''Arizona Bay'' is an album by American

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical acts. These performances are typically composed of rehear ...

and

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Early satirical authors *Aes ...

Bill Hicks William Melvin Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) was an American stand-up comedian and satirist. His material— encompassing a wide range of social issues including religion, politics, and philosophy— was controversial and ofte ...

, posthumously released in 1997. Both this album and a similar album of new material, ''

Rant in E-Minor ''Rant in E-Minor'' is an album by stand-up comedian and satirist Bill Hicks. Both this album and a similar album of new material, '' Arizona Bay'', were released posthumously by Rykodisc on February 25, 1997, marking three years since Hicks' d ...

'', were released posthumously by

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label ...

on February 25, 1997, marking three years since Hicks' death. The album's title refers to the hope that

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

will one day fall into the ocean due to a major earthquake. Hicks contends that the world will be better off in L.A.'s absence: On April 28, 2015, Comedy Dynamics released a new version of the album in the digital format called ''Arizona Bay Extended'', featuring "a raw and uncut show that comprised the original ''Arizona Bay'' album."

Musical content

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. According to Kevin Booth, in the BBC documentary ''Dark Poet'', it was during the early recording sessions for ''Arizona Bay'', around Christmas 1992, that Hicks first started suffering from the pains in his side, which would later be diagnosed as pancreatic cancer. Upon learning that he had developed cancer, Hicks used his time to mix music into ''

'' and ''Arizona Bay'', calling it his ''

Dark Side of the Moon The far side of the Moon is the hemisphere of the Moon that is facing away from Earth, the opposite hemisphere is the Near side of the Moon, near side. It always has the same surface oriented away from Earth because of synchronous rotation i ...

''.

Legacy

In 1996, one year prior to the release of Hicks' ''Arizona Bay'' album, American rock band

Tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

released the album ''

Ænima ''Ænima'' ( ) is the second studio album by the American rock band Tool. It was released in vinyl format on September 17, 1996, and in compact disc format on October 1, 1996, through Zoo Entertainment. The album was recorded and cut at Ocea ...

'', which contains several references to Hicks. The

title song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

of the album echoes the theme of Los Angeles being submerged in the ocean and includes the lyrics, "Learn to swim, see you down in Arizona Bay." Additionally, there is artwork inside the album booklet showing a map of California before and after the earthquake, as well as a caricature of Hicks himself, cited as "another dead hero". The song "Third Eye" also contains references to several Hicks routines: :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 "squeegee his third eye."Tool FAQ
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Track listing

All music composed by

''Arizona Bay Extended''

Personnel

* Bill Hicks - guitar, vocals *

Kevin Booth Kevin Booth (born October 2, 1961) is an American film director, Producer (film), producer, lecturer and musician. He was known for his documentary film series ''American Drug War''. Booth worked with comedian Bill Hicks, until the time of his de ...

- bass, keyboards, percussion, producer

References

{{Authority control Bill Hicks albums 1997 live albums Live albums published posthumously 1990s comedy albums Live comedy albums Live spoken word albums Rykodisc albums Stand-up comedy albums