The Great Milenko
Encyclopedia
The Great Milenko is the fourth studio album
by American hip hop
group Insane Clown Posse
, released on June 25, 1997, by Hollywood Records
, in association with Psychopathic Records
. The album spawned the two singles "Halls of Illusions
" and "Hokus Pokus
." As the fourth Joker's Card in the group's Dark Carnival
mythology, the album's lyrics focus on the titular Great Milenko, a Magic illusionist who tries to trick individuals into greed and other such sin
s.
The album was recorded and initially released by the Disney
-owned record label
Hollywood Records
. Due to the graphic nature of the lyrics, the group altered the content of its lyrics at the label's request. The album was deleted by Hollywood hours after its release, in response to criticism from the Southern Baptist Church
of decisions that the church believed did not reflect Disney's family-friendly image, although Disney claimed that the album was released due to an oversight by its review board. After the termination of the Hollywood Records contract, Insane Clown Posse signed a new contract with Island Records
(whose parent at the time, PolyGram
, distributed Hollywood releases in North America), which agreed to release the album as it was originally intended.
The music of The Great Milenko features a rock
-based sound. The Great Milenko features guest appearances by popular rock stars Alice Cooper
, Steve Jones
, and Slash
. Although the album was poorly received by critics, it debuted at number sixty-three on the Billboard
charts, and was later certified platinum
by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA).
started to attract a strong local following in Detroit, Michigan
. The group began selling out large clubs such as St. Andrew's Hall and the State Theater
, and drew the attention of major record label Jive Records
. The next year, Insane Clown Posse signed with the label Battery, a subsidiary Jive Records. Battery/Jive released the duo's third studio album, Riddle Box (1995), but showed little interest in promoting the album. The group's manager Alex Abbiss negotiated a contract with the Walt Disney Company
-owned label Hollywood Records
, which reportedly paid $
1,000,000 to purchase the Insane Clown Posse contract from Battery/Jive Records.
The expansion of the Juggalo
fanbase into its own culture inspired Insane Clown Posse to write the songs "What Is A Juggalo?" and "Down With The Clown" for this album.
began thinking of a title for the album shortly after. Bruce later came up with the title The Great Milenko. Incidentally, Bruce also admitted that he had always liked the stage name
of professional wrestler
Dean Simon
, whose pseudonym was "Dean Malenko", because he felt that the name Malenko had a "carnival" sound to it. Believing that he had created the name himself, Bruce later realized that he had actually unwittingly used the nickname of Dean's father, Boris "The Great" Malenko
.
The band wanted to include famous rock stars on the album. Julian Raymond, the artists and repertoire representative for Hollywood Records contacted Slash
, Steve Jones
, and Alice Cooper
. Slash, who was a self-professed fan of the band's music, reportedly only asked for Wild Irish Rose
as payment for his contributions. Bruce, who knew very little about the Sex Pistols
or Steve Jones, declined to show up at the studio when Jones played his guitar part for "Piggy Pie". Although not knowing much about Alice Cooper either, Bruce decided to fly to Arizona
and coach Cooper on his parts.
After the recording sessions were finished, executives at the band's label, Hollywood Records, and, ultimately Disney
, expressed dissatisfaction with several tracks. Disney requested that the tracks "The Neden Game," "Under the Moon," and "Boogie Woogie Wu" be removed because of lyrics referencing abuse of women, rape and murder, and the slaughter of children, respectively. Disney also asked that the lyrics of "Piggy Pie" be changed, due to lyrics about murdering police officers. Disney threatened not to release the album if their requests were not met. Begrudgingly, Bruce and Utsler complied with Disney's requests. The uncensored version of "Piggy Pie" was later released on Forgotten Freshness Volumes 1 & 2. After recording was finalized, the duo planned to go on a national tour with House of Krazees
and Myzery as its opening acts. Several songs were recorded with the intention of releasing them on The Great Milenko. One such song, "House of Wonders" was recorded but was later released on Mutilation Mix
(1997) and Forgotten Freshness Volumes 1 & 2 (1998).
