The metal bands Maynard James Keenan compared to McDonald’s: “Whatever that stuff is”
There’s no doubt that Tool are pioneers in the realm of alternative metal. Over the years, Maynard James Keenan and the band have pushed the form to new heights, innovating it by putting a thematically substantial and musically progressive spin on it. Taking cues from an array of artists such as prog innovators Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, Yes and Pink Floyd, as well as Sex Pistols, Devo, and other distinct acts, their sound is as full-bodied as you might expect looking at such an extensive list of heroes.
While fusing such a potpourri of influences and sounds has so often been the undoing of bands before they’ve even got going in the rehearsal room, Tool managed to smelt them down into a new chromatic alloy, which they have continued to burnish, and attract masses of fans from across the world. As well as being coveted by the nerds of the music world, who can’t help twiddling their neckbeards in deep thought as tracks such as ‘Lateralus’ play, with that particular one based on the Fibonacci Sequence, they’re also loved by metal heads, a demographic which has often intersected with the abovementioned one.
Tool’s towering sound might appeal to those in the metal community who covet their virtuosity and artistic grasp, the same gang who love the likes of Dream Theater and Rush, but it’s also made an impact on a set who are identified as something of an antithesis to them; alpha metal cohorts. This resulted from Tool’s refreshing impact on the metal genre when they burst onto the scene in the early 1990s and confirmed their prowess with the 1993 debut, Undertow. It’s a heavy classic that kept the genre alive through the final years of its nemesis, grunge, thanks in part to the gritty production of Sylvia Massy, which brought the best out of the quartet and set them on their course to albums considered their masterpieces such as Ænima and Lateralus.
Furthermore, Keenan’s melismatic performances encompassing singing and growling, in a way related to that of the definitive alternative metal pioneer, Faith No More’s Mike Patton, who opened the gates for Tool, Adam Jones’s atmospheric but hard playing, and a compelling rhythm section, saw a new wave of acts were inspired. Because of grunge, which appealed to the jaded spirit of their generation, and Tool’s ominous sound, what became known as the nu-metal scene emerged.
While the ones who pioneered this sound with unique takes on heaviness in Korn and Deftones have their own influences, such as Faith No More, Hum, and hip-hop, the ones who emerged after them, such as Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit and others were deemed direct successors to Tool. This has caused consternation for the band. Although Korn and Deftones are undeniable peers of Tool, and stand as singular in metal, despite what lazy commentators say, with the latter’s White Pony featuring Keenan on ‘Passenger’, the nu-metal outfits that came after them are not.
This is ironic, as Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst has been open about Keenan’s influence on him. On one TV show, the Tool frontman openly denigrated them, Slipknot, and Linkin Park, saying they shouldn’t have been on the charts. He lamented their music and pointed to their clever marketing. He said, “It’s kinda hard to really put those things in a category of band.”
Asked if they were a boy band, the Tool leader ripped into “SlipBizkit” and the rest of that ilk of nu-metal acts: “SlipBizkit, or whatever that stuff is. There should be like a separate Billboard chart that has to do with clever marketing plans. So, like, McDonald’s be right up there with McNuggets, then like, you know those bands you mentioned would be up there. That’s how they should be rated, that’s that kind of a chart, they shouldn’t really be on a music chart.”
He must have felt bad about making such an impact on Durst, a man who has long been on of the most derided in rock. As for Slipknot and Linkin Park though, they’ve always been in their own lanes, and it’s weird that he should lump them all together.
