Did you know that Limp Bizkit named their third studio album as a reference to The Beatles? Or the music video that was banned from MTV due to controversial imagery? What about the feud between front-man Fred Durst and legendary artist Trent Reznor? Stick around and we'll answer these questions and more!
10 Fun Facts About Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water by Limp Bizkit
1. Limpdependence Day
The album was supposed to be called
Limpdependence Day. However, this title was discarded when the band was
unable to produce the album in time for a July 4th release date.
(Independence Day clip)
clip fred durst speech with independence day speech?
2. Sgt. Durst's Lonely Hot Dog Club Band
While
many people are aware of the double ententre meaning behind the
Chocolate Starfish moniker, fewer are aware of the origin of the album
title, or that it is an absolute reference to a popular Beatles album.
"He (Durst) made up Chocolate Starfish and... I made up Hot Dog
Flavored Water in a truck stop, when we were looking at those bottles of
Crystal geyser flavored water. And they didn't have hot dog-flavored
water or meat-flavored water... it was late at night and we were talking
a bunch of garbage. And Chocolate Starfish obviously means an
asshole... Fred calls himself Chocolate Starfish because people call him
an asshole all the time. So it's like a band name... Kind of like Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." - Wes Borland, Guitar World Presents
Nu-metal, Brad Tolinski, Pg 104 (Apr 28, 2002)
(Apu: "I'm sgt pepper's lonely heart club band!")
3. Shameless Self Promotion
Durst references the album title in three songs: "Livin It Up," "Hot Dog," and "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)"
"Livin' It Up", where he declares that "The chocolate starfish is my man Fred Durst" (Wes Borland has stated in an interview when questioned on the naming of the album that "Fred calls himself Chocolate Starfish, because people call him an asshole all the time"[7]), "Hot Dog", where he tells his detractors to "Kiss my starfish, my chocolate starfish," and "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" where he mentions "Chocolate Starfish" in the introduction.
4. 46 Fs
The f word is used 46 times in the song "Hot Dog." Which kind of reminds me of the time South Park aired a Season 5 episode in 2001 where the word "shit" was uttered over 150 times. By the end of the episode, the word had lost all of it's edge and meaning. Oddly enough, producers at Comedy Central were against the idea of the S word being mentioned a few times but when Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided to up the ante to 150, the producers were suddenly fine with it.
Now that I draw the comparison, I'm kind of
surprised that Eric Cartman never got to meet Fred Durst in an episode
of South Park. I think that they could either be very good buddies or
they might drive each other nuts.
(South Park movie)
5. Co-Writer Trent Reznor
Many
fans have speculated about a feud between Fred Durst and Trent Reznor.
However, the Nine Inch Nails songwriter dismisses such claims as
"comical" and actually approved when Durst contacted his musical hero to
offer a song-writer credit for use of his lyrics in the song "Hot Dog."
“Fred lifted choruses off three or four songs of mine then when his record was going to print, realised 'Fuck, I'd better ask permission first or I might get sued!? I let him do it. I wasn't gonna hold his record up.” - Reznor, Reznor Nails New Record Down, NME (Nov 30, 2000)
6. Get Your Lawsuit On
The
band was sued over their unaccredited use of a sample from the Aerial
Trapeze Act of Cirque Du Soleil's Cirque Reinvente on their song "Get
Your Groove On." Streaming services like Spotify only host a remixed
version of the song.
"We actually got sued over this piece of shit. There was some sort of sample used in it that someone didn't get full clearance for, so we ended up getting into some serious trouble for a little while." - Borland, Wes Borland Q&A, Kerrang!, No. 1227, (Sep 2008) - referenced through wikipedia
7. Zoolander Cameo
The
music video for "Rollin" was filmed around the same time as the Ben
Stiller cult-classic comedy Zoolander. Which might explain Ben's cameo
appearance as he pulls up in a Bentley at the beginning of the music
video. Durst would also make a quick appearance in the movie.
8. Stone Cold Rock
The
track "My Way" was used as the theme song for Wrestlemania 17 featuring
a Championship match between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Dwayne "The
Rock" Johnson.
9. Banned From MTV
The music video for "Boiler" which pays tribute to Pink Floyd's The Wall was banned from MTV due to violent and sexual imagery. One sequence involves a bunch of couples having sex, the other sequence features guitarist Wes Borland's head falling off.