, the fictional mythology of the concept album
series used in much of their discography. The Dark Carnival is a concept of the afterlife
in which souls are sent to a form of limbo
while waiting to be sent to heaven
or hell
based on their individual actions
. These concepts are related by Insane Clown Posse in a series of albums called the six Joker's Card
s. Each of the six Joker's Cards relate to a specific character — an entity of the Dark Carnival — that tries to "save the human soul" by showing the wicked inside of one's self.
This Joker's Card is a necromancer and illusionist
who tries to trick individuals into acts of greed, envy, and lust. The Card ultimately issues a warning against such acts of sin
, and enlightens listeners that The Great Milenko is a part of every individual, and that they have the power to fall under his illusions or cast his hoaxes aside.
The Great Milenko featured more rock
influences than previous Insane Clown Posse albums, including an introduction performed by Alice Cooper
and guitar tracks performed by Steve Jones
(on "Piggie Pie"), and Slash
(on "Halls of Illusions"). Stephen Thomas Erlewine
of Allmusic wrote, in his review of The Amazing Jeckel Brothers
(1999) that, "The Great Milenko [...] was targeted at white-boy, adolescent metalheads -- really, how could any album that contained guest spots from Alice Cooper, Slash, Steve Jones and Legs Diamond be anything else?"
Insane Clown Posse hired renowned Detroit record producer
and DJ
Mike E. Clark
to produce the record. Clark made the album sound more rock
-oriented, as opposed to the duo's earlier material, which featured a more prominent hip-hop sound. To create the record, Clark utilized standard hip hop techniques such as record scratching, and mixed them with elements of rock and heavy metal
.
who tries to trick individuals into greed and other such sin
s. He takes out the worst in an individual and creates powerful illusions in an attempt to cause them to become hedonistic and greedy. An honorable individual must fight his magic in order to make it to Shangri-La
(as revealed in the track "Pass Me By").
The album's themes mostly revolve around those of death
, morality
, and everyday decisions. For instance, "How Many Times?" talks about annoying traffic jams and other everyday-life inconveniences. "Piggy Pie" references the Three Little Pigs
and tells Violent J's story of murdering three incest-prone rednecks. "Under the Moon" tells the tale of a man convicted after killing a man who tried to rape his girlfriend. "Boogie Woogie Wu" is told from the perspective of the boogie man
and talks about the slaughter of children. The "Neden Game" takes the form of a Dating Game
-esque show, albeit with added misogynistic banter for humor. Finally, the lyrics to "Hellalujah" target money-hungry
preachers.
" and "Hokus Pokus
." "Halls of Illusions" was the first single released in 1997. The single peaked at number 56 on the UK Singles Chart
, and its accompanying music video
peaked at number one on The Box video request channel. The album's second single, "Hokus Pokus," was released in June 1997. In 1998, it peaked at number 54 on the UK Singles Chart
.
. The group was also informed that its in-store signings and 25-city nationwide tour had been canceled, commercials for the album and the music video for "Halls of Illusions" (which had reached number one on The Box video request channel) were pulled from television, and that the group was dropped from the label. It was later revealed that Disney was being criticized by the Southern Baptist Church
at the time because of Disney's promotion of Gay Days at Disneyland
, in addition to producing and distributing the gay-themed television sitcom Ellen
. The church claimed Disney was turning its back on family values
. Although Abbiss told the press that Disney had stopped production of The Great Milenko to avoid further controversy, Disney claimed instead that the release of the album was an oversight by their review board, and that the album "did not fit the Disney image" because of its "inappropriate" lyrics, which they claimed were offensive to women. Although Hollywood Records had ordered record stores to return shipments of the now-deleted album, many record stores refused, including the Michigan-based Harmony House where 1,700 CDs were sold in 36 stores after the termination order.
