Rant in E-minor
By Bill Hicks
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Track listing
- Part One
- Chapter One
- 1 Fevered Egos 4:05
- 2 Easter 1:18
- 3 Gideons 1:04
- Chapter Two
- 4 People Suck 0:21
- 5 Pro Life 4:13
- 6 People Who Hate People 0:32
- 7 Non-Smokers 2:38
- 8 Gifts of Forgiveness 5:09
- 9 Purple Vein Dick Joke 0:29
- Chapter Three
- 10 Confession Time (Cops) 4:26
- 11 Wax Dart 0:30
- 12 I'm Talking to the Women Here 1:10
- Part Two
- Chapter Four
- 13 You're Wrong Night 5:36
- Chapter Five
- 14 A New Flag (Patriotism) 1:12
- 15 Gays in the Military 2:24
- 16 I.R.S. Bust 1:09
- 17 Politics in America 0:39
- 18 Quiet Loner 0:57
- Chapter Six
- 19 Artistic Roll Call 4:33
- 20 Orange Drink 1:08
- 21 Save Willie 1:31
- Chapter Seven
- 22 Deficit (Jesse Helms) 2:47
- 23 Rush Limbaugh 2:21
- Part Three
- Chapter Eight
- 24 Time to Evolve 3:16
- Chapter Nine
- 25 Waco (Koresh) 5:35
- 26 The Pope 1:02
- 27 Christianity 0:27
- 28 Seven Seals 0:28
- Chapter Ten
- 29 One of the Boys (Clinton) 1:03
- 30 Car Bomb Derby 0:25
- 31 The Elite 1:06
- Chapter Eleven
- 32 Love List (No Future) 2:55
- 33 Back to the Garden 1:19
- 34 Your Children Aren't Special 3:13
- 35 Wizards Have Landed 1:43
- 36 Lift Me Lord 0:52
- Total length: 73:36
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4 Issues
- Release view [combined information for all issues]
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Rant in E-minor [p] Live
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Rant in E-Minor Digital file, Streaming
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Rant in E-Minor: Variations Bonus Tracks
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Rant in E-Minor: Variations Bonus Tracks, Digital file, Streaming
56 Reviews
"Well folks, this is a kinda sentimental evening for me, because uh....this is my final live performance that I will ever do, ever."
That's how Hicks opens Rant In E-Minor. He turns it into a riff on how much he hates touring and playing dives, and then tells the audience he will never perform live again because he now has his own TV show, on CBS, called 'Let's Hunt And Kill Billy Ray Cyrus'.
Though this, is of course, a joke, it probably really WAS a sentimental evening for Hicks. This, his fourth official album, was recorded when Hicks was going through the most intense period of his life. Not only had he recently been totally censored by the David Letterman show because his material was 'too controversial' (funnily enough, that set was recorded in the same building where Elvis was famously censored, and only filmed from the waist up), but he had found out that he had pancreatic cancer, and it was in its final stages. Hicks knew this really WAS going to be one of his last performances, as his tumor had started resisting chemotherapy.
The whole reason Bill Hicks has started releasing comedy CDs was, in his own words, 'to leave a body of work behind'. Thus, Rant In E-Minor takes on extra significance, not just for Hicks, but for the listener. This album sees him on fire, delivering the best material of his life, desperate to leave behind a document of unadulterated, pure Bill Hicks.
Though this was actually culled from several performances, it mostly plays like one long set. Throughout, nothing is sacred. Pro-lifers, celebrities, Christians (especially Catholics), the Warren commission, non-smokers, patriots, and even victims of spousal abuse all come under attack. And, crucially, it is ALWAYS funny.
This is kinda strange, because a lot of the time on Rant In E-Minor, it sounds as though Hicks is not playing for laughs. He simply wants to tell the truth as he sees it, and expose the lies and hypocrisy he sees in America. Just check "Waco (Korseh)", his dissection of the then-topical story of David (neé Vernon) Koresh and the Davidian compound that the US government invaded. Though he divulges into a couple of very funny skits, his main point is that the US government blatantly lied about how they handled the situation. Clinton, therefore, is a liar and a murderer, and Hicks maintains that he should commit suicide to right this wrong.
