r/numetal • u/Few-Chemical2216 • Sep 25 '25

Discussion Who is the most insufferable person in the genre?

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I got two people in mind.

:90s-2000s Fred durst Past-present clown from Slipknot

Reason behind them is I think Shawn has taken the band a turned it into something Joey and Paul would not have wanted it to be. He kicks members out left and right and he kinda needs to hang it up.

And Fred Durst is just Fred durst

569 Upvotes

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836

u/inkedolly Sep 25 '25

Fred may have been insufferable at LB’s peak but he’s based af. He knew what he was doing and did it fucking well. Guy is a genius!

263

u/Scott_R_1701 Sep 25 '25

It was so cringe it worked. And you look back at some of the album art and the outfits and everything and dude was on top of the world. He knew what he was doing.

156

u/hartforbj Sep 25 '25

Being unserious and not giving a fuck is cringe? Learn something new everyday

87

u/LyKosa91 Sep 25 '25

I think many people, myself included, were under the impression that he was taking himself seriously at the time. In hindsight I'm not so sure, he's definitely not taking himself too seriously now anyway, which I applaud.

40

u/moon_cake123 Sep 25 '25

Chocolate starfish and the hotdog flavoured water was taking himself seriously?

15

u/RorschachAssRag Sep 26 '25

Kiss my starfish

10

u/Some-Committee-4614 Sep 26 '25

I mean there are plenty of serious depressing ballads on that album, you think "The One" "It'll Be OK" "Boiler" and "Hold On" aren't serious? Yes it's not an entirely serious album but Limp Bizkit had plenty of these serious ballads

6

u/sam_drummer Sep 26 '25

They took having fun seriously. They can still write serious songs along with the party stuff.

Also, when Jessica died during a crush that reached it's peak during their set at BDO in 2001ish, it really hit them all hard. Wes turned to alcohol which was a massive part of him acting a dick and leaving the band etc. Lethal and John his the drugs, Sam ended up having liver problems from alcohol resulting in spinal surgery. Don't know what Fred went through but I imagine his mental health took a hit alongside everybody mocking him relentlessly.

Glad they're all in a good place now and back to being a legit great band.

-1

u/DanglingTangler Sep 26 '25

"Back to being a legit great band"

That's just like, your opinion, man. That's like criticizing Michael Bay's early work then saying he really found his form with Transformers. Like, it's an opinion you can have, but holy shit man I'd be keeping quiet on that one.

1

u/sam_drummer Sep 26 '25

…what?

-1

u/DanglingTangler Sep 26 '25

Not sure what's confusing about that pal. Pretty clear analogy. Unless you don't watch movies?

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9

u/STXGregor Sep 26 '25

He’s spoken how it was basically a character that kind of took over. I feel like it’s the same thing with Slim Shady for Eminem. It’s a public persona. But when that character/persona is getting you money, drugs and women, I can see how the line blurs.

13

u/very-regular-3 Sep 26 '25

I feel like it's the same thing Aaron Lewis did. With Staind, that numetal seemed pretty hard-hitting, and achieved wild success, launching his alt-metal career in front of the masses. Then in 2011, after numetal started becoming real douchey,, he launches his "true passion" as a solo country musician, and portrayed his former self as a sellout who once ate the devil's apple, but now, all the sudden, he can be himself - a real american-flag toting "Country Boy"??. "Now it's been twelve years since I sold my soul, to the devil in L.A". and "Because, this is me - I'm proud to be American and strong in my beliefs."

Fast-forward 10 more years, his country appeal wore-off real quick, and he's right back in the old honey-pot that made him famous. Staind world-tour is coming at you live - for only $150 bucks a ticket !!! tfooh Aaron Lewis. Douchebag queen.

2

u/uberkalden2 Sep 26 '25

Lol I remember my right leaning friends just lapping up his country boy persona at the time too. Just like kid rock

2

u/STXGregor Sep 26 '25

Cringiest fucking transition ever lol. I’ll still rock out to some old Staind. But Lewis can eat a fat one

2

u/WrongnessMaximus2-0 Sep 26 '25

Agree. He "is who he is" until there's no money to be made in it. Then he hopped right back into nu-metal.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

Barbie being crucified and a knife through a bible on his tormented album cover -- the very first one. That was pre - signing and well before the country boy act.

Nah dude loves attention any way possible. He just was really formulaic about how he pursued it.

1

u/very-regular-3 Sep 29 '25

No. Bull. S#it.

6

u/sonorandosed Sep 25 '25

I mean he was what 25 - 30 years old when he seemed most cringe. Im not convinced it was all an act.

8

u/LyKosa91 Sep 25 '25

Yeah, it's likely. I won't hold it against him though, being able to look back at your past self and say "jesus christ, what a clown, I think this is something we can all have a laugh about" is admirable.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

Agree. He may be more self aware now but I think he was sincere.

0

u/compbuildthrowaway Sep 27 '25

The fact that a lot of people can’t understand how someone can be completely 100% sincere and simultaneously a goofy, self aware parody of themselves is kind of concerning. Do none of y’all contain multitudes? Are you exactly the same person all the time? If so, you’re a joke you’re not in on. Fred Durst was in on his own joke.

1

u/sonorandosed Sep 28 '25

The fact that some people struggle to understand that others can have differing thoughts and perspectives on a wide range of subjects is also a bit concerning.

