Music / Limp Bizkit

"You wanted the worst... you got the worst. The one... the only... Limp Bizkit."

— Intro to Significant Other

Influences:

• Korn, Beastie Boys, Faith No More, Nirvana, The Sugarhill Gang, Public Enemy, Run–D.M.C., Eric B. & Rakim, Grandmaster Flash, De La Soul, KISS, Suicidal Tendencies, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Nine Inch Nails, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Sabbath, Primus, Snot, (həd) p.e., tool, Deftones, The Who, George Michael, Metallica

Influenced:

• Proyecto Eskhata, Emmure

Related Acts:

• Black Light Burns (Borland)
• House of Pain (DJ Lethal)
• La Coka Nostra (DJ Lethal)

Limp Bizkit is a rock band from from Jacksonville, Florida credited for being a Trope Codifier of the Nu Metal genre. They're also known for being one of the most divisive bands of their time; while they have a large fanbase as well as 40 million albums sold worldwide, they have an equally passionate Hatedom derived largely from Heavy Metal fandom. The band, particularly their frontman Fred Durst, play into their reputation by acting as heels of the rock world to a certain extent, but there is actually a fair amount of Self-Deprecation in their lyrics and live performances◊, not to mention the heavy amount of Stealth Parody in their lyrics. This snarky, ironic sense of humor maintains to this day.

The band formed in 1995, and recorded a demo consisting of material Durst wrote for a pair of previous bands. Original guitarist Rob Waters left the band after recording the demo, and the final line-up was solidified with the introduction of Wes Borland. The latter's role in the band also played a part in the band getting ahead in the music industry: Through Durst's job as a tattoo artist, he was able to get the band Korn to listen to Limp Bizkit's first demo, but they were unimpressed. After they recorded a second demo with Borland, however, Korn responded more favorably, leading to Ross Robinson working with the band and a record deal with Mojo, and eventually Flip Records (and later Interscope).

Their debut album Three Dollar Bill, Y'all$ initially sold poorly, but sales increased via active touring. Participating in the Family Values and Ozzfest tours gave the band mainstream recognition. Memorably, the band's live set included a giant toilet which Fred Durst emerged from during performances (Durst would frequently yell "I'm a piece of shit, and my band is a piece of shit!" and inform audiences they were coming "from the sewer"). Also noteworthy was a tour in which the band allowed women to attend their concerts for free, which successfully increased their female fanbase. The band did this because their concerts were formerly attended largely by males.

Their next album Significant Other was a crossover hit that sold well on both rock and Hip-Hop charts but was followed by a controversial appearance at Woodstock '99, where the band was blamed for the audience's bad behavior, which included sexual assaults and rapes. Durst also got into quite a few feuds with other musicians.

The band's next few albums were generally poorly received by critics, and despite some media appearances (including one of their songs being used as the theme for Mission: Impossible II), the coverage of the band focused less on the band's music and more on controversies surrounding their concerts. A 2001 tour in which teenager Jessica Michalik was crushed in a mosh pit and died of asphyxiation during Limp Bizkit's performance was the subject of lawsuits; it was generally determined, however, that the death was the fault of poor security, and not the band.

The relationship between Wes Borland and the rest of the band, particularly Durst, also suffered, to the point where Borland left the band to form Black Light Burns. The rest of Limp Bizkit released an album, Results May Vary, without him; it was the band's worst-reviewed. Borland rejoined for The Unquestionable Truth, Part 1, released on Geffen Records, which was better received, but left the band again. He eventually rejoined again, because it was decided that "we were more disgusted and bored with the state of heavy popular music than we were with each other." During the band's comeback, they released their most critically acclaimed album, Gold Cobra. As of 2012, the band signed with Cash Money Records, but this partnership only lasted as long as it took to do a standalone single called "Ready to Go" with Lil Wayne.

The band wound up on Suretone Records, but still spent the better part of a decade with a new album stuck in Development Hell. They resurfaced with a well-received set at 2021's Lollapalooza, which was the first public debut of an infamous new look from Durst, containing a handlebar mustache, giant shades and shaggy white hair, which Durst referred to as giving "Dad Vibes." This was also the name of the first single of their new album, Still Sucks, which was released on Halloween 2021 to mostly positive reviews.

Members:

• Fred Durst - vocals
• Wes Borland - guitar
• Sam Rivers - bass
• John Otto - drums
• DJ Lethal - turntables

Former Members:

• Terry Balsamo - guitar
• Rob Waters - guitar
• Mike Smith - guitar

Discography:

• Three Dollar Bill, Y'all$ (1997)
• Significant Other (1999)
• Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000)
• New Old Songs (2001)
• Results May Vary (2003)
• The Unquestionable Truth, Part 1 (2005)
• Gold Cobra (2011)
• Still Sucks (2021)
• The Unquestionable Truth, Part 2 (TBA)

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"All right, partner. Keep on tropin', baybeh. You know what time it is."