After the termination of the Hollywood Records contract, labels such as Interscope
and Geffen Records
wanted to sign the group, but Island Records
' Chris Blackwell
came to the group's rescue and agreed to release The Great Milenko as it was originally intended. As part of the deal, Island also agreed to rerelease the group's first two Joker's Card albums. Milenko was released in four colors: red, green, purple, and gold. Each color had a different secret message that would help reveal the title of the fifth Joker's Card, The Amazing Jeckel Brothers
. Music video
s were filmed for "Halls of Illusions," "How Many Times," and "Piggy Pie." An unofficial music video for "Down with the Clown" was featured on the home-video release Juggalo Championshxt Wrestling Volume 1. A music video for the Headhuntaz Remix of "Hokus Pokus" was produced after the release of the album. The video featured appearances by Twiztid
and Myzery. Blackwell left Island Records shortly after the group released Forgotten Freshness Volumes 1 & 2, and the merger of PolyGram into Universal Music Group
(which owned Interscope and Geffen) affected the way the label handled its next Joker's Card release. Despite the rough start, The Great Milenko has sold well over the years. On May 5, 1998, the album was certified gold
by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA). A year later, on April 21, 1999, the album was certified platinum for shipments of over one million copies. As of 2007, the album has sold over 1.7 million copies in the United States.
music critic David Browne
gave the record a C-minus rating: "[With] its puerile humor and intentionally ugly metal-rap
tunes, the album feels oddly dated." Allmusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine
said that The Great Milenko is "the sort of record you wish they would take off the stereo at excruciating frat parties." In The Great Rock Discography, Martin Charles Strong gave the album five out of ten stars. The album received two out of five stars in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, in which Ben Sisario
identified it as the album in which "the group came into its own".
Although the reviews were mostly negative, some critics complimented the album's improved sound over its precursors. Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that the album was "a better record than [its] predecessors, boasting a tougher sound and some actual hooks, without losing the juvenile vulgarity that pleased their following," and added that "it is better than the rest of ICP's work." David Browne said that "Milenko is better produced than the duo's earlier output (Slash grinds out metal chords on Halls of Illusions), and Pass Me By is a genuinely melodic song." In 2009, Fangoria
named The Great Milenko an iconic horrorcore album.
Other personnel
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
group Insane Clown Posse
Insane Clown Posse
Insane Clown Posse is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. The group is composed of Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler, who perform under the respective personas of the "wicked clowns" Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Insane Clown Posse performs a style of hardcore hip hop known as horrorcore...
, released on June 25, 1997, by Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...
, in association with Psychopathic Records
Psychopathic Records
Psychopathic Records, also known as "The Hatchet", is an American independent record label based in Farmington Hills, Michigan that specializes in hip hop music. The label was founded in 1991 by Alex Abbiss and hip hop group Insane Clown Posse....
. The album spawned the two singles "Halls of Illusions
Halls of Illusions
"Halls of Illusions" is the first single by American hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse from their fourth studio album, The Great Milenko. The song shows their hate towards child abuse and domestic violence. The clean version of the music video removes all language and graphic violence by changing the...
" and "Hokus Pokus
Hokus Pokus (Insane Clown Posse song)
"Hokus Pokus" is a song written by Insane Clown Posse and Mike E. Clark for the duo's 1997 studio album, The Great Milenko. A music video was produced for the "Headhunta'z Remix" of the song in 1997...
." As the fourth Joker's Card in the group's Dark Carnival
Dark Carnival (Insane Clown Posse)
The Dark Carnival is the mythology of the concept album series used in much of Insane Clown Posse's discography. It is a concept of the afterlife in which souls are sent to a form of limbo while waiting to be sent to Heaven or Hell based on their individual actions. These concepts are related by...
mythology, the album's lyrics focus on the titular Great Milenko, a Magic illusionist who tries to trick individuals into greed and other such sin
Sin
In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
s.
The album was recorded and initially released by the Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
-owned record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...
. Due to the graphic nature of the lyrics, the group altered the content of its lyrics at the label's request. The album was deleted by Hollywood hours after its release, in response to criticism from the Southern Baptist Church
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...
of decisions that the church believed did not reflect Disney's family-friendly image, although Disney claimed that the album was released due to an oversight by its review board. After the termination of the Hollywood Records contract, Insane Clown Posse signed a new contract with Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
(whose parent at the time, PolyGram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
, distributed Hollywood releases in North America), which agreed to release the album as it was originally intended.
