REVIEWS:
One of the leading bands in the current crop of Korn-inspired "new wave of hip hop-metal" bands, Limp Bizkit leans more toward the hip-hop side of scene, even employing DJ Lethal, formerly of House Of Pain, and Fred Durst may as well be the leader of a hardcore rap outfit in that his vocal style and free-flowing rhymes are definitely geared toward that genre. But also like Korn's guitarists, Wes Borland uses a great deal of 7-string effects, the rhythm section of Sam Rivers and John Otto is just as tight, and they're arguably more musically accomplished than most of those new bands, although they lack the emotional depth and intensity of the leaders.
Limp started out as an underground outfit who built their reputation on word of mouth through constant touring, and it was Korn themselves who heavily supported them, leading to an eventual record deal, and they released their debut Three Dollar Bill Y'All (don't ask) in 1997, and it actually broke through commercially on the strength of their first hit, an intense cover of George Michael's "Faith" done as a joke. Thankfully, though, their sophomore album Significant Other proved to be more successful, both creatively and commercially, with two of their own songs, "Nookie" and "Rearranged", becoming huge MTV hits this time.
--Nick Karn
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COMMENTS
i hate this band so much that i just can't stand them ay ay ay! why do i hear swearing this is not metal fred durst is a cocksucking piece of shit! well look i'm gonna destroy limp bizkit hell have no fury like an asshole chopped up bleeding and dying well there's no crying over spilled shit! ha!
man PEDRO........ you better shut the hell up punk...ur nothin but a cocksocker faget!!!!!! ITS ALL ABOUT LIMP BIZKIT SO SHUT THE HELL UP HATERS!!!!!!!!1
(Robert Grazer's review)
HIGH POINTS: None. LOW POINTS: Indigo Flow, Nobody Loves Me, Leech, Clunk, Stink Finger, Pollution, Sour, Stuck.
Well, I guess I should try to review this. Why? I reference it a lot in my reviews, particularly my reviews of bad albums. And that's because for awhile I thought that this wasn't just a bad album; I thought that this was the worst album ever made. After all, there may not be another album with such a pathetic lack of any sort of melody while at the same time displaying a truly desperate badass attitude. The monotonous tone of anger on this album almost never changes. It gets so boring, with the painful sting of atrocious lyrics added to it. Honestly, there is hardly anything here that comes close to being enjoyable (though some of those moments do exist, and I'll address them in a moment) as most of it seems to be random screaming on the part of Fred Durst.
But in the midst of this there are a few intros to songs and guitar tones that can be mildly interesting to put minimal listenability into this album. And closing off the album is an overlong bore called "Everything" that has a few minutes toward the beginning that are easily the best on the album. It doesn't make the song good or anything, but it's still ten times as interesting as anything else on this album. And that's why this album gets a score as high as a 1, and isn't cast down to the level of that Rod Stewart album. But just because it's been pushed down to number 2 on my worst albums list doesn't mean that it's grown on me AT ALL since I used to call it the absolute worst. This is still a awful awful awful album, even for rapcore or newmetal. These genres have had good music, believe it or not.
Limp Bizkit began life as an underground band after the release of their debut Three Dollar Bill Y'All, which rose to mainstream success on account of the band's constant touring, and their first hit single, an intense cover of George Michael's "Faith", which is done in a much shorter, direct and completely different version. Their first record overall is an effective mix between metal and hip hop - convincing and aggressive live-sounding energy, although a slight hint of inexperience in the studio throughout the record. Fred Durst's rhymes are fairly amusing (although childish at various points), and the playing is accomplished enough to make the mix work well.
This effort has several excellent tunes, including "Indigo Flow", which features Fear Factory guitarist Dino Czsares and an atmospheric guitar tone to complement the lyrics, which harken back to the band's past very well, two very bitter and aggressive songs dealing with the end of relationships in "Stuck" (which has a purely vicious chorus and lyrics which flow very well) and "Sour" (a more unsettling and bitter sound expressed here with a catchy chorus), and "Pollution", the album's heaviest tune against those who find loud music highly annoying and features a hilarious ending with Durst yelling, 'Fred, shut the fuck up!' to himself (a later song "Clunk" also has an interesting spoken ending which expands on this theme).
