CNN.com - WorldBeat - Despite heat, Limp Bizkit keeps rising

Guitarist Wes Boreland and lead singer Fred Durst

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Limp Bizkit is not merely another garden-variety band from Florida, but one of the most energetic bands fusing metal, punk and hip-hop -- and, at times, one of the most controversial, too.

The group began taking shape in 1994 in Jacksonville, Florida. Vocalist Fred Durst and his bass-playing friend, Sam Rivers, picked up John Otto (drums) and Wes Boreland (guitar). Two years later, they tapped DJ Lethal (sampling/turntabling), formerly of House Of Pain, and the group was complete.

The quintet set out to break any rule associated with the look and sound of music brewing in the latter stages of the 1990s, and has done so in front-page style, commanding big record sales and making news.

GRAMMY AWARDS    VIDEO CNN Worldbeat profiles the rap-based rock group Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

The band's recent brush with headlines occurred January 26, when group members, citing inadequate security in Australia's "Big Day Out" tour, pulled out of the tour. An estimated 55,000 fans stormed the stage in Sydney, Australia, injuring 20 and causing one girl to suffer a fatal heart attack.

Fusing sounds

Limp Bizkit brings different musical styles to the stage and studio, Durst said in a recent interview.

"I'd let the hip-hop movement really touch me at a really young age," he said, "You know, I'm lucky to have experienced that and embraced it like I did and let it be such an in influence to me because I really feel the rhythm."

Opportunity knocked early in the group's career. Durst, also a skilled tattoo artist, inked several tattoos on Fieldy, the bass player for Korn, another angst-ridden bunch of rockers, during that band's concert stop in Jacksonville. The two became friends (though rumors of animosity between the bands often circulate), and the next time Korn was in the area, it sent a Limp Bizkit demo tape to Korn producer Ross Robinson.

Word about Limp Bizkit spread, helping the group become one of the most hyped, underground bands of the 1990s. The group signed to the Flip/Interscope record label and pressed its 1997 debut album, "Three Dollar Bill Y'All." The disc contained the hits "Faith," "Counterfeit" and "Sour," helping the album pass the platinum sales mark.

The album's success proves hip-hop is gaining greater acceptance, Durst said.

"A lot of people who don't even like rock and wouldn't listen to hip-hop are getting hip-hop on their plates, and it's palatable enough for them (to say), 'This is all right!'" said Durst. "They're opened up to a hip-hop world they maybe never thought of."

Limp Bizkit, he added, is "sort of, like, paving the path."

From the video, "My Way"

Building a name

MTV raised the band's profile, as did Limp Bizkit's live acts, which incorporated break dancers and flashy stage backdrops. Its music also attracted notice.

In 1999, the band released "Significant Other," its second album, which bowed to a receptive audience. The sophomore set debuted at No. 1 in the United States album chart, sold more than 4 million units by year's end and ushered the band from underground acclaim to mainstream success.

The band that year also got a taste of less-than-positive press in its 1999 performance at Woodstock. Critics said the group egged on an already overzealous crowd with its signature song, "Break Stuff." As the chaos built, festival organizers pulled the plug in the middle of its set. Though the riots that concluded the festival didn't occur until a day after Limp Bizkit left the stage, the group became synonymous with the third Woodstock's troubled image

The band also has attracted notice for its participation in the criticized "Family Values" tour, and has generated attention for its support of Napster and other free online music trading.

Band members defend Napster, and claim record companies opposed to such sites are fighting a losing battle.

"They (record companies) can gripe and bitch all they want," said Durst. "It's not going away, so they may as well embrace it."

The band last year extended its image overseas, thanks in part its "Take A Look Around," the hit theme song to "Mission: Impossible II." The track from the 2000 film also garnered the band's first Grammy nomination in the category of best hard rock performance.

Another No. 1

Last autumn, Limp Bizkit released its third album, "Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water." It went straight to No. 1 on U.S. charts, thanks in part to the simultaneous release of "Rollin' " and "My Generation."

Earlier this month, Limp Bizkit took its music to Europe in a tour that includes stops in Paris, France; Zurich, Switzerland; and Vienna, Austria.

Life, said Durst, is good, but the band has to realize that the fun times may not last forever.

"We've go to be happy for right now and we've got to set our future up," said Durst. "We gotta' be smart, so we're not like (former) rock stars selling beef jerky and working at a radio station ..."

Hip-rock: Growing fast and furious
August 11, 2000

Limp Bizkit

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