The music of The Great Milenko features a rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
-based sound. The Great Milenko features guest appearances by popular rock stars Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, Steve Jones
Steve Jones (musician)
Stephen Philip "Steve" Jones is an English rock guitarist, singer and actor, best known as guitarist and founding member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols.-Childhood:...
, and Slash
Slash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
. Although the album was poorly received by critics, it debuted at number sixty-three on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
charts, and was later certified platinum
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA).
Background
Following the 1994 release of the album Ringmaster, Insane Clown PosseInsane Clown Posse
Insane Clown Posse is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. The group is composed of Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler, who perform under the respective personas of the "wicked clowns" Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Insane Clown Posse performs a style of hardcore hip hop known as horrorcore...
started to attract a strong local following in Detroit, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. The group began selling out large clubs such as St. Andrew's Hall and the State Theater
The Fillmore Detroit
The Fillmore Detroit is a mixed-use entertainment venue operated by Live Nation. The Detroit Music Awards are held annually at The Fillmore Detroit in April. Built in 1925, the Fillmore Detroit was known for most of its history as the State Theatre, and prior to that as the Palms Theatre...
, and drew the attention of major record label Jive Records
Jive Records
Jive Records was a record label based in New York City, operating under RCA Music Group. Jive was primarily known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and in teen pop and boy bands in the late 1990s. The word "jive" was inspired by Township Jive, a form of South African...
. The next year, Insane Clown Posse signed with the label Battery, a subsidiary Jive Records. Battery/Jive released the duo's third studio album, Riddle Box (1995), but showed little interest in promoting the album. The group's manager Alex Abbiss negotiated a contract with the Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
-owned label Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...
, which reportedly paid $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1,000,000 to purchase the Insane Clown Posse contract from Battery/Jive Records.
The expansion of the Juggalo
Juggalo
Juggalo or Juggalette is a name given to fans of Insane Clown Posse or any other Psychopathic Records hip hop group. Juggalos have developed their own idioms, slang, and characteristics.-History:...
fanbase into its own culture inspired Insane Clown Posse to write the songs "What Is A Juggalo?" and "Down With The Clown" for this album.
Recording
The group started recording The Great Milenko in 1996, and Joseph BruceJoseph Bruce
Joseph Frank "Joe" Bruce is an American rapper, record producer, professional wrestler and actor. Bruce is most commonly known as Violent J of the Insane Clown Posse . He is the co-founder of the record label Psychopathic Records, with fellow ICP rapper Joseph Utsler and their former manager,...
began thinking of a title for the album shortly after. Bruce later came up with the title The Great Milenko. Incidentally, Bruce also admitted that he had always liked the stage name
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
of professional wrestler
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
Dean Simon
Dean Malenko
Dean Simon is a retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Dean Malenko. He is currently signed to WWE working as a road agent. He is best known for his time with Extreme Championship Wrestling , New Japan Pro Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling...
, whose pseudonym was "Dean Malenko", because he felt that the name Malenko had a "carnival" sound to it. Believing that he had created the name himself, Bruce later realized that he had actually unwittingly used the nickname of Dean's father, Boris "The Great" Malenko
Boris Malenko
Lawrence J. Simon better known by his ring name Boris Malenko, was an American professional wrestler who wrestled for the American Wrestling Association and National Wrestling Alliance in the 1960s and 1970s...
.
The band wanted to include famous rock stars on the album. Julian Raymond, the artists and repertoire representative for Hollywood Records contacted Slash
Slash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
, Steve Jones
Steve Jones (musician)
Stephen Philip "Steve" Jones is an English rock guitarist, singer and actor, best known as guitarist and founding member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols.-Childhood:...
, and Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
. Slash, who was a self-professed fan of the band's music, reportedly only asked for Wild Irish Rose
Low-end fortified wine
Low-end fortified wine is an inexpensive fortified wine that typically has an alcohol content between 13% and 20% ABV. These inexpensive wines usually contain added sugar, artificial color, and artificial flavor.- Brands :...
as payment for his contributions. Bruce, who knew very little about the Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...
or Steve Jones, declined to show up at the studio when Jones played his guitar part for "Piggy Pie". Although not knowing much about Alice Cooper either, Bruce decided to fly to Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
and coach Cooper on his parts.