Most of the other songs are capable and worthwhile, including "Nobody Loves Me" (with a weird middle section reminiscent of Tool), "Leech" (a more hardcore sounding tune presented here in a demo version), and "Counterfeit" (great 7-string fury). The only very noticeable weakness is the more relaxed and intimate "Everything", which has haunting spoken lyrics and is nice for about five or six minutes, but for about 10 minutes more it drags with completely useless and directionless guitar noodling that brings the album down somewhat. It's still a fairly strong first outing despite that final track, however.
Update: Shrug. One of those albums that I'm not sure exactly what I liked about it so much in the first place. I have no idea where parts of my brain were at in the mid-late 90's. Disregard a lot of this crap review, though I do still like "Indigo Flow" and "Sour" quite a bit.
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (Brad Langoulant)
Faith is the best song on here.
And when the best song is a crap cover of a song that was allready crap your in for a bad album
SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT! WHY IS THIS THE GODDAMN PUBLIC LIKE THIS COCKSUCKING GARBAGE THIS IS NOT ART OR MUSIC THIS IS HATE! I KILL YOU FOR DESTROYING FAITH AND I WILL CRUSH YOU BEAT YOU STAB YOU I WILL RAPE YOUR SISTER AND KILL YOUR CAT AND KILL YOU CAUSE YOUR FUCKUING FAT DIE!
Acutally, I thoguht there were some OK songs on here. You are right about 'Everything', it's listenable, and there is a demo version song that is actually fun. It's about some guy who keeps scabbing off him. Clunk would be a great one, actually, if it weren't for the lyric abotu hwo he wants to murder someone. I'd actually give this a three. It's Limp Bizkit possibly at their best. But who wants to hear people screamign about how they want to kill you adn music without melody. Faith is alright btu that's about it, maybe I'm wrong, mayeb it's a masterpiece, let me know
(Robert Grazer's review)
HIGH POINTS: Don't Go Off Wandering, Re-Arranged, No Sex. LOW POINTS: Break Stuff, A Lesson Learned, N 2 Gether Now, Trust?
I don't know whether you can call this a sell out album or not because they didn't need to sell out after the success of "Faith" on radio and MTV. But there has certainly been a HUGE style change with this album. No longer is there just pounding guitars and screaming out on the part of Durst. Instead of trying to be the heaviest band around, the Bizkit boys have decided to try to prove that they are an actual rap-metal band. And that's what they're supposed to be, right?
They actually do rather well at it, if you take this album by normal rap-metal standards. And they made money too. "Nookie" was even bigger than "Faith" was (and they actually wrote their hit this time). A big downside that comes with all of this, though. The lyrics on Significant Other are terrible. I mean, what other band has choruses as bad as "I should've left my pants on this time" or songs like "Break Stuff," that, well, I don't even want to think about.
But I'm going to be pretty generous with the rating here because I was shocked that a couple of the songs on this album were actually good. "Don't Go Off Wandering" is easily the best and most professional song they've ever done. The chorus works perfectly with the dramatic verses, and "Re-Arranged" is another success in the same style. So does "No Sex" if you can manage to ignore the lyrics. And a lot of the other songs on this album manage to have some nice moments here and there, to make this MUCH more listenable than their debut album.
If there's any decent Limp Bizkit out there, you'll find it right here. It's amazing what a little change in sound can do to a band. I won't bother pointing out this album's flaws since they are numerous, and it might take all day. But people, can't we just focus on the positive for once? Significant Other proves that EVERY band (or at least every band I know of) can write decent music if they try hard enough. I don't know who'd actually want to buy a Limp Bizkit album, but if something in your mind seems to be forcing you to purchase one of their albums, please, for your own good, make it this one.
