Putting The Brass Eye to shame

April 13, 2010 8:20 PM

Music & Murder: Martin Bashir investigates Insane Clown Posse.
posted by dunkadunc (100 comments total)

So they're calling the juggalos a gang now? I guess that makes them the real-life version of the Baseball Furies.
posted by joedan at 8:32 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Stay Classy ICP!

Thanks for that dunkadunc, I didn't realize how big they had become nor that Juggalos have been classified as a gang in several states.
posted by sir_rubixalot at 8:33 PM on April 13, 2010

Fucking magnets! How do they work?
posted by octobersurprise at 8:34 PM on April 13, 2010 [32 favorites]

"How do you write a lyric like From Pluto to your anus, we're underground famous ?"
posted by hellojed at 8:34 PM on April 13, 2010 [4 favorites]

they do it... for the LULZ
posted by nathancaswell at 8:36 PM on April 13, 2010

Related Metafilter Comment.
posted by The Whelk at 8:39 PM on April 13, 2010

To the credit of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, that interviewer was a real asshole. That bit where he listed off juggalos who have commit horrible crimes, but he only continues down the list once they try to say something was some real grade school debating tactics.

Also: Water, fire, air and dirt, fucking magnets, how do they work? And I don't wanna talk to a scientist, you motherfuckers lyin' and gettin' me pissed! Link to 1m50s
posted by battlebison at 8:41 PM on April 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

dunkadunc,

Stop posting stories from The Onion!
posted by lukemeister at 8:43 PM on April 13, 2010

Man, this has got to be the weakest moral panic ever. What's next--drug cartels that love Stryper? Amy Grant's underground organ theft ring?
posted by equalpants at 8:43 PM on April 13, 2010 [14 favorites]

Martin Bashir is like Bill O'Reilly, only brown with an accent Americans hear as intellectual. This is some bullshit reporting right here, and Juggalos skeeze me out as much as anybody.
posted by Evstar at 8:44 PM on April 13, 2010 [7 favorites]

Man, this has got to be the weakest moral panic ever. What's next--drug cartels that love Stryper? Amy Grant's underground organ theft ring?

Justin Bieber fight clubs
posted by threetoed at 8:45 PM on April 13, 2010 [11 favorites]

Amy Grant's underground organ theft ring?

This is one of those things that should be true.
posted by The Whelk at 8:45 PM on April 13, 2010 [10 favorites]

Shameless reporting. It took Martin Basheer to make ICP sympathetic. Bravo.
posted by cell divide at 8:45 PM on April 13, 2010 [11 favorites]

Wow. Good call on the Brass Eye reference.

I knew Bashir could be a sleaze, but this is a sorry, sorry story. Credit to Violent J for responding like a sober, intelligent person to Bashir's inane screechings.
posted by Sticherbeast at 8:47 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Jesus fucking Christ dunkadunc, you're going to make me defend juggalos, aren't you?

OK, here goes: Whatever the time, whoever the disaffected, and whatever they might be listening to, these "XPOSE!" type pieces are going to come up. Judas Priest, Tupac, White Zombie, NWA, Slayer, Eminem, Nirvana, ICP, etc, etc, etc, etc. Our constants here are time, disaffected youth, violence, and music. The specific artists are irrelevant, and that's made pretty clear when you watch all of the "ZOMG musix make kids killers!!!!11!" content that has been produced over the years.

If someone wants to look at this for real, they should look at the music of the haves, the have-nots, and where they diverge and intersect. That could make a good piece of music research, although it won't tell us anything whatsoever about why some 16 year old kid killed his girlfriend and her family.

How is it that the "news" piece created is so bad that it has me looking at Violent J as the voice of reason?!?

Bottom line: When the media wants to tell you that the downfall of society is being caused by a musical act that's got a following of millions, of which a a couple mentally unstable followers do mentally unstable things, be very fucking suspicious of them.
posted by rollbiz at 8:47 PM on April 13, 2010 [28 favorites]

In other news, YouTube's closed captions seem rich for "DO NOT WANT" style errors: I mean hold himself the gentleman
posted by sanko at 8:48 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

When one of the ICP admits that out of millions and millions of fans, a handful might be dangerous threats to society, Bashir practically yells "Checkmate!"

