I Listened for the Nookie: Significant Other (1999) — Limp Bizkit
For a long time, I thought that I didn’t like nu-metal. I remember listening to some late- 2010s nu-metal song and thinking it sounded terrible. It was so electronic, produced, and emo; all elements that 14-year-old me hated as he got into metal. Then I listened to a bit of Linkin Park and enjoyed it. I realized ‘Oh, this is nu-metal right?’ It was still too little for me to conclude a stronger opinion on the genre. Then I listened to Significant Other (1999) by Limp Bizkit…
Ultimately, I still don’t know how I feel about nu-metal. But I’m opening up to it. The funny thing is, 14-year-old me still wouldn’t have liked this. It’s so cheesy, still has electronic production elements (duh), and could also feasibly be heard in a Hot Topic. But you know what? The campiness is what makes this fun for me. Fred Durst’s lyrics amount to nothing and could compete with Wisconin’s finest. But this dude lays down a tight flow and it’s just fun to hear these random battle rap-esque lyrics thrown out to drop-tuned riffs and rhythms. I’ve realized that my enjoyment of rap often leans towards campier flows, ultimately stuff that a pre-teen me would’ve thought was cool. This feeling was fully endorsed by a love for Epic Rap Battles of History. So, Limp Bizkit’s style in this album works perfectly. It’s just so un-serious. And it’s fun.
Admittedly, this album is pretty front-loaded with its best tracks. The second half of the album moves away from the well-blended nu-metal style established earlier. Honestly, you could split this album in half and throw the bottom half away and it would be just as good. Actually, it’d probably be better. My favourite tracks would remain. The second half just feels tired and slips more into full-on hip-hop and electronic with very minimal metal.
Limp Bizkit being one of my early choices to further explore nu-metal is a little funny. Despite being one of the early nu-metal bands and one of the bigger ones of the late 90’s and 2000’s, they’re likely not one of the top groups of the genre at this point. They’re also not exactly a popular band and they’ve been one of the main faces of this “shittier” kind of mainstream metal. The reason mostly has to do with a rock course I took and Limp Bizkit was one of the main bands when we reached the late 90’s and touched on nu-metal. I don’t regret it though! It was a fun album and a fun listen, even if it fell off towards the end. The album art is also dope.
Top Tracks:
- Nookie
- Re-Arranged
- Break Stuff
The Peeled Review:
This album is a fun time with hard-hitting tracks that establish the early nu-metal sound. With utterly meaningless lyrics and a battle-rap vibe, the campiness of the songs set to headbangable rhythms is what appeals to me. Unfortunately, the second half of the album doesn’t live up to the rest and starts to deviate in genre styling and enjoyability. Nonetheless, I enjoyed listening and don’t think Limp Bizkit sucks as badly.
- Listened on April 17, 2024 | 16 Tracks | 59 min, 6 seconds
- How many tracks did I add to my playlist? 2 / 16
- Did any songs get stuck in my head? Yes. Nookie is pretty catchy.
- Did this album make me want to listen to other work from this artist? No. Fun but not good or interesting enough overall to make me listen to another album
- Are there any songs I’d want to learn to play? Yes! Re-Arranged and Nookie have some nifty basslines that would be fun to play
