Limp Bizkit: The Rise & Fall In 10 Songs

Limp Bizkit are the butt of an early noughties joke. They are effectively the bell-bottoms of the year 2000.

So many people remember how popular they were - and the boys from Jacksonville were HUGE - but most then scoff at how silly everyone was for buying into them.

While Fred Durst may be one of the most irritating frontmen in history, that doesn't justify the hate the band receives in retrospect. The negative opinion totally ignores the phenomenon of nu-metal and its leading posterboys.

It is difficult to find a band so polarising, at one time so huge, and - to the diehards - so overwhelmingly brilliant.

Throughout the late nineties and early noughties, Limp Bizkit was strapped to a rocket into the stratosphere of popular culture. However, much like Icarus, they experienced dizzying new heights before rapidly falling from grace.

Today, they are considered more of a nostalgia act, but at one time, they were bigger than most outfits just peaking right now.

This is not a list of best songs, but tracks which capture the band's ascent and inevitable descent over the years.

RISE

It has been stated several times that Limp Bizkit’s original intention was to turn the masses away. Fred Durst explicitly stated that the main reason the band settled on their name was so record store-goers would look at a record titled ‘Limp Bizkit’ and think to themselves, ‘well, they suck!’

This counter-intuitive approach to marketing helped the band stand out. They were willing to take the risk of turning many people away, which in turn, made them more attractive to their core fans. In an era before being mocked an edge lord, Limp Bizkit were the kings of edge.

It only attests to the band’s willingness to dare to be hated that they would cover such a hokey, early MTV era pop track.

The band’s cover version of George Michael’s 1987 cheese hit starts off almost as a replica. However, the band instilled their brand of anger as soon as the first chorus hits, effectively turning off anyone who enjoyed the original, including George Michael himself. In an interview, Wes Borland stated that George Michael ‘hated us for doing it.’

The cover song became a staple at Bizkit shows and would offer to serve as the band’s encore. The melodic verse then turns into a cacophony in the breakdown, which would aid the average person in attendance to truly FSU.

Faith is obnoxious in its origin, yet this track ended a lot of their early shows and made them memorable. Faith was beginning of the rise of Limp Bizkit.