Recently, we brought you part one of our list of interesting facts about Limp Bizkit. Now here are eight more facts about 90s nu metal pioneers Fred Durst, Wes Borland, Sam Rivers and John Otto, who despite critical panning, have been making the music they want for nearly two decades.
Number Eight: Fred Durst is a Film Director. During Limp Bizkit’s hiatus in 2006, Durst tried his hand at acting and directing. He has had a few acting roles, including a small role in a couple of episodes of House M.D. and a costarring role in Population 436. Durst make his directorial debut with The Education of Charlie Banks in 2007. His second film, The Longshots, was 2008.
Number Seven: Durst Also Directed a Series of EHarmony Commercials. In 2014, He created three commercials for the online dating platform. One of the spots features two kids talking to EHarmony CEO Neil Clark Warren. Another features the throwing of a wedding bouquet. The spots are funny and unexpected from a musician whose work has been about aggression for 20 years.
Number Six: DJ Lethal Was Once a Member of the Band. Best known for his work as one half of House of Pain, DJ Lethal joined Limp Bizkit in 1996 at the suggestion of Wes Borland. DJ Lethal was able to experiment with his turntable and sampling in an environment other than hip-hop and was able to bring a new and different style to the rock band. He officially left the band in 2012.
Number Five: Their Music Was Given the String Treatment. Vitamin String Quartet paid tribute to Limp Bizkit with a full cover album. Break Stuff: The String Quartet Tribute to Limp Bizkit, released in 2004, features string covers of “My Way,” “N 2 Gether Now,” and “Break Stuff,” among others.
Number Four: Interscope Records Paid a Radio Station to Play the Band’s Music. Before the release of Three Dollar Bill, Y’all!, Interscope wanted to get Limp Bizkit’s song “Counterfeit” on the radio in Portland, so they paid the station $5,000 to play the song 50 times. It worked, but the choice was quite controversial. Even Fred Durst thought this bit of payola was not a good idea.
Number Three: They Had a Brief Falling Out with Eminem. Eminem had been friends with the Florida band before 2000, even making a brief appearance in their “Break Stuff” music video. However, Fred Durst and DJ Lethal got caught in the middle of Eminem’s feud with Everlast. Eminem ended up dissing them in D12’s song “Girls,” and as well as briefly in his 2002 track “Without Me.”
Number Two: Fred Durst Can Be Heard on Korn’s Follow the Leader. Durst has had the opportunity to work with a number of artists during Limp Bizkit’s popularity, many of which were hip-hop artists, such as Method Man and Red Man. But Durst has also been able to collaborate with rock artists. He was featured on a song on Soulfly’s debut album. Notably, he also appears on Korn’s Follow the Leader, having taken the place of Cyprus Hill’s B-Real, whose record label would not let him collaborate with the band. Durst can be heard trading insults with Jonathan Davis on the track “All in the Family.” Davis has also appeared in a handful of Limp Bizkit’s videos, since the two of them are close friends.
Number One: Their Set at Woodstock ’99 Got a Bit Rowdy. When Limp Bizkit played at Woodstock ’99, there were nearly 200,000 people watching them. Things got a big out of hand when the band started to play “Break Stuff” and people actually started doing just that. Limp Bizkit got blamed for the chaos that ensued and Durst felt like they were being used as scapegoats. Durst decided to address the issue artistically with the concept for the “Re-Arranged” video, which featured the band members as prisoners being executed for their crimes by being drowned in milk. Thank you for reading our list of 15 interesting facts about Limp Bizkit. We hope you enjoyed it!