Many characteristics of the Juggalo culture originated from in the 1980s, when Joseph Bruce and his family were living in poverty. He and his brother Robert received all their clothes from rummage sales, and their food from canned food drives held at their own school.

Due to their poverty, the Bruce Brothers were the brunt of many jokes in school. However, the brothers were not ashamed of their living standards, and instead embraced it. Joe even made a name for themselves, Floobs.

According to Joe, a Floob was essentially a scrub, but not just an ordinary scrub. A Floob "wore the same old shoes and shitty clothes from rummage sales but didn't even have to be cool. Floobs turned their scrubbiness into something they could be proud of."

Though Joe only specifically names himself and his brother as Floobs, he alludes to other Floobs whom he had not met or known of, but were living in the same conditions as he and his brother; the respect that Floobs had for each other and their family-like embrace of likewise people influenced the philosophy held among Juggalos.