“I thought Eminem was chanting my name, but he was cheering me on to jump!” Why Rage Against the Machine protested Limp Bizkit atop a 15-foot statue and began the most one-sided rivalry in nuclear metal history
Everyone wanted a piece of Fred Durst at the height of nu metal. Limp Bizkit member got into a falling out with Slipknot after calling his fans “ugly fat kids”, while also finding time to threaten a band via voicemail for refusing a record deal and posing for photos in Creed. The Red Cap also got into another public brawl, and surprisingly it wasn’t his fault at all, when he found himself in the crosshairs of one of his biggest idols, Rage Against the Machine.
The first shots fired by Rage against Limp Bizkit were heard at the MTV VMAs in 2000. That year, both bands were nominated in the Best Rock Video category, with “Limp Bizkit”. break stuff – Directed by Durst – against the Rage promo for Now sleep in the fire.
The Rage clip seemed like a shot at the award. It was directed by Michael Moore, a well-known documentary filmmaker in his industry roger and I, Which was two years away from the release of the Oscar-winning film Bowling in the bathroom. The photo shoot also attracted national attention by filming the Rage as they performed in front of the New York Stock Exchange, which drew hundreds of spectators and forced its doors to close. while, break stuff Limp Bizkit has been featured simply messing with celebrity friends like Snoop Dogg and Eminem. Anger can’t lose – until they do.
At the ceremony, Limp Bizkit was announced as the winner of Best Rock Video—a win that Rage bassist Tim Commerford immediately objected to.
“Obviously Tim was taking it very seriously,” said drummer Brad Wilk he said to Let there be talk podcast in 2018. “It seemed, in Tim’s eyes, that they were going to give us this award – in Tim’s mind. (…) I remember I was sitting next to Tim, and Tim was sitting next to Michael (Moore) and he was saying, ‘I want to go there.’ He looks at Michael. And he says, ‘I want to go there.’ I think the other people in the band were like, ‘No, don’t do anything.’ Michael Moore says, ‘Just do it.’ Go with your heart.”
So go with his heart like Comerford did. As Limp Bizkit walked towards the stage to collect his award, the guitarist lunged and climbed the massive metal statue behind the stage. While there, at least 15 feet off the ground, Tim swung wildly, and security quickly surrounded him as Limp Bizkit looked on in confusion.
“We got a madman,” Durst remarked softly over the live microphone, before approaching the scene with a respectful display of class. “This guy is rock and roll. He should get the award.”
“I wanted to drop the whole thing, but they[the people below]just didn’t move,” Commerford said he later told MTV. In my mind, I pictured the entire structure on the floor. When they came back from the commercial break, I wanted people to see the destruction. I thought Eminem was chanting my name, but I was wrong: he was cheering me on to jump!
Once security finally removed Comerford from the building, he was arrested for disorderly conduct and spent the night in jail. However, it turns out that he wasn’t just protesting a surprise victory at the award ceremony: Fury never really liked Limp Bizkit with his votes. Wilk stated in 2018, “To be honest, we weren’t a fan of Limp Bizkit. One thing we were really impressed with was that they were getting everything together to write music and play and do stuff.
Meanwhile, guitarist Tom Morello seems to have had a distaste for nu metal since Woodstock ’99, where Rage and Limp Bizkit both played. During the festival, it witnessed fires and reports of multiple sexual assaults. Limp Bizkit was particularly violent, involving property damage and people surfing in crowds on sheets of plywood.
“This music started with the idea of making powerful music that carries a message and solidarity between the band and the audience,” Morello said.for every the pit). And that show turned into a group of thugs assaulting the women in the pit and burning the festival to the ground. I would look around and think: man, what have we done?
On the other side of the fence, Limp Bizkit has never been less respectful of Rage. The band is covered kill in the name of In 2014, Durst said on stage: “When I first heard that song, this thing just hit me right here,” while pointing to his heart. He added that he heard Rage frontman Zac de La Rocha yell, “Damn you, I’m not going to do what you tell me!” during the track “You Changed My Life”.
Comerford’s response the following year was to issue a public apology for initially inspiring Limp Bizkit. “I apologize for Limp Bizkit.” Tell Rolling Stone. “I really. I feel really bad that we inspired such nonsense.
He added: “They are gone though. That’s the nice thing. There’s only one left, and that’s anger, and as far as I care, we’re the only ones that matter.
It’s a badly outdated statement. In 2023, Limp Bizkit is actively touring to promote their 2021 album still sucks. Meanwhile, Rage against The Machine returned from hiatus in 2022, only to cancel all of its tours the following year due to an injury to De La Rocha. Despite this reversal of fortunes, we’ll be shocked to see Rage attempt to mend fences with Fred Durst’s band.