This may make it sound as if his material is outdated - it's actually far from it. That's the first thing that strikes you about this album - there is material about the war in Iraq, and George Bush. Obviously, it's a different war, but it's amazing just how much of it could easily have been written within the past 2 years.
If you only ever own one comedy album, make god-damn sure it's this.
That's how Hicks opens Rant In E-Minor. He turns it into a riff on how much he hates touring and playing dives, and then tells the audience he will never perform live again because he now has his own TV show, on CBS, called 'Let's Hunt And Kill Billy Ray Cyrus'.
Though this, is of course, a joke, it probably really WAS a sentimental evening for Hicks. This, his fourth official album, was recorded when Hicks was going through the most intense period of his life. Not only had he recently been totally censored by the David Letterman show because his material was 'too controversial' (funnily enough, that set was recorded in the same building where Elvis was famously censored, and only filmed from the waist up), but he had found out that he had pancreatic cancer, and it was in its final stages. Hicks knew this really WAS going to be one of his last performances, as his tumor had started resisting chemotherapy.
The whole reason Bill Hicks has started releasing comedy CDs was, in his own words, 'to leave a body of work behind'. Thus, Rant In E-Minor takes on extra significance, not just for Hicks, but for the listener. This album sees him on fire, delivering the best material of his life, desperate to leave behind a document of unadulterated, pure Bill Hicks.
Though this was actually culled from several performances, it mostly plays like one long set. Throughout, nothing is sacred. Pro-lifers, celebrities, Christians (especially Catholics), the Warren commission, non-smokers, patriots, and even victims of spousal abuse all come under attack. And, crucially, it is ALWAYS funny.
This is kinda strange, because a lot of the time on Rant In E-Minor, it sounds as though Hicks is not playing for laughs. He simply wants to tell the truth as he sees it, and expose the lies and hypocrisy he sees in America. Just check "Waco (Korseh)", his dissection of the then-topical story of David (neé Vernon) Koresh and the Davidian compound that the US government invaded. Though he divulges into a couple of very funny skits, his main point is that the US government blatantly lied about how they handled the situation. Clinton, therefore, is a liar and a murderer, and Hicks maintains that he should commit suicide to right this wrong.
This may make it sound as if his material is outdated - it's actually far from it. That's the first thing that strikes you about this album - there is material about the war in Iraq, and George Bush. Obviously, it's a different war, but it's amazing just how much of it could easily have been written within the past 2 years.
If you only ever own one comedy album, make god-damn sure it's this.
Published
ADVERTISEMENT
*something something neckbeard atheist* *Dawkins LOL* *I am a closet creationist who believes int he rapture* *I literally think Bill Hicks, George Carlin and Dawkins are literally as bad if not worse than the GOP in Congress waging wars and passing draconian laws that oppress everyone not in the rich white elite literally* Also my faverit e passtime is ingjesting paint thinnner!!!!
Soooo that aside Bill Hicks was never my favorite comic, sometimes his crassness and anger would reach a point where it was just being crass and angry without enough temperament of humor or a point to go with it, but most of the time, he's on the mark, and can actually elicit a laugh or two, which is what I listen to these for in the first place anyway. George Carlin largely did this stuff better (*NEECCCKKBEAAARDDDDDD LOOLOLOLLLL ATHIESTS*) but this is a good one to listen to regardless. You can tell it's not that bad when every negative review is in a contest seemingly to blatantly pander and out-RYMcore the other (suckering in those favorites from that easily suckered userbase) so give a few of his performances, if not necessarily ones from this album, a listen for yourself if you're not so easily dissuaded.
Soooo that aside Bill Hicks was never my favorite comic, sometimes his crassness and anger would reach a point where it was just being crass and angry without enough temperament of humor or a point to go with it, but most of the time, he's on the mark, and can actually elicit a laugh or two, which is what I listen to these for in the first place anyway. George Carlin largely did this stuff better (*NEECCCKKBEAAARDDDDDD LOOLOLOLLLL ATHIESTS*) but this is a good one to listen to regardless. You can tell it's not that bad when every negative review is in a contest seemingly to blatantly pander and out-RYMcore the other (suckering in those favorites from that easily suckered userbase) so give a few of his performances, if not necessarily ones from this album, a listen for yourself if you're not so easily dissuaded.
