Limp Bizkit might not have been the first, or even the most influential nu metal band, but they can certainly stake a claim as being one of the biggest breakthroughs. From worshipping at the altar of Korn before recording their first album Three Dollar Bill, Y'all in 1997 to scoring two consecutive no. 1 albums in the US (2000's Chocolate Star Fish And The Hot Dog Water also topped charts everywhere from the UK, Belgium and Germany to Australia, New Zealand and beyond), Limp Bizkit represented a powerhouse force in metal. They made national headlines, hobnobbed with Hollywood Stars and infiltrated the worlds of hip-hop and pop in a way few, if any, have done since.
They were also one of metal's most derided acts, hated within their own community for representing everything deemed wrong about 'tracksuit metal' while pinpointed by concerned parents and censorship campaigners as evidence that the world truly had started circling the pan.
But Bizkit never backed down, and often gave as good as they got. These 25 songs – as voted for by you – represent the very best in a career that could best be defined in three words: 'No, fuck you'.
25. It'll Be Ok (Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water 2000)
It's sometimes easy to forget that Limp Bizkit could showcase some emotional depth beyond dick jokes, thinly-veiled diss tracks and all-over cocksure swagger. The 11th track on the band's smash sensation Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water, It'll Be OK explores a conflicted toxic relationship, Durst flipping back and forth between ruminations that life is over without the relationship, but ultimately deciding 'If I get away, it'll be okay' and treating the subject with a level of nuance and sensitivity that many other bands of the era (and since) failed to capture. Wes Borland's guitar lines really capture the melancholia at the heart of the track, the nimble-fingered picking not a million miles from the work of Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist John Frusciante. It shows just how magic the creative energy of Limp Bizkit was in this period that a track like It'll Be OK can have such clear anthemic potential despite never being released as a single - the chorus line of 'you're fucking up my whole life' cater-made for teenage audiences to roar along.
24. Just Like This (Significant Other, 1999)
Drawing much more directly on hip-hop than they had on their debut, Limp Bizkit's Significant Other properly kicks off with Just Like This, a direct example of the more developed, and decidedly more nu, direction the band were taking their style. From the track's steady hip-hop beat to the aggro bounce of guitars, the track was essentially the archetype for a legion of imitators while putting much stronger emphasis on Durst as a rapper. Although not released as a single, Just Like This was ultimately featured in the movie Big Daddy, helping break Bizkit to a wider audience. Within a month of release Significant Other had climbed to the top of the Billboard 200 (as well as top 10 in the UK, Australia and Canada), signalling the inescapability of Limp Bizkit just as they hit their prime.
23. Dad Vibes (Still Sucks, 2021)
Limp Bizkit had been teasing material for their sixth album as far back as 2012, but it wasn't until Dad Vibes arrived in September 2021 that things got real. Durst's bizarre new look made a stir online in a piece of viral marketing that can only be described as genius, getting the world excited for new Bizkit material a decade after their last release. Still Sucks received a surprise release just one month later on Halloween and fans were quick to jump on it. Dad Vibes does a great job of showing the direction Limp Bizkit had taken over two decades on from their heyday, dropping just enough of their classic style to pull in old fans whilst not going OTT with obnoxious swagger. This is an older but not necessarily wiser Limp Bizkit exercising a fat-free version of their classic sound.
22. 9 Teen 90 Nine (Significant Other, 1999)
The millennium was ending, nu metal ruled the airwaves and Limp Bizkit had just topped the charts, becoming one of the genre's biggest successes in the process. 9 Teen 90 Nine captures the mood in the Bizkit camp as their careers truly took off, while also offering a dig at Y2K conspiracy theorists in its lyrics, set to a typically bouncy riff that was sure to set crowds off live. Barely a month after Significant Other's release the band cemented their status as one of metal's hottest names when they played to an enormous crowd at Woodstock '99, though the event became infamous after reports of rioting and sexual assault were reported to have occurred during Limp Bizkit's set.
21. Gold Cobra (Gold Cobra, 2011)
For the first time since Chocolate Starfish, the original Limp Bizkit line-up were present and correct as they hit the studio to record their fifth album. A brief period of hibernation had seemingly rejuvenated the band as they went back to basics and pumped out a classic-style Bizkit album. Gold Cobra might not have reached the highs of the band's commercial peak, but there can be no denying it got them on the right track again after the more experimental effort of The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1). By 2011 nu metal had been dismissed as an embarrassing footnote in metal's history, but Gold Cobra's commercial performance (peaking at No. 16 on the Billboard 200 and even topping the charts in Germany) showed the appetite for a nu metal revival was already growing.
