The Manual has had at least 3 print runs (see ISBNs below), being reissued in 1989 and - with a new foreword by Drummond - in 1998. The book has also been translated into German, and was released as an audiobook (read by Bela B., drummer of the well-known punk band Die Ärzte) in Germany in 2003,^[3] with Drummond voicing the foreword, a motivational piece about reaching out for one's dreams today - "tomorrow is always too late". An audio book is a recording of the contents of a book read aloud. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The Austrian Eurotrash band Edelweiss, who read the book, borrowed ABBA's "S.O.S.", and sold five million copies worldwide with "Bring Me Edelweiss".^[4][5]. It also proved to be an influence on 2000s British girl group The Pipettes who formed after reading the book in order to explore "the idea of being a pop machine."^[6] Edelweiss was an Austrian band which had two single hits: Bring me Edelweiss in 1988/1989; Starship Edelweiss in 1992 from the album Wonderful World of Edelweiss. The band used a lot humour and sexually suggestive lyrics in its music. ... Abba redirects here. ... The Pipettes are a British indie pop girl group based in Brighton. ...

In the liner photographs of the Chumbawamba album Readymades, Boff Whalley is seen to be reading a copy of The Manual. It is a reference to Chumbawamba's earlier success with their hit single, "Tubthumping".^{[citation needed]} Chumbawamba are an English band who play pop music influenced by folk, punk, dance, world and other styles of popular music. ... Readymades is Chumbawambas first release on their own label MUTT. Salt Fare, North Sea Jacobs Ladder All in Vain Home With Me If It Is to Be, It Is Up to Me Dont Try This at Home Song for Len Shackleton Without Rhyme or Reason (The Killing... Tubthumping is a song by Chumbawamba, the single release went to UK #2 in 1997 and US #6 in the single charts in 1998. ...

Press commentary

Editions

• ISBN 0-86359-616-9 (1988)
• ISBN 1-872013-00-7 (1989)
• ISBN 1-899858-65-2 (1998)
• ISBN 3-931126-22-6 (German version, 1998)

References

• Cauty, J and Drummond, B. The Manual, KLF Publications, 1988 (Link)

Footnotes

1. ^ "Skint" is British slang meaning penniless; "on the dole" means unemployed and in receipt of unemployment benefit.
2. ^ Transcript of a Bill Drummond interview on "Bomlagadafshipoing" (Norwegian national radio house-music show), September 1991 (link).
3. ^ The KLF, Das Handbuch, Der schnelle Weg zum Nr. 1 Hit, 2 audio CDs read by Bela B. Universal Music, 2003. ISBN 3-8291-1352-8.
4. ^ Longmire, E. "KLF Is Going to Rock You" X Magazine, July 1991 (link)
5. ^ Reighley, K.B. "Hear No Evil", Seattle Weekly, 26 May 1999 (link)
6. ^ Barton, Laura. "Leaders of the pack", The Guardian, 1 November 2006 (link)