Mostasteless

Background

Jamie Spaniolo (Mr. Bones) and Paul Methric (Hektic), along with The R.O.C., formed the rap trio House of Krazees in 1993. The group released five albums before disbanding in 1997. After the split, Methric and Spaniolo sent a demo tape to Insane Clown Posse member Violent J. The demo contained the tracks "2nd Hand Smoke," "Diemuthafuckadie," and "How Does It Feel?" Bruce was extremely impressed, invited Methric and Spaniolo to perform on 'The House of Horrors Tour', and signed them to Psychopathic Records. Before the tour kicked off, Bruce, Methric and Spaniolo decided on a name that they felt would fit the duo—"Twiztid".

Recording

"Murder Murder Murder" was recorded with the intention of being included on another House of Krazees album, but the group broke up before the album was completed, and the R.O.C.'s verse was deleted from the Mostasteless release of the song. Most of the other songs were written especially for the album, except for "First Day Out", which is a cover of the Insane Clown Posse song which appeared on their 1992 debut Carnival of Carnage.

"2nd Hand Smoke" samples the chorus from En Vogue's "Free Your Mind". "85 Bucks An Hour" samples "It Takes Two by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock.

Twiztid recorded with guest appearances by Insane Clown Posse on "Meat Cleaver" and "85 Bucks An Hour", and Myzery on "Meat Cleaver". ICP's producer, Mike E. Clark, and Scott Sumner. Joseph Utsler has a non-rap spoken interlude on "She Ain't Afraid". Joseph Bruce provided additional vocals on other songs. "Rendition of Reality" contained a hidden track which revealed a hotline number.

Release

Mostasteless was initially released on November 25, 1997 by Psychopathic Records; while alternate cover artwork depicted a two-headed fetus, the main cover artwork depicted the faces of Spaniolo and Methric. Psychopathic had not had success with attempting to release albums by artists other than Insane Clown Posse, but Mostasteless was well received by ICP's Juggalo fanbase. While on tour with ICP, Twiztid learned that Psychopathic would pull Mostasteless from stores, and that it would be reissued by Island Records.

The Island reissue reorganized the track listing, deleting the "Smoke Break" skits, a hidden track at the end of "Renditions of Reality", Violent J laughing at the end of "1st Day Out", sampled dialogue from the film Halloween III: Season of the Witch at the beginning of "Whatthefuck!?!?" along with a few of the lines and the songs "Murder, Murder, Murder", "Somebody Dissin' U", "Meat Cleaver" and "She Ain't Afraid", but added the new songs "Rock the Dead", "Spin the Bottle", "Blink", "Bury Me Alive" and "Hound Dogs". Additionally, some of the lyrics in "Diemuthafuckadie" and "Whatthefuck!?!?" are censored on the Island reissue. This version was released on June 22, 1999, and peaked at #8 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and #149 on the Billboard 200.

Reception

In his review of the reissued album, Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "[Although] the thought of a group of Insane Clown Posse protégés isn't exactly inspiring", the album "may take you by surprise...Mostasteless actually works better than most ICP records," that "Twiztid often is more convincing than [its] Dark Carnival colleagues," and concluded that "if you don't buy into the whole comic book-horror shtick, Mostasteless...will be irritating, but if you've bought into it, you'll enjoy this record as much, if not more, than most ICP albums."

Legacy

Following the Island reissue, rare tracks from the original version of Mostasteless appeared on the compilations Psychopathics from Outer Space, Cryptic Collection and Cryptic Collection Vol. 2. "Whathefuck!?!?", "Somebody's Dissin' U" and "Renditions of Reality" were remixed on Cryptic Collection. In 2008, DJ Clay released a remix of "Diemuthafuckadie!" on Let 'Em Bleed: The Mixxtape, Vol. 1, with a newly recorded verse by R.O.C. "Hound Dogs", which appeared on the Island reissue, was included on Insane Clown Posse's compilation Featuring Freshness in 2011. The beat of "Murder, Murder, Murder" was reused in Cold 187um's song "An Offer He Can't Refuse" from his 2012 album, The Only Solution.