Insane Clown Posse’s Carnival Goes Dark Again

Dark Carnival theme returns to ICP strategy

"Bang Pow Boom" comes in three colors: red, green and blue. Image from Wikipedia.

I guess Insane Clown Posse’s large and insanely loyal fan base isn’t quite enough for the duo anymore. It must have at least shrunk a little bit since their Dark Carnival marketing strategy ended in 2004, because Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope are bringing it back. I guess the throngs of Juggalos that attend every single Insane Clown Posse show without fail are just not enough, and they’re after my cash now.

Mike E. Clark is back as Insane Clown Posse’s producer. Clark has worked on most of their albums since the beginning, up to and including “Bizaar” and “Bizzar” in 2000. Clark provides the Insane Clown Posse with “an appropriately demented sonic palate with which to play” on their new album, “Bang Pow Boom,” says Adam Graham at The Detroit News.

The Detroit News reports:

It should be no surprise that the Insane Clown Posse has resuscitated the Dark Carnival, the stylistic theme that carried the gruesome twosome through its popular series of albums known as Joker’s Cards, and which was thought to have wrapped with 2004’s “Hell’s Pit” album.

The group’s new “Bang Pow Boom” sees the rebirth of the Dark Carnival, and marks the best material the Clowns have touched since 1999’s “The Amazing Jeckel Brothers.”

Insane Clown Posse up to old tricks

I admit I am not a regular listener when it comes to Insane Clown Posse, but this Graham guy seems to know what he is talking about, and he reports that it’s apparent, after producing a few albums without him, that “the Clowns need Clark just as much as he needs them.”

“Bang Pow Boom” brings back the circus sounds, surf-rock guitars and left-field samples that Insane Clown Posse is known for. The album was released today. Fans report that the album is a return to glory. Graham says:

Yes, the Clowns are still as cartoonishy violent and gleefully juvenile as ever, dispensing their warped brand of justice by attacking racists, wife beaters, pedophiles and rednecks — like the Inglorious Bastards in greasepaint. But the backing tracks are more upbeat, for lack of a better word, and some of them — “Love,” for example — even have enough pep to be club tracks.

Joking about Juggalos

Because the Insane Clown Posse is reviving an old theme and returning to working with Clark, it’s clear that the past five years or so have not gone the way Insane Clown Posse wanted them to. However, I can’t imagine this duo having more fans.

I live in a town where the Insane Clown Posse visits three or four times a year. Every show is sold out. Everyone knows when Insane Clown Posse is in town because downtown is crawling with thick throngs of teens and 20-somethings with their faces covered in white grease paint and black, painted-on tears.

Competing for attention

Perhaps Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope (Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler) thought perhaps their fans were becoming more of a spectacle than they were, and they had to catch up. You definitely have to stay on top of your game if people are going to get all dolled up and chant in the streets every time you come to town.

Insane Clown Posse is indeed touring; check out the Insane Clown Posse tour dates. As I suspected, the show in my town is already sold out.