The Ten Limp Bizkit Songs That Are Actually Worth Listening To

Hello, everyone! B here from B Likes To Talk, a blog you may better know (or don't know) as "B Never Updates This Blog On Time". In recent weeks, I've had a couple of ideas floating around in my head, but one, in particular, has been eating at me. Something that I've always appreciated is the art of a good top ten list. With David Letterman retiring last night, this art came back into focus for me. Granted, I'm not nearly as clever or as funny as David Letterman is, and I won't really try to be. But I've always liked doing a list or two over the years (and by "a list or two", I mean "hundreds"), and I guess now is as good of a time as any to start a project dedicated specifically to that love of top tens. And what better way to kick off this project than with...wait, what? THEM?

Yes, them. Limp god-damn Bizkit, one of the most universally hated bands of the last two decades, featuring perhaps the most insufferable lead singer this side of Scott Stapp. But I'm not going to talk to you about Limp Bizkit's worst atrocities. (*cough*"Faith"*cough*) Instead, I'm going to shed light on the aspect of Limp Bizkit that often gets overlooked in favor of (deservedly) making fun of the band, or, more accurately, Fred Durst. Hiding behind one of the worst lead singers in the history of rock and roll is a deceptively talented backing band. We've heard this story before. Hell, we've heard it with Scott Stapp, no less. The other members of Creed have since went on to perform with a much better singer in a much, MUCH better band named Alter Bridge. The problem with Limp Bizkit is that, outside of a project here and there, the rest of the members of Limp Bizkit have not had that moment where they found the right vocalist for their sound. Instead, they were stuck with Fred Durst, for better and for much, much worse. This means that superior musicians like Wes Borland, Sam Rivers, and John Otto have become laughingstocks, as opposed to the praised musicians perhaps they should have been all along.

This first list on B Likes Top Tens is a tribute to the unsung heroes of the band that placed #3 on a Rolling Stone Reader's Poll of the Worst Bands of the 90's. This is a list of the ten Limp Bizkit songs that are actually worth your time...if, you know, you can get past the fact that Fred Fucking Durst is the singer of the band, of course.

(Note: I'm really not sure why the top ten below is being formatted the way it is, so that it looks like I'm typing in all caps the whole time. For the record, I wasn't typing this all out with caps lock on. Just wanted to make sure you're all aware of this before continuing to read this...)

The Ten Limp Bizkit Songs That Are Actually Worth Listening To

(if, you know, you can get past the fact that Fred Durst is the singer)

10

Break Stuff

Let's get a relatively controversial choice out of the way first. Yes, I like "Break Stuff", even if this is, easily, the song on this list that I feel the most ashamed about liking. Most of that has to do with just how cringe-worthy Fred Durst's vocal performance can be here. It's a reminder of how grating the man can truly be at his worst. And yet, that guitar riff is pretty memorable, and that "GIVE ME SOMETHING TO BREAK" breakdown gives me nostalgia chills fifteen years later. There's a lot to dislike about "Break Stuff", and it's one of the most easy songs to mock in the Limp discography, but by god, this song makes me nostalgic, and that's good enough for #10.

9

Hold On

Fun fact: Despite being the most universally mocked album of Limp Bizkit, Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog-Flavored Water (god, even the name is cringe-worthy) has the most songs to make this top ten. Part of that could be nostalgia, but a good part of that is that the best qualities of Limp Bizkit can be found all over this album, even if the worst qualities can also be found on the album, too. "Hold On" is a prime example of this. Fred isn't overwhelming you with his douchiness, instead actually singing (even if, well, he was never the best singer), and he's joined by Scott Weiland, who adds a bit of weight to this slower-tempo tune. Limp was always at their best when they were sincere (as you'll see as this list continues), and "Hold On" is the first example of that here.

8

Counterfeit

This song, man...this song and I go WAY back. My first introduction to Limp Bizkit was "Faith". Yes, we can all look back and laugh at how bad "Faith" was now, but it was still mind-blowing for someone like myself before my teenage years, unaware that a band could sound so raw and so fierce, even if that's a laughable thought now. Well, I discovered "Counterfeit" next, and this song is basically the best of the early days of Limp Bizkit. It's pulse-pounding, it's funky, and it's got a kickass chorus. Of course, Fred Durst is in full Durst mode here, so it's hard to get past that, but this is basically Limp's love letter to Korn, and, as some of you know, Korn was the band that helped ease me into music fandom way back when, so...yeah, I enjoy this.

