The prog band Tool was scared to follow: “We grew up listening to them”
While it isn’t always completely necessary to provide a genre label for a band, many fans have often debated which side of the progressive rock and metal divide Tool fall on, and it’s much more of a fierce debate than one might expect.
Nobody has ever been too certain where to position the group, not least the band themselves, who have referred to themselves as belonging in both camps at various points during their career. While it isn’t detrimental to a band’s success to not have any definitive ruling on their genre classification, determining whether Tool are closer to one thing than another is something that has confused many listeners over the years.
The trouble is, both labels can be a bit off-putting. They each speak to pretty niche crowds, and if you’re not already into prog or metal, chances are you’re not rushing to check out a band that leans into either. Trying to win over the other side? That’s a tough gig.
Despite this, there’s good reason for the band to be categorised as both prog, metal, or, if you’re feeling so inclined, progressive metal. They’ve shown across multiple releases that they can comfortably straddle both worlds and not have their influences from either side of the divide become diluted by focusing too hard on incorporating one over the other.
Besides, plenty of other acts throughout history have managed to combine both, and in terms of genre mergers, prog and metal aren’t exactly an uncomfortable or awkward pairing. If anything, this ambiguity has benefited Tool and seen them perform with and work alongside their heroes from both worlds.
However, what perhaps swung them further towards the world of progressive rock was their admiration for King Crimson, a group who the band collectively cite as being one of the biggest influences on Tool’s desire to make challenging and cerebral music.
According to frontman Maynard James Keenan, this influence may have been too strong at times, and when Tool were invited to perform alongside their idols in support of the release of their fourth album, 10,000 Days, he became terrified by the prospect of following a band who he deemed to have had a profound influence on him.
In a 2006 interview with Classic Rock, Keenan claimed: “We grew up listening to them and we were nervous following them. We thought, damn, everyone is gonna know where we stole everything from.” While there are some obvious influences coming from King Crimson in Tool’s sound, particularly in the sense that both bands are known for transforming rock riffs into complex and heavy beasts, there’s no way in which you could accuse Tool of ever having completely ripped off the British band.
If anything, Tool are one of very few acts to have successfully managed to emulate the strengths of King Crimson without ever expressly stealing from them, and that’s ultimately what made them such a perfect pairing to perform together.
