On Monday, October 6, Long Islanders will get a rare chance to get all up-close-and-personal with one of the most controversial, listened to, and perhaps even slammed, acts of the late ’90s.
Yes, nu/rap-metal stalwarts Limp Bizkit is coming to The Paramount in Huntington. In the immortal words of Antoine Dobson: “Hide your kids, hide your wife, hide your husband!” y’all!
Limp Bizkit is singer Fred Durst, bassist Sam Rivers, drummer John Otto and guitarist/scary-as-hell-horror-freak Wes Borland, who’s as infamous for his six- and seven-string sonic experimentations as his shockingly ghoulish, otherworldly onstage appearances. Also the lead singer in industrial rock outfit Black Light Burns, Borland has gigged with Limp Bizkit in full body paint as a skeleton, burnt match, donned Kung-Fu and bunny costumes as well as an assortment of demonic-looking creatures.
The band mashes dark, heavy riffs with Durst’s spitfire, often pissed-off lyrics, cemented together by Borland’s non-traditional playing, with punctuations of odd noises and sounds from DJ Lethal. Otto supplies a seemingly never-ending barrage on the skins which somehow crosses several genres—from funk and jazz to hardcore—complementing Rivers’ ever-changing-along drops and grounds.
As LB lore goes, Durst named the band Limp Bizkit because he allegedly wanted a name that would piss off listeners. Not sure if it’s just the name that angers people, but he sure accomplished his mission: The band has seemingly been plagued by haters, critics and hecklers from its beginning, though Durst and co. don’t seem to mind. In fact, they are known to egg on and play off that stuff in attempts to turn it around, or just show how much they don’t give a crap about it.
They’ve been known to take the stage sticking up their middle fingers at the audience. They’ve appeared onstage with a giant toilet bowl, emerging from its inner sanctums and flushing life-size cardboard cutouts of other band members. Durst even got pied in the face during a 2002 visit to a Portland Guitar Center. Ouch!
In some circles, they’ve also garnered the unfortunate branding as “Danny Ponces,” “White Caps” and/or, as Press music critic Zack Tirana explains, just simply “Toolbags.”
Limp Bizkit has the accolades and the miles and the stories and the hits to show for their conquest of the late ’90s airwaves, though, regardless. They’ve sold more than 40 million records worldwide. They’ve been nominated for three Grammy Awards. After their 1994 formation and domination of the Jacksonville, Fla. underground music scene and signing with Interscope subsidiary Flip Records, they dropped 1997’s Three Dollar Bill, Y’all$.
It was 1999’s Significant Other and Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water the following year, however, that catapulted them to the top of the charts. Significant Other, fueled by the catchy, anti-love anthem “Nookie” and the live staple “Break Stuff,” rose to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Yes, this band was huge.
Limp Bizkit’s most notoriously known performance may be its spot at 1999’s Woodstock, which saw its Danny Ponce audience members—among a sea of more than 200,000—commit various acts of destruction and violence, including tearing down plywood walls during their performance of “Break Stuff.” The gig was also notorious for sexual assaults which took place. (That Woodstock, which followed 1994’s, is perhaps forever known for the violence, sexual attacks, fires and random acts of vandalism and destruction; more perhaps in a future post.)
Will Limp Bizkler get all those in attendance at The ’Mountler up on their feet, moving to the beat, singing along? Most definitely!
Will Limp Bizkit incite some Dannies to uncontrollable levels? I sure hope not!
Will someone from the crowd pie Fred Durst in the face!? Only one way to find out!
Regardless, this is sure to be a killer gig, replete with memorable songs that will undoubtedly harken old-school fans back to those immortal days in rock, and possibly even help convert a whole new generation of Limp Bizkit followers.
Just please don’t “Break Stuff,” boys. Pretty please.
The Paramount, 370 New York Ave., Huntington. paramountny.com With Special Guests Machine Gun Kelly & Blvck Ceiling. $34.50-$59.50. 7 p.m. October 6
