Why I call myself a Juggalo

So after bumping this thread yesterday i realised what was missing...



How can i have a thread on juggalos and the ICP without the Unveiling?
This song is the turning point in the bands approach to fans. This song is the end of the lies & reverse speak. This song reveals the power behind the Insane Clown Posse...
The first four or five minutes are the song, the rest is snippets from other songs woven together. This is how it was released on the album.

I, like most people, went away from the ICP after the Wraith came out. This song revealed all & i didn't see it coming.
I have since come to terms with it & listen to all their songs with a new ear.

 

Generally I do not feel my age, however this thread makes me acutely aware of the fact that I'm old enough to be your parent. And... I just had a deja vu thing where I recalled writing nearly these exact words on this board ten years ago... Carry on. Enjoy what you enjoy.

 

I'm curious, about this band? Or another? How have those 10 years been? Are you still a believer? Or don't you care anymore?



This song originally came out on the Great Milenko, it had a little skit attached to the end of the previous song, where a car drove by a few times then pulled up & shot Shaggy 2 Dope. This song then picks up his story in Shangri La. I'm pretty sure it was the first time they tried to describe what juggalo heaven.

Also, for anyone who is actually listening to this junk i'm posting...
I thought i should explain the reference to "seventeen" and "the butterfly" in The Unveiling. You might not have noticed it, but the lines goes "it ain't about Violent J or Shaggy, the butterfly or seventeen"
It is in the final build up before they reveal god is the power behind juggalos and the ICP.

Seventeen was a bit of an inside joke back at the beginning, 17 copies of their first album were sold on the big release date of the Carnival of Carnage. So from then on it was used in many a song. They'd have a car with seventeen clowns inside, J got shot 17 times, he has 17 dead homies... etc etc You get the picture
It wasn't explained for years.

Now the butterfly has a better story,
If you were a dedicated juggalo & you pulled the coverart out of each album there would be stories, wicked games, photos, lyrics, that kinda thing...
But somewhere there would always be a dedication,

The story goes,
Joe Bruce (Violent J) at aged seven caught a beautiful butterfly when playing with his brother. (Robert Bruce, AKA Jumpsteady)
They admired the colours & overall peacefulness of the creature, and decided to keep it overnight in a jar before releasing it the next day. But it was never to be, when he woke Joe discovered the butterfly was dead in the jar. Violent J & Jumpsteady felt like they had committed a murder and made a vow to oneday make it to heaven and apologise to that butterfly face to face.






Love this song

 

Nope, not about this band though I have fallen for artists and stayed with them for 30 years-plus and there's no telling--you may too (why not?)
For music to pull me in it has to awaken or reawakened something within me.
I'd say the last 10 years--up until this past year-and-a half were some of the loneliest, most disengaged-with-life years ever. I listened to almost no music and had very little to do with people that were not immediately in my orbit.
(Not uncoincidentally, I was banned from these boards by the prior owner. The TFP had been a way that I was opening up to people from around the globe--and actually flying out to meet and hang with them.)

What wasn't going right in my life was a mix of loss of health, trouble with family, death, loss of my career--the overarching theme would be loss. I used a lot of weed. A LOT of weed to stay comfortably numb--though I'd convinced myself it was the only way I could feel.

Everything has changed over the past two years and it began with this board.
The board helped to open me up to people again, this time not judging, just accepting them for the uniqueness that each brings here.

I had to let go of some toxic elements in my life and re-learn how to embrace the beauty in each day. This summer, I spent a month in our cabin on a lake, utterly alone with my dog (and 3 weeks more with people). When I felt like it, I blasted tunes and danced until I couldn't breathe. I swam naked in the lake in the pre-dawn hours. I connected with strangers of all ages, sizes, colours when I ventured away from the lake. I spent a weekend with about 15 of the utterly unique individuals on this board. For now, I've quit altering my state of consciousness with weed. I'm happy and it is ridiculous because I thought I was doing just fine.
I'm a believer--in myself, in the power of love, in the belief that there is a higher love and I've barely scratched it's surface.

I think the music that touches you/me is a bridge or maybe a conduit to a higher love. It is utterly unthinkable that I'd go a day without it now.

