I have no idea how this whole thread slipped by me since it started back in August, but I gotta add my 2 cents...
As many of you know (or don't know) I do like ICP and have been listening to them since about 1997 - right before they released their "Great Milenko" album.
They are my guilty pleasure. They are totally retarded. I used to like them a whole lot...but now not so much. These days, listen more to
Twiztid.
When I first started listening to ICP, they really were pretty much unknown. A friend of a friend - who used to hang out with the guys from
Wolfpac (lead singer Daddy Long Legs was formerly in
The Bloodhound Gang, and also has a walk-on part in ICP's crap-tastic Big Money Rustlas movie) first introduced me to them via the
Riddlebox album and they were like this weird Beastie-Boys-meets-Nightmare-Before-Christmas. I was instantly hooked. In fact, to this day, Riddlebox is still one of my all-time favorite albums.
I found out about the Juggalos shortly after that...rabbid fans who wore facepaint and limited edition collectible hockey jerseys to the shows.
I have never painted my face to go to an ICP (or other Psychopathic records artist) show. That part...I don't get it.
I do however have a couple of the collectible hockey jerseys, both given to me directly by Jamie Madrox from Twiztid (that is a whole other story in itself...and no I did nothing sexual for them...Jamie is a huge Batman fan on the scale of Ames and now is the owner of many of my former toys). I do wear them to shows, but none of the newer Juggalos believe me when I tell them where I got them from.
The first Gathering of the Juggalos was held at a Convention Center in Novi, Michigan. I wanted to go to that first gathering...it was two days long, several shows by Psychopathic artists, some wrestling, artists signing autographs, tattoo contest, wet-t-shirt contest, whatnot...a low-key event for the most part. I didn't get to go, but from the post-gathering videos and videos that were posted by fans, it looked like a pretty decent and fun time.
As far as the "Seminars" at the Gathering go...they are either autograph signing events or the artists talking about how they mixed the last album or who they worked with or how much pot they blazed through in the last 20 minutes. Twiztid's Seminars are usually like a stand-up comedy routine, thanks largely to Jamie Madrox. The Seminars are all on YouTube - here's part of one from 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSYdRdH10Qo.
What the Gathering of the Juggalos has turned into is a total disgrace.
I no longer want to go to The Gathering. I know people who go and say it's a blast, but I've also heard about the rampant drug abuse, the theft, the fights, the arrest, and now this...hurling feces at Tlia Tequila - oh, and there were also two stabbings this year. I can't even imagine how much they pay for insurance on this event.
I don't really know who the hell Tlia Tequila is, but I know she's some cable-fabulous bimbo who has her current 15 minutes of fame (I don't have cable) and she NEVER in a million years should have been put on a bill at the Gathering. Maybe she was desperate for a gig? Who knows. She should have known better...she's not the right type of artist to appear in that scene.
I don't even like ICP that much any more...they're getting REALLY stupid with their songs....I've listened to their last few albums once and never thought about them again. I won't go out of my way to see them in concert any more, unless they're opening for Twiztid, and that will never happen.
However, Twiztid - another band on Psychopathic Records - I am still a big fan of. They're good. They're better than the label they're on...with the right management, they could probably outsell Eminem...but they never will...because they will never leave Psychopathic Records.
That new movie Big Money Rustlas was beyond stupid. It was dumber than their first movie, Big Money Hustlas and even THAT movie was dumb (if you aren't a fan of Psychopathic bands, you won't get it). At least Big Money Hustlas, in all of its glorious stupidity did featured some of their music. In both movies, Jamie Madrox & Monoxide from Twiztid pretty much steal the show...they are funny enough to carry the movie by themselves. I recommend downloading the torrent of Big Money Rustlas from somewhere...don't even waste a spot on your Netflix queue for it. (if you really want to waste 90 minutes of your life, PM me and I'll email it to you) It took me 3 agonizing days to get through it in increments and I'm sorry I bothered watching it until the end.
ICP has become a parody of themselves. The Gathering has become a cesspool. And having "famous" people like Gallagher and Jimmy Walker or Tila Tequila (maybe at Gathering 12, Snookie & The Situation will show up for a performance) appear at the Gathering is just self indulgent...either these old and tired "famous" people are so happy to have a gig that they just don't give a shit WHERE they appear, or ICP is saying they don't give a shit either and will pull the absolute dregs of society out of hiding to make a mockery of them too.
The Juggalos are a fan-base, who calls themselves "family", yet there is rampant theft and violence at the Gathering. It's that whole mindset of "group mentality" - even if you would not normally be the type of person inclined to participate in a riot...if there's a riot going on around you, you get swept up in the heat of the moment and take part in it.
And as with anything else, it just takes one or two assholes to spoil everything. Even if most of the Juggalos who go to the Gathering actually do behave themselves for the most part and treat the campground where the gathering is held with respect (you know, don't light the shower house on fire or something equally as douchy), you are still going to have a good number of people in a crowd that large that ARE going to be the total assholes who will ruin it for everyone else.
Hell, when you get a SMALL group of people together there's bound to be one asshole in the bunch who will ruin things for the rest.
However, that parody on SNL was absolutely HYSTERICAL - it was dead on! But you know what, that also means that if SNL is parodying you, you are no longer an "underground" act...you're mainstream all the way baby.
RIP Ass Dan, whoop whoop!
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