7

Let Me Down

It's around the point of #7 where we actually start to get into the genuinely decent-to-good tracks of Limp Bizkit. Of the seven remaining songs, "Let Me Down" is probably the least talked...which makes sense, given that it is a deep cut off of Limp's least talked about album, Results May Vary. The funny thing is that RMV is actually one of Limp's better albums, because it features less amounts of what make Fred Durst so unlikable and more of a focus on the things that Limp did right: The tight musicianship, the sincerity, and a personal touch that's so hard to find on their biggest hits. I'd go as far as to say that this is Limp's most underrated track.

6

Boiler

"Boiler" has one of my favorite riffs of its era. I'm not even joking. Listen to how massive that guitar riff sounds. The force behind that riff could move mountains. And then...here comes Fred Durst. Ergh. Out of all of the songs in the top 7, this features, easily, the worst performance from Durst. And yet, I'm willing to overlook that because the band members outside of Durst are really impressive and forceful. This song actually inspired me to do this list in the first place, by the way. This song is the best and the worst of Limp Bizkit in a nutshell, but the good outweighs the bad.

5

Take A Look Around

Here is the most troublesome song to rank out of this entire top ten. On one hand, Fred Durst is still here and he's still lame. On the other hand, the instrumental work being done here by Durst's fellow bandmates is on another level compared to where it was even three years ago. "Take A Look Around" has perhaps the most purely badass moment of the entire Limp discography, and that's even with Fred Durst being insufferable. That chorus breakdown is something else, a piece of musical power that is hard to comprehend at first, being that it comes from a band led by Fred Durst...but again, this entire list was created to show off the better sides of a much despised band, so "Take A Look Around" lands here. Any other singer, and this song is assuredly higher. Just LISTEN to that chorus riff. Jesus.

4

My Way

Most of the big Limp Bizkit hits don't really hold up well at all in 2015. (I'm looking your way, "Nookie"). And yet, it's 15 years later, and "My Way" still feels just as forceful and as powerful as it did in 2000. There's very little "Insufferable Fred" here, even if it's there still ("ch-check out my melody"). There's more of a focus on the instruments, and especially the talents of Wes Borland, underrated guitarist extraordinaire. And that last chorus, with the soft build-up, still gets me every time. In terms of how nostalgic these songs make me feel, "My Way" is a resounding #1, and nothing else comes close.

3

Build A Bridge

Up until this point, I don't think I could actually say, in public, that I like listening to the Limp Bizkit songs I've mentioned. Even the likes of "Take A Look Around" and "My Way" have that Durst feel that is so easy to mock and make fun of. Once we get to a song like "Build A Bridge", though, I'm not afraid to talk about how much I love this song (and the two songs to come). Why is this the case? Well, the last three songs are basically the best of Limp Bizkit in a nutshell. These three songs are sincere, heartfelt and filled with passion...and that's just from Fred. The music is also on point, helping to supplement Fred's vocal performance. The song probably would have been better with another vocalist, but I'm not sure if it would have felt as real.

2

Re-Arranged

I will readily admit right now that "Re-Arranged" should, probably, be #1. It's the song that helped me to see that there's something more to Limp Bizkit than being goofy guys that like to talk about doing it all for "the nookie". It's a song that inspires a lot of emotion and nostalgia from me, as it was there to help me through a pretty rough time in my adolescence. And it doesn't hurt that the song itself is genuinely good. To his credit, Fred doesn't derail the impressive musicianship of the band with his performance, instead following along for the ride and performing in the same tone. And those instruments, especially the guitar from Wes Borland and the bass work from Sam Rivers...wow. The breakdown after the three minute mark is hard for me to talk about, not just because of how powerful it is, but because of how much it means to me personally. It was basically my rallying cry when I was recovering from being bullied. And yet, there's another song that's just better as a song...

1

Walking Away

There are times as a music fan where something genuinely comes out of nowhere and impresses me to the point where I am found saying out loud, "...wow", after listening to a song for the first time. Listening to "Walking Away" for the first time inspired that reaction out of me. As someone who has encountered the best and worst of Limp Bizkit since 1998, nothing could have prepared me for this song. What really stands out about "Walking Away" is how Fred Durst almost feels like an afterthought. The focus here is the music. The music itself nearly drowns out Fred's vocals, until Fred literally has to scream "I'M WALKING AWAY" to make himself heard. And then, just to reassert itself, the music comes roaring back into the picture with an incendiary solo from Wes Borland. As hard as Fred tries to take the song near the end with his screaming vocals on the last chorus, the song has already been won by his bandmates. And it's only fitting that the #1 Limp Bizkit song worth listening to is a song that his fellow band members shine the most on.