Published
“I hope I die before I become Pete Townsend” - Kurt Cobain
Since this CD was recorded in the latter half of 1993, mere months away from his death at age 32, not much has changed. William Melvin Hicks remains a cult figure, still relatively obscure in the yawning, instant gratification, reality on television American market from which he came. What is far more alarming is that, though the names have changed and some of the events may be unfamiliar to people who were in their pre-teens at the end, the methods by which our corporate governments manipulate information to their own ends and control freedom, convincing people they are much freer than they truly are, have pretty much stayed the same.
To hear Bill talk about Bush and the “war” in Iraq, you’d swear he was still alive – same shit, difference decade. As Dubya has won the Supreme Court Justice sweepstakes in his second term and stacked the bench with rightwing nut jobs who put the mental in fundamentalist Christian, Hicks’ rants on the conflicting absurdities of the pro-life struggle ring now with as great a sense of urgency as ever. While Andrew Dice Clay and Denis Leary’s comedy will eventually fade into complete obscurity, Bill’s passionate subject matter will be relevant as long as the arms industry is more important economically than eliminating starvation…which is to say, for the remainder of American history.
Most comedians historically prostitute stand-up, using it as a means to an end, usually with the goal of receiving a dubiously funded starring vehicle like a mind numbing sitcom or corporate talk show, thus following a rich line of comics like Ray Romano, Tim Allen, Roseanne Barr, Jay Leno, et cetera. Bill, however, took the aged calling at face value and treated it as the bastion of free expression it can be, where the benefits must be inherent in the act. Being a comic meant he had no boss, that no one could tell him what to do or say, and he took full advantage.
He didn’t just get up on stage and tell a few jokes or stories; Bill aggressively attacked the popular schools of though, mob mentality, graphic political deception and hypocrisy, and tried to make people think for themselves, unlike the general millions of Home Improvement clones who are only too eager to fulfill “here we are now, entertain us” without a further thought. Bill’s stream of consciousness routines were journeys through which the listener is meant to be pulled off guard and changed for the experience.
At his death, Bill left detailed instructions on how Rant In E Minor and Arizona Bay were to be completed. Though they weren’t released for three years post-mortem, these are strongly considered by fans and critics alike to be his finest recorded work. Interludes of the former Georgian’s own music soften the blows of his abrasive words and concepts, creating a reasonably calming flow for each album. As the centerpieces of his legacy, he’d envisioned Bay to be The Dark Side of the Moon for comedy, but the patchwork of performances that went into Rant reach far beyond the greatest Pink Floyd reference.
With most of the material for these recorded after the pancreatic cancer had been found and was progressing beyond chemo treatments, Rant is Bill at his most cathartic. My world was forever fucked up the first time I heard it. Till that point, I thought Denis Leary’s No Cure for Cancer was hilarious. Then I found out Leary lifted many of the ideas for his breakout CD from the material Bill had been developing since the early eighties for this album, watered them down, of course, to cater to the beer swilling, soap opera and wrestling watching pop fans Hicks stood against.
Bill didn’t really hate the people too lazy or ignorant to understand, though, for his ultimate message, revealed to those who could see past his foul language and unapologetic delivery, was one of love, compassion, and understanding. He was a stand-up philosopher who upheld the tenets of artistic integrity, battled tyranny and injustice wherever he saw it, appreciated only by a frustrated few for many, many years. I’ve listened to a lot of comedy albums over the years and Rant In E Minor is by far the best album I know of. With the seemingly self-perpetuating likes of Margaret Cho and Jimmy Kimmel, this will probably remain so for many years to come.
“I left in love, in laughter, and in truth and wherever truth, love, and laughter abide, I am there in spirit.”