After the recording sessions were finished, executives at the band's label, Hollywood Records, and, ultimately Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
, expressed dissatisfaction with several tracks. Disney requested that the tracks "The Neden Game," "Under the Moon," and "Boogie Woogie Wu" be removed because of lyrics referencing abuse of women, rape and murder, and the slaughter of children, respectively. Disney also asked that the lyrics of "Piggy Pie" be changed, due to lyrics about murdering police officers. Disney threatened not to release the album if their requests were not met. Begrudgingly, Bruce and Utsler complied with Disney's requests. The uncensored version of "Piggy Pie" was later released on Forgotten Freshness Volumes 1 & 2. After recording was finalized, the duo planned to go on a national tour with House of Krazees
House of Krazees
House of Krazees was an American hip hop group from Detroit, Michigan. The group was composed of the rappers R.O.C., Paul Methric and Jamie Spaniolo. House of Krazees performed a style of hardcore hip hop known as horrorcore and was active from 1993 until 1997....
and Myzery as its opening acts. Several songs were recorded with the intention of releasing them on The Great Milenko. One such song, "House of Wonders" was recorded but was later released on Mutilation Mix
Mutilation Mix
Mutilation Mix is a greatest hits album by American hip hop group Insane Clown Posse. The album consists of excerpts of songs from the group's first three studio albums, as well as some rare, less-known tracks. Dispersed throughout the music are several recordings of phone messages...
(1997) and Forgotten Freshness Volumes 1 & 2 (1998).
Joker's Cards
The Great Milenko is the fourth Joker's Card in Insane Clown Posse's Dark CarnivalDark Carnival (Insane Clown Posse)
The Dark Carnival is the mythology of the concept album series used in much of Insane Clown Posse's discography. It is a concept of the afterlife in which souls are sent to a form of limbo while waiting to be sent to Heaven or Hell based on their individual actions. These concepts are related by...
, the fictional mythology of the concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
series used in much of their discography. The Dark Carnival is a concept of the afterlife
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
in which souls are sent to a form of limbo
Limbo
In the theology of the Catholic Church, Limbo is a speculative idea about the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the damned. Limbo is not an official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church or any other...
while waiting to be sent to heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
or hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
based on their individual actions
Divine Judgment
Divine judgment means the judgment of God or other supreme beings within a religion. The concept is prominent in Abrahamic religions, most significantly in the Last judgment.-Objective and subjective judgment:...
. These concepts are related by Insane Clown Posse in a series of albums called the six Joker's Card
Joker (playing card)
Joker is a special type of playing card found in most modern decks, or else a type of tile in some Mahjong game sets.-Name:It is believed that the term "Joker" comes from a mispronunciation of Jucker, the German/Alsatian name for the game Euchre. The card was originally introduced in about 1860 for...
s. Each of the six Joker's Cards relate to a specific character — an entity of the Dark Carnival — that tries to "save the human soul" by showing the wicked inside of one's self.
This Joker's Card is a necromancer and illusionist
Magic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
who tries to trick individuals into acts of greed, envy, and lust. The Card ultimately issues a warning against such acts of sin
Sin
In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
, and enlightens listeners that The Great Milenko is a part of every individual, and that they have the power to fall under his illusions or cast his hoaxes aside.
Style
The Great Milenko featured more rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
influences than previous Insane Clown Posse albums, including an introduction performed by Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
and guitar tracks performed by Steve Jones
Steve Jones (musician)
Stephen Philip "Steve" Jones is an English rock guitarist, singer and actor, best known as guitarist and founding member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols.-Childhood:...
(on "Piggie Pie"), and Slash
Slash (musician)
Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
(on "Halls of Illusions"). Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
of Allmusic wrote, in his review of The Amazing Jeckel Brothers
The Amazing Jeckel Brothers
The Amazing Jeckel Brothers is the fifth studio album by American hip hop group Insane Clown Posse, released on May 25, 1999, by Island Records, in association with Psychopathic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place from 1998 to 1999. The album is the fifth Joker's Card in the...
