00:0025 years ago, an album dropped that defined a generation of oversized hoodies, wallet
00:07chains and teenage angst.
00:09That's right, Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water has officially
00:14hit a quarter of a century, and if that doesn't make you feel old, well very little will if
00:20you're of our generation.
00:21Get it?
00:22It's a Limp Bizkit pun.
00:24But with Limp Bizkit heading back to the UK later this year for their Lousiville World
00:28Tour, what better time to dive into the album that made them the kings, and maybe villains,
00:34of Nu Metal.
00:35Let's rewind to a time when Fred Durst was everywhere, Nu Metal ruled the airwaves and
00:40Limp Bizkit was the band parents loved to hate.
00:45So by 2000, Limp Bizkit was fresh off the success of Significant Other, an album that
00:50helped make them household names, but with great fame comes, well, a whole lot of backlash.
00:56Never forget their infamous performance at Woodstock 99 that turned them into scapegoats
01:01for the festival's chaos, especially Break Stuff, which critics claimed incited the riots.
01:06Of course, Fred Durst rejected those claims, but the damage was done.
01:10Limp Bizkit wasn't just a band, they were a moral panic waiting to happen.
01:15And then came Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water.
01:18Yeah, I know, a ridiculous name for an album, sure, and there's some connotations sexually
01:24there, which apparently is not the case, but it was about to launch Limp Bizkit into
01:28a whole new stratosphere.
01:31So how did the album come together?
01:33Well, of course, not without drama.
01:35Originally, Rick Rubin was set to produce it, but he left after one week due to creative
01:40differences.
01:41So enter Terry Date, who helped the band find their groove despite starting with little
01:46prepared material.
01:48Oh, and they were also headlining a tour while recording, so no pressure, right?
01:54Before the album dropped, though, the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack came out, along with
01:58a little ditty called Take A Look Around.
02:01That ended up climbing the charts, giving fans in the UK a taste of what was to come.
02:06It hit number 5 in the UK single charts, and it even got them on top of the poppers once
02:10again.
02:11But if you thought Limp Bizkit couldn't get any more mainstream, then you probably missed
02:14Fred Durst's duet with Christina Aguilera at the VMAs in 2000.
02:19Which fans wonder why Limp Bizkit were at the forefront of destroying the whole pop
02:26takeover of MTV.
02:28Well Fred Durst claims he did it for the Nookie, Christina Aguilera said that there was anything
02:33but Nookie involved, and Eminem took shots with the real Slim Shady.
02:37Brilliant.
02:38By the time Chocolate Starfish dropped in October 2000, Limp Bizkit had cemented their
02:43place as New Metal's poster children.
02:46Tracks like My Generation and Rollin' became instant anthems, and Rollin' even gave them
02:51another return to top of the pops when it hit number 1 in the UK.
02:55But not everyone was thrilled with Limp Bizkit's rise to fame.
03:00Critics slammed the album as over the top, and accused the band of chasing commercial
03:04success at the expense of their earlier, grittier sound, found on $3 bill y'all.
03:10Even Korn's guitarist Monkey joked that he regretted helping Limp Bizkit get their big
03:14break.
03:15But for fans, this was peak Bizkit.
03:17Confident, unapologetic, and let's be honest, just plain fun.
03:22Of course the success of Chocolate Starfish came with a darker side.
03:25Fred Durst was already public enemy number one for many things, oversaturation included,
03:32but things took a tragic turn in 2001 at Australia's Big Day Out festival.
03:37When they're set in Sydney, the crowd surged, and despite warnings, security apparently
03:42failed to control the situation, according to Durst.
03:46A young fan, Jessica Michalik, tragically lost her life.
03:50The fallout was massive.
03:52Limp Bizkit once again faced intense criticism, with many blaming them for the incident and
03:58inciting the chaos, much like they were accused of at Woodstock 99.
04:03Durst claimed the band wasn't informed about the extent of the crowd issues, but the incident
04:08left a permanent mark on their legacy.
04:12And now, 25 years later, the band are returning back to the United Kingdom as part of their
04:18Lousiville tour.
04:19Fred Durst, of course, matured, knows a little bit more about crowd control, and yeah, there
04:25is evidence of that if you go check out their set at the Radio 110 at Leeds Festival in
04:312015.
04:32But yeah, a quarter of a century, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and everybody in
04:37between.
04:38Doesn't that just make you feel old?
04:41And doesn't that just make you want to go and fish out your wallet chain once again?
04:46Just maybe avoid frosted tips, that was never a good one.
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