Since this CD was recorded in the latter half of 1993, mere months away from his death at age 32, not much has changed. William Melvin Hicks remains a cult figure, still relatively obscure in the yawning, instant gratification, reality on television American market from which he came. What is far more alarming is that, though the names have changed and some of the events may be unfamiliar to people who were in their pre-teens at the end, the methods by which our corporate governments manipulate information to their own ends and control freedom, convincing people they are much freer than they truly are, have pretty much stayed the same.
To hear Bill talk about Bush and the “war” in Iraq, you’d swear he was still alive – same shit, difference decade. As Dubya has won the Supreme Court Justice sweepstakes in his second term and stacked the bench with rightwing nut jobs who put the mental in fundamentalist Christian, Hicks’ rants on the conflicting absurdities of the pro-life struggle ring now with as great a sense of urgency as ever. While Andrew Dice Clay and Denis Leary’s comedy will eventually fade into complete obscurity, Bill’s passionate subject matter will be relevant as long as the arms industry is more important economically than eliminating starvation…which is to say, for the remainder of American history.
Most comedians historically prostitute stand-up, using it as a means to an end, usually with the goal of receiving a dubiously funded starring vehicle like a mind numbing sitcom or corporate talk show, thus following a rich line of comics like Ray Romano, Tim Allen, Roseanne Barr, Jay Leno, et cetera. Bill, however, took the aged calling at face value and treated it as the bastion of free expression it can be, where the benefits must be inherent in the act. Being a comic meant he had no boss, that no one could tell him what to do or say, and he took full advantage.
He didn’t just get up on stage and tell a few jokes or stories; Bill aggressively attacked the popular schools of though, mob mentality, graphic political deception and hypocrisy, and tried to make people think for themselves, unlike the general millions of Home Improvement clones who are only too eager to fulfill “here we are now, entertain us” without a further thought. Bill’s stream of consciousness routines were journeys through which the listener is meant to be pulled off guard and changed for the experience.
At his death, Bill left detailed instructions on how Rant In E Minor and Arizona Bay were to be completed. Though they weren’t released for three years post-mortem, these are strongly considered by fans and critics alike to be his finest recorded work. Interludes of the former Georgian’s own music soften the blows of his abrasive words and concepts, creating a reasonably calming flow for each album. As the centerpieces of his legacy, he’d envisioned Bay to be The Dark Side of the Moon for comedy, but the patchwork of performances that went into Rant reach far beyond the greatest Pink Floyd reference.
With most of the material for these recorded after the pancreatic cancer had been found and was progressing beyond chemo treatments, Rant is Bill at his most cathartic. My world was forever fucked up the first time I heard it. Till that point, I thought Denis Leary’s No Cure for Cancer was hilarious. Then I found out Leary lifted many of the ideas for his breakout CD from the material Bill had been developing since the early eighties for this album, watered them down, of course, to cater to the beer swilling, soap opera and wrestling watching pop fans Hicks stood against.
Bill didn’t really hate the people too lazy or ignorant to understand, though, for his ultimate message, revealed to those who could see past his foul language and unapologetic delivery, was one of love, compassion, and understanding. He was a stand-up philosopher who upheld the tenets of artistic integrity, battled tyranny and injustice wherever he saw it, appreciated only by a frustrated few for many, many years. I’ve listened to a lot of comedy albums over the years and Rant In E Minor is by far the best album I know of. With the seemingly self-perpetuating likes of Margaret Cho and Jimmy Kimmel, this will probably remain so for many years to come.
“I left in love, in laughter, and in truth and wherever truth, love, and laughter abide, I am there in spirit.”
Published
Content summary: A man spends an hour or so yelling about some of the most First Worldy (Most First Worldly? First Worldiest?) problems you can imagine (Jay Leno sold out! People think their children are valuable and unique (but they aren't)! Not enough people are using drugs!). He makes these very trivial annoyances out to be apocalyptically disgusting evidence that humanity is a diseased, rotten bunch of viruses, and he treats his audience like a pack of dribbling morons because he apparently thinks they don’t take the Very Serious Problems of stupid television and celebrities doing commercials as Seriously as he does.
Occasionally, there are songs. They aren’t very good.
