Ahead of Limp Bizkit touring the UK in March 2025, we take a look back at the fame and fury that was the group's third album, Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, which turns 25 this year.
The group kick off their tour the OVO Hydro in Glasgow on March 8 2025, Birmingham’s bp pulse live on March 13 2025, Manchester’s AO Arena on March 15 and London’s OVO Wembley Arena on March 16 2025.
The group kick off their tour the OVO Hydro in Glasgow on March 8 2025, Birmingham’s bp pulse live on March 13 2025, Manchester’s AO Arena on March 15 and London’s OVO Wembley Arena on March 16 2025.
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
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.