When I think of the Detroit's Insane Clown Posse (who performed at Tucson's Rialto Theatre last year and frequently appear in the Zia Records top ten published in our music section), I'm thankful for two things: that I don't often have to hear their music and that they've been on a roll lately giving interviews to confused music journalists. This time, the crypto-geniuses behind the song "Miracles" and the Gathering of the Juggalos festival spoke to The Guardian's Jon Ronson about their Christian faith. Seriously.
The entire article is an enjoyable and head-scratching read, if only to try to decipher what on earth these two face-painted guys are talking about at any given moment, but this section (from part of the conversation where the interviewer gets into how a scientist attempted to debunk ICP's perception of what miracles are on YouTube) is music journalism gold:
"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."
Words to live by.
Sure, their music is ultra-violent on a nearly indefensible level and often wildly misogynist, but they do have a point with the elephants, so here's two minutes of our world's walking, wrinkled miracles playing.