Insane Clown Posse – The Great Milenko (1997)

February 1, 2024

I listened the ever-living fuck out of this album when I was a teenager. The Wraith and Great Milenko were my introduction to ICP, and whilst I worked backwards and preferred the older Joker Cards, Great Milenko will always hold a special place with me for reigniting my interest in the band. I can remember it now, as clear as day, my girlfriend sent me an .mp3 of “Halls Of Illusions” via MSN Messenger and I was instantly hooked. I had seen ICP on the wrasslin’ when I was a little kid, and the theme they did for the Oddities was on the PlayStation game WWF Attitude. I fuckin’ loved that game, and my custom-made wrassler, Banzai, had “The Greatest Show” as his theme music. It had never occurred to me that the ICP was a band, nor that the Oddities theme was composed by anyone other than some heads over at the WWF music dept. – so when I found out that there was a WHOLE fucking album of music like that, I went bezerk.

After hearing “Halls Of Illusions” for the first time that one night on MSN Messenger, that was it. I bought this CD the next time I was at a record store, and the rest is history. I wouldn’t call myself a juggalo to be honest, as in, I’m not dedicated enough to that lifestyle at all, and my real love lies deep in grindcore, death metal etc., rather than hip hop, but man I fuckin’ loved this band. The zany lyrics (“I’m Violent J and I’m back like a vertabrae” is a 10/10 line, fight me) and dirty carnie beats won me over immediately.

I’m probably biased but I would still genuienly say this is probably the best place to start with ICP, if you’re looking for an in-road.