Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water

Oh boy, I like this one. Grew up with it and it is still a banger.

Sadly, the political views from Fred Durst are not so much a banger...

I got half way through this before giving up; I can't face an hour and a quarter of it. This is pretty awful to listen to, and the album cover is one of the worst I've seen.

Okay, so we're being intentionally disgusting. And I hate that I like it. Musically it's aggressive and abrasive in exactly the way to revert me an angry middle schooler. It's not good. But somehow it's also brilliant.

Why anyone would listen to this in a world where we have Rage Against the Machine boggles my mind. If you like LB and you aren't an angry teenager I'm sorry.

Shortly after this album was released Eddie Van Halen put a gun to Fred Durst's head. From article:

Eddie drove that assault vehicle through L.A., into Beverly Hills, then parked and left it running on the front lawn of the house Limp Bizkit was rehearsing in. He got out wearing no shirt, his hair in a Samurai bun on top of his head, his jeans held up with a strand of rope and combat boots held together by duct tape. And he had a gun in his hand.”

“That asshole answered the door,\" Bennett recalled Van Halen explaining. \"I put my gun to that stupid fucking red hat of his, and I said, ‘Where’s my shit, motherfucker?’ That fucking guy just turned to one of his employees and starts yelling at him to grab my shit. ... Eddie Van Halen stood on the front lawn of a residential home in Beverly Hills in broad daylight, smoking a cigarette while holding a gun on Fred Durst as he went back and forth from the house to the assault vehicle, lugging amps and guitars.”

Wow, my jaw dropped when this album came up for me today. I was in college when this came out. There was a big push at that time from MTV to anoint these guys as the leaders of some kind of nu-metal revolution that would take over from grunge as the 'cool' music. Epic fail. This album was bad then, and it hasn't aged well. The only thing it did was inspire a whole bunch of guys at my college to wear white t-shirts, backwards baseball hats, puka shells and bleach their hair. And that album cover - yikes. You can just imagine Fred D crying while laughing while saying 'do you get it?? chocolate starfish??" Ridiculous.

Fred Durst was 30 years old when this album was released. Let that sink in for a bit. I managed to avoid listening to this album for my whole life up to this point, despite being 10 when it came out and surrounded with Limp Bizkit superfans in my school, just at the cusp of the target demographic.

There's a few almost passable songs on here (My Way, The One, Hold On), but even those are tainted (pun intended) in some way; terrible singing, too long, derivative, or a mixture of all 3.

To the 5-star reviewers: it's not that we "don't get it", it's just fucking terrible.

Made my finger less prone to hitting the skip button than most in this genre. Still not a fan.

Really really hate these guys

This album would have been the worst on this list if it were not for the one redeeming song near the end, "Boiler." This song stands out with its catchy hook, proper bassline, and riff. It raises the question: why is the rest of the album of such garbage quality, with its lyrical dribble?

There are times listening to Bizkit that, had my late teens or early 20s gone a slightly different way, I might've found something to latch onto here. Thankfully, that didn't happen. I've never heard a song that makes fuck boring by the end of it. When it's used as a comma, it loses all meaning, which is maybe the point, but then it's hard to say it's powerful or has anything to say at all so I don't know what the point is.

That said, as bad as it is, and it is bad, at no point did I really reach for a skip button like I have other albums on this list. So it gets a 2 star, it's not good, and I'll probably never listen to it again. But it's not the worst thing on here.

I will say, though, that the inclusion of the remix of Rollin' with talented rappers really did shine just how bad at this Durst is.

I’m at a 2.5 that will just barely get bumped up to a 3 out of pure bias.

I was really expecting a bit more slop out of this album, but listening to it in full, it’s really not that bad, it’s just painfully bland more often than it is truly entertaining. When this album hits though, I genuinely think it hits – I am kind of a sucker for some of these early 2000s nu-metal production tricks and soundscapes, and nobody was doing it like Limp Bizkit was, probably, for better or for worse. There are genuinely great instrumentals here, and Fred Durst's voice drags them down more often than not.

