Bill Drummond had already been closely involved with the "system music industry" for over 15 years when he and his KLF co-conspirator Jimmy Cauty fired a machine gun loaded with blanks at the stunned Brit-Awards-audience and announced his retirement from the music biz in 1992. Drummond has since then continued his offensive against the music industry, whether with the symbolic burning of one million pounds – the profit of the commercial success of KLF –, or with his numerous publications, critical analyses and sharp-tongued comments on the workings of the music economy, or with "No Music Day", which was brought into being in 2005.
 
For his newest project, "The17", Drummond invites laypeople to sing together away from the eyes of the public – an experience that is both fleeting and enduring and nearly unknown for most of those participating. With "The17" Drummond voices his conviction that the time of commercial music is past: "Dispense with all previous forms of music and music-making and start again." Drummond sees "The17" as a process for the revitalisation of the essence of music.