Before we get to our final Fun Fact, I would like to give a special shoutout to the members of r/LimpBizkit on Reddit who helped with the addition of these final two Fun Facts. This video is in no way affiliated with or sponsored by Reddit but I found it to be a great place to talk with other fans of the band. The members were super helpful and supportive. If you're a Limp Bizkit fan, I highly recommend checking out r/LimpBizkit on Reddit. And thanks again to those who shared their knowledge of the band with us while creating this video.
Speaking
of Reddit, did you know we have our own Reddit community? Join us at
r/funfactsrock and maybe you can help us create our next video!
Bonus: Playboy Mansion Party
An album release party for Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water was hosted at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, California.
To
illustrate just how huge Limp Bizkit was in the year 2000, the album
release party was held at the famous Mansion owned by the late Playboy
mogul Hugh Hefner. A list of notable celebrities were in attendance,
including members of Korn, Deftones, Incubus, Rob Zombie, and Methods of
Mayhem. Other notable celebrities in attendance include Tommy Lee of
Motley Crue, Xzibit, Warren G, Sisqo, Debbie Harry, Verne Troyer who
played Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies, Shannon Elizabeth and Alyson
Hannigan from American Pie, and if it was a MTV event in the early 00s
you know that Ashton Kutcher was there.
Bonus: World Trade Center
The
music video for "Rollin" cost 3 million dollars to make and was the
last music video filmed on top of the World Trade Center. While the
video was filmed a year before the infamous events that would take
place, members of the band received a thank you letter from World Trade
Center staff just one day prior to the attacks on Sept 11, 2001.
"We received a letter the day before the attack from the World Trade Center thanking us for letting them be a part of a video that just won an award. I had it framed. I found it very ironic, very bizarre that I received that letter on Monday, and Tuesday the [attacks occurred]. For me to have gotten to go to the top of such a great, powerful structure ... to have those people embrace me and let Limp Bizkit spend 22 hours on top of the World Trade Center doing what we do. ... And for it to be taken down? The structure itself means nothing to me. I don't believe in that structure being a symbol of power, of pride, of America. What means something to me is the people that were killed around and in that building innocently, for no reason except hatred. It overwhelms me. I thank God the night we were on the World Trade Center wasn't the night they decided to do that." - Durst, fred durst : give peace a chance, MTV (Sept 29, 2001)
“Boy, did the video for Rollin’ backfire. It was filmed on top of the World Trade Center... the staff at WTC sent over a fruit basket to congratulate us. After 9/11 everyone stopped playing it. Nobody wanted to see it. Neither did we.” - Borland, The most In-Depth Wes Borland Interview Ever... Johnny Christ, Drinks With Johnny (Jun 21, 2021)
10. This Music Video Will Self Destruct
"Take A Look Around" appeared in the 2000 Tom Cruise blockbuster film Mission: Impossible 2. The actor allegedly took a liking to the song because it was one of the only submissions to feature vocals.
Fred
Durst also directed a Mission Impossible themed music video featuring
the band pursuing a group of secret agents. However, it is rumored that
Durst dislikes the music video, which may be why it was only released to
a limited European audience and was not included on the band's Greatest
Videoz DVD compilation.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_Starfish_and_the_Hot_Dog_Flavored_Water
fred durst : give peace a chance, MTV (Sept 29, 2001) - https://web.archive.org/web/20150420003806/http://www.mtv.com/bands/d/durst_fred/news_feature_092901/index2.jhtml
Guitar World Presents Nu-metal, Brad Tolinski, Pg 104 (Apr 28, 2002)
Reznor Nails New Record Down, NME (Nov 30, 2000) - https://www.nme.com/news/music/nine-inch-nails-182-1394215
Wes Borland Q&A, Kerrang!, No. 1227, (Sep 2008) - referenced through wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_Starfish_and_the_Hot_Dog_Flavored_Water
The most In-Depth Wes Borland Interview Ever... Johnny Christ, Drinks With Johnny (Jun 21, 2021) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD_W6bK_OBg
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-apr-24-ca-22790-story.html
https://www.mtv.com/news/7mvrh0/durst-dishes-on-new-limp-lp-at-playboy-party
https://www.loudersound.com/features/remembering-the-time-limp-bizkit-took-over-the-playboy-mansion-for-the-release-of-chocolate-starfish-and-the-hot-dog-flavored-water