The past shapes the present and the future more often than we realize. And though it’s been many years since the band was selling hundreds of thousands of albums a week, it’s undeniable that Jacksonville’s Limp Bizkit were one of the most popular bands of the nu-metal genre around the turn of the millennium. It’s their kinetic energy and intentionally abrasive sound on Three Dollar Bill, Y’all$ that brought them to a much wider audience, and though it’s uneven in parts, it’s a solid debut with occasional flashes of brilliance. Released on July 1st, 1997 to an unsuspecting public, it still holds up.
Beyond just the band’s funk, hip-hop, and metal influences, some of the album shows off the band’s understated Tool influence. Songs like the improvisational “Everything” and the shapeshifting “Stalemate” definitely have a more progressive bent than any nu-metal fan would expect from Limp Bizkit. There’s the requisite and infamous cover of George Michael’s “Faith” that proved to be an abrasive hit. And there’s pure energy and hostility and rage filtered all over tracks like “Pollution” and “Leech” that got the moshpits rollin’.
Three Dollar Bill, Y’all$ is definitely remembered for the frenetic energy LB brought to the table. All you have to do is look up the Woodstock 1999 or Family Values 1998 tours to get a glimpse of it. And given Fred Durst’s aspirations to become one of the biggest bands on the planet, that would come to fruition with their next two records. This, however, is a time capsule into one of the biggest nu-metal albums released to that date.
