Bang! Pow! Boom!

''Bang! Pow! Boom!'' is the eleventh studio album by the American hip hop group Insane Clown Posse. Released on September 1, 2009, by Psychopathic Records, it was the group's second album with producer Mike E. Clark since his return to Psychopathic Records, and the first album to focus on the Dark Carnival since the conclusion of the group's original " Joker's Cards" series. The character is the first of a set of six new Joker's Cards.

The album's title refers to a character within the Dark Carnival described as a large, continuing explosion that clears evil souls from the carnival grounds. ''Bang! Pow! Boom!'' peaked at number four in the ''Billboard'' Top 200. Critics praised Clark's production and the return to the Dark Carnival concept. In 2010, Psychopathic Records released a "Nuclear Edition" of the album, which featured previously unreleased material. The music video for the song "Miracles", produced for the reissue became popular and was the subject of a ''Saturday Night Live'' parody, called "Magical Mysteries", which was praised by the group. It is the group's 26th overall release.

Production

Mike E. Clark produced much of Insane Clown Posse's discography until the group's sixth and seventh albums, ''Bizzar'' and ''Bizaar''. After Clark nearly died from a collapsed lung, he became less active in the music industry, his studio not being used for much of the early decade, and the group worked with Mike Puwal on their eighth and ninth albums, '' The Wraith: Shangri-La'' and '' Hell's Pit''. In 2006, Clark returned to Psychopathic Records and produced the group's tenth studio album, ''The Tempest'' in 2007, but did not work with the group directly. ''Bang! Pow! Boom!'' was the first album which Clark worked on directly with Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler since ''Bizaar''. ''Bang! Pow! Boom!'' was recorded between September 2008 and July 2009 at Clark's Fun House Studio. Bruce listened to music by the progressive rock band Gong for inspiration. In order to ensure the quality of their vocal recordings, Bruce and Utsler drank tea before every take and didn't smoke cannabis while recording. Much material was recorded for the album; some songs left off the initial release appeared on the "Nuclear Edition" reissue, while another song intended for ''Bang! Pow! Boom!'', "If I Ate Your Brains", was released as part of a single for the 2009 Hallowicked concert.

Music and lyrics

According to Bruce, the goal was to produce an album that was "very much a part of the Dark Carnival, without it being the seventh Joker's Card". ''Bang! Pow! Boom!'' was the first album to focus on this concept since ''Hell's Pit''. The album was later revealed to be the first Joker's Card of a "second deck." Bang! Pow! Boom! is a character within the Dark Carnival which Bruce describes as a "continuous explosion that stomps his way through the crowd blowing ..evil souls ..to Hell". The album features a series of skits in which rednecks, pedophiles, and husbands who abuse their wives receive phone calls inviting them to the Dark Carnival, where they are promised US$100,000 for arriving.

According to Bruce, "In Yo Face" was originally titled "Pie in Yo Face", but it was decided that the final title sounded better. "The Bone" features surf rock-influenced guitars. According to Bruce, "Mike's beat for this was so fuckin' crazy sounding I had no idea what the fuck to do with it." "To Catch a Predator" was written during the mixing process, when the group realized that the album needed a song "that attacks an evil". Inspired by the television series ''To Catch a Predator'', the song's lyrics describe Violent J luring pedophiles into his house to violently murder them. According to Bruce, "I could easily see myself killing pedophiles in real life and having no guilt. The only reason I don’t do it is because I'd probably get caught. So its nice to live it out through my music." "Boing Boing", a comedic sex-oriented rap, samples audio from a pornographic film which had previously been sampled by the group on their '' Tunnel of Love'' EP. Bruce says that the song was intended as a joke. Some fans interpreted the song as Bruce and Utsler calling themselves ugly, while others believed that they were bragging about how many women they have sex with. Bruce commented "We're not sex symbols, especially not me. If there are girls, they’re there to see Shaggy."

"I Found a Body" features lyrics similar to the plot of ''Weekend at Bernie's'', and incorporates Bruce's singing, concluding with a "Pearl Jam style yell". "Fonz Pond" was inspired by a series of bicycle trails and paths leading to what had once been a pond, but had dried out, and was filled with garbage and rusted junk. Rumors spread about kids that died trying to pass the curve surrounding the area. Clark created a beat which sounded unlike what Bruce had initially expected, leading him to write a song about a haunted pond hidden in the woods. Bruce describes the production of "Imma Kill U" as similar to that of early albums by Ice Cube and Public Enemy. Bruce states that Utsler initially hated "Juggalo Island" when they began recording it, and said that it was "too soft" for Insane Clown Posse. Bruce maintained his confidence in the song, but promised Utsler that if he still felt the same way after the song was completed, it would be left off the album. As the recording continued, Utsler began to like the track more, and later praised the song in a phone conversation.

The lyrics of "Miracles" focus on the extraordinary events humans experience in life which often go unacknowledged, and encourages listeners to take time to look at the world and reevaluate their life. The song's music is built around an ascending synthesizer melody, and climaxes with an electric guitar solo performed by Mike E. Clark, and beatboxing

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