Limp Bizkit

Nu-metal pioneers Limp Bizkit have always been far more clever than they let on—but that’s a large part of their allure. Coming together in 1994 in Jacksonville, Florida, vocalist Fred Durst, guitarist Wes Borland, bassist Sam Rivers, and drummer John Otto grew a following in the local punk scene with loud, rafter-rattling performances, highlighted by a scratchy, screamy cover of George Michael’s “Faith.” That track would eventually land on their 1997 debut album, Three Dollar Bill, Y’All, which also included newest member: turntablist DJ Lethal of House of Pain fame. Mixing heavy doses of rock, rap, and punk, the Florida band began churning out bold, brazen, house-destroying tracks built on pure testosterone-fueled escapism with 1999’s Significant Other and 2000’s Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. Both albums highlighted Durst’s cocksure jumble of raging rhymes, Borland’s crunchy metal riffs, DJ Lethal’s skittery samples and breaks, and Tool-indebted rhythms on chart hits like “Rollin’,” “Nookie,” and “Break Stuff,” the latter serving as the unofficial theme for Woodstock ‘99 and Limp Bizkit’s infamous, violence-inciting performance. While the 2000s were marked with a brief departure by Borland and a band hiatus between 2005 and 2008, the group rolled into the 2010s as ferocious as ever with 2011’s Gold Cobra, plus regular festival appearances that would continue to prove Limp Bizkit’s impressive staying power and canny way of turning caustic noise into irresistible hooks.