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The Manual
16 years ago
General
The Manual (or How to Have a Number One the Easy Way) is a book published by Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty. Drummond and Cauty were The KLF, also known as The Justifed Ancients of Mu Mu (furthermore known as The JAMs) and The Manual outlines their process of making their number one hit 'Doctorin' the Tardis' back when they were The Timelords.
Fantastic read. It is at once cynical, tongue-in-cheek and absolutely brilliant. They shoot from the hip, telling it like it is and how it will mostly likely be for you (it is a manual, after all) and what you need to do to game the system to your advantage, or what choices you should consider when they arise.
Talking about such things as there being no magic chord or beat. That it's all been done before using the standard 12-bar blues progression as an example... and look at how many blues songs that's carried! So relax and stop trying to be original, because you'll just strangle your creativity that way.
They also talk about the process and just how on the edge it can be, promising people you'll get them the money and then trying to get the money before the 28-day delayed invoice comes back to your desk. Finally realizing they can ask the record sales company for an advance because all indications are this one is going to be big.
The PDF link above weighs in at 84 pages, which is probably a little long for the short-attention-span group. But I don't think you'll be disappointed at the end. It's as good a ride as any other story. Except it's true. And it has some really amazing gems to think about next time you wonder about the music industry.
Fantastic read. It is at once cynical, tongue-in-cheek and absolutely brilliant. They shoot from the hip, telling it like it is and how it will mostly likely be for you (it is a manual, after all) and what you need to do to game the system to your advantage, or what choices you should consider when they arise.
Talking about such things as there being no magic chord or beat. That it's all been done before using the standard 12-bar blues progression as an example... and look at how many blues songs that's carried! So relax and stop trying to be original, because you'll just strangle your creativity that way.
They also talk about the process and just how on the edge it can be, promising people you'll get them the money and then trying to get the money before the 28-day delayed invoice comes back to your desk. Finally realizing they can ask the record sales company for an advance because all indications are this one is going to be big.
The PDF link above weighs in at 84 pages, which is probably a little long for the short-attention-span group. But I don't think you'll be disappointed at the end. It's as good a ride as any other story. Except it's true. And it has some really amazing gems to think about next time you wonder about the music industry.