(1999) that, "The Great Milenko [...] was targeted at white-boy, adolescent metalheads -- really, how could any album that contained guest spots from Alice Cooper, Slash, Steve Jones and Legs Diamond be anything else?"
Insane Clown Posse hired renowned Detroit record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
and DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
Mike E. Clark
Mike E. Clark
Mike Earl Clark is an American record producer and DJ from Detroit, Michigan currently signed to Hatchet House.Clark is best known for his work with Insane Clown Posse, for which he has produced nine studio albums...
to produce the record. Clark made the album sound more rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
-oriented, as opposed to the duo's earlier material, which featured a more prominent hip-hop sound. To create the record, Clark utilized standard hip hop techniques such as record scratching, and mixed them with elements of rock and heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
.
Lyricism
According to the group's mythology, The Great Milenko is a necromancer and illusionistMagic (illusion)
Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
who tries to trick individuals into greed and other such sin
Sin
In religion, sin is the violation or deviation of an eternal divine law or standard. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Christians believe the moral code of conduct is decreed by God In religion, sin (also called peccancy) is the violation or deviation...
s. He takes out the worst in an individual and creates powerful illusions in an attempt to cause them to become hedonistic and greedy. An honorable individual must fight his magic in order to make it to Shangri-La
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
(as revealed in the track "Pass Me By").
The album's themes mostly revolve around those of death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
, morality
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
, and everyday decisions. For instance, "How Many Times?" talks about annoying traffic jams and other everyday-life inconveniences. "Piggy Pie" references the Three Little Pigs
Three Little Pigs
Three Little Pigs is a fairy tale featuring anthropomorphic animals. Printed versions date back to the 1840s, but the story itself is thought to be much older...
and tells Violent J's story of murdering three incest-prone rednecks. "Under the Moon" tells the tale of a man convicted after killing a man who tried to rape his girlfriend. "Boogie Woogie Wu" is told from the perspective of the boogie man
Bogeyman
A bogeyman is an amorphous imaginary being used by adults to frighten children into compliant behaviour...
and talks about the slaughter of children. The "Neden Game" takes the form of a Dating Game
The Dating Game
The Dating Game is an ABC television show that first aired on December 20, 1965 and was the first of many shows created and packaged by Chuck Barris from the 1960s through the 1980s...
-esque show, albeit with added misogynistic banter for humor. Finally, the lyrics to "Hellalujah" target money-hungry
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
preachers.
Singles
Two singles were released from the album: "Halls of IllusionsHalls of Illusions
"Halls of Illusions" is the first single by American hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse from their fourth studio album, The Great Milenko. The song shows their hate towards child abuse and domestic violence. The clean version of the music video removes all language and graphic violence by changing the...
" and "Hokus Pokus
Hokus Pokus (Insane Clown Posse song)
"Hokus Pokus" is a song written by Insane Clown Posse and Mike E. Clark for the duo's 1997 studio album, The Great Milenko. A music video was produced for the "Headhunta'z Remix" of the song in 1997...
." "Halls of Illusions" was the first single released in 1997. The single peaked at number 56 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
, and its accompanying music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
peaked at number one on The Box video request channel. The album's second single, "Hokus Pokus," was released in June 1997. In 1998, it peaked at number 54 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
Promotion and release
Initially, Hollywood Records shipped 100,000 copies of The Great Milenko to various record stores. During a music-store autograph signing, Insane Clown Posse was notified that Hollywood Records had deleted the album within hours of its release, despite having sold 18,000 copies and reaching number 63 on the Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
. The group was also informed that its in-store signings and 25-city nationwide tour had been canceled, commercials for the album and the music video for "Halls of Illusions" (which had reached number one on The Box video request channel) were pulled from television, and that the group was dropped from the label. It was later revealed that Disney was being criticized by the Southern Baptist Church
Southern Baptist Convention
The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...
at the time because of Disney's promotion of Gay Days at Disneyland
Disneyland Park (Anaheim)
Disneyland Park is a theme park located in Anaheim, California, owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division of the Walt Disney Company. Known as Disneyland when it opened on July 18, 1955, and still almost universally referred to by that name, it is the only theme park to be...
