Search - Bill Hicks :: Rant in E Minor

Do yourself a favor.....buy it

bdogkilla | 12/30/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard Hicks on a comedy special on showtime I believe about 8 years ago. I didn't catch the name..but I thought the guy was hilarious. He was doing a routine about playing the new kids on the block backwards, and I was rolling on the floor. Well, years later, I was listening to Dennis Leary, and decided to buy a cd by what I thought was an unknown artist, and lo and behold it was the same guy I had seen so long ago. I nearly cried with laughter, and immediately ran out of my job (no kidding) to buy his other 3 albums. It was money well spent. You can't go wrong with this purchase...and if you need the cash..go sell anything by Dennis Leary you may have...As Bill Hicks once implied, his big secret was that he stole all Leary's material and just to throw people off, he did it before Leary, and actually made it funny. (Listen to them both, especially the bits on non-smokers and rockstars, and it becomes eerily obvious where Leary "borrowed" much of his material from...)"

A voice of sanity for insane times

Richard Raznikov | 08/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Rant in E-Minor" is not quite as polished or hilarious as the stunning "Shock & Awe" CD recorded in England at around the same time (near the end of Bill's life), but it remains as valid today as when it was first delivered.

These are crazy times, and Hicks' take on things, from Iraq (after the first Gulf War) to 'right-to-lifers' to Rush Limbaugh is a voice of sanity amidst the nutso headlines and phony TV "news" shows.

A word of caution, however. This is not for children or those with tender sensibilities. Bill's take on Limbaugh, for example, is a dark musing on the latter's probable sexual problems, featuring speculation as likely true as it is disgusting. To be shared with close friends, allies, and all others seeking a good hour's worth of laughter which sometimes hits 10 on the Richter Scale.

We miss you, Bill."

Icon in the oven.

Ned NoName | 01/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bill Hicks is one of the greatest, most profound and important artists of the century that just past. For this quite possibly outlandish claim to make any sense one has to listen to this disc and then think about what it must have been like to tour as a nearly anonymous stand up bravely putting his entire, uncensored, highly personalized views of life on the line in front of drunken bar full after drunken bar full of total strangers from all walks of life. This man had a truly unique vision and the courage to subvert a contemporary art form to provide him with a method for disseminating it. This is high art, and vulgar humor, and hysterical humor, and offensive humor, and provocation, and courage in action. Even those who disagree with his assault on conventional thinking should have the honor and integrity to recognize that this was one of the most courageous men in comedy. He didn't perform to get laughs or be liked, he got laughs to keep people listening to the things he had to say and the ideas he wanted to communicate. In a time when the idea of standing on a soapbox to speak about the world is dead Bill Hicks found a way of communicating extremely complex ideas in a completely original way. He redefines what comedy, art, and a single person with a single point of view are capable of. If Andy Kaufman can be declared a genius for throwing a wrench into the works of mass media then it probably won't be long until Bill Hicks is taken up by a wider and wider audience and hailed for throwing a complex, unique, entirely thought out world view in to the mix as well. Even more incredible is that he found a way to do it. Agree with him or disagree with him, the man found a way to communicate his individual ideas and point of view in an age where the din of mass media drowned out individuals. Taking that into account should make it possible even for those who disagree with what he had to say to admire him for the way he stood up to say it. If Bill Hicks were a stock now would be the time to invest. Give this album a listen. You will love it, or you will hate it, and there will be nothing in between. Anything that intense will continue to de discussed, and generate more and more interest. So don't wait for the posthumous T-shirts, or the inevitable movie. Bill Hicks is a pop cultural Icon still cooking in the heat he generates when people listen to him. Many may slam the door closed after getting their nose hairs singed by a quick peak. Eventually though, the time will be right to realize who he was, and what his astonishingly courageous contribution represents."