3mo ago

Shockumentary (1997) - Insane Clown Posse documentary aired on MTV

One of the group's first projects with Island Records was an hour-long documentary titled Shockumentary, which aired on MTV. The station initially refused to play the documentary, but Island Records persuaded them to air it as a personal favor.[28] Shockumentary helped increase album sales from 17,000 to 50,000 copies per week.[28]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insane_Clown_Posse

the link from above, poor quality but SFW (as shown on MTV?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TIn9dpRwGs
another copy, very poor quality, only watch if the others are not available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nF6PXYtshE
another copy? you have to sign in to see it bc it "may be inappropriate" and I didn't feel like it so I dunno: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn3g2gzgjfM
another link, much better quality, does not bleep out the profanity (as shown in NL - Dutch subtitles?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKgNcG68S_E

Apparently this was also released on VHS in 98 and reissued on DVD in 2004.

4 comments

I saw this doc when it aired. It was the first I'd ever heard of ICP and I thought it was super lame that they were trying push how damned counter culture they were with an hour long infomercial on MTV.
- Yeah! They are absolutely super lame. The only scene I remember from when I first watched this is the part where the kids are being driven to the concert by their dad, who looks like a totally 80s retro guy, and I thought the kids were kind of cringe. Years later I realized that ICP were in complete control of that documentary -- they intentionally put that scene in there! Part of their whole message is that it's OK to be a cringe scrub who everybody looks down on, because there are plenty of other people like that, and you can still be a good person and have friends and not give in to despair. So unlike other conceptions of the underground and counterculture, they're not claiming to be cool or hip, and their clown personas enable them to emphasize this.

I watched their more recent United States of Insanity (2021) which was pretty dang good. I'll have to check this one out soon.

The documentary has a lot of scenes with younger fans and the adults who are just worried sick about what those kids are getting into. For a more recent view of ICP's fandom check out American Juggalo, on Vimeo (2011, NSFW)