It's Certainly Limp! (Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water - Limp Bizkit)

Member Name: a-true-ben

Product:	Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water - Limp Bizkit
Date:	27/07/01 (185 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: 'Hold On' and 'Take A Look Around' are fairly good, musicianship and guests are better than I expected

Disadvantages: Apart from having to listen to it? - Fred Durst is annoying and untalented, the album is bland and unoriginal, this stuff sells!

Although I still have plenty of CDs in my collection unreviewed, I felt like doing something different. With this in mind, I settled on a scathing review; so, taking advantage of my younger brother being away, I ‘borrowed’ one of his Limp Bizkit albums to have my fun…

Although Limp Bizkit only came to public prominence with the Mission Impossible 2 theme in 2000, they have in fact been around some time. For the uninitiated, the line up consists of Fred Durst, Wes Borland, DJ Lethal, Sam Rivers and John Otto. They’ve released three albums. The first (‘Three Dollar Bill Y’All’) was the heaviest and won them a few hardcore fans. Their 1999 sophomore effort (‘Significant Other’) was a development of their style, mixing hip-hop and nu-metal. It received critical acclaim from the rock press, but failed to bring them to mainstream awareness in this country (although it has sold well following their ‘Take A Look Around’ breakthrough).

My grievances with Limp Bizkit begin here. Nu-metal was a style first pioneered by KoRn in the early 1990s (actually, this is slightly controversial; they certainly had earlier influences, like RATM and Faith No More, and there may have been small scale bands playing local areas, but I think many would say it began with KoRn). The Bizkit first got their break because Fred Durst was Jonathon (lead singer of KoRn) Davis’ friend and tattooist. Thus they released their first album, and even then they only scored a minor hit with a George Michael cover (‘Faith’).

Anyway, I could go on at length with general reasons to dislike Limp Bizkit in general and/or Fred Durst in particular. For the purposes of this op, however, I want to confine myself to their latest album ‘Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water'. It’s probably their worst album (not just in my opinion, but that of my brother, who is a fan) but I chose it
because it would probably be the best known to fellow Dooyoo-ers.

Before I begin I’d like to admit that I am slightly biased (in case you hadn’t noticed) but the point of this site is, of course, opinions and it’d be pointless if they were all good. Also a random fact – this album was originally scheduled for July 4th (2000) and set to be called ‘Limpdependence Day’ but was delayed, probably because the title wasn’t funny enough…

The album begins traditionally enough with a piece called ‘Intro’. Unlike the 400 words above, it’s short, just 1:18. What actually surprised me is it’s also surprisingly good! Many albums begin with brief throwaway instrumentals and, while I’m not saying this is anything particularly special, it’s probably better than most. A couple of funny noises, followed by the introduction of hip-hop beats (that could almost have progressed into a pounding dance track) and distorted ‘Limp Bizkit are in the house’ vocals.

First track proper, ‘Hot Dog’, and, just in case the point hadn’t been made, Fred feels the need to start “Laydeez an’ gentlemen, intraducing the chocolate starfish and hot dog-flavored water. Bring it on, get the f**k up, yeah, check one, two, listen up.” Not a promising start in my opinion, but I’ll give it a chance.

The musicianship actually sounds promising. Fred’s vocals annoy me “Like a f**ked up punk with a f**ked up mouth and a nine-inch nail”. Ok, the swearing’s gratuitous, but it doesn’t really offend me or put me off – although I certainly don’t think it’s ‘cool’ or whatever LB fans do – but Fred’s whiny style does grate a bit. Anyway, ignore the lyrics and it doesn’t sound too bad, I have the horrible feeling this may grow on me. Hang on though, what was that about a nine-in
ch nail?

I’d heard about bad relations between Fred Durst and Trent Reznor (of industrial metal band Nine Inch Nails) and that there was something relating to it on this album. Well, 1:30 into the first proper song and:
“You wanna f**k me like an animal
You wanna burn me on the inside
You like to think I’m a perfect drug
Just know that nothing you do will bring you closer to me”

That’s a blatant rip-off of two NIN classics (‘Closer’ and a reference to ‘Perfect Drug’). If I were generous, I might say it’s satire or a clever attack on NIN. Unfortunately I was left open-mouthed with shock ‘what have you done?’ I’d like to give them some credit for what they’ve done, but they’ve bastardised two classic songs and produced something vastly inferior to the original with lyrics that are mostly potty-mouthed drivel. (Although in fairness there is an acknowledgement to Reznor and ‘Closer’ lyrics are apparently used with permission!)

