At the turn of the millennium, it would have been difficult to find two rockers more famous and influential than Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst and Creed frontman Scott Stapp. Their respective bands were rock radio monoliths, filling stadiums, headlining festivals and making a LOT of money.
With Limp Bizkit dominating the hard rock airwaves with Nookie, Break Stuff, Re-Arranged, Take A Look Around, My Generation and Rollin and Creed dominating traditional radio with My Own Prison, What's This Life For, Higher, What If and With Arms Wide Open, life was working out pretty great for both frontmen in the year 2000. So great you'd think they wouldn't have had the time nor inclination to bother with trivial bullshit like trash talking, but as anyone with even a passing interest in heavy music at the time could attest, they both found considerable amounts of time to talk some trash, specifically about each other and that trash talk nearly wound up resulting in a charity boxing match between the two.
The lack of follow-through on the match could go down as one of the biggest missed marketing opportunities in history, but the path that nearly led them to the ring is well worth revisiting. So come with us on a journey back to the year 2000, a time when MTV still played music videos and two early 00s rocker dudes with big attitudes just couldn't stand each other.
How did the feud start?
The first the public became aware of Fred Durst and Scott Stapp's disdain for one another was at a radio event called KROCK Dysfunctional Family Picnic.
Durst and Stapp both let rip with tirades targeted at one another during their respective sets. Durst fired the first shot saying "I want to dedicate this next song to the lead singer of Creed.... That guy is an egomaniac.He's a fuckiing punk, and he's backstage right now acting like f***ing Michael Jackson. F*** that motherf***er, and f*** you too....and if you want, there's going to be a booth with pillows and blankets for when Creed comes on."
Stapp, unsurprisingly didn't take too kindly to Fred's comments, firing back with ""It takes a lot more guts to say something to somebody to their face than from behind their backs." Creeds management then allegedly presented Limp Bizkit with an anger management manual, autographed with a dedicated passage of scripture intended for Durst.
How did it intensify?
Durst spoke about the feud on MTV program Total Request Live that night, saying some further inflammatory things that you can watch for yourself below.
Not surprisingly, Stapp didn't enjoy being spoken of in this way and Creed's management responded with a written statement that read.
"We are extremely disappointed that Fred Durst has taken his personal feelings toward us public, considering we have never met or spoken to him. We are more disappointed that Fred is manipulating the media and the truth by using Creed as a scapegoat for his own immature and egotistical actions. Reports have falsely claimed that Fred was stuck in traffic, which caused the fans to wait an hour in the heat at K-Rock's "Dysfunctional Family Picnic." In fact, Fred arrived and was very angry with the scheduled lineup due to the fact that Limp Bizkit was performing before nightfall and before Creed.
He then refused to go on stage, causing management from K-Rock, Creed, Stone Temple Pilots, and Ozzy Osbourne to spend nearly an hour trying to figure out how to get Limp Bizkit to take the stage. Fred finally agreed to play only after he "finished his dinner," having accomplished his obvious goal of delaying his set. We don't appreciate Fred's treatment of Creed, the other artists on the bill, K-Rock, the radio station that has supported Creed, the fans, nor do we appreciate his disregard for the truth. Furthermore, we don't appreciate his lack of responsibility for his own actions, and his attempts to deflect blame with criticism of us and our fans."
So calmer heads prevailed then?
They certainly did not. In fact in a move no one saw coming, the feud was given new life by then emerging rock band TapRoot, who revealed that Durst had left a wild, accusatory message on their answering machine because they chose to sign with Atlantic Records and not his own label imprint. The message was transcribed by their label and incredibly issued as part of the press pack for their record. It read as follows.
