The song is based at least in part on theories put forward by
Bill Hicks on his album '
Arizona Bay' (
Rykodisc, 1997). As the sleevenotes say, "Bill had a dream that he would one day gather an
army of
Boy Scouts, arm them with
crowbars and take them to the
San Andreas Fault". The song works both as a tribute to Hicks (along with the '
Another Dead Hero'
portrait in the sleeve and the
samples on '
Third Eye') and an elucidation of
MJK's
hatred of
LA's superficialities.
With massive and head-beating
irony, 'Ænema' won a
Grammy in 1998 for Best
Metal Performance, at a ceremony held, naturally, in
Hollywood. Some people
just don't get it...