I think Fred Durst’s goofy-ass voice is a gift from God – it is just silly enough to never once be taken seriously, it is just bad enough to hate whenever he's trying to be serious, and it is just good enough that when he’s in full-blown yell mode with guitars blaring behind him, there is an undeniable energy that fills up whatever room it’s heard in. Granted, sometimes that energy is incredible pain and suffering, but when the tracks are good, which happens maybe a grand total of 5 times, (and yes, this genuinely includes the cheesiest fucking song ever, “Rollin’”) it’s a genuinely good energy.

Like I said though, this is usually more painfully bland than it is entertaining, and I think the album takes a steep drop after Track 10 in terms of actually holding my attention. It retreads a lot of the same instrumental production tricks, and they just don’t work that deep into the album – they even fucking reuse Rollin’, which is like, a cardinal sin, probably. You really shouldn’t have the remix be part of the main tracklist. Don’t even get me started on the lyrics.

All of that said, I truly don’t think this is THAT bad – it’s certainly not so bad as to drop it to a 1, but it is relatively bad. I can see the appeal though; sometimes, people just want to fucking rock out without giving a shit about the actual lyrics or vocals and just go with the vibes. This could be someone else's 4 or even somehow a 5 (though if anyone thinks it's a 5, they almost certainly need to get a detox).

For me, it’s truly no higher than a 3, and I’m being extremely generous to give it the bump if only because I think Limp Bizkit is a perfect encapsulation of just how over the top and silly the early 2000s were. It’s a way better Beastie Boys album than Devil Without A Cause was, that’s for sure. Hence, the 2.5 that barely gets bumped up to a 3.

Please don’t give us any more Limp Bizkit albums.

No

An album I hated at the time, and still do! The MI:2 song was ok, and is the only reason for this nonsense scoring more than 1.

I could probably list close to 200 albums with an argument to be included on this list. Albums that serve to truly enrich the life of the listener. Albums with unbelievable cultural and historical significance. Albums that speak to and/or make sense of the human experience. In lieu of those hundreds of albums, the curator of this project decided to include Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water by Limp Bizkit. They made dozens of questionable decisions, but perhaps none more nonsensical than this one. It's a shame that one star is the lowest rating we're allowed here.

0/5

Yet another ex-1001 album!™
http://1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie.wikidot.com/album-artists-a-z-ex

Surprised that this album ever made it onto the list. Fred Durst comes off as a total knobhead, so why did I rock so hard to it?! Awww... it's complicated! 🤘

I was 12 when Limp Bizkit’s album ‘Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water’ was released, and it became an instant hit among my classmates and me.

Looking back, it seems we were the target audience for Fred Durst’s sweary angst-filled anthems.
However, much like the questionable fashion trends of the early 2000s—flame-adorned shirts, baggy skater jeans, excessive hair gel, and overpowering Jupe aftershave—
Limp Bizkit’s music hasn’t aged gracefully. It stands as a relic of a bygone era, lacking the timeless quality that defines truly classic albums.

While there’s a certain charm in revisiting my teenage youth, this album feels more like a fleeting fad than a lasting legacy. I give it 2 stars for its nostalgic value but find it hard to recommend for fresh listening, so shouldn’t be on this list,

Listen, I'm unironically a Limp Bizkit fan but this isn't the album to include here. Durst is well into his Flanderization at this point. Three Dollar Bill should be here first because it is much better and second it was much more groundbreaking. Even Significant Other should be here instead. Who knows, maybe they are on the list. 3.57.

Way too clean for me but a fun one. Rapping is cringe of course but come on... way too many 1 star reviews. At least this one isn't the same old 70s dad rock or brit-pop record that makes up half of this list. This one is fun.

I hated this when I was young and, if I am honest, I still do now. For me this is full on wrestling entrance music. Loud, brash and completely over the top.

That said, listening to it again did bring back memories. I had a mate, Crowton, who absolutely loved this album back in the day. Hearing it now takes me straight back to those times, and that nostalgia is the only reason it scrapes a two out of five. Sadly Crowton has since passed away, so in a strange way this record now feels tied to those memories of him.

Musically, there are a couple of tracks that still have some energy. My Generation and My Way are probably the highlights for me. Beyond the first few songs though, there is a lot of filler and it quickly becomes repetitive.

Favourite songs: My Generation and My Way
Least favourite: After track six it really drags
Album artwork: Completely mental. Definitely not something you would frame and hang on your wall

Not an album I enjoy, but one that now carries personal memories that mean more than the music itself