Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 21/11/05
Label: Interscope

Of course, there are many good reasons to sneer at Limp Bizkit; Fred Durst's petulant whine - akin to toys being thrown out of a pram - coupled with a rapping style more in common with Pam Ayers than Faith No More's Mike Patten or Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis - both of whom Limp Bizkit owe an enormous debt - marked him down more as an astute businessman tapping into teen angst than a genuine spokesman for a generation.

Equally, no one was ever going to compare DJ Lethal to Terminator X. And as for the rhythm section…doesn't the Trades Description Act cover this? And yet, bizarrely, guitarist Wes Borland isn't actually yet another reason to despise Durst and co, as he down-tuned his guitar, sacked the notion of virtuosity and created a wall of sound that delivered where the rest of the band failed.

Listening to "Greatest Hitz", it's difficult - nigh on impossible even - to contain smirks and howls of laughter as Limp Bizkit bitch and moan their way through whatever pissed Fred off that day. "Nookie" deals with the trauma of breaking up with your girlfriend with such sensitive observations as "…my girlie ran away" while "Break Stuff"'s opening couplet of "It's just one of those days/When you don't wanna wake up/Everything is f"cked and everyone sucks!" would be considered funny if it wasn't so unintentionally feeble.

And is there anything more absurd than a man in his early 30s in big shorts singing about "My Generation" to a bunch of kids bunking-off school when they should be revising? Well yeah, actually there is, as the bravehearted amongst you are pointed in the direction of the absolutely hysterical cover versions of The Who's "Behind Blue Eyes" (Fred's sooooo misunderstood, see?), George Michael's "Faith" and Lalo Schifrin's "Mission Impossible" aka "Take A Look Around". The best though (and by "best" we mean "funniest") is a jaw-dropping take on - we kid you not - The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" that'll leave you in a state of hysterical confusion.

Predictably, the joke quickly starts to wear as thin as a paper cut to the throat, breeding the kind of contempt normally reserved for war criminals. "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" becomes the tiresome tirade usually encountered at kebab vans at closing time and "My Way"'s demand of "…it's my way or the highway" has you reaching for the car keys and the road map. Following Wes Borland's sensible decision to quit the band in 2000, Limp Bizkit fittingly limped on incoherently and to no point or success whatsoever, save becoming one of the most consistently ridiculed bands in rock history.

Hopefully, we'll not see their like again for some centuries. The twatz.

    by James Marshall