, in addition to producing and distributing the gay-themed television sitcom Ellen
Ellen (TV series)
Ellen is a U.S. television sitcom that ran on the ABC network from March 29, 1994 to July 22, 1998, producing 109 episodes.The theme song, "So Called Friend" is by Scottish band Texas...
. The church claimed Disney was turning its back on family values
Family values
Family values are political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society. Familialism is the ideology that promotes the family and its values as an institution....
. Although Abbiss told the press that Disney had stopped production of The Great Milenko to avoid further controversy, Disney claimed instead that the release of the album was an oversight by their review board, and that the album "did not fit the Disney image" because of its "inappropriate" lyrics, which they claimed were offensive to women. Although Hollywood Records had ordered record stores to return shipments of the now-deleted album, many record stores refused, including the Michigan-based Harmony House where 1,700 CDs were sold in 36 stores after the termination order.
After the termination of the Hollywood Records contract, labels such as Interscope
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that currently operates as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-History:...
and Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
wanted to sign the group, but Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
' Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
came to the group's rescue and agreed to release The Great Milenko as it was originally intended. As part of the deal, Island also agreed to rerelease the group's first two Joker's Card albums. Milenko was released in four colors: red, green, purple, and gold. Each color had a different secret message that would help reveal the title of the fifth Joker's Card, The Amazing Jeckel Brothers
The Amazing Jeckel Brothers
The Amazing Jeckel Brothers is the fifth studio album by American hip hop group Insane Clown Posse, released on May 25, 1999, by Island Records, in association with Psychopathic Records. Recording sessions for the album took place from 1998 to 1999. The album is the fifth Joker's Card in the...
. Music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s were filmed for "Halls of Illusions," "How Many Times," and "Piggy Pie." An unofficial music video for "Down with the Clown" was featured on the home-video release Juggalo Championshxt Wrestling Volume 1. A music video for the Headhuntaz Remix of "Hokus Pokus" was produced after the release of the album. The video featured appearances by Twiztid
Twiztid
Twiztid is an American hip hop duo from Warren, Michigan. The group is composed of Jamie Spaniolo and Paul Methric, who perform under the respective personas of Jamie Madrox and Monoxide Child...
and Myzery. Blackwell left Island Records shortly after the group released Forgotten Freshness Volumes 1 & 2, and the merger of PolyGram into Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...
(which owned Interscope and Geffen) affected the way the label handled its next Joker's Card release. Despite the rough start, The Great Milenko has sold well over the years. On May 5, 1998, the album was certified gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA). A year later, on April 21, 1999, the album was certified platinum for shipments of over one million copies. As of 2007, the album has sold over 1.7 million copies in the United States.
Critical reception
Reviews for The Great Milenko were generally unfavorable. Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
music critic David Browne
David Browne
David Browne is an American journalist and author. He was the resident music critic at Entertainment Weekly between 1990 and 2006. He was an editor at Music & Sound Output magazine and a music critic at the New York Daily News before EW...
gave the record a C-minus rating: "[With] its puerile humor and intentionally ugly metal-rap
Rap metal
Rap metal is a subgenre of rap rock which fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop music with heavy metal.-History:Rap metal originated from rap rock, a genre fusing vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with rock...
tunes, the album feels oddly dated." Allmusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
said that The Great Milenko is "the sort of record you wish they would take off the stereo at excruciating frat parties." In The Great Rock Discography, Martin Charles Strong gave the album five out of ten stars. The album received two out of five stars in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, in which Ben Sisario
Ben Sisario
Ben Sisario is an American journalist and author in New York City.-Writing career:Sisario is a staff reporter for the New York Times, covering music and culture. He is author of The Pixies' Doolittle , a book in the 33⅓ series about the Pixies album of the same title...
identified it as the album in which "the group came into its own".
