Fuck The World (Insane Clown Posse Song) - Background

Background

"We were angry making The Amazing Jeckel Brothers, because that was our way to tell everybody who doubted us during the whole Disney thing to fuck off. We showed it in songs like "Fuck the World;" just sick shit that was saying straight-up what was on our minds."

In 1996, Insane Clown Posse signed a contract with Danny J -owned label Hollywood Records, which reportedly paid US$1 million to purchase their contract from Battery/Jive Records. Their album The Great Milenko, which featured guests Alice Cooper (on vocals), Steve Jones (on guitar), and Slash (on guitar), was recorded and released on June 25, 1997. However, just hours after the release, Hollywood Records pulled the album from stores nationwide, cancelled Insane Clown Posse's in-store signings and nationwide tour, pulled commercials for the album and the music video for "Halls of Illusions" from television, and dropped the group from the label. It was later revealed that Disney pulled the album to prevent further controversy from the Southern Baptist Church who was criticizing Disney at the time because of Disney's promotion of Gay Days at Disneyland. The incident became highly publicized, which resulted in Insane Clown Posse gaining a lot of attention from the media.

During the two years between The Great Milenko and The Amazing Jeckel Brothers, the first album released after the group left Disney, Insane Clown Posse had become nationally known, but were not taken very seriously. While the controversy allowed the duo to attract the attention of Island Records, it also attracted Insane Clown Posse to public criticism for their style and lyrics. Bruce recalls the period as an angry era for the group due to all of the negativity directed toward them. He says that they "used to keep two piles of press at office. One pile was all the positive press gotten, which was under an inch tall. Then had the negative press pile, which was spilling over the side of a full basket." As a result, The Amazing Jeckel Brothers was recorded as a release for their anger.

To help increase their positive publicity, Island Records hired the Nasty Little Man publicity team. The team set up a photo shoot for Insane Clown Posse that was to appear on the cover of Alternative Press magazine in Cleveland. On the set of the photo shoot, a member of the publicity team approached Bruce and explained that in "Fuck the World", the lyric that stated "Fuck the Beastie Boys and the Dalai Lama" needed to be changed. Insulted, Bruce exclaimed that his music would not be censored again – referring to Disney's previous requirement of censure. Nasty Little Man told Bruce that the Beastie Boys were not only clients of the company but also personal friends, and the Beastie Boys told the company to make Bruce change the lyric. In response, Bruce fired Nasty Little Man and asked its team to leave the photo shoot.