To his credit, the yelling man will sometimes take a break from First World Problems to yell about shit that actually does matter (i.e. government warmongering; power stratification; domestic abuse). But when he does talk about shit that matters, he tends to ruin things by spouting dumb clichés (Pro-life people are hypocritical! Women like bad boys!), acting like a self-obsessed misogynistic asshole (Seeing women in abusive relationships makes me angry BECAUSE I’M NOT GETTING ANY!), and taking simplistic and imagination-free positions on the shit he’s talking about (We could solve the deficit problem if we just legalized marijuana! The government wouldn’t go to war if we all used drugs!).
The yelling man keeps telling people to use drugs, and he keeps bragging about the drugs he's used—or, as he puts it, about how he's “squeegeed [his] third eye”. Every time he says this, he accompanies it with the most irritating squeegee noise in the universe.
Sometimes, the yelling man makes jokes. Some of these jokes are stale and stupid, but others have admittedly clever punchlines; it’s hard to enjoy them, though, because:
A. The yelling man has all the comedic timing of a bull moose
B. The yelling man doesn’t know when to let a fucking joke end
C. The yelling man comes across as so smug and self-centered that you sort of hate yourself every time you laugh
I guess what I'm trying to say is this: I don't like this album.
spoiler: click to read
spoiler: click to read
spoiler: click to read
Occasionally, there are songs. They aren’t very good.
To his credit, the yelling man will sometimes take a break from First World Problems to yell about shit that actually does matter (i.e. government warmongering; power stratification; domestic abuse). But when he does talk about shit that matters, he tends to ruin things by spouting dumb clichés (Pro-life people are hypocritical! Women like bad boys!), acting like a self-obsessed misogynistic asshole (Seeing women in abusive relationships makes me angry BECAUSE I’M NOT GETTING ANY!), and taking simplistic and imagination-free positions on the shit he’s talking about (We could solve the deficit problem if we just legalized marijuana! The government wouldn’t go to war if we all used drugs!).
The yelling man keeps telling people to use drugs, and he keeps bragging about the drugs he's used—or, as he puts it, about how he's “squeegeed [his] third eye”. Every time he says this, he accompanies it with the most irritating squeegee noise in the universe.
Sometimes, the yelling man makes jokes. Some of these jokes are stale and stupid, but others have admittedly clever punchlines; it’s hard to enjoy them, though, because:
A. The yelling man has all the comedic timing of a bull moose
B. The yelling man doesn’t know when to let a fucking joke end
C. The yelling man comes across as so smug and self-centered that you sort of hate yourself every time you laugh
I guess what I'm trying to say is this: I don't like this album.
spoiler: click to read
spoiler: click to read
spoiler: click to read
Published
I bought this album some years back, and as most comedy albums, it had the parental advisory sticker on it. Well, that sticker won't hold. They should release a new sticker which says "this album is not suitable for minors, republicans, Christians, and people who takes jokes too literally". There will always be a left and and a right wing in comedy and music, though some people seem to ignore it when it comes to the latter. Bill Hicks political views are as obvious as the color of the green grass, but as a comedian you pretty much have to plant your flag in one corner of the political spectrum. Well, you don't have too, but then you're left with slapstick and jokes about your wife.
If someone dislikes this album, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're conservative, they might just not like his style of comedy. I've read through the reviews, and I see a lot of people giving it .5 or 1 star, and that's up to them, nobody is forcing anyone to like this. What is kind of stupid though, is that some people who like it, and some people who dislike it, start attacking each other. They're not satisfied with either "Bill Hicks is shit" or "Bill Hicks is a genius", they have to say something about the people liking/disliking it too. But that just shows that this album is a political statement, cause every politician, political commentator, member of a party and average voter, isn't satisfied with just disagreeing with his oppositions views, but also has to attack the person who holds these views. Bill Hicks is the exact same way, so this album leads to what it was made about, hating the opposition.