Limp Bizkit's second album Significant Other sounds in equal parts like a worthwhile and creative expansion of the debut's sound, and songs that are stale retreads of debut album tunes or display serious immature and inane tendencies. The singles are nothing short of spectacular choices that make good on the band's promises that they are ahead of anything from the debut - "Nookie" is a classic fist-pumping, adrenaline rush of a heavy anthem with a priceless sing-along chorus, "Rearranged" has a fantastic bassline that plays throughout with one of Fred Durst's best vocal performances and personal lyrics, and "N 2 Gether Now" is an outstanding straight ahead hardcore rap duet between Durst and Method Man of the Wu Tang Clan that convinces me that genre may not be so bad after all.
Other fantastic highlights include a departure for the band - a great melodic ballad "Don't Go Off Wandering", which features a string section. "No Sex" also displays considerable melody and doesn't have its' head up its' ass despite the title (it's another ballad with a good atmosphere and great guitar tone), and "Nobody Like You" is an effective, hard-hitting collaboration between the band and guest vocalists Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots and Jonathan Davis of Korn.
Unfortunately, as worthwhile as those highlights are, a good amount of the remainder is exactly the opposite. "Show Me What You Got" is an abomination lyrically with annoying juvenile, frat boy rhymes that offer nothing "Indigo Flow" didn't from the previous album, and "Break Stuff" is as bad as its' title suggests, with horrendous childish immaturity. The opener "Just Like This", meanwhile, clones the riff from the first album's "Leech" and lifts lyrical themes from "Pollution", while "Trust?" and "I'm Broke" are incredibly weak and disappointing, especially compared to the best songs here. Despite its' inconsistency, though, Significant Other's creativity and quality of its' finest songs make it a little bit better than the debut.
Update: This one's held up more than Three Dollar Bill to me, and I still like "Rearranged" and "Don't Go Off Wandering" a lot, as well as appreciating the neat guitar work in places. But man, some of those weaker obnoxious songs are just terrible, so I can't go higher than 6 anymore.
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COMMENTS
Man, I'm not even gonna bother ranting on these guys. Lets just say they deserve to be annihilated even more than the Bushmeisters. I just thought i'd say that "Break Stuff" has THE most laughably inept and childish lyrics in rock history. And one of the most simplistic riffs known to man.
I mean, we metalheads despise this band because they call themselves metal and dish up some crappy 2 chord song. So why doesn't the rap community hate this poseur rapper named Fred Durst? He certainly isn't anywheres near as talented as any 'real' rapper. His collaboration with Method Man shows this in spades. Even Eminem is a far better rapper. Oh well, its not like anything i say will stop this clueless, laughable trend.
WHEN I'M IN THE ROOM WITH MY .45 I WLL TAKE HIM OUT CAUSE I'M COMING TO SLIT HIS LONG ASS NECK BLOOD IS DRIPPING I'M NOT KIDDING AND I WILL RIP YOUR SISTER'S PANTIES RIDING FAST ON MY LOW RIDER DIRT BIKE I NEVER MET A GUY THAT I DID NOT LIKE I HATE FRED DURST I LIKE TO BEAT HIM LIKE TO RAPE HIM TAKE YOUR KNIFE I AND STICK IT UP YOUR DICK! BYE
A foru for this one. You know, I agree totally with what Robert Grazier said. So read hsi review, that's my thought on the album. No, I'll go even further and say if it weren't for the lyrics I proabbly woudl give it five. The music is acutally quite good, when Durst isn't scraeming. And the intro is kinda cute.
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: None. LOW POINTS: Full Nelson, Outro, Take A Look Around, The One, Getcha Groove On, Boiler, Livin' It Up.
