In season 5 we took a deep dive into the CD and Comic series, the Pendulum, which stretched from December of 1999 until January of 2022! The Pendulum series initially started out as a bi-monthly series that included a comic that told the story of The Pendulum, and a CD that would include a brand new song never heard before. This format was soon scrapped as tours, albums, Gatherings would all throw a wrench in the plans of continuing a new track every other month. For context on how long this series stretched across the Juggalo timeline, the first single would be released while the Wicked Clowns From Outer Space Tour was kicking off. The final single would be released as the Hatchet Rising Tour was wrapping up. In between those 2 tours, you would have a JCW Tour, The Shaggy Shows, Bizaar/Bizzar, Freekshow, 2 Gatherings, Tales From The Lotus Pod, 1 Less G N Da Hood, Forgotten Freshness 3, and the Bizaar/Bizzar and Freekshow tours. The Pendulum series would be a consistent through the golden era of the Juggalo culture. But, before we dive into it, we took a look at the comics that laid the foundation for this series to happen.

First, the original Wicked Clownz comic, Originally released in 1994 it tells the origin story of the Insane Clown Posse. Written by ICP and illustrated by Shaggy (minus the cover, which was done by local Detroit musician Bubba Felix of the Bumpin Uglies) the story is full of local references, like our favorite, one Governor E. This comic was later rereleased multiple times with the Ringmaster ad being swapped out for a Riddlebox one.

The Wicked Clownz comic would not only be one of the first sought after collectibles in the Juggalo world but it would set the table for their nationally distributed comic that would come 5 years later. Released by Chaos! Comics in June of 1999, that comic would follow similar lore and a similar name with “The Upz and Downz of the Wicked Clownz” (extra Z’s because it was the 90’s). The story in this first issue would tell a similar story of the “Wicked Clownz” being born via toxic waste. The comic would also tell the story of the Joker Cards leading up to the 5th Jokers Card. To keep with the collectable nature of not only ICP but comic books as well, a variant cover was available that feature a photo from the Amazing Jeckel Brothers photoshoot.

“The Upz and Downz of The Wicked Clownz” would be followed up with 2 more issues before things would shift to the Pendulum series. Issue #2 would be called “The Amazing Jeckel Brothers” and provide the origin story of the Jeckel Brothers, continuing the Joker Card lore laid out in issue #1. It would also provide some background that would set the stage for the Pendulum with the murder of “Little D”. This was released in September of ‘99. Issue #3, “Raze The Deserts of Glass”, was released in October of ‘99 and would lay out some more background for the Pendulum series with the murder of the mayor and Killnor summoning Twiztid. Both issues would have variant covers, Issue #2 using another photoshoot image and issue #3 oddly showing The Great Milenko of Jeckel style flames.

To hear more about these early issues, the eras of the Juggalo world the Pendulum stretched across, and everything leading up to issue #1, check out our Episode #0!

The Pendulum comic would also include a “newsletter” replicating the vibes of the old psychical mailer but also many times just copy and paste the news that would have been on the website for days or weeks before the comic would be out. But to give you a feel of where the Juggalo world was at in December of ‘99 when this issue was released, here is what was in the newsletter!

• ICP announces they have quit WCW a week after signing a new one year deal. They discuss the new booking team, Vampiro staying and being teamed with the Misfits.

• ICP and Twiztid are currently on the small venue “Wicked Clowns From Outer Space Tour” and plan to take it overseas in April of ‘00.

• The long awaited Big Money Hustlas will finally be be released in Christmas of ‘99 (the same month this issue dropped) according to the newsletter. Wait and see if this is accurate.

• Hallowicked ‘99 VHS will be released in January of ‘00 and will be available at various video stores..also, stay tuned to see if this is accurate.

• Dark Lotus is happening and they have recorded tracks with Godsmack and Krazie Bone….

• Media news: ICP named AP Band of The Year, interviewed on the year end Behind The Music, on the cover of Pop Smear, in GQ Man of The Year issue, concert footage on new episode of Real TV, and featured in Circus Magazine.

• Announce the creation of JCW with bookers Brian Gorie and Dave Prazack with the first show being at St Andrews Hall and being recorded for future release.

