text: the great milenko the great milenko is the fourth studio album by american hip hop group insane clown posse , released on august 12 , 1997 , by hollywood records , in association with psychopathic records . as the fourth joker 's card in the group 's dark carnival mythology , the album 's lyrics focus on the titular great milenko , an illusionist who tries to trick individuals into greed and other such sins . the album was recorded and initially released by the disney - owned record label hollywood records . the album was taken off shelves by hollywood hours after its release , in response to criticism from the southern baptist church of decisions that the church believed did not reflect disney 's family - friendly image , although disney claimed that the album was released due to an oversight by its review board . after hollywood terminated the group 's contract , insane clown posse signed a new contract with island records ( whose parent at the time , polygram , distributed hollywood releases in north america ) , which agreed to release the album as it was originally intended . the music of the great milenko features a rock sound and features guest appearances by popular rock stars alice cooper , steve jones and slash . although the album was poorly received by critics , it debuted at number 63 on the billboard charts , and was later certified platinum by the recording industry association of america ( riaa ) . it is the group 's 10th overall release . conception background following the 1994 release of the album ringmaster , insane clown posse started to attract a strong local following in detroit , michigan . the group began selling out large clubs such as st. andrew 's hall and the state theater , and drew the attention of major record label jive records . the next year , insane clown posse signed with the label battery , a subsidiary jive records . battery / jive released the duo 's third studio album , riddle box ( 1995 ) , but showed little interest in promoting the album . the group 's manager alex abbiss negotiated a contract with the disney 's hollywood records label , which reportedly paid $ 1 million to purchase the insane clown posse contract from battery / jive records . the expansion of the juggalo fanbase into its own culture inspired insane clown posse to write the songs " what is a juggalo ? " and " down with the clown " for this album . recording the group started recording the great milenko in 1996 , and violent j began thinking of a title for the album shortly after . bruce later came up with the title the great milenko . bruce also admitted that he had always liked the ring name of professional wrestler dean simon ( " dean malenko " ) , because he felt that the name malenko had a " carnival " sound to it . believing that he had created the name himself , bruce later realized that he had unwittingly used the nickname of dean 's father , boris " the great " malenko . the band wanted to include famous rock stars on the album . julian raymond , the artists and repertoire representative for hollywood records contacted slash , steve jones , and alice cooper . slash , who was a self - professed fan of the band 's music , reportedly only asked for wild irish rose as payment for his contributions . bruce , who knew very little about the sex pistols or steve jones , declined to show up at the studio when jones played his guitar part for " piggy pie " . although not knowing much about alice cooper either , bruce decided to fly to arizona and coach cooper on his parts . bruce and clark also met george clinton , who was staying in the same hotel , and recorded his voice in his room , but it did not fit anywhere on the album . after the recording sessions were finished , executives at hollywood records — and the label 's parent company , disney — expressed dissatisfaction with several tracks . disney requested that the tracks " the neden game , " " under the moon , " and " boogie woogie wu " be removed because of lyrics referencing abuse of women , rape and murder , and the slaughter of children , respectively . disney also asked that the lyrics of " piggy pie " be changed , due to lyrics about murdering police officers . disney threatened not to release the album if their requests were not met . , bruce and utsler complied with disney 's requests . the uncensored version of " piggy pie " was later released on forgotten freshness volumes 1 & 2 . after recording was finalized , the duo planned to go on a national tour with house of krazees and myzery as its opening acts . several songs were recorded with the intention of releasing them on the great milenko . one such song , " house of wonders " was recorded but was later released on mutilation mix ( 1997 ) and forgotten freshness volumes 1 & 2 ( 1998 ) . joker 's cards the great milenko is the fourth joker 's card in insane clown posse 's dark carnival concept album series . the dark carnival is a concept of the afterlife in which souls are sent to a form of limbo while waiting to be sent to heaven or hell based on their individual actions . these concepts are related by insane clown posse in a series of albums called the six joker 's cards . each of the six joker 's cards relate to a specific character — an entity of the dark carnival — that tries to " save the human soul " by showing the wickedness inside of one 's self . this joker 's card is a necromancer and illusionist who tries to trick individuals into acts of greed , envy , and lust . the card ultimately issues a warning against such acts of sin , and enlightens listeners that the great milenko is a part of every individual , and that they have the power to fall under his illusions or cast his hoaxes aside . music style the great milenko featured more rock influences than previous insane clown posse albums , including an introduction performed by alice cooper and guitar tracks performed by steve jones ( on " pie " ) , and slash ( on " halls of illusions " ) . stephen thomas erlewine of allmusic wrote , in his review of the amazing jeckel brothers ( 1999 ) that , " the great milenko [ ... ] was targeted at white - boy , adolescent metalheads -- really , how could any album that contained guest spots from alice cooper , slash , steve jones and legs diamond be anything else ? " insane clown posse hired renowned detroit record producer and dj mike e. clark to produce the record . clark made the album sound more rock - oriented , as opposed to the