Three Dollar Bil
The band’s first full length recording, Three Dollar Bill, Yall$, was released in 1997 on Interscope. The album fared poorly on the Billboard 200 at the time of its release, although it did sell steadily over time due to a huge amount of obsessive touring. It wasn’t until the Family Values Tour, the Trail of Tears, and Ozzfest, which helped the album to peak at number 25 on the chart. At Ozzfest in particular, the band made a memorable impression on viewers due to the original set they played on, which consisted of a giant toilet. The band climbed out from the toilet at the beginning of the show, with Fred saying lines during the show such as “We’re coming straight to you from the sewer” and “I am a piece of shit, and my band is a piece of shit”. Wes Borland’s outlandish makeup also started making impressions on fans as well. Although their first released single was “Counterfeit”, they rose to fame through a cover of George Michael’s “Faith”. The song appeared on the soundtrack of Peter Berg’s 1998 movie “Very Bad Things” starring Cameron Diaz, Christian Slater and Jeremy Piven. Later that year, Fred lent his vocals to Korn’s third album on the song All in the Family, a rap-battle of sorts. The album also featured a second disc, with four remixes of the demo for the song and multimedia featuring interviews between Durst, Borland and the rest of KoRn.
Another unique idea the band came up with was the Ladies Night in Cambodia tour. Fred had noticed that mostly young males went to their concerts, and wanted more women to come. So, they came up with the idea to let women get in for free at this tour. The tour was a huge success, and many more women would appear at their later concerts (even though this practice lasted only for the “Cambodia” tour). The set was also fairly original, as it made the stage appear to be a jungle (hence the ‘Cambodia’).
Shortly here after Limp Bizkit was sued by Rob Waters for using songs he helped co-write. Waters won and was rewarded with a high six figure sum. Terry Balsamo (Cold, Evanescence) decided not to pursue in the lawsuit even though he helped write material as well.
Early Years
Limp Bizkit was formed in 1994 in Jacksonville, after Fred Durst met Sam Rivers. Rivers introduced Durst to his cousin, John Otto, a drummer in Keystone. The three got together for a jam session, and soon after started an early version of the band. The trio soon recruited guitarist Rob Waters and Limp Bizkit was established.The band’s first four-track demo, entitled Mental Aquaducts, (which were remakes of previously written songs from Fred’s previous bands Split 26 and 10Ft Shindig) was recorded with him but soon after he left the band. Otto suggested the group to consider Wes Borland, whom he had gone to school with, for the now vacant position. Durst noticed him playing in clubs and wanted to recruit him. Durst went to Philadelphia, and he instructed the other members to talk to Wes and see if he’d join the band. Wes accepted, and the very night Fred came back to Jacksonville, a show was scheduled. Fred and Wes met for the first time, practiced for a half hour, and then went and played the show.
The band continued to play various shows, their most popular venue being at the Milkbar in Jacksonville. In 1995, Fred Durst was scared to talk to and meet members of the band KoRn when they played a show in the Jacksonville area. Durst, a tattoo artist, gave Korn lead guitarist Brian “Head” Welch several tattoos and the two became friends. Durst also gave Korn the band’s first demo tape with Rob Waters, and they shrugged it off as nothing special. Later, with Borland, a second demo was recorded and this time Korn were impressed. The demo included the tracks “Counterfeit”, “Stuck”, “Stalemate”, and “Pollution”, all of which would end up on the band’s debut album Three Dollar Bill, Yall$. The demo tape was passed onto Ross Robinson, who produced for Korn, and was also very impressed. Ross contacted Limp Bizkit, and stated his intent to produce for the band. Also, at a Garbage concert, Durst had met Jordan Schur and played his demo tape for him in Schur’s car. He was impressed, and wanted to sign Limp Bizkit to his label, Flip Records. Around this time, the band was booked to tour with the bands Deftones and House of Pain, whose member DJ Lethal later joined Limp Bizkit.Limp Bizkit later signed with Mojo Records, but was later bought out by Schur and subsequently signed with Flip Records.
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