"Steve, Fred Durst. Hey, man, you f***ed up. You don't ever bite the hand that feeds in this business, bro. And your f***ing manager so-called guy is a f***ing idiot--a loser mother f***er going nowhere. You have just chosen that path. I took you under my wing, brought you to my house, f***ing talked about your ass on radio, in press, and you embarrassed me and the Interscope family. Your association with Limp Bizkit does not exist. Your manager slings that name around, he's gonna be blackballed and probably be erased, and you will too. He's a f***ing idiot. You're gonna f***ing learn from this time right here. I hope you let your band know that you just f***ed yourself. You need to be associated with somebody in this business. You need something to get you out there, put you out there, and believe in. Now you got enemies, and you're f***ing yourself already. Tell your friend that. Don't f***ing show up at my show, cause, if you do, you're gonna get f***ed. Alright? You and your f***ing punk ass, man. You call your f***ing manager, David Manifestease--whatever ask him what he's done and doing. You're a f***ing dumb motherf***er. You're learning right now exactly how to ruin your career before it gets started. All of the luck, brother. F*** you."
Durst never confirmed or denied that phone call, as far as we can find, but he sure did find a critic of it in the form of, you guessed it, Scott Stapp!
Creed came out and delivered another statement that read "Having heard his recent comments about TapRoot and their manager, after they refused to sign to his Flawless/Interscope label, we feel that Fred has worn out his welcome as an artist spokesperson for our industry," the statement reads. "Fred's vulgar comments and violent threats are totally indicative of a mobster mentality that this industry has tried to rid itself of in recent years. If Fred wants to represent our industry as a major-label senior vice president, then he should consider actually reading the anger management book that we sent to him or just return to being an artist that lets his music speak for itself."
So how did this nearly wind up in a boxing match?
Stapp didn't think there was a chance that Durst would ever recognize the flaws in his own behaviour and therefore offered to meet him to work it out using a method that Durst would be able to understand, controlled violence. Stapp offered up plans for a boxing match to be staged between the two, with all the funds raised going to charity (so basically a charitable equivalent of the celebrity boxing matches we see now). Stapp was apparently quite serious about it.
Durst responded to the challenge stating "Creed should take a hint and spend more time signing autographs than writing about me." "The boxing match sounds like fun, but I'd rather not resort to violence, since I'm busy doing a free tour."
Did they ever settle their differences or could this boxing match still happen?
To our knowledge the two men never settled their beef with one another. So given celebrity boxing matches are all the rage in 2022, should either man feel the need to rekindle the feud, there will no doubt be plenty of people willing to shell out a bit of their hard earned to watch two 00s dudes with dad bods taking swings at one another. A tour featuring the two would probably rake it in too, so perhaps the powers that be in camps Bizkit and Creed should consider combining the two?
What are they doing now?
Stapp is a solo artist. His most recent album is called The Space Between The Shadows. He has had a rocky road since exiting Creed but is apparently on a good path and there has been whispers of a Creed reunion tour.
Limp Bizkit released the album Still Sucks in October. They released the 'unofficially official' video for Dad Vibes in 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, it is just the thing to see you ROFLing into the long weekend. Watch the daddest thing to ever dad now for yourself below.
The Dad Vibes video dropped just as we brought you news of John Otto displaying his superior Dad qualities living out a once-in-a-lifetime experience with his daughter, Ava, teaming up with her on the reality TV dance contest Come Dance With Me.
Watch the Otto duo prepare for the comp in a video uploaded by John to Instagram below.
In an interview with Celebrity Page, Ava revealed she enjoyed being able to tell her Dad what to do for a change.
"I was a bit on the bossy side. I like having control. It was very nice"
Papa Otto seemed okay with it though, all he wants to do is get through the thing without causing too much embarrassment to the family name.
"I just tried to keep it one foot in front of the other and just worried about not trying to embarrass her, let alone embarrass myself — I already embarrassed myself"
01. Out Of Style
02. Dirty Rotten Bizkit
03. Dad Vibes
04. Turn It Up, Bitch
05. Don’t Change
06. You Bring Out The Worst In Me
07. Love The Hate
08. Barnacle
09. Empty Hole
10. Pill Popper
11. Snacky Poo
12. Goodbye
Listen to Still Sucks now!