Although the reviews were mostly negative, some critics complimented the album's improved sound over its precursors. Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that the album was "a better record than [its] predecessors, boasting a tougher sound and some actual hooks, without losing the juvenile vulgarity that pleased their following," and added that "it is better than the rest of ICP's work." David Browne said that "Milenko is better produced than the duo's earlier output (Slash grinds out metal chords on Halls of Illusions), and Pass Me By is a genuinely melodic song." In 2009, Fangoria
Fangoria
Fangoria is an American magazine devoted to horror and exploitation films, which has a number of associated brands:* Fangoria Comics* Fangoria Films* Fangoria RadioFangoria may also refer to:* Fangoria , a Spanish electro pop band...
named The Great Milenko an iconic horrorcore album.
Track listing
Personnel
Band members and production- Violent JJoseph BruceJoseph Frank "Joe" Bruce is an American rapper, record producer, professional wrestler and actor. Bruce is most commonly known as Violent J of the Insane Clown Posse . He is the co-founder of the record label Psychopathic Records, with fellow ICP rapper Joseph Utsler and their former manager,...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, lyrics - Shaggy 2 DopeJoseph UtslerJoseph William "Joey" Utsler is an American rapper, record producer, DJ, professional wrestler and actor. Utsler is known as Shaggy 2 Dope of the hip hop group Insane Clown Posse. He is the co-founder of the record label Psychopathic Records, with fellow Insane Clown Posse rapper Joseph Bruce and...
– vocals, lyrics - Mike E. ClarkMike E. ClarkMike Earl Clark is an American record producer and DJ from Detroit, Michigan currently signed to Hatchet House.Clark is best known for his work with Insane Clown Posse, for which he has produced nine studio albums...
– productionRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, programmerProgramming (music)Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices, often sequencers or computer programs, to generate music. Programming is used in nearly all forms of electronic music and in most hip hop music since the 1990s. It is also frequently used in modern pop and rock...
, engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including... - John Srebalu – assistant engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
- John Polito – album sequencer
- Brain Gardner – engineer
- Bernie Grundma – engineer
Other personnel
- Alice CooperAlice CooperAlice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
– guest vocals on "Intro" - Steve JonesSteve Jones (musician)Stephen Philip "Steve" Jones is an English rock guitarist, singer and actor, best known as guitarist and founding member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols.-Childhood:...
– guitar on "Piggy Pie" - SlashSlash (musician)Saul Hudson , known by his stage name Slash, is a British-American musician and songwriter. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During his later years with Guns N'...
– guitar on "Halls of IllusionsHalls of Illusions"Halls of Illusions" is the first single by American hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse from their fourth studio album, The Great Milenko. The song shows their hate towards child abuse and domestic violence. The clean version of the music video removes all language and graphic violence by changing the...
" - Deb AgoliGore Gore GirlsGore Gore Girls are an all female garage rock band from Detroit, Michigan, formed in 1997 by singer/songwriter Amy Gore. The band's name comes from The Gore Gore Girls, a 1972 B-movie by Herschell Gordon Lewis, which is a parody of the term Go Go Girls....
– vocals on "House of Horrors" - Kim Marro – vocals on "Hokus Pokus"
- Rich "Legs Diamond" Murrell – guitar, vocals
Charts
| Chart | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
63 |
| US Catalog Albums Top Pop Catalog Albums Top Pop Catalog Albums is a fifty-position weekly albums chart produced by Billboard magazine which ranks the best selling catalog titles, regardless of genre. Billboard defines a catalog title as one that is more than eighteen months old and that has fallen below position 100 on the Billboard 200... |
22 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification (sales thresholds) |
|---|---|
| United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
Platinum |
Singles
| Year | Song | Peak positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK Top 40 |
|||
| 1997 | "Halls of Illusions Halls of Illusions "Halls of Illusions" is the first single by American hip hop duo Insane Clown Posse from their fourth studio album, The Great Milenko. The song shows their hate towards child abuse and domestic violence. The clean version of the music video removes all language and graphic violence by changing the... " |
56 | |
| 1998 | "Hokus Pokus Hokus Pokus (Insane Clown Posse song) "Hokus Pokus" is a song written by Insane Clown Posse and Mike E. Clark for the duo's 1997 studio album, The Great Milenko. A music video was produced for the "Headhunta'z Remix" of the song in 1997... " |
54 | |