Arizona Bay

Infobox Album | Name = Arizona Bay
Type = Album
Artist = Bill Hicks

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Released = February 25, 1997
Recorded = November 1992 - October 1993
Genre = Comedy
Length = 65:56
Label = Rykodisc
RCD 10352
Producer = Kevin Booth
Reviews = *Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gnh1z8baoyv1 link]
Last album = "Relentless"
(1992)
This album = Arizona Bay
(1997)
Next album = "Rant in E-Minor"
(1997)

"Arizona Bay" is an album by comedian Bill Hicks, posthumously released in 1997 through Rykodisc. It was released alongside "Rant in E-Minor", marking three years since his death. The album's title refers to the hope that Los Angeles will one day fall into the ocean due to a major earthquake. Hicks, perhaps in jest, contends that the world will be better off in L.A.'s absence:

cquote|"Ahhh, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone...All the shitty shows are gone, all the idiots screaming in the fucking wind are dead, I love it...leaving nothing but a cool, beautiful serenity called Arizona Bay. That's right, when L.A. falls in the fucking ocean and is flushed away, all it will leave is Arizona Bay."|cquote

The music

Several of Hicks's albums are unique in that they feature background music, meant to enhance the album's mood. Such additions were made well after the initial recordings and are the product of Hicks's own musicianship. [http://www.billhicks.com/bio.html]

Upon learning that he had developed cancer, Hicks used his time to mix music into "Rant in E-Minor" and Arizona Bay, calling it his "Dark Side of the Moon". [http://www.billhicks.com/bio.html]

Track listing

All songs written by Bill Hicks

#"Goodbye You Lizard Scum" – 3:52
#"Step on the Gas (L.A. Riots)" – 4:50
#"Hooligans" – 4:20
#"Officer Nigger Hater" – 5:27
#"As Long as We're Talking Shelf Life (Kennedy)" – 5:00
#"Elephant Is Dead (Bush)" – 1:57
#"Me & Saddam" – 3:10
#"Bullies of the World" – 1:22
#"Shane's Song" – 2:03
#"Dinosaurs in the Bible" – 5:45
#"Living God" – 1:05
#"Marketing & Advertising" – 4:38
#"Don't Talk for Me" – 1:40
#"Clam Lappers & Sonic the Hedgehog" – 3:02
#"She's Got a Broken Heart" – 1:09
#"Pussywhipped Satan" – 4:40
#"L.A. Falls" – 3:54
#"Elvis" – 8:05

Personnel

*Bill Hicks - Guitar, Vocals
*Kevin Booth - Bass, Keyboards, Percussion, Producer

Pop Culture References to Hicks

The computer game "Deus Ex", set in the mid-21st century, features a reference to an earthquake destroying Los Angeles in 2030 and creating Arizona Bay [http://deusex2.filefront.com/news/Interview_with_Warren_Spector;5429] .

The band Tool released a song, "Ænema", from their album "Ænima", which repeats the theme of Los Angeles being drowned in the Arizona Bay. The song includes the lyrics "Learn to swim, see you down in Arizona Bay." Bill Hicks has always been a heavy influence on Tool's albums:

:"Who's that talking at the start of "Third Eye"? - That would be the aforementioned Bill Hicks; those are snips of comedy routines of his, from "The War On Drugs" (off his CD "Dangerous") and "Drugs Have Done Good Things" (off "Relentless"). In fact, on his CD "Rant in E Minor", he refers to the power that heavy doses of hallucinogens have to "squeegeed his third eye." [http://toolshed.down.net/faq/faq.html]