For a deep dive into the song, the comic and all the happenings in December of ‘99 in and outside the Juggalo world check out episode 1 of this season!

Where the two singles in the Pendulum series were hypnotically “new” singles, issue 3 is when things fully go off the rails. The track $50 Bucks would have already been available for a half a year or so by the time issue 3 hit the shelves. Although it was already included on Psychopathics From Outer Space the Pendulum series would put what would become a staple of ICP’s legacy sets out to a much wider audience. At this point ICP is in the full swings of the Wicked Clowns From Outer Space Tour turning the Pendulum series into a catch all, Forgotten Freshness like compilation.

As for the comic the story continues to chug along with ICP finding themselves in a clash with the Stress Squad and we also get a cameo by the dysfunctional duo that is the Amazing Jeckel Brothers!

And, to get a feel for the Juggalo world at this time. here is what issue #3 of the Pendulum had in the newsletter for June of 2000!

• Big Money Hustlas is finally being released. After initially being slated for summer of 1999, it was delayed with editing problems and legal issues with the director, but Island and Psychopathic has gained the rights and will be releasing it June 6th, 2000.

• Psychopathic Records will be attending Comic Cons with a wide range of merch and rare items. Some highlighted is action figures, Beanie Boyz, Chaos! comics, OG Carnival of Carnage, Hollywood Milenko and OG Mostasteless.

• JCW Vol. 1 (which was the show recorded at St Andrews Hall) is being released on VHS on 5/9/2000.

• The Gathering of the Juggalos is coming to Detroit this summer.

• ICP is recording their new double album entitled “HICMIG & ESOMN!!” and already have recorded tracks “Rainbows & Stuff, Questions, Fearless, and Bizzare.

• Twiztid’s Cryptic Collection is now available.

• Ryda’s solo albums from Lil Shank, Full Clip, and Bullet coming in 2000.

• The Wicked Clowns From Outer Space Tour returns to the US this summer with Esham, who is also a new member of Dark Lotus.

• Vampiro went against his WCW contract ot appear at JCW shows and Sabu has joined JCW wrestling on shows in April and May.

And as always, we check in on the newsletter to get a feel for the Juggalo world. Issue #4 is a clearest example that we start to get a copy and paste from the website as it hypes the upcoming Gathering of The Juggalos, which would have happened a month earlier:

• The Gathering lineup: Friday (Myzery, Kottonmouth Kings, and Psychopathic Rydas), Saturday (Blaze, Project Born, Twiztid, and Insane Clown Posse)

• The Gathering will also have The Freakshow and Circus Sideshows, JCW Wrestling, wrestling school, and a chance to get in the ring both days.

• A live webcast, carnival games, Karaoke, costume contest, wet t shirt contest, miss Juggalette, best tattoo contest, The Neden Game, art display, guess the weight of Missy, Juggalo open mike, and Juggalo scavenger hunt will all be attractions.

• Body alterations, merch, movies, and miscellaneous attractions will also be there.

• One big of music news is always announced. ICP is working on their new albums (now titled Bizarre and Bazarre) and will be part of the Necromonicon which also includes Twiztid’s “Freakshow” and “Tales From The Lotus Pod”. (It is interesting to see the names still not fully finalized and Esham no longer hyped in this series)

Issue fiiiiiiiiiiiive! of the Pendulum series was listed as a October issue but made it’s way to shelves in late September, making this the first spot to hear the 2000 Hallowicked track Toxic Love. Toxic Love is the first Hallowicked track to really veer of the Halloween horror vibes telling the “love story” of a man and his toxic waste barrel, Roxy Carol. Could this have been intended as a true Pendulum track that was reused as the Hallowicked single? It is possible things were moving at such a rapid pace that it was something existing pulled for both purposes just to keep on time with both releases. Regardless this would make it’s rounds between the Pendulmn, Hallowicked and the EP found in the Dark Carnival Action Figures released around this time.

And of course a feel for what was going on in the Juggalo world in October, which is always a big month but has a light load in the newsletter:

• 3 new albums coming. A overview of the double album Bizzar Bizaar by the ICP and Freekshow by Twiztid.

