Like you all, I have joked about Insane Clown Posse over the years. I enjoyed watching Miracles and sat, mouth agape, listening to some of their lyrics. But reading this article today and watching documentaries on Juggalos (ICP fans), I can’t help but feel for these guys. They’re all just trying to find a way to work out their issues and this is their medium. The author of this article, Jon Ronson, puts a fine point on it.
I suddenly wonder, halfway through our interview, if I am looking at two men in clown make-up who are suffering from depression. I cautiously ask them this and Violent J immediately replies. “I’m medicated,” he says. “I have a lot of medicine that I take. For depression. Panic attacks are really a serious part of my life.” He points at Shaggy. “He’s gone through some things as well.”
[…]
It’s just a terrible twist of fate for Insane Clown Posse that theirs is a form of creative expression that millions of people find ridiculous. But then suddenly, palpably, Violent J pulls himself out of his introspection. They’re about to go on stage and he doesn’t want to be maudlin. He wants to be on the offensive. He shoots me a defiant look and says, “You know Miracles? Let me tell you, if Alanis Morissette had done that fucking song everyone would have called it fucking genius.”