Love them or loathe them, nobody can deny that Limp Bizkit were one of the most massive bands of the nu metal takeover. Their albums and songs dominated the charts, their every gig drew thousands of rapt youngsters ready to raise hell, and Fred Durst’s near-weekly beefs with fellow musicians dominated the music press. However, it wasn’t always that way, and as late as 1997, the rap metal wildmen were still up-and-comers in heavy music.
On July 1 of that year, Limp Bizkit released their debut album, Three Dollar Bill Y’all. Its commercial success was a fraction of what follow-ups Significant Other and Chocolate Starfish… would relish in, with its sole single, Counterfeit, not even charting. The band had to take the music directly to the people, then, and they did just that with a stint on the Warped tour. Those dates were preempted by a rawer expression of Durst et al’s angst – in a car park in Kansas City.
