REVIEW: Insane Clown Posse, The Great Milenko (Island)

- David Savage

There are two ways to look at this record, with all the hype surrounding its quasi-release, retraction and re-release on a different label. You can see it as a musical work or as a judgment call. If you are to actually purchase the record, you must see it as a judgment call (or be a victim of morbid curiosity because of the overblown coverage).

The ICP have had a thematic thread running through all their independent releases and chose to continue it on their first major-label 'opus'. It is unfortunate that there was no reference made to the theme in the press materials or on the packaging of the record. A slight reference is made on the first track that one only understands if it is subsequently explained to them by a 'fan' (and boy are those hard to find - luckily I know one from the pre-major release days). It is a 'horsemen of the apocalypse' thing that is part-way done by this release. It is harped on throughout the record (sorry I did not bother to count the number of times "Milenko" is mentioned on the record, the thought of doing so annoyed me to no end) so much that eventually the screaming/whining mention of "Milenko" makes you want to turn the CD off immediately.

The music itself is garden variety hip hop beats with a nasal, whiny rap over it - and I do not mean that in that Cypress Hill kind of way, more like in a sore-throated, sneering frat-boy kind of way. The lyrical content might actually make you like the ICP if you can wade through the violent testosterone-riddled tough-guy posturing. Themes dealt with include killing child-molestors and wife-beaters in a horrific manner - noble thoughts, despite the ideas for how to deal with these types. If you dig REALLY deep, you could even say that their rap is 'positive' - a stretch, I know.

Disney (Hollywood Records) was all ready to release this record before they listened to it and decided that the subject matter was shocking and offensive. If they had pulled it because they listened to the product they were about to market to the public and thought the A&R person was judgement-impaired when he signed it, that would have been thoroughly understandable...

Then in came Island records to show us all that record companies have the right to try to sell us crap - we just have to be smart enough not to buy it (at least that is the only reason I could think of to pay that much money to get ICP out of their contract and put out a record of this caliber).

Yay Island Records! I like it when companies trust our judgement. That trust issue is why I would not discourage the purchase of the ICP record - listening to The Great Milenko certainly satisfies the curiosity generated by the media. You can even buy it to get back at Disney for being so very Big Brother about the whole thing.

There is plenty of shockingly bad music out there, most of it not nearly as well publicized as The Great Milenko ; you are free to spend as much money as you want on it. I hear Vanilla Ice is putting out a new record...