Even though you could probably say the same for Sheryl Crow's fans. Weak.
posted by hermitosis at 8:49 PM on April 13, 2010 [4 favorites]

To the credit of Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, that interviewer was a real asshole.

Absolutely. This video made me feel sorry for Juggalos.
posted by dunkadunc at 8:49 PM on April 13, 2010

Allrighty then. Another "revealing bit of contemporary journalism" about the devilishly powerful comic books/scary movies/violent lyrics causing real life violence. I think it is interesting that this causation hypothesis has been relentlessly propagated in the mainstream media since approximately the time Dwight Eisenhower warned us about the increasing influence of the "military-industrial complex" in this country.

However, in my last few decades of media consumption, I have yet to see a single scare piece about the increasingly militaristic nature of our (U.S.) culture causing violence. I'm not holding my breath waiting for someone to point out this obvious connection on a ten-minute bit of Titillation TV.
posted by kozad at 8:49 PM on April 13, 2010 [6 favorites]

"How do you write a lyric like From Pluto to your anus, we're underground famous ?"

How can you NOT?
posted by Crane Shot at 8:51 PM on April 13, 2010 [26 favorites]

Something has really gone off the rails if your career has led you to the place where you've un-ironically said: "See, here's the problem, Violent J..."
posted by felix betachat at 8:51 PM on April 13, 2010 [14 favorites]

Long version (language NSFW)
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:52 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope's responses were, for the entire duration of this interview, well-reasoned and correct.

"What else did they listen to?" Answer that fucking question, Martin.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 8:53 PM on April 13, 2010 [3 favorites]

(didn't we also just do this thread last week?)
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:53 PM on April 13, 2010

Martin Bashir is a horrible human being whose useless existence has probably caused more people to murder than any silly clown rap.
posted by cloeburner at 8:55 PM on April 13, 2010 [8 favorites]

What the hell is a "juggalo"?

Yeah, I Googled it... but wtf? Is this what they mean by "life begins at 40"?
posted by KokuRyu at 9:00 PM on April 13, 2010

Water, fire, air and dirt, fucking magnets, how do they work?

Oh god, thanks for sharing that bit of awfulness. That's some of the worst rap I've ever heard...it's like the opposite of those Symphony of Science videos.

By way of contrast, here is some artful awfulness, courtesy of Eric Wareheim: http://vimeo.com/5936810

As for the murder/music thing...hasn't this vein been tapped enough? I'd be surprised if ABC is able frighten many grandmothers over this one. Probably more from offended Juggalos. C'mon ABC, you can scare us better than that! Isn't there a new street drug you can screech about?
posted by Edgewise at 9:00 PM on April 13, 2010

Maybe Bashir should listen to some other rap. He sounds like someone 80 years old.

The guys paint their faces and spray soda on the crowd. That's a lot better than biting the head off a bat.
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 9:01 PM on April 13, 2010

What's the song at 1:20? I like it but I can't make out enough lyrics to search for.
posted by frenetic at 9:02 PM on April 13, 2010

threetoed: Justin Bieber fight clubs

The first rule of Justin Bieber fight club: You do not talk about Justin Bieber fight club.
The second rule of Justin Bieber fight club: You do not talk about Justin Bieber fight club.
The third rule of Justin Bieber fight club: Your world is my world and my fight is your fight.
(I'ma tell you one time)
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 9:03 PM on April 13, 2010 [4 favorites]

The ICP & the "culture" over which they preside make my skin crawl, but yeah, that interview was pretty dumb.

Grown man with non-ironic clown facepaint:  
     "yeah, out of the millions and millions that have bought our albums 
yes some of them probably have committed horrendous crimes..."

Junior high debate team champion dressed as journalist: 
     "You admit that?"

GMWNICF: 
     "Absolutely!"

JHDCDAJ: 
     "Ha ha he said it he said his fans are all murderers!  Neener neener!"

Blech. Now I've gotten all worked up about crappy journalism perpetrated against the most revolting pop subculture I've seen....I'll get back to you.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 9:05 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Now I have to apologize to any juggalo mefites. I celebrate your freedom to make your inarticulate noise, but damned if I'm going to listen to it.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 9:08 PM on April 13, 2010 [3 favorites]

Something has really gone off the rails if your career has led you to the place where you've un-ironically said: "See, here's the problem, Violent J..."