duo 's earlier material , which featured a more prominent hip - hop sound . to create the record , clark utilized standard hip hop techniques such as record scratching , and mixed them with elements of rock and heavy metal . lyricism according to the group 's mythology , the great milenko is a necromancer and illusionist who tries to trick individuals into greed and other such sins . he takes out the worst in an individual and creates powerful illusions in an attempt to cause them to become hedonistic and greedy . an honorable individual must fight his magic in order to make it to shangri - la ( as revealed in the track " pass me by " ) . the album 's themes mostly revolve around those of death , morality , and everyday decisions . for instance , " how many times ? " talks about annoying traffic jams and other everyday - life inconveniences . " piggy pie " references the three little pigs and tells violent j 's story of murdering three kinds of people : an incest - prone redneck , cops who wrongly arrest and harass people , and stuck - up wealthy people . " under the moon " tells the tale of a man convicted after killing a man who tried to rape his girlfriend . " boogie woogie wu " is told from the perspective of the boogie man and talks about the slaughter of children . the " neden game " takes the form of a dating game - esque show , albeit with added misogynistic banter for humor . finally , the lyrics to " " target money - hungry preachers . singles two singles were released from the album : " halls of illusions " and " hokus pokus . " " halls of illusions " was the first single released in 1997 . the single peaked at number 56 on the uk singles chart , and its accompanying music video peaked at number one on the box video request channel . the album 's second single , " hokus pokus , " was released in june 1997 . in 1998 , it peaked at number 54 on the uk singles chart . promotion and release initially , hollywood records shipped 100 , 000 copies of the great milenko to various record stores . during a music - store autograph signing , insane clown posse was notified that hollywood records had deleted the album within hours of its release , despite having sold 18 , 000 copies and reaching number 63 on the billboard 200 . the group was also informed that its in - store signings and 25 - city nationwide tour had been canceled , commercials for the album and the music video for " halls of illusions " ( which had reached number one on the box video request channel ) were pulled from television , and that the group was dropped from the label . it was later revealed that disney was being criticized by the southern baptist church at the time because of disney 's promotion of gay days at disneyland , in addition to producing and distributing the gay - themed television sitcom ellen . the church claimed disney was turning its back on family values . although abbiss told the press that disney had stopped production of the great milenko to avoid further controversy , disney claimed instead that the release of the album was an oversight by their review board , and that the album " did not fit the disney image " because of its " inappropriate " lyrics , which they claimed were offensive to women . although hollywood records had ordered record stores to return shipments of the now - deleted album , many record stores refused , including the michigan - based harmony house where 1 , 700 cds were sold in 36 stores after the termination order . after the termination of the hollywood records contract , labels such as interscope and geffen records wanted to sign the group , but island records ' chris blackwell came to the group 's rescue and agreed to release the great milenko as it was originally intended . as part of the deal , island also agreed to rerelease the group 's first two joker 's card albums . milenko was released in four colors : red , green , purple , and gold . each color had a different secret message that would help reveal the title of the fifth joker 's card , the amazing jeckel brothers . music videos were filmed for " halls of illusions , " " how many times , " and " piggy pie . " an unofficial music video for " down with the clown " was featured on the home - video release juggalo wrestling volume 1 . a music video for the remix of " hokus pokus " was produced after the release of the album . the video featured appearances by twiztid and myzery . blackwell left island records shortly after the group released forgotten freshness volumes 1 & 2 , and the merger of polygram into universal music group ( which owned interscope and geffen ) affected the way the label handled its next joker 's card release . despite the rough start , the great milenko has sold well over the years . on may 5 , 1998 , the album was certified gold by the recording industry association of america ( riaa ) . a year later , on april 21 , 1999 , the album was certified platinum for shipments of over one million copies . as of 2007 , the album has sold over 1 . 7 million copies in the united states . critical reception reviews for the great milenko were generally very mixed reviews . entertainment weekly music critic david browne gave the record a c - minus rating : " [ with ] its puerile humor and intentionally ugly metal - rap tunes , the album feels oddly dated . " allmusic reviewer stephen thomas erlewine said that the great milenko is " the sort of record you wish they would take off the stereo at excruciating frat parties . " in the great rock discography , martin charles strong gave the album five out of ten stars . the album received two out of five stars in the new rolling stone album guide , in which ben sisario identified it as the album in which " the group came into its own " . although the reviews were mostly negative , some critics complimented the album 's improved sound over its precursors . stephen thomas erlewine said that the album was " a better record than [ its ] predecessors , boasting a tougher sound and some actual hooks , without losing the juvenile vulgarity that pleased their following , " and added that " it is better than the rest of icp 's work . " david browne said that " milenko is better produced than the duo 's earlier output ( slash grinds out metal chords on halls of illusions ) , and pass me by is a genuinely melodic song . " in 2009 , fangoria named the great milenko an iconic horrorcore album . track listing personnel charts and certifications singles