Kiss vs. Insane Clown Posse

I hate KISS

voting KISS

Music - Kiss (though 90% of catalogue is bad)
People - ICP
Fans - I'm not sure if either fanbase has an organised group of fans that has a specific name, not sure if anyone here has heard otherwise but it seems unlikely.

you’ve not heard of the Juggularmy?

shit I shoulda said Beyhive

Never heard ICP but then have barely heard Kiss either.

I don't believe ICP invented glam metal, hard rock-disco crossover, epic power metal or band-branded pinball machines. So KISS it is.

All ICP voters have to admit one or more of these things to justify their votes:

1) ICP fans are mostly, surprisingly righteous kids.
2) Ironically Down with the Clown.
3) Really, really, REALLY hate Kiss.

(#3 could be hatred of anything: their music, their legacy, jocks who liked them beat you up in the '70s, Gene is a terrible person, playing for Trump is unforgivable, crass commercialism is the opposite of punk rock, or any combination of those things. Let the hate flow through you!)

And all of that is fine, even if I might disagree with some of it.

I cannot entertain any ICP vote on this forum that is based on musical output exclusively.

Poll was supposed to be about each band all-encompassing - music, personalities, fantasies, etc.

This all stemmed from a thought I had a few days ago - which of these trash bands will be better remembered 20-30 years down the road? One seems to be doing everything to tank it and the other has for quite some time doing the Grateful Dead route.

I'm going to vote for Kiss. The Insane Clown Posse disappointed me. I'd heard about them - a raucous, moronic, vulgar pop-rap band with obnoxious fans who may or may not be secretly nice. Which doesn't sound too bad!

But when I checked out their music it was just weak. It wasn't as rude as I was expecting. Or as stupid. Even the "band shows unexpected depth" songs (e.g. "Miracles", "Ain't No Time") weren't particularly good.

Whereas Kiss was an unabashed money-making machine that released a clutch of genuinely good songs at a rate of admittedly two good songs per decade, but that's, like, eight good songs. I can see why people might be drawn to the Insane Clown Posse - everybody hates them - whereas it's been a long time since the mainstream media was worried that Kiss were going to breed a new race of satanists.

Also I have the impression that both Gene Simmons and Shaggy 2 Dope would have made an articulate defence of rock music if they had been called to testify before the PMRC hearings, and they would probably both have pointed out that the mainstream media is more likely to breed a race of satanists than Kiss or the Insane Clown Posse. Did Kiss testify at the PMRC hearings? No, although they were around at the time. Surprisingly they weren't on the "filthy fifteen". But Cyndi Lauper was. Truly the United States was an unusual place in the 1980s.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

As much as I loved attending the Gathering, I'm gonna have to admit Kiss has some jams

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

But when I checked out their music it was just weak. It wasn't as rude as I was expecting. Or as stupid.

it helps if you're between the ages of 9 and 13 when you first hear it

There are no KISS songs that I love or like a lot.

There was an ICP skit that a friend put on a mix-tape and it must have been from The Great Milenko. It starts off with the sound of a party and a juke box or a record starts playing and an ominous voice starts talking about The Great Milenko and how evil and dangerous he is or whatever and at the end of the speech it starts skipping and one of the partiers is like WTF? and the lady of the house says "oh, it always does that." It was pretty funny and that's when I realized they were in on the joke.

Their music sucks, but I like that skit more than anything I've heard KISS do, except for the bootleg of Paul's banter, Let Me Get This Off My Chest. Which rules because it's so stupid.

thought this was gonna be about [url=https://www.nytimes.com/crosswords/game/daily/2026/01/24]today's nyt crossword{/url]

[b}24D:[/b] Fan group that often wears black-and-white face paint

ffs nevertheless

I was 17 working a lawn mowing summer job gig. And I’ll never forget this 40+ year old woman who worked with us and would regale us with stories about seeing Pink Floyd just straight up putting on some ICP during the car ride in front of the boss telling us how great they were. I had barely started scratching the surface of Pink Floyd so that was a wild course correction moment about drugs.

I think it is important to post in this thread that on January 24th, 2026, the very date this poll closed, the NYT crossword featured the clue: "Fan group that often wears black and white face paint". At which point I discovered that JUGGALOS and KISSARMY have the same number of letters

(the correct solution aligned with the poll's results, natch)