Truly great comment. Well done.
posted by davebush at 9:09 PM on April 13, 2010 [3 favorites]

PALE BLUE DOT, BY ICP.

Look again at that GOD DAMNT dot. That’s here BITCHES. That’s home... MOFOS. That’s us, G'YEAHHH. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of SON, every human being who ever was ALIVE, FOR REALS, lived out their lives KIIDDDD. The aggregate of our F'ING joy and OUR F'ING suffering BOYEE, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines DOG, every hunter and forager AND JUGALO, every hero and coward AND JUGALO, every creator and destroyer of civilization, EVERY RECREATIONAL FACE PAINTER, every king and peasant AND INSANE CLOWN, every young couple in love (GROSS), every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer LIKE BILL GATES YO, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar” LIKE US Y'ALL, every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam NOT GIVING A FUCK, CHEAAAA. HOW DO MAGNETS WORK.
posted by pwally at 9:17 PM on April 13, 2010 [18 favorites]

I just saw that "miracles" video and accompanying gifs today and it was so bad it was awesome.
posted by dead cousin ted at 9:18 PM on April 13, 2010

Mark David Chapman was obsessed with Todd Rundgren. Just sayin'.
posted by davebush at 9:24 PM on April 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

Here's the ABC News page for this report, in case anyone wants to go tell ABC what fucktards they are in the comments. Not that they're paying attention, I'm sure.

I just don't get how a news editor said "Yeah, that hasn't been done. Go bring it home, Martin."

This is great, by the way: Nightline's tag "Ahead of the curve, driving the news, the big interviews – our place in the zeitgeist." Holy overreaching!
posted by dammitjim at 9:26 PM on April 13, 2010

These clowns don't think the Cake is a lie.
posted by clarknova at 9:32 PM on April 13, 2010

Whoops, that was the Nightline blog (?). Here's the Nightline page.
posted by dammitjim at 9:32 PM on April 13, 2010

Nightline became just another A Current Affair the second Ted Koppel left.
posted by smcameron at 9:39 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

If I hadn't known going in that it was a serious news piece, I would have assumed it was a subtle parody of newscasters, what with the earnest tone of voice while speaking to men in clown make-up, the Serious Newscaster recording in what is obviously a random room at a hotel somewhere, complete with stacked chairs in the background, and the ridiculous attack journalist moves against, of all things, the Insane Clown Posse. And then the ending:

"There is no evidence that watching a horror movie could incite violence..."

Holy crap. Really?
posted by Scattercat at 9:41 PM on April 13, 2010 [2 favorites]

juggalo mefites

That sounds like one hell of a meetup.
posted by dunkadunc at 9:52 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Bashir: killer klownz in our neighbourhoods. are our children safe?
*cut to image of shag van airbrushed with imagery from the dark carnival mythos exploding*
Bashir: no. I, Martin Bashir, will use my poor grasp of ethics and the magic of editing to appear smarter than two grown men in clown makeup.
*lights cigar, blows smoke towards camera*
Bashir: nightline, bitches.
posted by threetoed at 9:53 PM on April 13, 2010 [21 favorites]

Where have you gone, Ted Koppel? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
posted by NortonDC at 9:58 PM on April 13, 2010 [5 favorites]

woo woo woo
posted by NortonDC at 9:58 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is pretty much the most horrible thing ever made. It's worse than a Haneke movie.



That said, did you all realize that these guys have been at it for 20 years. Shaggy 2 Dope was like 17 when he started with this, and he's still going at it, a millionaire, and looking pretty fit. Gotta respect that.
posted by mr_roboto at 9:59 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Bashir is so shit he has me nodding at and supporting the integrity of the Insane Clown Posse. He owes me a tour through Michael Jackson's amusement park or the equivalent because I feel gross and confused and deserve compensation.
posted by moxiedoll at 10:01 PM on April 13, 2010

Heh. Yeah, that interviewer may sound like a "smart muthafucker," but he's as big of a dumbass as that cop lady.
posted by zombiesitcom at 10:04 PM on April 13, 2010

http://www.marriedtothesea.com/072007/juggalo-aggression.gif
posted by squalor at 10:09 PM on April 13, 2010 [10 favorites]

