Tool has been argued by some people to me as a punk band. I beg to differ. They are as metal as a chain link fence. They are a great band whose Ideas have influenced one Marilyn Manson , who once covered a Tool song. Tool makes the best videos, my favorite is Sober, and is a great band to listen to. That mans voice is most excellent. One thing I really admire about Tool is their intrest in the visual arts in a very different, almost grotesque, symbolic way. I have always been interested in whats different and Tool brings it to life in both Song and Sight.
Opiate EP was released in 1991, only one year after the band was formed in 1990. It sparked a lot of controversy on MTV with it's only video "Hush". Hush was a video specifically designed to be anti-censorship. Tool has been totally against censorship from the beginning, and is still strongly against it today. In the video, they are totally naked, with big "Parental Advisory:Explicit Parts" stickers covering their privates. Where ever there is a swear word, they block it out with this weird CRASH-BOOM sound. I got the impression that they were making fun of all of the people who go WAY overboard on censorship.
In 1993, the band made a lot of progress in the music industry. They released their first full length album, Undertow, which became an instant success. It was at about this time that the band started to get its main following of listeners. The people who like darker music and would rather listen to Depressing, loud music than Happy, bouncy shit. It was also in that year that tool moved off of the side stages at Lolapalooza and blew everyone away with their performance on the main stage. They made 2 videos, both of which can be very disturbing to some people. In fact, Prison Sex actually has a warning on the front.
Last year, Tool released its third album, Ænima. There are several disturbing songs(which I happen to love) and they even made a video for Stinkfist which makes references to masturbation. Dire von Satan is a german song riddled with cheering and an eerie sound that maybe makes me think it might have been recorded bakwards. I have the english translation, and it turns out it is a recipe for Hash Brownies called "The Balls of Satan." Another neat thing is the Intermission, a minute or two long song that sounds lke elevator music. It really sucks but it adds a bit of comic relief to a very dark album.
They just got off touring with KoRn on this years lolapalooza tour. Hopefully, we will see them in the studio this spring to work on a forth collection to the Tool Library.
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