Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Limp Bizkit‘s 6x platinum-certified 2000 album “Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water” is the subject of a recently released digital retrospective at Metal Hammer, where the band reflects on a period that would eventually mark the pinnacle of their commercial success, as per theprp. Limp Bizkit were practically unavoidable at the time, or at least its vocalist Fred Durst was, coming off the seven-time platinum success of “Significant Other.” Durst in particular has become a pop culture phenomenon through appearances on television, video game cameos, soundtrack spots, WWE events, hanging out with pop artists, and more. Around the same time, he had also succeeded as a label executive, assisting Puddle of Mudd, Staind, and other land deals.
However, “Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water” also unintentionally contributed to the band’s downfall for several years as the nü-metal sound that Limp Bizkit had helped popularize started to lose steam amid a glut of soundalike artists and public interests shifting away from metal’s big moment in the charts. Following the band’s boisterous performance at the 1999 “Woodstock” festival, public sentiment against the group started to change. The public’s opinion of Limp Bizkit was further damaged in 2001 when a teenage girl died after being hurt in the mosh pit after the band’s performance at the “Big Day Out” festival.
Tim Commerford, the bassist for Rage Against the Machine, publicly protested against Limp Bizkit at the “MTV VMA Awards” in 2000. At least fifteen years later, Commerford’s unfavorable perception of Bizkit persisted. Tensions between Limp Bizkit and its colleagues, particularly those with Deftones, Incubus, and even Creed, started to surface as the early 2000s got underway. Internal conflicts followed fame and what appeared to be a lack of wealth. Wes Borland, the guitarist, left the group in 2001 and didn’t return until 2004. But by the time he got back, the wheels had started to come off.
Drummer John Otto was mostly absent from the band’s 2005 EP, “The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1),” which was essentially a nail in the coffin. The band’s poor 2003 follow-up album, “Results May Vary,” did little to stop their downfall. In the aforementioned story, Borland discussed the band’s quick ascent with Metal Hammer years later.
I never thought Limp Bizkit was gonna be as large as it was. Then the record sold a million in the first week. It was just ridiculous. There was a point in which things got so big that I don’t remember them getting bigger.
After only over six months of marketing their 1999 sophomore album “Significant Other,” Bizkit decided to strike again while the iron was hot, returning to the studio to create “Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water.” Borland remembered that moment.
We had this huge record to follow up. There was pressure, but we didn’t feel insecure or like we couldn’t follow it. We felt really confident going in, and I knew what I wanted to do. I knew it was gonna be different from ‘Significant Other‘ – and better.
But Borland told Metal Hammer about the period of increasing criticism that followed “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water.”
We weren’t accepted by rock any more, we weren’t accepted by pop. [But] we were accepted by the hip hop world because the hip hop world got the hip hop side of us, but had never really experienced rock like that before. Without tooting our own horn, we’re the band that does that best: that tries to represent both sides equally, rather than being a rock band that has some rap, or a hip hop band that has some heavy guitar. I think we’re pretty evenly split down the middle.
The band suffered as a result of Limp Bizkit‘s excess and egos behind the scenes, but their finances also suffered. Borland recalls how the band was barely making ends meet throughout that tour cycle’s stage production.
Everything just seemed excessive. I think the last tour we did on that record cycle, we had our own stage built, there was this giant robot… [the label] told us, ‘If you have this production, none of you are gonna make a penny on this tour.’ And we went, ‘That’s fine!’ We did all this touring that didn’t make any money because our production was so huge. It was like we just broke even. It was ridiculous.
The music landscape has changed by the end of the “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water” cycle. Both the metalcore subculture and the New Wave of American Heavy Metal movement were flourishing. Limp Bizkit was forced to play primarily in Europe for a number of years when nu metal’s bloat overtook them. Up until their professional comeback in the 2020s, that unfavorable opinion of the group persisted, and they have subsequently been enthusiastically welcomed back. Borland explained to Metal Hammer why he believes it took so long for the band to be embraced once more.
I just think it took a lot of people time to get over how annoyingly in everyone’s face we were for that period. When you’re that overexposed, where no one can get away from you and you’re like, ‘Uh, I’m so sick of seeing this person all the time.’ Now, people can enjoy the band for what it is. I love being in Limp Bizkit so much now. I love every show, I love going on tour, I love everybody in the band. But it took all these years for me to look back on that and go, ‘God, I love this, and I love playing those songs.’