I wonder if any of Mr. Bashir's viewers have ever committed a crime.
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 10:10 PM on April 13, 2010 [7 favorites]

I remember in 1984 or so when the whole "Heavy Metal = Satanism" moral panic was in high gear. The Vancouver Sun ran a double-page feature article about it, singling out Def Leppard's Rock of Ages video. Anyway, my Dad was angry with me about something, and decided to confiscate all of my cassette tapes, including Quiet Riot's "Mental Health" with the guy in the straightjacket and facemask on the cover. My Dad sorted through my cassettes, and examined "Van Halen I".

"Running With the Devil?" What kind of trouble are you getting into son?

It was then I realized that my parents were not perfect people.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:18 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Last week, I was interviewing a comics and fantasy-novel author who's been doing some work with Coheed and Cambria. For the unfamiliar, C&C's entire shtick is that they're narrating a giant self-insert SF epic devised by their lead singer, Claudio Sanchez.

Author Guy is explaining to me that Mr. Sanchez has serious worldbuilding chops and has an entire complex mythology built up around the characters of Coheed and Cambria Kilgannon and the universe of the Keywork and and...

and that's when, because I hang out here, because Mr. F had showed me the "how do they fuckin' work" video, I said:

"Kinda like the Insane Clown Posse."

And there was a horrible moment of dead silence and incomprehension on Author Guy's part, and I realized that you people had wronged me with this illusion of widespread juggalo acceptance that I just took for granted all this time.

I hate you all.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 10:26 PM on April 13, 2010 [37 favorites]

rollbiz: "How is it that the "news" piece created is so bad that it has me looking at Violent J as the voice of reason?!?"

I'm pretty sure Bashir more-or-less loves ICP. He's shilling.

/straightface
posted by mwhybark at 10:27 PM on April 13, 2010

This would have been a better story if they covered it on Juggalo News
posted by clockworkjoe at 10:33 PM on April 13, 2010 [11 favorites]

Having just listened to the raw audio of the interview fairytale is speaking of, I can confirm that the gaping void of non-understanding in that moment is palpable. It's a thing of wonder.
posted by The Mysterious Mr. F at 10:33 PM on April 13, 2010 [3 favorites]

That cop is badass. She can probably open beer bottles with her ear lobes. When she's not busy hunting "grown retards", she's probably kicking hippies in the nuts.
posted by Brocktoon at 11:04 PM on April 13, 2010

That said, did you all realize that these guys have been at it for 20 years. Shaggy 2 Dope was like 17 when he started with this, and he's still going at it, a millionaire, and looking pretty fit. Gotta respect that.

Yeah, I keep hearing that about David Lee Roth, too, but there is something to having a musical career that can appeal to more than just teenage hormone-pumped sensibilities. And, don't get me wrong, there's something I still find really appealing about the early Van Halen, but it was a lot moreso when I was 13 at the lake, hanging out with my older sister's teenage friends. I just can't imagine being stuck in that frame of mind for the rest of my life.
posted by krinklyfig at 11:25 PM on April 13, 2010

Didn't they reveal that they're a Christian band anyways?
posted by juv3nal at 11:39 PM on April 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

i'm confused...is the insane clown posse gay, or anti-gay?
posted by fallacy of the beard at 12:30 AM on April 14, 2010

His decision to seek greater rewards stateside was always regarded as a great loss for British journalism where he was widely seen as the natural heir to Paxman and John Snow. Hahahahahahahaha. Please keep him.
posted by rhymer at 12:33 AM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

From Bashir's Wikipedia page:

As a result of this controversy [doctoring recordings of his Michael Jackson interview], Bashir was voted fifth in the Channel 4 poll 100 Worst Britons, just behind Margaret Thatcher and Jade Goody. As a result of this documentary Bashir was offered a job with the US network ABC.

I'm sure we could compile a list of other media effluent we'd like to dump with you guys. E.g. I believe Melanie Phillips already gets time on Fox News when she's not humping her Margaret Thatcher Memorial Keyboard for the Daily Mail.
posted by i_cola at 2:06 AM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

Didn't they reveal that they're a Christian band anyways?

