SOUNDTRACK: INSANE CLOWN POSSE-“Bang! Pow! Boom!” (2009).
Since I have posted about Phish already, it seemed like time to listen to an ICP song. I admit that when their first album came out, they seemed goofy enough to check out their album. I love a cartoony band that is going to “ruin America.” But I had heard that their music was just too awful to enjoy ironically, so I never bothered with them (if I had been a few years younger, I probably would have embraced them wholly). In the book below, Rabin says that their newer stuff is not only a ton better than their early stuff (which he admits is raw and pretty terrible) he says that it is quite poppy.
So I listened to a few of the songs that he mentions (and there are some funny lines), but I decided to focus on this one which Rabin describes as “a groovy throwback number that finds ecstasy in a bleak moral reckoning…finding the joy in the macabre and the celebration in the gothic. Also, it’s catchy as fuck.”
That’s a highfalutin way of saying that they sing about blowing shit up. Lyrically the song seems to be about ICP talking to their fans (in the harshest terms possible, which I guess is affection: “Cuz you’re the evilest pedophiles, rapists and abusers/All together we’ve got fifty thousand of you losers”). It’s an insider tract and if you don’t like it or get it, well, you’re not supposed to.
But aside from the lyrics about rapists and all the cursing, this song could easily be a big hit. It is, yes, catchy as fuck.
But I won’t be listening to more from them.
[READ: January 2, 2013] You Don’t Know Me But You Don’t Like Me
Every year my brother-in-law gets me cool and unusual books, most of which I’ve never heard of. This year, he got me this book which I’d never heard of. I was confused by the title (which is confusing). The author’s name sounded familiar, but I wasn’t sure—until I saw the A.V. Club connection. So, at first I thought this was going to be about going to interesting shows or basically having something to do with the A.V. Club. But, as the subtitle says, this book is exclusively about Rabin’s travels following Phish for a summer and also going to some ICP Gatherings of the Juggalos.
The theme of the book is how most people have never heard the music of either band, but they have formed opinions not only of the bands, but their followers. Rabin points out plenty of exceptions to the stereotypes, but you won’t be leaving this book thinking much more of the preexisting stereotypes than you already do. Sure, some Phish heads are doctors, and some Juggalos are employable, but the majority are (despite his best efforts) what you think they are. But one of the main messages that he seems to promote in the book is that each of these groups have created tribes around them. And those who aren’t part of the tribe may scoff, but they secretly wish they could be having as much fun as the members of the tribes. And that may in fact be true.
I’ve enjoyed Phish’s music for years, although I’ve never seen them live. And as for ICP, I didn’t even realize they were still around—although that Workaholics episode should have clued me in. Naturally these two bands could not be more polar opposite in terms of music and fanbase (although Rabin did encounter some crossover). So he sets out to show how he can enjoy both groups. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 