Limp Bizkit certainly are a love them or loathe them band. Not so much marmite...as marmite can be ok, if mixed with equal amounts butter...but rather the opposing forces of full-fat, full-faced fandom and the ultimate hatred that comes from the ‘serious’ metal fraternity.
There are many of Limp’s ilk littering the annals of rock history but few seem to set the cat among the pigeons often or as strongly as this Jacksonville, Florida troupe.
Now, I will lay it out here, early(ish) doors, I was, no AM, an LB fan. Throughout my university years, Significant Other (their 1999 commercial breakthrough) was a staple in my multi-disc CD player (I could load 3, that’s THREE CD’s at a time). Break Stuff was a HUGE stress-reliever. For all the hokey-misogyny and questionable angle on certain ethics, I loved the BIG old choruses and Wes Borland’s frenetic fret-work.
Live, Limp Bizkit were a terrific draw. I have seen them at Wembly Arena, Reading Festival and here in Luxembourg. They are, to paraphrase Ben Harp from Point Break, big, dumb and full of FUN.
Chocolate Starfish And The Hotdog Flavored Water followed on in late 2000 and went on to sell millions - in spite of, or perhaps because of, the ridiculous name. It spawned mega-selling singles Rollin’, My Generation and Take A Look Around (featured on the Soundtrack to Mission Impossible II).
Fred Durst got a bit of due attention, in part, well...due to his knack of saying stuff that got editors of music magazines (there was a time when they existed) to sit up and take notice and, as a former A&R man, Durst knew how to play the game.
Most times this ‘stuff’ that Fred spoke about was designed to be angsty and a lil’ bit naughty. In short, precisely the kind of thing that would get them airplay and gain column inches and, for a while, the band were untouchable. Super-sized stadia tours, millions in sales, megastar guests, beautiful companions. It was inevitable, however, that the wheels would come off at some point and the relationship between Durst and Borland (already fraught) ended abruptly.
Several attempts at reforming and recording have come and gone (see Gold Cobra) and even a (stalled) collaboration with Bring Me The Horizon pointed at a new beginning, but this tour seems to have reignited the fires. Get the baggy shorts out once more.
***** TO WIN TICKETS TO THE SHOW AT ROCKHAL ON MONDAY 8 JULY, HEAD TO OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AND DO AS WE POLITELY ASK OF YOU *****
*This is written as a 41-year-old, father of two, who should probably know better but will no doubt have a grin as broad as the shorts when catching them live.