That's what I had thought: that they revealed the whole schtick was about getting their fans to follow God, and the album where they revealed that was supposed to be the last one, right? I actually had thought that up until I saw the infamous "fuckin' magnets, how do they work?" video last week, which was a huge hit among me and my friends, just not for the reason Insane Clown Posse would prefer. Did they just realize how lame that was and decided to never speak of it again, or what? I guess their fans don't have the longest attention spans.
posted by DecemberBoy at 2:46 AM on April 14, 2010

Juggalos are a gang in two states and a county in Pennsylvania? For real? I really don't want to defend ICP but I loved Violent J: "You sound smart as a motherfucker, man."
posted by alby at 2:49 AM on April 14, 2010

DecemberBoy - it was the last of a series of albums called "the Joker's Cards" or more generally, The Dark Carnival mythos. There were like five or six jokers cards, attractions at The Dark Carnival, and then when all of them were revealed, there would be some great revelation about the whole shebang. The "ps: we love God gotcha!" album, Shangri-La, was the last Jokers' Card, and that revelation. Not the last of ICP. By no means the last we'll see from ICP.
Fuck. Why do I know that much about them.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 3:10 AM on April 14, 2010 [3 favorites]

Having just listened to the raw audio of the interview fairytale is speaking of

please post this
posted by empath at 4:49 AM on April 14, 2010 [3 favorites]

Well, it's not like ABC has any important news they could be reporting on.
posted by TedW at 5:33 AM on April 14, 2010

There is some good journalism done in this genre. Damn little. There was a piece in the New York Times Sunday Magazine a few years ago on Limp Bizkit fans. I forget what they called them but it was something with clever cache like jugalo. The author went to a concert at a hockey rink in Michigan where they had put plywood down over the ice. The kids had picked up the plywood and suspended a mosh pit above their heads so you had a mess of bodies stacked three high in front of the stage: guys standing on the ice holding up the plywood, guys standing on the plywood, then guys crowd surfing on top the guys standing on the plywood.

The journalist and the readers were properly awed. Reportedly the guys in the band went nuts kicking it when they saw that shit. I wish I could recall the clever name for the fans, and find the piece again.
posted by bukvich at 5:59 AM on April 14, 2010

I just wanna tell you juggalos that me and Mr. Doodley took our lil niece to see the ICP back in the "Great Milenko" (second album in Dark Carnival series) days. They were touring with Cypress Hill. It was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Those dudes worked their asses off in that show, and made sure no patron went home uncoated with strawberry, orange and grape Faygo, along with a thin gritty layer of sugar ants, roach turds and Zolfo sand from falling down on the dance floor.

I thought Great Milenko was an outstanding record, but Riddle Box (first in the DC series), not so much. So now I just enjoy the idea of ICP.
posted by toodleydoodley at 6:41 AM on April 14, 2010 [3 favorites]

That's what I had thought: that they revealed the whole schtick was about getting their fans to follow God, and the album where they revealed that was supposed to be the last one, right? I actually had thought that up until I saw the infamous "fuckin' magnets, how do they work?" video last week, which was a huge hit among me and my friends, just not for the reason Insane Clown Posse would prefer. Did they just realize how lame that was and decided to never speak of it again, or what? I guess their fans don't have the longest attention spans.

now to me, that just sounds like the kind of joke a couple of stoners would love to play on the world.
posted by TrialByMedia at 6:51 AM on April 14, 2010

With all due respect to Mssrs. J and Dope, they're a bit more like a Maladjusted Clown Duet.
posted by haveanicesummer at 6:57 AM on April 14, 2010 [6 favorites]

My favorite picture I snagged from my oldest daughter is of her and her also-teen friend in full-on juggalo makeup. When she plans to get married, I'm dragging that picture out.

Meh, I'm a goth (there, I said it). This "blame the musician(s)" crap has been going on for as long as I can recall. I had adult friends physically assaulted due to media created connections between goths and "trench coat mafia" after Columbine, plus many more assaults were reported across the country. Marilyn Manson was blamed by many for the violent actions of those teens - usually by parents who couldn't be bothered to be active in their childrens lives. His response was fairly intelligent, too.
posted by _paegan_ at 7:16 AM on April 14, 2010

I could have sworn Bill Clinton or some other notable politician commented that the band was "like some kind of insane clown possee," but Wikipedia says it came from a dream of a clown running around in Delray

"There's magic everywhere in this bitch."
posted by filthy light thief at 7:23 AM on April 14, 2010

/steps carefully to one side, blocking entire GWAR discography from view

Kids, these days...