So that turned out to be a bad start to the album. Next up though it’s the single ‘My Generation’. I guess many will know this from it’s chart placing (there’s a postcard in the album advertising it’s release for 30/10/2000). Just in case though, it’s the one that goes:
“Maybe I am just a little f**ked up
Life’s just a little f**ked up
Generation X…
Go ahead and talk sh*t
Talk sh*t about me
Talk sh*t about my generation
Cause we don’t,
Don’t give a f**k
And we won’t ever give a f**k until you,
You give a f**k about me and my generation”

Again not exactly appealing to me. Certainly not particularly clever, witty, original or profound. There’s also a possible Guns N Roses reference (“Do you know where you are? Welcome to the jungle punk”) and name checks fo
r the band members. In fairness though, the actual music is quite good – it gets you moving and is certainly popular in the clubs, particularly with young or ‘trendy’ fans. I can’t help feeling Fred’s laughing though – he’s in his 30s I think and obviously rich and successful and here he is going on about ‘my generation’ as if he’s really ‘down with’ the 12-year olds who actually listen to this!

While the previous song at least had merits, I find it hard to justify ‘Full Nelson’ – it’s filler even by LB standards. The music is by numbers and the vocals the same old whiny poor-man’s-rap. Even the theme’s the same “Why is everybody always picking on me? Does anybody really know a thing about me?” and then a lot of swearing. Well, it’s as insincere as the last song, because I really find it hard to sympathise with rich million selling rock stars when they try talking like this, and in any case, I think it’s good enough reason to bad mouth LB in its own right!

Next up, ‘My Way’, thankfully not a Sinatra cover (although I wouldn’t put it past them). It was another single I think (the fourth, can we say ‘cash in’ folks? Thought so), although I didn’t hear much of it on the radio. It’s actually a welcome change – beginning with a slow sensitive intro, Fred almost singing over gentle guitars. If it’s an attempt to show a deeper sensitive side it doesn’t quite work (because they don’t have one?) but at least it’s a refreshing change from the last song.

‘Rollin’’ was another single, and appears on the album in two formats, firstly the (air raid vehicle) version (don’t ask me!), which will be the more familiar version to most. It’s not as rocky as some of the previous songs, a more laid back song, with the repeated choru
s “Come on keep rollin’ rollin’ rollin’ rollin’ yeah”. Well, any band that can’t make a simple repetitive chorus catchy are in trouble; but the best I can say about this is ‘the chorus is slightly catchy’. It does feature guest vocals from three members of the Wu-Tang Clan too (DMX, Method Man and Redman), but they do little to improve the track.

‘Livin’ It Up’ is an interesting song, not stereotypical Limp Bizkit. Another quiet lengthy intro, with a sample from ‘Life in the Fast Lane’. It does sound like Limp Bizkit, but it’s certainly different from their standard fare. In fact, I’d give them credit just for trying to add some diversity to the album, and it’s not even a bad song either. Next up, ‘The One’, is another quiet one, maybe there’s more on this album than would be suggested by the singles; although I don’t think this is as sensitive or good as the previous song.

There’s a lengthy one minute intro/voice-over interlude before ‘Getcha Groove On’, but when the song itself begins it’s more upbeat than this would suggest. A very rap/hip-hop-influenced song, with a gentle laid-back lazy attitude and guest vocals from Xzibit suit the track well (better rapping than Durst too).

‘Take A Look Around’ was their big break – the theme from M:i2 which first brought them into the public eye in the UK. Personally I didn’t think much of the single release (£3.99 each for 2xCD each with only two songs seems like ripping off the fans to me). The song itself is pretty good – it’s easy to see why it achieved what it did (number three in the charts if I remember rightly) because (apart from the obvious film tie in (Metallica’s M:i2 contribution stalled in the mid-30s)) it’s actually very commercial.

