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Regardless of  your personal feelings on Limp Bizkit, it’s undeniable that the band altered the direction of mainstream music. By ushering in a genre called “nü metal,” these Florida crazies effectively brought an end to the grunge movement and help ring in a new millennium. Lead by outspoken frontman Fred Durst and avant-garde guitarist Wes Borland, the band created some of the most aggressive music ever played on modern rock radio, and their offstage antics seemed to inevitably generate as much controversy as their music. To celebrate the fact that the band are about to release their fifth studio album, Gold Cobra, we decided to take a trip down memory lane to look at how it all got started.
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1995: Fred Durst meets bassist Sam Rivers and his cousin drummer John Otto in Jacksonville, Florida. The three musicians get together to jam and the newly christened Limp Bizkit release a four-song demo called Mental Aquaducts shortly afterward, with Rob Waters on guitar.
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1995: Waters leaves the band and Durst recruits guitarist Wes Borland to replace him; the new line-up practices once for a half hour before their first show.
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1996: DJ Lethal meets Limp Bizkit on House Of Pain’s final tour and becomes friends with them. Soon after being asked to collaborate with the band, DJ Lethal becomes a full-fledged member.
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1996: Durst befriends another up-and-coming act called Korn after tattooing their bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu. Fieldy passes their latest demos on to producer Ross Robinson. Robinson expresses interest in producing the band’s debut.
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1997: Limp Bizkit’s first Ross Robinson-produced album Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ is released on Interscope Records. It does not sell well, but eventually helps popularize the then-nascent nü metal movement.
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1997: Limp Bizkit embark on the Family Values Tour, The Trail Of Tears and Ozzfest, spurring increased sales. During Ozzfest, the band peform on a set that looks like a giant toilet. (We’re not making that up.)
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1998: Limp Bizkit have their first hit via their cover of George Michael’s “Faith,” which also appears on the soundtrack for the film Very Bad Things.
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1999: The band release their breakthrough sophomore disc Significant Other. The album debuts at Number One selling over 800,000 copies its first week and goes on to sell 16 million copies worldwide.
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1999: Over the summer, Limp Bizkit play Woodstock ’99 and the crowd freaks out during a performance of “Break Stuff.” Subsequently, sexual assaults by concertgoers are blamed on Limp Bizkit despite the band’s claims that they weren’t instigating the crowd.
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1999: The always-controversial Durst becomes entangled in various feuds with Slipknot, Zakk Wylde, Scott Stapp and Eminem.
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2000: Durst is immortalized for playing himself in the video for Eminem’s breakthrough hit “The Real Slim Shady” and is mentioned in the lyrics alongside Carson Daly, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
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2000: Limp Bizkit release their third album, Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water. The album smashes sales records by selling over one million copies its first week.
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2001: A fan dies of asphyxiation during the Big Day Out Festival in Australia. Durst is alleged of urging the crowd to violence and testifies in his own behalf. While the blame eventually fell on the organizers, Durst said that the teenager’s death “emotionally scarred him.”
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2001: Durst makes his film debut via a brief cameo in Zoolander.
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2001: Borland leaves Limp Bizkit for the first time, citing his troubled relationship with Durst as the catalyst.
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2002: Limp Bizkit famously launch a nationwide audition for a new guitarist called Put Your Guitar Where Your Mouth Is. Thousands of hopefuls enter and three are named as finalists, but ultimately the band select Snot guitarist Mike Smith instead of any of the contestants.
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2003: Limp Bizkit’s next album, Results May Vary, is released and debuts at Number Three on the Billboard charts. The album features an acoustic cover of the Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes,” which is promoted via a video that features actress Halle Berry.
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2003: The band head out on the Summer Sanitarium Tour alongside Metallica, Linkin Park, Deftones and Mudvayne. Things come to a head in Chicago when items are thrown at Durst and he is forced to end the band’s set early.
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2004: Limp Bizkit resurface in London with Borland once again on guitar and release a statement saying “we are very content with Mike [Smith] being gone.” No reason is ever given for the split.
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2004: The band reunite with Robinson to record a seven-song collection called The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1). Drummer John Otto is only able to play on one song due to personal issues, so hardcore icon Sammy Siegler plays drums on the rest of the tracks. The album is released later that year to mixed reviews.
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2005: Limp Bizkit release their first greatest hits collection aptly titled Greatest Hitz. Shortly afterward, Borland leaves the band again and they unofficially go on hiatus. This will be the last anyone hears of Limp Bizkit until 2008.
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2007: Borland releases the debut album from his new project Black Light Burns, which is titled Cruel Melody and sees him tackling vocals, guitars, bass, programming, percussion, synths, piano, violin, cello and drums.
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2008: Rumors start swirling that Limp Bizkit are planning a comeback tour although there is still speculation about who will be handling the guitar duties in Borland’s absence.
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2009: Durst and Borland release a joint statement on the band’s Web site that says, “We decided we were more disgusted and bored with the state of heavy popular music than we were with each other. Regardless of where our separate paths have taken us, we recognize there is a powerful and unique energy with this particular group of people we have not found anywhere else. This is why Limp Bizkit is back.”
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2009: In May, the original line-up of Limp Bizkit perform together for the first time in eight years in Latvia.
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2009: Durst reveals in an interview that the band’s next album will be called Gold Cobra and should be released in early 2010. Only the first part of this statement ends up being true.
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2010: Durst posts two songs from Gold Cobra—“Why Try” and “Walking Away”—on the band’s site.
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2011: Durst confirms that Gold Cobra will finally be released by Interscope on June 28th. The album is the band’s first release with their complete original lineup in 11 years.
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2011: The now 40-year-old Durst leaks the album on June 20th, explaining through his twitter account, “I hope you are enjoying my leak. I couldn’t wait any longer bitches!!”
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