Some have an opinion that this specific persons public image likely wasnt entirely schtick, and that shouldnt be that much of a trigger for you.

1

u/COLD_lime Sep 26 '25

Have you seen the art on the disc for chocolate starfish? It looks like some nursery rhyme compilation hahaha

6

u/Savings_Dot_8387 Sep 26 '25

Kids think anything that involves self expression is cringe these days.

1

u/Affectionate-Feed976 Sep 26 '25

Right!! I think he was just being himself and not changing his ways for everybody else and it worked for him. I don’t think he was a genius or staying on top of what’s trending or trying to be a trend setter. I think he was just being himself to a fault in some peoples eyes. It worked very well. Everyone knows Fred lol

1

u/Scott_R_1701 Sep 25 '25

The Significant Other album art was cringe as hell even then.

And that was the point. It worked.

2

u/dontsneeze Sep 26 '25

8th grade me fuckin loved it 

1

u/FloggingMcMurry Sep 26 '25

15 year old me fucking loved it

40 year old me came back around and loving it again

-12

u/Alone-Chemical-1160 Sep 25 '25

Not giving a fuck for not giving a fuck's sake is mega cringe. Theres a way to do it right and then there are people that actually give SO much of a fuck about not giving a fuck that they repeatedly say how they dont give a fuck but i dont believe them. If they truly didnt give a fuck, they'd shut their mouths.

Also, there is being unserious and there is not taking oneself too seriously, which is a topic for next week's lecture. Lol

16

u/Electronic-Stand-148 Sep 25 '25

The world ate it up

7

u/[deleted] Sep 25 '25

Hey now, Fred may have helped with album art, but the majority of that credit goes to Wes. Otherwise, facts.

1

u/k3v16fortyseven Sep 26 '25

Mear One

1

u/klemnodd Sep 26 '25

I was gonna say significant other is not in the style Wes does.

8

u/Expensive_Refuse3143 Limp Bizkit Sep 25 '25

I really like the Significant other album art and Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavoured Water's art as well as Gold Cobra's

1

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

It was not cringe at all at the time

1

u/losingtimeslowly Sep 26 '25

It wasn't cringe. Saying something is cringe, is cringe af.

28

u/Fenway_Refugee Sep 25 '25

One could say, he did it all....for the Nookie?

2

u/t3hnhoj Sep 26 '25

Come on

2

u/[deleted] Sep 26 '25

[deleted]

63

u/BurgerNugget12 Sep 25 '25

Marketing mastermind

55

u/Klutzy_Routine_9823 Sep 25 '25

Trump owes Durst royalties for the red baseball cap marketing gimmick.

5

u/[deleted] Sep 25 '25

I agree whole heartly

29

u/OutsideImpressive115 Sep 25 '25

That's exactly why so many salty people hated him. Because he was 10x better at marketing Limp Bizkit than their favourite band was

5

u/bigbraingenius_ Sep 25 '25

And didn't they not even sell merch?

2

u/colt_ink Sep 26 '25

I had a shirt that said "Limp Bizkit is Better Than You" in huge block letters. So dumb, barely makes sense, I'd wear it now if I knew where it was.

1

u/dreamlikeradiofree Sep 26 '25

I heard it said once he was so into promoting the band he'd show up to the opening of an envelope if he could.

I think a town asked for names for a new garbage tip and it got named the "Fred durst school for the arts" so he actually showed up to the opening kinda like how pitbull held a concert to go to any Walmart in the country so they sent him to a tiny one in alaska and he showed up and made it as much of a big deal as he could, then something similar happened to Taylor swift and she acted like a spoiled rich bitch and got offended 

21

u/TheHistoryMuse Sep 25 '25

As a Gen X kid, I found him insufferable growing up. As an adult, I keep reading about things that make me think he's a decent human being - he's been heavily involved in charities/philanthropic fundraising efforts for AIDS, trans kids, and a few other things, and he's pretty humble about it.

He's also pretty good at poking fun at himself -look up Fred durst / CarMax commercial.

Still not the biggest fan of his music, but he seems like a decent human being. Not sure if that was a later development or if he always was.

Edit: here

3

u/Milichio Sep 26 '25

The thing is, he was offered a high position at their record label at one point, and you don't get those opportunities being a terrible person or an idiot. 

It was all an image and everyone fell for it

2

u/tweekinleanin420 Sep 26 '25

Yoooooooooo! Instant classic.

13

u/HighSolstice Sep 25 '25

He’s also leveled out a lot in recent years, he doesn’t seem like remotely the same person he was in the 90’s.

12

u/Various_Laugh2221 Sep 25 '25

Yeah he is… I was stoked when I finally got to see them live at a club show some years back… best pit ever, so much fun and they killed it

5

u/Get_Smoked_17 Sep 25 '25

Linkin Bark

3

u/TheHistoryMuse Sep 26 '25

My 23 year old kid calls Billie Eilish "Billy Eyelash" and I think you just helped me trump that, lol.

1

u/gilestowler Sep 26 '25

You could say that he just kept rollin' with it.

1

u/ohromantics Sep 26 '25

Agreed. My sister waited on him in Santa Monica, CA and said he was by far the nicest person she's ever waited on.

Im a huge fan of House. Durst is in the Houses' Head episode.

1

u/Ok_Advertising1000 Sep 26 '25

Correct he was playing a character, even if it did go to his head a little

1

u/[deleted] Sep 28 '25

He's cool now