When the Kite String Pops is the debut studio album of American sludge metal band Acid Bath. Released on August 8, 1994, it is considered an underground classic and an early example of sludge metal. The album's artwork is a self-portrait made by notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy while in prison awaiting execution.

Cover art

The album's cover art is a painting by John Wayne Gacy named "Skull Clown" in which he depicts himself as his clown alter-ego, "Pogo the Clown". The balloons on the lower part contain both his nickname and his real name, J. W. Gacy. The use of artwork by a convicted serial killer caused controversy, with Rotten Records president Ron Peterson defending the decision by saying, "It's America—you should be able to do what you want." Acid Bath's follow-up album, Paegan Terrorism Tactics, continued the provocative streak by using artwork created by euthanasia proponent Jack Kevorkian.

Themes

On the Double Live Bootleg! DVD (2002), vocalist Dax Riggs introduced the song "Tranquilized" by saying, "This song is about getting high any way you do it, and kicking the earth from beneath you" and "Cheap Vodka" by saying, "This song is about getting wasted and killing things, blood, sex, and blasphemy." "Toubabo Koomi" is Cajun French for "land of the white cannibals." It was the only Acid Bath song that was made into a music video. According to guitarist Sammy Duet, the alligator which appeared in the video ended up biting someone's face. The song "God Machine" begins with a spoken word introduction by Riggs.

Reception

In 1999, sales of the album were just over 37,000 copies in the US, which is higher than average for a band with no publicity and released exclusively on an independent label.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Acid Bath.

Music videos

Personnel

Acid Bath

Production