Now this is bad. Really bad. If it weren't for one spot of almost good songwriting ("My Way," and I still felt this way before the song hit the radio), this might have even been worse than anything they'd done before. You might have thought that they would have been trying to develop a little bit of a style with the nearly successful Significant Other, but any hope of Limp Bizkit actually becoming something was absolutely destroyed with the release of this. Everything that went right for Bizkit's new style before goes wrong here, heading the album right into a huge disaster, and not just the worst album title ever.
I won't even mention how bad individual songs are, but they might have been a little but better if a man named Fred Durst wasn't in the band. He brings two huge problems to Starfish, two problems that cost the album dearly. First of all, his lyrics are worse than ever. It's not even the same pissed off attitude or poor abused rapper thing anymore, though there is still some of that here. No, now Durst is desperately trying to convince us that he is a complete and total bad ass. And it's painful to listen to. Especially with his new vocal style. It's even worse than before. I heard that it's all high and screechy now because he was kicked in the balls too many times, and I most certainly believe it. It isn't often a vocalist can ruin something for me, but oh my does he ever slaughter everything that even comes close to good on here.
So I reviewed three Limp Bizkit albums. Why did I do this? Because I made the mistake of listening to them and I told Rich to delete my first reviews of them, so I was just silent for awhile. And then I wondered why I went through all of that pain to review them just to have nothing to show for it in the end. So here these are. And Starfish is certainly the last Limp Bizkit album I'll force myself to listen to ever again.
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COMMENTS
I'm not even gonna get this album unless someone gives it to me for free or someday download it, since the combination of what I've heard and the initial reviews I've seen have utterly turned me off to it. One listen to "Hot Dog" (whose whole point seems to be Fred attempting to outdo Eminem in the 'let's see how many times I can stick the F word in one song' battle), "My Generation" ('I won't give a fuck about you until you give a fuck about me and my generation'??? Umm... yeah) and that lead single "Rollin'" guarantees this. Yikes - Fred really went over the top in proving how much of a badass he is (ha).... whatever.
I still don't think anything on Three Dollar Bill is anywhere near as bad as these songs, though. Maybe it's because I got into Bizkit before the whole newmetal thing skyrocketed, but there's not a song on there I genuinely dislike that much, and I can still remember how almost everything on there goes even though I haven't heard the album in forever. Even the worst material on Significant Other is quite a bit more annoying to these ears. I guess Bill is one of those albums I really try hard to view from the position of people who hate it, but I just can't share those opinions. IMHO, it's actually better at the rap-metal fusion than Significant. Funnier, at least, even if it probably wasn't meant to be that way. As long as they have Wes Borland in the band (a pretty cool guitarist, I'd say - notice I didn't say technically great), they won't be totally worthless. They should just kick Fred out. What a dick.
Actually, Robert, that new silly singing tone that Durst is spewing lately showed up on the last album on "Break Stuff". You know, that dumbass "Its all about the he said/she said bullshit" line. I still to this day cannot believe that somebody actually penned that song trying to say something meaningful. Oh Mr. Durst, how ridiculously dumb we are.
NICE TITLE BUT NO! I'M PEDRO THE CRAZY MOTHERFUCKER SO I'M GONNA RANT! FLOAT LIKE A CANNONBALL STING LIKE A SHARK I'M THE NIGGA WAITING FOR YOU IN THE DARK! LOOK I'M TOO VIOLENT BUT I JUST DON'T LIKE LIMP BIZKIT!
The thing is this is their most musically satisfying album. The One is a great track, My way is okay, Lviing in up is kinda catchy, Boiler is a good one too and his duet with some guy near the end is a good one too. But their riffs are repetitious, their lyrics bomb even worse than ever, you're right. They might have been a great band minus Fred Durst but you know. YOu coul collect the worst songs from the three albums and that'd be the worst album ever, no, I think Fear Factory are worse than these gys and Marilyn Manson is worse again. But LB caused such a stir. I was in Sydnay, Aust, list I always am, and I heard their concert had caused sucha stir that I girl was curshed in a crowd rush. That's the kinda madness these guys bought to mainstream rock. 3/10
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