Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst believes that Limp Bizkit do not write music for jocks. Durst made the comment during a recent appearance on comedy legend Bill Maher's Club Random podcast. Discussing the rather angry jock energy of the turn of the century nu-metal explosion that saw Limp Bizkit rise to worldwide prominence, Durst opened up about his own experiences as target of bullying.
"I was bullied my whole life. Tortured, bullied… I was really this peon kid in my city, at school, and ultimately the vehicle I used to put behind Limp Bizkit was, 'Oh, man, I'll use this microphone to fight these guys back!' But the irony was: the bullies that tortured me were dressing like me in the audience. So this massive art project turned into the most ironic thing… and here I am 25 years later going, 'Wow, this is unbelievable!'
Maher also spoke to Durst about the late '90s/early '00s nostalgia wave that has seen Limp Bizkit's music thrust back into mainstream significance, with Durst offering his delight that the rise has happened without them consciously looking to cash-in, but rather almost in spite of their efforts not to.
"These days, every night I’ll say “How many people is this your first time seeing Limp Bizkit?’ The whole place raises their hand. ‘How many people are under 30-years-old?’ The whole place raises their hand. I think the people who grew up liking Limp Bizkit probably are a little older and they’d probably rather me do a Paul Newman and give them some salad dressing, or some soap. You know, they’re not listening to that kind of music right now. And so maybe there’s a hip hop kind of current going through our music that maybe helped us through time. I took everything away. I didn’t want to market anymore. I don’t sell merchandise online. I don’t sell it at concerts. I didn’t promote anything, because I wanted to pull back and see what our music could do through a noisy world. How do you rise above the noise? And luckily, I’m so grateful, but it’s just there’s a resurgence. It’s just happening. It’s young people that are reacting to the material.”
Durst has also become a streaming star, of sorts, in the last few years, with Limp Bizkit playing a key role in the popular documentary film Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage and similarly themed Netflix series Trainwreck: Woodstock '99.
Limp Bizkit released the album Still Sucks in October, 2021. They released the 'unofficially official' video for Dad Vibes that April. The long-awaited visual accompaniment to the single daddest song to ever nu-metal is indeed peak dad. Featuring the members of Limp Bizkit and Steel Panther busting out their best dad moves while dressed in their best dad drip.
Linkin Park guitarist/vocalist Mike Shinoda also recently reflected on the popularity of nu-metal with jocks of the early 00's revealing that the band didn't "identify with" the "toxic masculinity" and "tough-guy shit" that dominated nu-metal at the turn of the century.
Shinoda made the comments while speaking to Vulture ahead of the release of the 20th anniversary edition of Linkin Park's second full-length Meteora. While reflecting on the band's early years, Shinoda pointed out that they always felt distanced from the scene they were supposed to be associated with. "We were more introspective, what we didn’t like about what was going on in the scene was that it was very frat rock. It was toxic masculinity. We didn’t know the term yet. We just didn’t like how everything was about tough-guy shit, and we didn’t identify with tough-guy shit. So nobody wanted to sign us because we didn’t fit. They couldn’t see us onstage."
"So nobody wanted to sign us because we didn’t fit. They couldn’t see us onstage. Somebody said to me, “If you guys were to open up a show with Kid Rock or Limp Bizkit, you’d get beat up.” It was a joke, right? But probably true, at least for me. I would’ve gotten beat up. Chester wouldn’t have gotten beat up. He’d fuck somebody up, too."
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