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Welcome to the Gathering of the Juggalos. These guys came onto my radar with the "Magnets, how do they fucking work?" video was widely mocked. You guys need to enjoy this dumpster fire like I did. I'd like to go to one of these, in the same way that an anthropologist goes out to primitive tribes and observes their strange customs and mating rituals.
It shocks me not at all that GWAR is a part of this. Also, GWAR is a stupid fun concert that I recommend.
I saw that there was a group that took telescopes out there one year and showed off the moon to all the kids whacked out on drugs and diabetes. Funny thing, they never went back.
I get it. Juggalos, like furries, are one of the last cultural groups you can pick on without fear of reprisal. But a bunch of poor white trash gathering in rural Ohio to watch Tech Nine, Yellawolf and Gwar? I refuse to look down my nose at that. That is a truly victimless crime. Did you check out the vendor page? I think it's time we all recognize that Juggalos are basically LARPers who like their speed metal with rap mixed in. And yeah - a lot of it is shit. But I'll take Juggalos over Phishheads any day. "Fuck you, man," says Violent J. "Shut the fuck up." "Did you anticipate this kind of reaction?" I ask them. "No," sighs Violent J. "I figured most people would say, 'Wow, I didn't know Insane Clown Posse could be deep like that.' But instead it's, 'ICP said a giraffe is a miracle. Ha ha ha! What a bunch of idiots.'" He pauses, then adds defiantly, "A giraffe is a fucking miracle. It has a dinosaur-like neck. It's yellow. Yeah, technically an elephant is not a miracle. Technically. They've been here for hundreds of years…" "Thousands," murmurs Shaggy. "Have you ever stood next to an elephant, my friend?" asks Violent J. "A fucking elephant is a miracle. If people can't see a fucking miracle in a fucking elephant, then life must suck for them, because an elephant is a fucking miracle. So is a giraffe."Tall Jess’s Druglord: The Game & Alligator Jesus (facebook.com/DrugLordGame/). Tall Jess presents Druglord, a boardgame that puts the world’s supply of weed, pills, cocaine, and heroin in your hands, as well as custom art, and select Morton’s List flavor. Also, Alligator Jesus will have custom grillz, Dark Carnival jewelry, and so much more.
One of the ICP road crew locates the video on his iPhone, and it is indeed withering: "The [Miracles] video is not only dumb, but enthusiastically dumb, endorsing a ferocious breed of ignorance that can only be described as militant. The entire song is practically a tribute to not knowing things."
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francopoli · 151 days ago · link ·
I understand the Juggalos. They are the rejects that have nowhere else to go. All they want to do is listen to their shitty music, do drugs and fuck. Going to GWAR concerts, you run into them. They go to the show, do their thing and leave. I'll still laugh at them, but I have no problems with them and we can each shake hands after exiting the concert. Phish fans? Phish fans can go die in a fire. Les Claypool, the guy behind Primus, had a band called Oysterhead that was not bad. The singer was the guy from Phish and the drummer from the Police. Primus fans were there to have fun, mosh a bit and chill. Phish fans were there to get fucked up and tell anyone that would listen to them about how smug they were for being Phish fans. I stopped going to big outdoor concerts due to these fuckwits. And if you have bad allergic reactions to weed like I do? Hooooo boy, let me tell you, the week after the Oysterhead show I was almost ambulatory. And it was not even good weed, either. Some of the people I went to the show with are, shall we say conousours of the dope, and they were just getting angrier as the concert went on. My life is too full of shit to do for me to have to deal with hippie jam-band morons. I'd rather go to a metal show in a small venue, jump up and down like an idiot for an hour and have a good time.
Lol. Phish fan checking in. I've probably seen them two dozen times over the last 22 years, which for a normal band would sound like a lot, but makes me inexperienced as far as people that do that kind of thing go. There really isn't much of a thing as a phishhead anymore. In the 90s the scene was ridiculous. Now? It's a bunch of dudes in their 30s, 40s, and 50s who have jobs and can afford $100/ticket. There's no shakedown, no grilled cheese purveyors, no acid fueled devil stick wielders. It's basically just people there to see the show. On the one hand it's nice to not have to deal with that. On the other it's sort of sad that a subculture has died. But the subculture was always fake anyway, and probably why it was so annoying, since it was essentially dead heads trying to keep that scene alive without regard to the fact it was a different band.
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Hahaha. That sounds unbearable. Last year I saw this girl in concert, Holly Bowling, who transcribes love versions of Phish and Dead tunes for classical piano. Even if you hate the music, it's such an incredible feat it's hard not to be impressed. Of the 50 or so people on the audience at this little Hollywood club 49 we're quietly and politely enjoying a piano concert, and one was dancing and screaming every 5 minutes. Those people ruin everything, and I can imagine that a Dead cover band would be 100% that type. So horrible.
Shaggy seems to be the brains of the operation but from what I know he doesn't have the power to do anything. Militantly stupid is not an inaccurate description of the other one. Good artists don't need to defend their work the way he does there. Yeah, I see your point but you're also not a good enough writer to pull off the feat you attempted.
They came on my radar in high school. One of my younger brothers had The Great Milenko and I have a friend who I think still identifies as a juggalo but he works in aerospace now so he's probably not all that serious about it in the way people who go to the Gathering are I watched a short documentary on them. Probably by Vice. They're endearing in a way because they're a bunch of white trash misfits, like kb said, who unite and comfort each other with their shared taste in awful music. I do see an axe man tattoo and think "Dear God, what did you go through to bring you to get that tattoo?" so I'm still judgmental. I'm just not 100% disdainful. Of the fans. The actual band is laughably terrible and if I felt like it I could find examples of the two being assholes. I totally agree that jam bands are awful and their fans are orders of magnitude worse. Jam bands are incredibly popular in recovery circles. Which surprised me. It shouldn't have but I was naive about which drugs people take in order to make it possible to enjoy Trey Anastacio noodling on the guitar for 20 minutes per song. Drug addicts tend towards insecurity and people pleasing so saying, "I don't like jam bands," is a mild insult to some guys I've met and they'll try to change my mind instead of respecting my taste which just makes me hate jam bands more. And as a result I started IRL trolling hippies in meetings by tossing out the occasional direct joking insult directed at Phish or String Cheese Incident which gets laughs from most of the room and probably some butthurt from the kinds of people who form an identity around following Widespread Panic around. As was my intent. Now I've riled myself up thinking about the year I lived with Spreadheads... Summary: Juggaloes- mostly harmless ICP- Yes. They're clowns. Not in a good way if there is one. Jam bands and their fans- a subculture that doesn't get the derision it deserves Possibly the doc I watched: Almost certainly close enough
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francopoli · 151 days ago · link ·
I think that is the one documentary I saw as well.
johnnyFive · 154 days ago · link ·
I have no feelings for these folks beyond an occasional and short-lived fascination. I do remember a video of some random guy going to one of these and crushing people in the rap battles. It was pretty hilarious. I live in GWAR's hometown, and they are a blast. There's also the annual GWAR-B-Q, which I've never been to, since the musical line-up always sounds awful.
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francopoli · 151 days ago · link ·
A GWAR concert is a place where we as fans are all in on the joke, and I love it. Been to several myself.
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