Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water

Yeah, it's alright. Not the best, not the worst. Certainly made an impact when it came out and that can bring a lot of weird attention to a band. I didn't love it as much as some people did back in the day, but "Rollin" and "My Way" remain absolute bangers. Not sure I understand the positive critical re-evaluation some nu-metal bands are getting... they were fine then, they remain fine now.

MadTV's "Keep Posin'" was a great sketch. Will Sasso makes a good Fred Durst.

"Fuck Limp Bizkit, man. 'Ooh, I can put a Z in my name.'"

I knew we could count on Ben Stiller.

Why is all their choruses things a tough guy would say in the 50s? You’re mouth’s writing checks that your ass can’t catch, it’s my way or the highway, I’m living life in the fast lane.

Also, whenever I’ve seen videos of people mocking nu metal and Fred durst I assumed they were doing an over the top voice but that’s just straight up what he sounds like. Fred Durst sounds like a Fred Durst parody on half of this album. The second half gets better but this album is still trash.

The ultimate rage album for when you need to get it all out. I wouldn’t say this is masterful music that runs deep, but this is definitely one of my rage therapy albums.

With a different singer, Limp Bizkit probably could have been cool. Fred Durst has always gone out of his way to get on people’s nerves, and thanks to years of practice, he manages to do that pretty well on “Chocolate Starfish...” too. The combination of the annoying high notes in his voice and his extensive use of the word “fuck” is off-putting right from the first minute.
Fortunately, both get much better later on. However, I wasn’t familiar with any of these songs. So it seems that Limp Bizkit got a lot of attention thanks to Durst’s annoying manner. In that sense: they did everything right.
But they could have been cool instead... Well, now here’s a mediocre rating for an album that wanted to be controversial. Take that!

I reviewed Limp Bizkit’s debut recently, thinking I’d never heard them before. Hearing their third album today (sorry, it’s hard to bring myself to write the title out) I realised that this was an album I listened to quite a bit as a child. Or more accurately, listened to bits of repeatedly, as it's a record chock full of skip tracks with a few big highlights.

It’s hard to review this with adult ears as it’s music designed for 11-15 year old boys in the 2000s and feels like it was never meant to travel outside of that sphere. Musically it’s not without merit but it’s not a scratch on the debut, mostly because Fred has developed into the most terrible vocalist and lyricist, overwhelming any quality the band brings to the table. Even taking into account the aforementioned teenageriness it’s frequently inexcusably bad. There is no justifying the length of this thing either. There isn’t 74 minutes worth of material here.

wow this usually would be something i’d dislike but weirdly really fucked with this. metal is so productive for cleaning time

🌭🌭

A couple of these tracks are great hype up music and some are interesting musically. However, that is quickly overshadowed by Durst’s nonsensical and lazy lyricism. I always found it funny that this band and their fans mocked the pop singers of the time while they were mainstays on MTV/TRL. Durst’s lyrical ability was as low effort as those pop songs and his voice/cadence actually reminds me of Aaron Carter. I enjoyed Three Dollar Bill Yall and could see that album being on this list for its contribution to the music scape at the time. I guess this album acts as a time stamp, too, of just how bad this period of pop music was.

This is a Big Mac of an album. You know that it's trash, you know that it's bad for you, but it's also irresistible.

I'd have lost money if you asked me to bet on whether or not a Limp Bizkit album would ever appear on a list of 1,001 essential albums. Like, a LOT of money...

This is certainly a blast from the past. I also would have lost a lot of money on a bet about me intentionally listening to this band ever again. And I also would have lost a bunch of money on the side bet that I'd enjoy it. Pretty fucking surprised all around on this one...

I don't WANT to like this. I would feel morally satisfied if I could honestly say "I hate this and it's garbage music for meth heads." Because it is. But I can't say I don't like it. Shit. Give me a well done ribeye with some ketchup, I guess. The only person who knows I'm listening to this right now is me, and I'm running scenarios in my head on how to explain that I'm doing it on purpose if someone were to find out and rightfully rebuke me for my awful musical tastes.

I was dreading listening to this, and then I saw it was 75 minutes. But the first song just grabbed me, and the rest never let me go. I'm kinda hyped listening to Rollin', actually. Oof. They should DEFINITELY stay away from ballads though. The One is pretty rough, and Hold On was a miss too, but it might have been alright as a shorter track. I also could have done without the remix of Rollin', but was grateful to hear a DMX verse. I love that guy's flow. Overall, pretty damned enjoyable. I have also heard some TERRIBLE skits on albums in my day, but we definitely have a winner for "Outro" as the worst of the worst. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why artists include this kind of shit on their albums.

To be clear, I don't think this album belongs anywhere near this list, but I did enjoy most of it. It was kind of like being really satiated by a couple of McDonald's cheeseburgers and some fries; it's NOT a good burger and it doesn't belong on a list of greatest foods, but it is an enjoyable meal once a year or so. That said, due to my embarrassment, I don't think I'll be adding this to my collection. But it'll still exist on streaming services in a few years if I ever want to listen again.

My ratings come from a biased personal enjoyment perspective because I'm not educated enough to be a music critic.

⭐⭐⭐.75

Oh the poetry of the lyrics, oh the beauty of the voice... probably the most hated album on here, I've heard ones that bothered me more, but it's still bad.

I don’t think I can give this one star. It’s the least shit of the 2000 nu metal. It doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously and it made me laugh a couple of times (probably not in the way they intended).

Don’t get me wrong. It’s really not good. But it’s far from the worst thing I’ve listened to on the list.

Fred Durst used up all the fucks.
If there were any fucks left I’m sure I’d give one about this album, alas.

Easy 5 Stars.
Das Album war extrem einflussreich für mich. Ich war 10 Jahre alt und mein Bruder hatte es als CD gekauft. Ich konnte alles mitsingen, bevor ich englisch konnte.
Bin sehr in der Nu Metal Szene dann aufgewachsen. Hör das Album immer noch gerne

1.8/5

Bro who hurt you. And why are you barking

Listening to this in public as an adult felt as illicit as having a butt plug in me

Los tenías olvidados a ellos y a este disco. Mucho mejor de lo que recordaba, me he guardado: Hot dog, Full Nelson, My way, Rollin' y por supuesto Take a look around. Los 2000 y su mezcla de rock y rap. Grandes tiempos.

Pereza terrible, lo siento.