Fred Durst Addresses Limp Bizkit Haters
Why this Metal Hammer feature on Fred Durst, and why now? That remains a mystery — he hasn’t got anything new to promote, as far as I’m aware — but I’m not complaining: the chat has now borne not one, but two MetalSucks headlines! Without even having to mention Corey Taylor!
From the same interview (more like a guest column) in which Durst revealed that none of the members of Limp Bizkit were ever friends, he spent a good chunk of time talking about all the hatred he and his band have attracted over the years, saying:
“I’ve been treated like a piece of shit since I was born. Why should I start caring now? All the haters are shallow. I’ve always treated people good – I never start shit.
“I reacted a few times but evolved – like when you head into your 30s and go, ‘Aah.’ You learn not to be so reactive because you can’t take back what you’ve done, you can only use it as a learning experience.
“People always just wanna talk about Britney or Christina. What’s the problem? Because they make a type of music we aren’t allowed to like? Or you think they are the nemesis of what our music is about? Why segregate?
“Why be so musically fuckin’ racist? What do you mean, I can’t hang out with these types of people? Clearly I didn’t give a fuck, which fed a lot of it, too. I mean, someone that’s not going to give in and apologize… it’s gonna make people carry on talking.”
On how fame and money affected him in the band’s early years:
“I never had any money in my life and now I can buy everybody. I can buy them beer, I can pay for the tab, I can treat everybody. That was just my thing – treat this like it’s all temporary.
“I’m getting paid to do this, so let’s all have some fun. And because our type of rock was kinda cheeky as well as aggressive, I ended up being around people like Steven Tyler or Hugh Hefner. I got thrown into that world and those were the people I was around.
“It was a unique time, crazy with paparazzi – in LA you couldn’t go anyplace where the fun was without them being there. I didn’t think about how other people might look at it.
“There was no book or mentor saying, ‘Hey Fred, you gotta remain super-cool, now we gotta do things that make people like you.’ It was like I was on my own and I always have been.”
I rather enjoy this introspective, self-aware version of Fred we’re seeing. He’s even in CarMax commercials making fun of himself now! More, please; MetalSucks headlines galore, you can rest assured.
You can read the rest of the feature at Metal Hammer.