Not as heavy as most LB offerings, it’s la
id back again in the verses, but builds into an energetic chorus with crunching guitars
“I know why you want to hate me
I know why you wanna hate me
I know you wanna hate me
‘Cause hate is all the world has even seen lately”

It’s a comeback at the band’s critics, not the most intelligent, but at least sounding genuine. (Not the only time Fred brings up this theme, and it’s clear he’s unfamiliar with the word ‘hatred’ but I’m actually willing to forgive poor English here – just to show I can be charitable, even to LB!) It’s arguably the best song on the album (my second favourite I think), but you can’t give too much credit to LB for the theme from Mission Impossible!

The best I can say about ‘It’ll Be Ok’ is simply that it is! It uses a loud/quiet format that’s hardly original and makes for a tolerable listen, but a forgettable ‘album-filler’ style track. ‘Boiler’ initially sounds very like Linkin Park (which I think is a good thing) but it goes down hill on reaching the chorus; returning to a more familiar LB sound, with an attempt to sound a bit like ‘Take A Look Around’ again and more of the tiresome whining (and swearing) from Fred Durst.

‘Hold On’ is another of my favourites, but largely due to the vocals from (Stone Temple Pilot’s) Scott Weiland. It manages to break free from the clichéd nu-metal mould, incorporating a yearning feeling and grunge influence, reminiscent of Staind. There’s another slightly annoying interlude before hand, but actually I think this is the best track on the album. Should have been released as a single because its stadium-rock would no doubt have the mass appeal of Creed etc:
“I’m waiting for you
I know you’re leaving
I still adore you
You never leave me
Hold on, I found another way to let you
go away
Hold on, you found another way to bleed my soul away”

It’s a ballad by LB standards, acoustic guitars and best of all the singing (unusual as for most of the album I’ve thought the musicianship superior, but that was Fred Durst!) It even shows a sensitive side and is the most successful deviation from formula on the album. To be honest, I’d give most of the credit to Weiland, and I’d rather go out and buy a STP album, but at least this is a worthy highlight here.

The last proper song is ‘Rollin’ (urban assault vehicle)’, the alternate version of ‘Rollin’’ (from earlier). It’s not as lively and loses the ‘moshability’ of the earlier version, but the album’s coming to a close so I suppose this is more appropriate. At 6:23 it gets rather repetitive, but it’s not the worst thing here. Finally there’s an ‘Outro’ to end the album – which is rather pointless; going on about how LB are so great for mixing hip-hop and metal and producing something that isn’t “fertiliser”.

Note: My brother’s version has a bonus CD featuring some of their older songs and videos (‘Crushed’, ‘Faith’, a remix of ‘Counterfeit’ and CD-ROM videos of ‘Faith’, ‘Nookie’, ‘Re-Arranged’ and ‘N2Gether Now’); I don’t think this is available anymore, but some of those are on the 2CD UK version of ‘Significant Other’.

Overall, as you can tell, I didn’t want to like this album, and mostly I didn’t. To be fair, I did find it better than I expected though. Not being a LB fan, I’d be quick to point out that the best moments are mostly provided by guests (Weiland, Wu-Tang, Xzibit) but I don’t think that detracts from the album itself.

Perhaps LB should even be credited for being the first ba
nd able to bring this type of music into (the UK) mainstream. Unfortunately this didn’t (as many hoped) open the door for more original/talented nu-metal bands, such as Incubus and (hed)p.e. but merely led to a deluge of second-rate, major label-backed pop-metal like Papa Roach and Crazy Town.

In light of the good bits, I’m forced to give this album two stars and say if you like those bands, you’ll probably like this. I can’t recommend this to a friend though, as there’s far better out there.

One last point that amazes me is that LB were allowed to achieve such popularity with so much gratuitous swearing (“If I say f**k two more times/ That’s 46 f**ks in this f**ked up rhyme” – from ‘Hot Dog’). There’s a prominent ‘Parental Advisory’ label on the front and, for the record (according to Kerrang! #831 (9/12/2000) – I didn’t count!), there are 223 ‘bad words’ comprised of:
136 x f**k
28 x motherf**ker
40 x sh*t
2 x pissed
14 x ass
1 x pr*ck
1 x dick
1 x bast*rd
Nice to know what your kids are listening to isn’t it….

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