 

Excellent, it is good to know there is a light at the end of my journey. You sound like the kind of person i'm aiming to be.
I think you are right about the power of love, and i also like the way you've worded it, "music is a bridge to higher love"

Thankyou for sharing your story,
I'm currently following ICP and other music back into life, I'm using weed & the TFP as tools on my path... Sounding slightly familiar?
Thinking back a few years, i cannot actually workout what happened to my life. I had no major breakups, no major deaths, i wasn't fired, & i didn't have a near-miss accident...
I just lost interest in life, lost touch with people, stopped answering my phone & just sent a lame apology text later, smoked alot of weed & watched documentaries on dvd.
I'm slowly clawing my way back now, that's partly what this thread is for, i'm working out why i like what i like & what draws me to something or someone.
I'm forcing myself to go see old friends, I'm making plans to meet friends in the city in January (i never used to make plans, fearing the other person was just fucking with me & wouldn't arrive), i'm even trying to organise a trip to the States so i can meet a few of the people behind this board.

I still have a long way to go.
I still smoke too much weed, but for different reasons now. Weed used to be used as a "time lubricant" moving myself forward through the boring bits of my life until i had my next commitment (work, family), now i use it more to help my mind find interesting ideas. I'll keep a notebook handy (actually i've got three) and i'll write down my stream of conciseness & any great ideas i have. Most of it is junk when i sober up, and sobering up is a real achievement, but occasionally i find an idea i like and i try to implement it in real life. My desire to go to America in August for a Gathering is one example.
the TFP has really helped as well. I was once a member, i must have been just over 18, i was too young to appreciate this place and only came for the nonsense, i used to find good jokes online & start those e-mail chains whilst at work. But i always remembered this place & knew i'd come back for a proper look around. So here i am.

I'm sure my music tastes will change sometime in the future, and i know alot of the ICPs songs are utter crap.
But i doubt i could ever renounce the wicked clowns. Their music gives me a special warm glow that i don't find in many albums.


This song is an obvious ripoff of the Wizard of OZ, but i found it funny.
VJ must have had fun imagining it, because he bought out an entire album not long after this song. Each song on the album moved him another step along the yellow brick alleyway towards Detroit. I'll put the first song below, give you an idea...

 

I wouldn't know ICP or any of their songs, unless maybe they snuck into my backyard to play a concert.

But I'm a geezer, music simply doesn't mean as nearly as much to me as it did 35 years ago.

 

The universe listened to my desires and made it happen...

Insane Clown Posse tickets (Metropolis Fremantle) from Metropolis Fremantle

I've just booked a ticket to the Western Australia show.

 

Taliesin take picture and post them. Will be interested in your experience.

 

It'll be interesting to compare this show on the road to a proper gathering in the US.
I don't expect them to quiet the same. Tour in Australia is December & the Gathering in August is rumored to be in Indianapolis.

 

This new interview with Violent J just popped up on my fb newsfeed.
Learning to love Insane Clown Posse; “the most hated band in the world”

I'll post some of my highlights for anyone who can't be bothered reading the whole thing...

I also learnt that they won't be bringing Faygo to Australia for the shows. Aussie customs won't let them, they don't believe ICP plan to throw all that soda pop onto the crowd. Customs think they are going to sell it here.

 

There is a shooting range on public land outside of town. Over time it does get trashed. Unfortunately, that is not a surprise. Last year it was rebuilt. New wood frame, new currogated tin for protection from the sun. Had been opened for less than a week, already vandalized. Some jacknob had taken a gun and shot holes through the tin so when the sun shined through it spelled icp on the ground. Very first bit of vandalism.

 

There are naughty people in any group

 

Of course. And some groups have more than others. Here in the US, juggalos are classified as a gang.

 

Yeah i heard about that.
It was also mentioned in the interview, VJ got all riled up. Apparently ICP are suing the FBI over it.

 

And the hells angels are a motorcycle club. Sometimes you are defined by your actions, not your own words. Witness the tea party. Or the republican party
If it waddles like a duck, and quacks like a duck, its a duck.
If any of you have ever seen a crappy car with a big red hatchetman on the back, and some dirtbag kid dressed in black and red, you'll say yep, that's a gang member.

 

Just doing some scouting before tomorrows show...
Gotta find my way around Fremantle

 

Buzzfeed did an article on 89 Things I Learned At The Gathering Of The Juggalos.
89 Things I Learned At The Gathering Of The Juggalos

I actually found it kind of interesting, have to say I've gone to a few parties that were pretty close. The Talkeetna Blue Grass Festival back in the day for example.
My favorite ICP song is not their usual style.