/shakes head mournfully
posted by ServSci at 8:08 AM on April 14, 2010 [4 favorites]

Not a murderer but, I'm down with the clowns till I'm dead in the ground. I don't have the shirt, CD or hoodie as proof, you'll have to take my word for it. Geez, can't we just enjoy the music?
posted by winks007 at 8:36 AM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

What's the story with that little kid in the concert clips spraying Faygo? It seems natural to me that an Insane Clown Posse would attract a Bart-like satellite, but I would also have thought Martin Bashir would have been particularly concerned about the welfare of small children given his Michael Jackson priors.

Anyway, this is the first I've heard of ICP. Wonder what Martin Bashir thinks of KISS?
posted by chavenet at 10:04 AM on April 14, 2010

Say what you will about the "Miracles" video, but it does appear to end with ICP being hurled into the sun.
posted by The Card Cheat at 10:34 AM on April 14, 2010 [3 favorites]

Wonder what Martin Bashir thinks of KISS?

Seriously. ICP has the Juggalos. But KISS has an entire army, for crying out loud.

(Which reminds me that the greatest response ever to the question "you and what army?" is "The KISS army, duh.")
posted by The World Famous at 10:58 AM on April 14, 2010

People keep quoting that "Fucking magnets, how do they work?" line as if it's proof of the band's stupidity. Empath nailed it the other day with this video of Richard Feynman. He spends seven minutes explaining not how magnets work, but rather how incredibly difficult it would be to understand even a simplified explanation of how they work. "If you were my student, I could begin to explain...", he says.

Fucking magnets.
posted by Squid Voltaire at 11:29 AM on April 14, 2010 [2 favorites]

No discussion of ICP is complete without a link to uncleozzy's truly genius holiday anthem "God Rest Ye Merry Juggalos."
posted by Nothing... and like it at 11:39 AM on April 14, 2010 [2 favorites]

People keep quoting that "Fucking magnets, how do they work?" line as if it's proof of the band's stupidity. Empath nailed it the other day with this video of Richard Feynman. He spends seven minutes explaining not how magnets work, but rather how incredibly difficult it would be to understand even a simplified explanation of how they work. "If you were my student, I could begin to explain...", he says.

Fucking magnets.

The thing is, they don't just say "fucking magnet, how do they work?" They go on to say that they don't want to talk to scientists about how they work because scientist lie about these things. Richard Feynman could try to explain magnets to them, but ICP would just say "fuck you" and spray him with Faygo.

If you're going to bother to be offended by ICP (not a lifestyle choice I'm recommending, but whatever), it's not because they don't understand magnets, but rather because they don't care to understand.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 11:41 AM on April 14, 2010 [4 favorites]

Meh, I'm a goth (there, I said it).

posted by _paegan_

You jest!

(by the way, I'm a Bowie fan.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:56 AM on April 14, 2010

ICP : rap :: GWAR : metal
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:56 AM on April 14, 2010

Richard Feynman could try to explain magnets to them, but ICP would just say "fuck you" and spray him with Faygo.

I really like Richard Feynman and science and scientists generally, and I really don't like ICP at all or Juggalo culture or whatever. But the image of the video of Feynman explaining magnets ending with someone spraying Feynman with Faygo is just pure awesome. And there are at least a couple of flavors of Faygo that are quite delicious, though I understand that ICP doesn't use those flavors because they make it too difficult to wash their clothes after a show.
posted by The World Famous at 12:07 PM on April 14, 2010

Martin Bashir is like Bill O'Reilly, only... with an accent Americans hear as intellectual.

Bill O’Reilly interviews ICP
posted by KokuRyu at 12:12 PM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

Bill O’Reilly interviews ICP

This is really hilarious. Bill scolds them for asking a 12 year old at a record signing if his balls had dropped yet. Then they have a spirited debate about artistic integrity and the importance of parents transmitting their moral values. Bill is markedly more respectful to the be-makeupped men than I have ever seen him be to more conventional interviewees. I guess he only respects other clowns.
posted by winna at 12:34 PM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

I've come to develop a bit of respect for the ICP, and Bashir and his awful reporting earned them some more.