• A overview of the Gathering of the Juggalos that brought about 10,000 Juggalos to the Novi expo center and will have a 2 hour documentary released

• Big Money Hustlas, Blaze EP, and JCW Vol 1 are all available now

• 2 new videos on “The Box” for ICP and Twiztid

• ICP is featured on new albums Royal Highness by Kottonmouth Kings, When The Smoke Clears by Three 6 Mafia , Blaze Ya Dead Homie’s EP, the Race Riot compilation, Tongues by Esham, Natural Born Killas by Vanilla Ice and the Take A Bite Out of Rhyme compilation

And as we always do, lets check in with the “newsletter” at the end of issue 6 to get a feel for the Juggalo World at the halfway point of this series! This time a special guest, Serious Darious jumps in…aka they copy and paste the website updates…

• We have a rundown of the year 2000 which included a new office and warehouse for Psychopathic. The Gathering of The Juggalos happened, Bizaar Bizzar and Freekshow were released and the movie Big Money Hustlas was finally released.

• 2 music videos have been shot for the tacks “Tilt-A-Whirl” and “Let’s Go All The Way” in LA.

• The official ICP webstore is up and running

If it wasn’t already obvious that any notion of the Pendulum being an album is gone, issue 7’s single makes it clear with this collection of unreleased Ryda tracks. Listed as “Three Tunes For The Juggalos” on the CD this “EP” contains 3 tracks from the scrapped Ryda solo projects that would have came form Bullet, Full Clip, and Lil Shank. These albums were first announced on the ICP Hotline way back in March of 2000. It is unclear how many tracks were ever recorded for this project but we do get 2 Bullet and 1 Full Clip track here. It also is notable that the Rude Boy also makes a appearance on “What Ryda’s Do For Money:: singing the hook that is similar to the track the beat was lifted from, “What G’s Do 4 Money”. Although these would be the only tracks to surface from the Bullet and Full Clip solo projects, the Lil Shank album had a handful also see the light of day.

First was “The Game Ain’t Got No Love” which would be released online as a free download initial and later make its way onto the Twiztid compilation , “Don’t Play This 4 Any1!”. This CD compilation was released in 2019 and only available in the Twiztid 10k giveaway mystery box and is numbered at 1000. The second Lil Shank solo track to surface was “Ghetto Ryda” that made it’s way onto another limitied compilation, this time “For The Fam Volume 3” which was released on Black Friday in 2020 as a giveaway for orders over $75 on MNE.com. Lastly, in October of 2023 Blaze Ya Dead Homie’s Graveyard Greats 2 would include another Lil Shank solo track, this one titled “Fear or Respect” and featuring “Cellblock”.

and of course, time to check in with what was happening in the Juggalo world in February of 2001! This issues newsletter included:

• The second leg of the Bizaar Bizzar tour will have kicked off by the time the issue hits stands and will feature (according to the issue, not in reality) ICP performing with a live band and DJ. Also announced but never realized was Shockumentary 2 being available on this tour with a extended version coming later that includes all of ICP’s music videos.

• Twiztid’s Freekshow tour is underway with Relative Ash and Blaze Ya Dead Homie.

• Psychopathic Records wall calendar is coming and will run from Oct 2001 to Oct 2002 because the Juggalo year ends on Hallowicked. Each day will include three items, a “Words of Wisdom” message a “Did You Know” fact about Psychopathic and a “Mama Joke of The Day.” This like many items announced in this era never was produced.

The 8th track from the Pendulum series brings a long lost track from 1996. Presumable a outtake from the Great Milenko sessions, as it was later included on the Milenko anniversary set, but there is no clear answer on where the track came from. As the story goes in the booklet for Forgotten Freshness 3, this track track was found on a old DAT by Mike E Clark and it was labeled “Confessions.” But ICP and Mike E Clark both say they have no memory of recording said track. To make matters more confusing a alternate versions was later unearthed by producer Str8jacket in 2019 for the 6th instalment of Forgotten Freshness. This time the track would include a verse from Shaggy.

and for a glimpse into the world of Psychopathic Records in April of 2001, here is the highlights of the newsletter in the back of issue 8:

• Jumpsteady is on newsletter duties on this issue and he points out how thanks to feedback from Juggalos on the website, the violence in the Pendulum has been turned up a notch.

