ICP confuses me – I actually like a fair amount of music off of their Great Milenko album. Unfortunately, the albums which bookended this release aren’t anywhere as enjoyable – and the ‘juaggalo’ aspect of their music and fanbase is intriguing, (is it acting? is it marketing? is it sincere?) but not particularly appealing. I have trouble separating the apparent violence, hate, and bigotry in their lyrics from their non-violent, non-judgemental, non-everything-their-music-appears-to-be message – the progression of their albums or ‘joker cards’ introduces a mythology that leads the listener to heaven. I don’t know what to make of it.

I do know what to make of a few good tracks though – and since it’s been about a month since I posted anything, I’ll take this opportunity to look at a few of my favorite ICP songs.

Things start out right – whispery chorus in the intro, overlapping laugh track, and a nice solid ‘slam’ to start the first verse: (sorry about the slang and bad spelling – it’s all [sic] from the source, unfortunately.)

I was just a child but you seemed like so much more. 
The way you would approach me and drift across the floor, 
I’d see you in the hall and you’d kiss me with a smile. 
I never understood it was I even worth your while? 
The other kids at school they would hate me and they’d spit. 
Cuz I was just a no one to them I wasn’t shit. 
But you would always hold me and stand there by my side, 
We were only 17 we’d be together till we died. 

Wait, this isn’t about killing rednecks, dark carnival mythology, killing rednecks, or dismembering children - it’s a love song!

But then it all happened the ever dreadful day. 
Somebody tried to rape you and now I’ll make him pay. 
You pointed him out to me- my thoughts began to race. 
I took my daddy’s 45 and shot him in the fuckin’ face! 
I did it all for you and though I’m facin’ years 
I would do the time just to equal all your tears 
The last thing that you told me when I left the courtroom 
Is that we’d always be together… cause we’re both under the moon.

A tragic love song, no less. Listen to that percussion! The quick little hi-hat flicks, the kick, the solid snare/clap hits… it’s a pretty interesting pattern. Unobtrusive string hits, chromatic runs of more strings, plus occasional synth pads… it doesn’t get boring, to a certain extent because the lyrics are there to keep it interesting, but also because it’s just good instrumentation.

“I’ll forever love
you even in your doom,
we’ll always be together cuz we’re both under the moon”

Romantic sentiment, eh? Now things get a little more tragic:

I sit here in my cell and the walls are made of stone 
I justified your pain but now I sit alone 
I write another letter I write one everyday 
I never got a letter back I write em anyway 
I try to call collect- your number has been changed 
I’m starin at the light bulb and I start to feel deranged 
You never came to visit me I sit facin tha glass 
No-one’s on tha other side and now its in tha past 
My head is always spinnin I’m poundin’ on the wall 
I feel like I’m forgotten no sign of you at all 
You’re probably gettin’ married you’re probably gettin fucked 
I’ll break out of this cage and try to cut that muthafucka up 
I curl up in the corner my body will corrode, 
My teeth are turning into dust skin is growing mold 
I’m starin’ out tha window of my eternal doom 
I know that you are out there… somewhere underneath the moon.

This is a story – they’re telling a story about a poor kid who murdered the guy who raped his girlfriend (and the only one who made him feel like someone worthwhile), then experiences the agony of losing her while he rots away in prison.

Which side are you on? Was it right for him to latch onto her as his only way of feeling good about himself? Was it right for her to be raped? Was it right for him to seek retribution? Was it right that he be punished for his crime? Was he right to count on her continued devotion to him during his punishment? Was she right to move on with her life?

Many many years many more to go
duz she still remember? God he only knows
I now become a savage they chain me to a wall
I still can see your body I still can hear ya call
I’m nothin but a maggot I’m locked away and lost
the world that duzn’t want me
my dignity is tossed
and to tha girl for who I feel this doom look here…
fuck you and the moon

I’m too lazy to clean up the inane ‘z’ usage, but he’s finally broken – he obsessed over her until he went insane, and he finally ends up cursing her. Is this a good thing? Has he accepted reality and is he now able to move on with his life, such as it is? Or is she really the one to blame in all this – leading him on, driving him crazy? And yet, for all his denial, he can’t help sadly singing -

Still under the moon
I’m still here under the moon

So fuck her, fuck the moon, he’s crazy, he’s a murderer, and on top of all that… he’s still there, waiting for her, under the moon, hoping things will go back to the way they were before.

Come on. You know this is good stuff – after all, it ends on a major note, whereas everything else has been minor – is there hope of redemption at the end? If you know me, you know I like redemption at the end of a story.