Music tropes

• Atomic F-Bomb: In nearly every song.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" as a whole is this.
• Careful with That Axe: Fred's guttural, throat-shredding scream is a frequent offender.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Fred Durst has quite the potty mouth on him. Nowhere is this more evident than "Hot Dog," which proudly proclaims a whopping 46 uses of "fuck" by the end of its second verse.
• Cover Version: "Faith", "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", "Fame", "Jump Around", "Behind Blue Eyes", "Killing In The Name", "Thieves", "1999", "Don't Change".
  • They even covered "Home Sweet Home" and "Bittersweet Symphony" as part of a medley.
  • The Cover Changes the Meaning: "Faith" and "Behind Blue Eyes", which even add new verses.
• Free-Handed Performer: Fred Durst is unfortunately known for not being a good guitarist since he usually only writes and raps lyrics for the band. Rare footages of him playing solos on stage have been mocked, and he has stuck to the mic since.
• Genre Mashup: The band's fusion of Nu Metal and Rap Metal. Some songs also dip into Jazz and Psychedelic Rock influences.
• Greatest Hits Album: "Greatest Hitz".
• Grief Song: Quite a few.
• Hidden Track:
  • Their first two albums feature either a hidden nameless jam part or thrown in Studio Chatter after every song actually ends, but they're counted as part of the actual song length.
  • Les Claypool and Matt Pinfield have two of these on Significant Other
  • A skit featuring Ben Stiller and some phone messages appear at the end of Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water.
• "I Hate" Song: "Break Stuff" is about someone having a bad day where they hate everything.
  It's just one of those days, where you don't want to wake up
  Everything is fucked! Everybody sucks!
  You don't really know why, but you want to justify rippin' someone's head off!
  No human contact, and if you interact your life is on contract.
  Your best bet is to stay away, motherfucker!
  It's just one of those days!
• Intentionally Awkward Title: The name "Limp Bizkit", after a slang term for a really gross masturbation activity, was explicitly chosen to drive non-fans away. In the words of frontman Fred Durst, "A lot of people pick up the disc and go, 'Limp Bizkit. Oh, they must suck.' Those are the people that we don't even want listening to our music." A few of their album titles also invoke this, namely Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water and Still Sucks.
• Metal Scream: Common on their first album, and occasionally used elsewhere.
• Miniscule Rocking: The entire Still Sucks album. It contains 12 songs clocking at just under 32 minutes in total with the longest "Snacky Poo" being just 4 minutes long - and the whole final minute of it is just a skit of a disastrous interview with Wes Borland.
• Nu Metal/Rap Metal: Trope Codifier, as they became infamous enough to be the public face of both.
• Self-Deprecation: Still Sucks was purposely titled so that the cover and music listings read "Limp Bizkit Still Sucks".
• Stealth Parody: A lot of their songs are this.
• Take That!:
  • Durst, to Trent Reznor in "Hot Dog" from Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. Specifically, the whole chorus is made up of Nine Inch Nails references: You wanna fuck me like an animal/You wanna burn me on the inside/You like to think that I'm a perfect drug/Just know that nothing you do will bring you closer to me. (This was enough for Trent to be credited as a co-writer.)
  • Also on "Livin' It Up", from the aforementioned album, clearly referencing the diss Reznor made in the music video for "Starfuckers, Inc.":
    "Now who's the Starsucker?
    I'm the Starfish
    You silly motherfucker"
  • "Let It Go", a bonus track from Results May Vary, is addressed to then-absent guitarist Wes Borland. This song even lampshades Wes' side-project Big Dumb Face in the lyrics.
  • DJ Lethal recorded a diss track entitled "Crack Your Skull" towards Joe Hahn, Linkin Park's DJ. This is in addition to some postings on his Soundcloud and Twitter accounts. Odd, considering he recorded "State of the Art" with Chester Bennington a few years ago. He did later recant his statements concerning the rest of the band a few weeks later.
    "Pro Tools is my favorite member of Linkin Park"

Misc tropes

• Affectionate Parody: Of them by Mad TV with (Will Sasso) playing Durst and singing "Keep on Posin!" [1]
• Anonymous Public Phone Call: Inverted in the video for "Take a Look Around", where Fred and the guys are called to a payphone from an anonymous source that gives them a mission to complete.
• Body Paint: Wes likes to take the stage wearing it.
• Death by Music Video: In the "Re-Arranged" video, the band is made a scapegoat for causing a riot at their concert. They're convicted and sentenced to death by drowning.
• Ghost Reunion Ending: The video for "Re-arranged" ends with all the band members floating in Heaven after being executed in the flood chamber.
• Guest Fighter: Fred is a playable character in WWF SmackDown: Just Bring It! and WWF Raw, as well as an unlockable character in the fighting game adaptation of Fight Club.
• Hong Kong Dub: The "Gold Cobra" video has Wes Borland doing a deliberately poor redub of his own voice in the intro, which very obviously doesn't match what he originally said on-camera:
  "We just took the p-time out of our busy schedules and busted asses all over... this city, to t-take you on an adventure, that... may be the best... thing you've ever seen in your entire life."
• Long-Runner Line-up: Despite Wes Borland leaving the band a few times, the band still had the same line-up for a decade and a half. This ended when DJ Lethal split from the band.
• Minimalistic Cover Art: Greatest Hitz has a white cover with a pink Mind Screw icon which could be a keyhole, or a turntable, or a ladies restroom sign.
• Self-Deprecation: They indulged into making fun of themselves on occasion, as the quote atop this page shows.
• Surreal Music Video: "Boiler" has one full of disturbing imagery, as well as an animated segment featuring the creatures from its album's cover.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz:
  • The name of the band. It was originally spelled "Limp Biscut" on the band's early demos.
  • Their compilation album is named Greatest Hitz.

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