Results May Vary is the fourth album by American nu metal band Limp Bizkit, released on September 23, 2003.
At the Turn of the Millennium, Limp Bizkit were the poster boys for nu metal, having amassed a big following in the late 1990s with their first two albums Three Dollar Bill, Y'all$ and Significant Other before blowing up in 2000 with their third, Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. Despite mixed critical reception and a growing hype backlash for their crass, abrasive style, the band continued to ride high on the wave of their success, becoming one of the most (in)famous music acts of the era.
Then, amidst ever-growing hype for their follow-up, the band split acrimoniously from their guitarist and most popular member Wes Borland, and everything went wrong.
What followed was a three-year Troubled Production as the band struggled to find its footing through a rotating cast of guitarists, failed genre shifts, abandoned ideas for a concept album, and entire records worth of cut songs. In the end, they cobbled together the best of what remained into 2003's Results May Vary. The results were dire.
While it sold well enough to go platinum, critics did not appreciate its wildly disparate musical styles, from aggressive nu metal to straight hip-hop to "sensitive" alternative rock (including a cover of The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes" with a Speak n' Spell sample), and lambasted the inconsistency as the Nu Metal equivalent of The Beach Boys' Smile — at best a mess and at worst unfinished. Many fans were also not interested in the new creative direction, and non-fans held it up as all of the band's worst traits on full display. It currently holds the third-lowest album score of all time on Metacritic, above only The Bloodhound Gang's Hefty Fine and Kevin Federline's Playing with Fire.
Despite its unpopularity, tracks like "Eat You Alive" and the aforementioned Who cover remain popular among fans of the band.
Track listing:
- "Re-Entry" (2:37)
- "Eat You Alive" (3:57)
- "Gimme the Mic" (3:05)
- "Underneath the Gun" (5:42)
- "Down Another Day" (4:06)
- "Almost Over" (4:38)
- "Build a Bridge" (featuring Brian "Head" Welch) (3:57)
- "Red Light–Green Light" (featuring Snoop Dogg) (5:36)
- "The Only One" (4:08)
- "Let Me Down" (4:16)
- "Lonely World" (4:34)
- "Phenomenon" (3:59)
- "Creamer (Radio Is Dead)" (4:30)
- "Head for the Barricade" (3:34)
- "Behind Blue Eyes" (5:58)
- "Drown" (3:58)
Tropes:
- Cover Version: Of "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who.
- Grief Song: "Behind Blue Eyes" and "Drown."
- Intercourse with You: "Eat You Alive" is perhaps the most aggressive take on this type of song since "Closer" (fitting, as Fred Durst is a professed NIN fan). Durst allegedly wrote it after becoming infatuated with Britney Spears when the two worked on a project together and, depending on who you ask, she either didn't return his affections or briefly dated him then broke his heart, resulting in the b-side "Just Drop Dead."
- Lighter and Softer
- New Sound Album: While the trademark aggressive nu metal is present, the album also sees the band experimenting with alternative rock and ballads.
- Nu Metal: The tracks with Mike Smith. The rest of the album is mostly Alternative Rock.
- Stalker with a Crush: "Eat You Alive".
- Take That!: "Let It Go", a bonus track from this album, is addressed to then-absent guitarist Wes Borland. This song even lampshades Wes' side-project Big Dumb Face in the lyrics.
