Deep Album Cuts Vol. 239: Limp Bizkit
Over the weekend Limp Bizkit played their most high profile show in years at Lollapalooza, and I've been seeing my medium viral tweet about their performance over and over for the past few days. And another Limp Bizkit performance at the 30th anniversary of an iconic rock festival, Woodstock '99, has been in the news a lot lately because of a recent documentary. So it feels like a good time to look back at one of the most popular and most reviled bands of their generation, a group of mooks who've really grown on me over the years.
2. Full Nelson
3. Pollution
4. Livin' It Up
5. The Propaganda
6. Just Like This
7. Clunk
8. Gimme The Mic
9. Getcha Groove On (Dirt Road Mix) f/ Xzibit and DJ Premier
10. Why Try
11. 9 Teen 90 Nine
12. Lean On Me
13. Hot Dog
14. Stink Finger
15. The Story
16. Get A Life
17. Show Me What You Got
18. The One
19. Nobody Loves Me
Tracks 3, 7, 14 and 19 from Three Dollar Bill, Y'all$ (1997)
Tracks 1, 6, 11 and 17 from Significant Other (1999)
Tracks 2, 4, 13 and 18 from Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000)
Track 9 from New Old Songs (2001)
Track 8 from Results May Vary (2003)
Tracks 5 and 15 from The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1) EP (2005)
Track 12 from Greatest Hitz (2005)
Tracks 10 and 16 from Gold Cobra (2011)
Limp Bizkit has been through so many cycles of popularity and backlash and backlash to the backlash. And I remember sneering at the band early on when "Counterfeit" hit 120 Minutes and the band became briefly infamous for Interscope's sketchy decision to buy 4-minute chunks of radio airtime to play the entire song, an odd hybrid of advertising and payola. And while their "Faith" cover and "Nookie" made them into multi-platinum sensations, they didn't really grow on me until "Break Stuff" and the Chocolate Starfish singles, and I ended up with a friend's promo copy of that album and played it a lot. If nothing else, I would say Limp Bizkit's music is at turns enjoyable and embarrassing at about the same ratio as more respected rap/rock bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers.
I feel like history has been surprisingly kind to Limp Bizkit, and largely for the right reasons and the right songs. "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" and "Break Stuff" are now the band's top songs on Spotify, but they weren't really their biggest hits at the time. And just a few years ago the band's indefensible cover of The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes" was their top Spotify song, with more streams than any other Bizkit track or any The Who track.
"Livin' It Up" was the song Limp Bizkit performed with Christina Aguilera of all people at the MTV VMA's, although only the definitive studio recording of the song opens with the words "this is dedicated to you, Ben Stiller, you are my favorite muthafucka." And one of my favorite surreal moments of the band's career was Fred Durst screaming "Nobody Loves Me" during a swimwear fashion show on MTV Spring Break 1998. A playlist like this is fun because Bizkit's albums usually have these attempts at somber melodic songs that show depth but mostly just drag the momentum, and this way I could focus on the big silly jams. "The One" is a good song from their "Rearranged" mode of lightly simmering grooves, though.
I reviewed The Unquestionable Truth for Baltimore City Paper and reviewed Gold Gobra for the Village Voice, and I more or less panned them. But I did so from the perspective of a disappointed fan who wanted them to get back to their Chocolate Starfish peak after Wes Borland returned from being out of the band for a few years. Those records do have a few jams, though, I didn't mind revisiting them in this playlist. I don't know their upcoming album Dad Vibes will do anything to reverse their 2 decade commercial slide, but I am kind of weirdly rooting for them.
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on Tuesday, August 03, 2021 at 11:37 AM.
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