Personally I love this album. I love the cynicism, perhaps because I'm kind of cynic myself. If the story shows why Hicks was like this? No, cause he was always a fucking cynic. I've heard all the Hicks CD's, I think, and this and Relentless stands out as the highlights. I was 2 years old when Hicks died, and some might say that his material is dated and doesn't apply anymore. Well, if I can enjoy it (a person who wasn't concerned with politics until like 2005), I'd say his message stands pretty solid today. The world hasn't change, it's still the same kind of morons who walk it, and it's the same kind of morons who's in charge. Nobody is ever gonna be satisfied about how things work, though some might choose to ignore it. So I say cheers for political comedy/satire, cause it's the only way politics can be mentioned without spurring a rotten taste in everyone's mouth.
This album is incredibly funny, and a long with Relentless and Arizona Bay, it's the funniest comedy album I've ever heard. It makes me laugh and nod my head, and that's just how I see it.
If someone dislikes this album, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're conservative, they might just not like his style of comedy. I've read through the reviews, and I see a lot of people giving it .5 or 1 star, and that's up to them, nobody is forcing anyone to like this. What is kind of stupid though, is that some people who like it, and some people who dislike it, start attacking each other. They're not satisfied with either "Bill Hicks is shit" or "Bill Hicks is a genius", they have to say something about the people liking/disliking it too. But that just shows that this album is a political statement, cause every politician, political commentator, member of a party and average voter, isn't satisfied with just disagreeing with his oppositions views, but also has to attack the person who holds these views. Bill Hicks is the exact same way, so this album leads to what it was made about, hating the opposition.
Personally I love this album. I love the cynicism, perhaps because I'm kind of cynic myself. If the story shows why Hicks was like this? No, cause he was always a fucking cynic. I've heard all the Hicks CD's, I think, and this and Relentless stands out as the highlights. I was 2 years old when Hicks died, and some might say that his material is dated and doesn't apply anymore. Well, if I can enjoy it (a person who wasn't concerned with politics until like 2005), I'd say his message stands pretty solid today. The world hasn't change, it's still the same kind of morons who walk it, and it's the same kind of morons who's in charge. Nobody is ever gonna be satisfied about how things work, though some might choose to ignore it. So I say cheers for political comedy/satire, cause it's the only way politics can be mentioned without spurring a rotten taste in everyone's mouth.
This album is incredibly funny, and a long with Relentless and Arizona Bay, it's the funniest comedy album I've ever heard. It makes me laugh and nod my head, and that's just how I see it.
Published
I DON'T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND HOW RIDICULOUS THIS SITUATION IS THAT I AM CURRENTLY DESCRIBING TO YOU, EVEN THOUGH I CAN CLEARLY HEAR YOU LAUGHING, BECAUSE YOU MAY NOT BE LAUGHING FOR EXACTLY THE RIGHT REASON BECAUSE I AM MUCH SMARTER THAN YOU (AND MOST OF AMERICA; I NEED TO MAKE THIS KNOWN). LET ME DILUTE THE HUMOR IN MY OBSERVATIONS TO ABSOLUTE ZERO BY REPEATING THESE THINGS IN THE MOST BORING AND OBVIOUS WAYS POSSIBLE AND INJECTING MORE VIOLENCE, SEX AND PROFANITY INTO THEM EVERY TIME. WOULDN'T IT BE FUNNY IF THIS VERY HAPPY AND POSITIVE THING WAS LOOKED AT IN A CYNICAL LIGHT? I THINK CERTAIN CELEBRITIES ARE NOT GOOD AT WHAT THEY DO AND ARE TOO PERVASIVE FOR MY LIKING, LET'S CAPTURE AND KILL THEM. DO I HATE EVERYONE OR LOVE EVERYONE? IT IS A MYSTERY. REDNECKS REDNECKS HILLBILLIES HILLBILLIES SHEEP SHEEP CORPORATE MIND-DRAIN CORPORATE MIND-DRAIN FUCK AMERICA FUCK AMERICA. TAKE DRUGS (LIKE I DO) AND ALL THE ANSWERS WILL COME TO YOU.
Published
I don't hate Bill Hicks because I'm an ignorant sheeple or a blowhard feminist who hates every single misogynist on principle. I hate him because he is fucking unfunny. Keep yelling. No one cares
Also hate it when people think that listening to Bill fucking Hicks would make the world a better place. Wow.
Also hate it when people think that listening to Bill fucking Hicks would make the world a better place. Wow.
Published
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