• He also runs down the process of how the Pendulum series is created, from his initial story to writer Jesse McCann and then onto Illustrator, Inker, Colorgraphix, Lettering, and on to Chaos Comics.

• Big Money Rustlas is available on DVD now

• Bizaar Bizzar tour is wrapping up with ICP heading to Australia and Europe. Twiztid will be soon touring with Kottonmoth Kings and the Gathering of the Juggalos is returning.

Things are really rolling in the Juggalo World in June of 2001 as we check in via the newsletter:

• Marz who many would recognize from the Bizaar Bizzar Tour was in the studio with ICP to record the single “Fuck Them” which will be available on future Bizaar Bizzar stops.

• The new ICP figures are in stores and some contain a limited edtion CD. Speculation of some stores pulling them for explicit content.

• Possible JCW tour coming this summer.

• Rumor of ICP leaving Island records but no world on when and where they will go.

• ICP plan on heading to Australia in July.

• The Hatchet Rising Tour is announced featuring all artists on Psychopathic Records.

• The Gathering of The Juggalos is almost here and will feature new items like Pyschopathic Rydas Rydin Dirtay, Dark Lotus Tales From The Lotus Pod, and the Mortons List game.

There may be no better encapsulation of how far off the concept and how much Psychopathic Records had evolved than final track in the Pendulum series Skantaclaws would be a holiday themed track, which was fitting around the time this issue would be hitting shelves, and would feature newcomers Synn and ABK, along with Twiztid. Interestingly enough this appears to be a brand new track put together around this time as the inclusion of Synn and ABK matches up with the recording of the Wraith, which they would be heavily involved in. This track would be a Pendulum exclusive until it made its way onto the Holiday Heat compilation released in 2010.

And one final time. After starting waaay back in December of 1999 lets hit the newsletter to see what is happening in the Juggalo world:

• A note from Jumpsteady regarding the end of the Pendulum series and what is to come in the future comic book wise.

• Forgotten Freshness 3 is now available

• Zug Izland will be dropping their debut album in March and 3 tracks are available to download on insaneclownposse.com.

• Zug will be opening for Twiztid on the “Mirror Tour” in the spring.

• The Gathering of Juggalos 2002 is announced to take place in Peoria Illinois.

• A JCW benefit wrestling show for a Southwest Detroit school teacher is happening in Dearborn in January.

• The era of the 6th is here after the vision was revealed on the Hatchet Rising Tour with ICP now beginning their “transformation.”

Episode 13- Pendulum Wrap Up

As we wrapped up the Pendulum season we looked at the difficulties of providing a new single every other month in a 2 year window that saw wall to wall touring, new super groups, 2 Gathering of the Juggalos, and a half a dozen or more albums. The Pendulum began as ICP was coming off its biggest 2 albums to date and their first run of mainstream coverage and exposure. The Pendulum was a fun concept that would have been tough to pull off under a normal schedule let alone the 2 year grind it fell into. It’s impact could still be seen to this day in the Juggalo world however as Violent J revisited the comic book and CD idea with his “Coming Home” series and Twzitid would create their own comic series “Haunted High Ons.”

The merch of the Pendulum era would include 3 shirts, one for ICP, one for Twiztid and one featuring the Joker Card MVP of the series, the Ringmaster. There would be posters that technically would be considered part of pre Pendulum era of the comic book but were released in this era. Two trade paperbacks covering each half of the series were released along with the full “Tome” paperback and CD. Loselly considered part of the Pendoum era of merch would be the Dark Carnival Action Figures that did use this eras font and some of the artwork on the packaging. There would also be a set of anniversary shirts dropped in the late 2010s highlighting some of the comic art and others creating visuals for tracks from this series.

Also on the wrap up we cast our Pendulum movie cast. We later would receive a voicemail from a listener who created their own trailer for their cast. Take a listen below.