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Limp Bizkit
Presents...
by Spencer
Ross
It's been a
little over a year since Limp Bizkit presented us with their
playful little song about taking a cookie and sticking it up your
yeah. So in more efforts to try and "evolve" as a
rap-rock band, Fred Durst and company have speedily come up with
their third album, Limp Bizkit presents...Chocolate Starfish
and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. As proponents of Napster, I
commend these guys, as singles from the album were on napster
well before it hit stores, yet record sales were number one in
its first week, shattering even more billboard records. However,
the album is well overdone, and even as the band has evolved from
Three Dollar Bills, Y'all$ to Significant Other,
the evolution has been for the better. Bizkit's evolution on this
album has really gotten them nowhere, other than to say that
they've gone straightedge ("puff puff give the marijuana
cig, oops, i don't even smoke but i like the way it smells,"
raps Durst in "Livin it Up").
Don't get me
wrong, this album isn't entirely bad, in fact I do enjoy it. As
with Significant Other, the band opens and ends the album
with an intro and outro that sound alike. On this one, it sounds
like synthesizer and even the voice is robotic. They then break
into "Hot Dog," which is basically a song that 1. shows
off how many times Durst can say the word "fuck"
("if i say fuck/two more times/that's 46 fucks in this
fucked up rhyme) 2. parodize Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, and
their little feud. Nothing too impressive, as they break into
their next song, one of the first of two singles to be released,
"My Generation." Believe it or not, there's a reference
to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which kind of
surprised me, but then again, Durst is full of surpriseds, such
as recycled rhymes. For instance, on the track "Getcha
Groove On" with rapper Xzibit, he uses the same "Take a
look into these eyes" bit that he used in
"Nookie." Definitely not one of the best songs.
"Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" is one of the more radio
friendly songs on the album and most like "Nookie";
aggro, yet friendly. It sounds good on MTV. However, they then go
ahead and ruin it by making it into a synthesized rap song with
DMX, Redman, and Method Man. I suppose it's nice that Bizkit is
trying to go more into rap, but it just didn't fit on this album.
Musically,
the beats are very similar, the bass is simple, and you can hear
DJ Lethal's scratching from time to time, but as every critic
will tell you, the driving force behind Limp Bizkit is the guitar
playing of Wes Borland, the guy who always wears the black
contacts and facepaint. Clownish or not, this guy can definitely
play some decent riffs. Of course that's all this album is about
is riffs, there's never a guitar solo or anything, which is
something I'd like to hear for once to see what Borland sound's
like on an actual lead position. Even at the Anger Management
Concert I went to in October 2000, he didn't get to solo.
However, I think his riffs add texture to whatever dignity Bizkit
should have and is what holds the band in place. One of my
favorite songs musically and lyrically (albeit the lyrics of a
5th grader- "the grass is always greener on the other
side") is "The One." It opens with a nice riff
with the phaser pedal and sounds like a ska kind of song. Very
mellow. However, it's evident that Bizkit wanted a new album out
before the holiday season since they threw on their hit theme
from Mission Impossible:2, "Take a Look Around." Yes,
it may be a song that I like, but to put it on the album was just
filler and makes me question why they didn't put on
"Crushed" from the End of Days OST.
All this
said, I could give this album 3 stars because I can't deny liking
it. I'm not sure why either. There's one song about suicide, and
one song about a relationship, but the rest of the lyrics are
empty. The aggressiveness of the music is there, but the words
aren't. Which is probably why I'm being as generous with this
review as I am. If you took out the words, this wouldn't be too
bad of an album to rock out to, however, even if this is supposed
to be some kind of weird themed album (Durst refers to himself as
the "Chocolate Starfish" several times on the album),
it needed more to surpass the musical success of Significant
Other. Maybe the next one will have it, but this one doesn't.
Fred Durst can bash naysayers, but I can thus bash his hollow
lyrics this time around. They should thank Wes Borland for saving
their asses.
11/27/00
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