The Managing Director
The character of The Managing Director SPOKE by Tam Dean Burn
Any other characters SPOKE by the former Bill Drummond
IMPLICIT
SPOKE
WRIT
From the Desk of The Managing Director of Penkiln Burn Recordings
Sunday, 9th November 2025
What is implicit?
What is implicit for?
What makes you implicit?
What makes me implicit?
How could you stop being implicit?
How could I stop being implicit?
Is being implicit always bad?
If I smoke a cigarette, am I implicit in all of the deaths caused by the tobacco industry?
I mean...
Now that the former Bill Drummond has drawn a line under the Elvis in his life, is it now time to draw a line under The Beatles in his life.
I mean...
He knows that if America, as in the USA, did not exist The Beatles would not exist. And that if The Beatles had not been embraced by the USA, the rest of the world would not have given a shite about them.
But seeing this is about questions, we should be asking you...
In what ways would The Beatles not have existed if the USA had not existed?
And...
In what ways would the rest of the world not have given a shite?
Which brings us to the title of the novella, and in turn the question...
Why is Andy Warhol shite?
The cultural capital of the Western World has shifted through time. That said it was usually pretty close to where the military and political power lay. From Rome to Constantinople to Vienna, then to Paris or maybe even London. But by the late 1940s that power base had very much crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the United States of America. Washington might have been the city that had the military and political power in the USA, but the cultural power was split between those two rival siblings of Los Angeles and New York.
And so to Andy Warhol.
Or the former Bill Drummond relationship with Andy Warhole, as he prefers to spell it. And something he has written about before. As in the memory of running up those steps of the Tate (as in the now Tate Britain) sometime in the early March of 1971. And the mind shattering impact the then Andy Warhol retrospective exhibition had on his then fertile imagination at the time. That was the moment in his life that he knew he did not want to just be...
Whatever it was that he did not know what he wanted to be...
But instead be an Artist. And feeling that feeling that he has been fighting against ever since.
The former Bill Drummond’s internal war against whatever it was he assumed that Andy Warhole represented, has evolved over the decades into a war against the ‘Wow Factor’. As in any art that relied on its size, volume, success, horror, amazement, glamour or even threat, should be dismissed along with all the dictators and religions that relied on such things.
‘Wow Factor’ needed to be eliminated by any means necessary.
Over the past 31 years, the former Bill Drummond has almost achieved his aims at making work that does not use size, volume, success, horror, amazement, glamour or even threat. While also existing under any radars that might be scanning those far horizons.
But...
But since the 30th of August 2025, when he watched a film where a puppet of Elvis was seen to be buried, his thoughts have returned to the American Cultural Imperialism that has polluted his thought waves since he watched the Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier film at the Newton Stewart Picture House back in 1957.
What if Andy Warhol was not American?
What if Andy Warhol was from say France or Pakistan or Bolivia or Uganda?
What if Andy Warhol had made his art using the film stars or rock stars or president’s wives or local tins of soup or forms of execution as his inspiration for his art?
Would any of us been bothered?
I mean...
What if Andy Warhol was just as talented but came from one of those countries referencing the local popular culture, would anyone of us give a shite?
Or if The Beatles were from somewhere back in the USSR, and were just as talented, but sang in Russian and played balalaikas, but for whatever reason were on the Ed Sulivan Show on the 9th of February 1964, being watched by over 73 million people, would anyone of us have really given a shite?
Or if Bob Dylan came from the Philippines?
Or Kurt Cobain came from Albania?
Or Taylor Swift came from Zimbabwe?
And none of them could sing in English?
It is easy to be a Vegetarian, or even a Vegan
Or...
Give up alcohol for November.
But...
How easy would be to give up American Cultural Imperialism for just one day?
Or...
One week?
Or...
One month?
Or...
A whole year?
Should that be his last and final attempt to make a lasting work of art of any worth?
I mean...
And anyway, what does ‘art of any worth’ mean?
But...
After he has completed The 25 Paintings twelve year world tour at the end of 2026, could he spend the 365 days of 2027, seeing how far he could get without engaging with any of that American Cultural Imperialism.
Thus...
Nothing from Silicon Valley.
No Amazon.
No Netflix.
No streaming.
No social media.
No WhatsApp.
No jeans.
No t-shirts.
No trainers.
No White Ford Transit Vans
No music that has been influenced by any music of the 150 years at least.
Do you think he should keep a note book every day, listing all the times he has broken the rules?
Crossed the unseen lines?
Does taking a ride on a bus with advert for Marvel or any other Hollywood film on the side mean you are in some way implicit?
And we are back to that word ‘implicit’ again.
And here lies the rub.
The financial safety net in the former Bill Drummond’s life over the past fifty years has been what he has earnt from Zoo Music. As in the music publishing company that he set up with his colleague Dave Balfe back in 1979 or early 1980. Not that it has ever earnt a substantial amount, but there has always been a trickle that has meant that he has never had to go back on the site as a chippy or even sign on.
And...
Zoo Music is administrated for life of copyright by Warner Chappell Music, which in turn is owned by Warner Music Group. And Warner Music Group is one of the Big Three. Now if that is not bad enough, Time Warner sold off Warner Music Group to Access Industries in 2005. Access Industries was set up and basically owned by a Leonard Blavatnik, who although born in the USSR, is one of the world’s richest men. Both a Russian Oligarch and a supporter of anyone who he thinks might be the next president of the USA. At the same time as supporting other regimes, that might make him implicit in your eyes in a genocide or even two.
So...
The fact that the former Bill Drummond is aware of this, does that make the former Bill Drummond also implicit in said genocide?
Thus...
If what helps finance what you do has also helped facilitate genocide, what should you do?
How much should you be paid to turn a blind eye?
I mean...
Can working on an allotment for 12 months be commodified?
Is this The End?