Also that 'Miracles' video is possibly the funniest thing I've seen in a while.
posted by graventy at 12:51 PM on April 14, 2010

I still remember when their first album showed up at the college FM station I DJ'd at, and I looked at it, and went "hmm, nice cover art" then played it and went "meh."
posted by davejay at 12:56 PM on April 14, 2010

Like graventy and a few other above, the irony of this contrived media panic I think is that it's earned the ICP probably more respect than if we all still saw them only in the context of their shit music and skuzzy fanbase. I think I'm like a lot of the rest of us here in that I only knew enough about Violent J and theSkinnee1 to feel revolted by it all. They're ineloquent, but they have stronger arguments than Bill Bashir and they held themselves up there calmly, up the public gaze, to their manipulative editing, under churlish scrutiny. Today, we are all Juggalos.
posted by Evstar at 1:22 PM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

I just have to say, the reporting was indeed flawed, but could this music, and I use the term loosely, be any more banal and sophmoric and just plain foolish? And I really am sick of stupid people hiding behind the excuse of, "Hey, we're just entertainers." These guys sound like self-important assholes.
posted by ChaoticIndustry at 1:22 PM on April 14, 2010

but could this music, and I use the term loosely, be any more banal and sophmoric and just plain foolish?

It could be, yes. But then it would be mainstream pop music and nobody would do investigative journalism bits blaming it for society's ills.
posted by The World Famous at 1:29 PM on April 14, 2010

could this music, and I use the term loosely, be any more banal and sophmoric and just plain foolish?

At work, I sit in an open office with four other people. We play music to while away the time and beguile our thoughts with joy.

There is always a fierce and silent battle over whose music is played, however. I like to play jazz or piano music or if I'm in an extremely upbeat mood I'll play some manguebeat or klezmer. One of my other coworkers likes to play They Might Be Giants or Jonathan Coulton and other bands of that type. One of my coworkers plays Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry and Kenny Chesney and other Disney approved music.

Every single person thinks that the other people's music is terrible and bad and lacking all merit. Now, I am obviously the only one who is right, but I can quite clearly see that my peers simply have different tastes in the bad kinds of music they like and of which they should be ashamed.

Although I could almost stand to listen to Miley Cyrus if she were playing with ICP.
posted by winna at 1:33 PM on April 14, 2010 [2 favorites]

Today, we are all Juggalos.

seriously, i need to worry about being gay-bashed on metafilter today? i can't exactly find a straight answer on whether the band actively promotes homophobia, or if it is just a side effect of their fan base they don't feel the need to counter.
posted by fallacy of the beard at 1:34 PM on April 14, 2010

Martin Bashir is a colossal jackass.
posted by mondaygreens at 1:45 PM on April 14, 2010 [1 favorite]

There certainly are reasonable ways that one can go about suggesting that certain media products lower the bar for certain forms of behavior from their audience. The problem is that Martin Bashir's bull-headed approach of holding ICP personally responsible for specific crimes isn't the way to go about it.

And a part of me wonders if this project was greenlit to jump on the bandwagon after CNN's fearmongering regarding an underground game that's not been legally distributed in the United States. It seems to be the season for it.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 2:20 PM on April 14, 2010

It would be a net gain for the world if we had more of ICP, their music, and their followers, and got rid of an opportunistic, predatory hack like Bashir.
posted by sid at 2:28 PM on April 14, 2010

FWIW, I really dislike ICP's music, but this piece by Bashir is pure crap.
posted by sid at 2:29 PM on April 14, 2010

So, regarding the participants in this interview: They *all* suck, right?
posted by grubi at 6:20 AM on April 15, 2010

Stop posting stories from The Onion!

i liked their take on miracles :P
posted by kliuless at 10:49 PM on April 15, 2010

It just occurred to me that Violent J bears a very strong resemblance to Glenn Beck.
posted by dunkadunc at 10:54 PM on April 15, 2010

This "report" had the unfortunate side effect of making me respect ICP. For that I can never forgive Mr. Bashir.
posted by chairface at 5:09 PM on April 18, 2010