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Poole is consideredto be the highest caliber of musicianship by the most prestigious sound engineers and scholars in the world. What's up, everybody? I'm Finn McKenzie. This is the punk rock NBA. And today we are here to talk about Tool. And if you've watched my other videos,you know that I have made a few jokes about tool fans like the whole diaperthing, which I still don't get. And to be honest, I don't want to get it. But in all seriousness,the band really fascinates me because I can't think of a single otherband in the entire world of rock and metalthat has done what tool has done. They have four platinum albums,they have several Grammys. They even beat Taylor Swift for the numberone spot on Billboard in 2019, and they achieved all of thatdespite following absolutely none of the rules about what is supposedto make a band successful. For one,they have a very sparse discography with only five albums in 30 yearsand material that's almost deliberately difficultto get into with all these elaborate progressive songs that are sometimes sevenor 8 minutes long with tons of complex time signatures and kind of vague lyrics,as well as a frontman who seems to kind of hate their fans, for example,literally calling them insufferable. First things first come foot down. Are you going to call him? Me too. I'm not the lead singer. I'm the only singer. We're not the fucking Supremesand I'm not Diana Ross. Third, I'm not of or from Tool I'm into All and Pusciferand Perfect Circle and your mom. And so the question that I have is relatively simple but hard to answer,which is what is their secret? Why is Tool literally like 100 timesmore popular than any other prog band? How did they outsell Taylor Swiftwithout following any of the rules? And of course, the question that we areall asking, are their fans really that bad? Those are the questionsthat I will try to answer in this video. But first, if you haven't,please check me out on Twitch. I'm streamingtwice a week from 4 to 7 p.m. Pacific on Tuesdays and Thursdays,and there's a link to that in the description of this video. When it comes to tool and their sort of complexrelationship with their fans, I think this quote from a diehard fan sums it up nicely and kind of hits on a lot of thingsthat I'm going to talk about later and 15, 16, 17and my early twenties, I was searching for somethingand I thought they had the answers. It was a mysterious band talkingabout some profound shit getting older. I realizeI'm not going to get some enlightenment and not find all the answersto problems at a tool show. But in order to really unpack thatand what it means, we have to start way backat the very beginning. Tool started out back in 1991when they met after the members of the band had moved to L.A. from various parts of the country. Maynard had gotten out of the Army and was playing with Danny Careyin the band Green Jello. The guitarist Adam Jones,was working as a special effects artist in Hollywoodon some really high profile movies. For example, Predator Twoand Nightmare on Elm Street and in 1992, they released their debutEP called Opiate. My Mother was he found out, I guess, like what I'm doing. And on the back of that EP, they quicklyhit the road, touring with bands like White Zombie, Corrosion of Conformityand Rage Against the Machine. I saw them a couple of times back then. The one that really sticks out to mewas in 92 or 93 with Rollins Band. I didn't really know who they were,but I was totally blown away. Maynard Just like seemed likehe was possessed on stage, kind of like the evil Goblinversion of Henry Rollins. I remember him going on this kind ofweird rant about how he was just an object the same as the jug of waterthat he was holding in his hand. Anyhow, Opiate was not exactly a huge commercial success by any means,but it did get good reviews. The people who did buyit liked it, and from putting in the work every night on the road, they slowlybut surely built up an organic fan base that was primed for the releaseof their second album, Undertow in 1993, which amazinglydebuted at number two on Billboard and pushed them to the very frontof the pack of newer metal bands. Since the band. And I think that there were a few factorsfor their success. One of them was just good timing. This was at the height of grunge. His popularity when bandslike Alice in Chains and Soundgarden were showing the world that you could beheavy and, for lack of a better word, also be intelligent, sophisticatedand actually have something to say. This was also when mainstream audiences were more receptive than ever to musicthat was honestly just kind of weird. For example, bands like Primus were goingplatinum in the nineties were a wild time. The second factor, I think, was Beavisand Butthead, which was MTV's most popular show at the time with the powerto basically make or break bands. For example, they're responsiblefor White Zombie blowing up, and Beavis and Buttheadgave a lot of love to the video for Sober. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, I could move my. Arm that fast. I'd never leave the house. And speaking of which,another factor was their videos, which were very cool and innovativeand honestly stand up today. Nobody else was doing thatkind of stop motion animation at the time, all of which was led by their guitaristAdam Jones, who, like I mentioned earlier, had all that experience working on likelegit Hollywood special effects projects. So he was able to bring that to the band. And it was actually so good that they won a Billboard Awardfor Best Video by a new artist. And the fact that the bandwasn't actually in their videos, I think kind of contributed to this ideaof tool being this kind of mysterious, brooding bandwith kind of a hidden, deeper message. As Maynard said,I don't want people to latch onto my movements or the way I soundor the way Danny hits his drums. That's a distractionfrom the piece at hand. When you look at the Mona Lisa,I don't have any idea what the artist looks likeor what he's about. And all of thiswas very deliberate on their part. They had the ability to take these kind of wild, creative chancesbecause they chose to sign with a new, smaller label called Zoo Entertainmentthat offered them less money than some of the other labelslooking at Tool. But in exchange for thatgave them complete creative control. And from the very beginning they created all these layers of meaningand mythos around their music. For example, in early interviewsthey claimed that they were influenced by this philosophy called Lachrymose Elegy,which was based on this obscure book from the 1940s. The only problem is that was all bullshit. The book never even existed,and this was one of the earliest examples of tooltrolling the media and their own fans, something that I think is a reallyunderappreciated part of what tool is. They're like kind of simultaneously profound and deepand yet also totally juvenile and stupid. Hi, I'm Britney Spears from Whitney Houston. Like how the cover of Toolis this really striking, visually polished, sophisticated image of thiskind of demonic rib cage or something? You don't really knowexactly what it's about, but you feel likeit has some kind of deep meaning. And then on the bottom of the CD tray,well, there's a picture of a cow licking its own asshole as another examplethat take the name of their second album. One way you could say it is Anima, meaning Soul or Life Force, somethingthat Carl Jung talked about a lot. Or you could say it as anima, meaningone of those things that used to score water up your ass and you'll notice that. But stuff is kind of a recurring themeat all. My plants like it all the way. I want to see it go down. And which one is the quote unquote realmeaning of the album's name? I guess only the guys in the bandreally know, but I would guess that probably both of those thingsare valid interpretations. Although interestingly,it seems like a lot of tool fans seem to ignore the humorousand silly parts of their message and kind of only focus on the partsthat seem like darker and deeper and more profound. And so in a lot of waysI feel like Tool is kind of constantly fucking with their fans creatingthis kind of imagery that at first glance is really dark and edgy,but in reality it's just a dumb joke. And the problem is that the musicthat we were listening to didn't quite have the climax rightwhere we wanted the climaxfor our own personal masturbation. So we decided to dois write the songs that had the climax in the right positions for us,depending on what day we were jerking off. The other thing we have to talk about it as one of the factorsin their early success is that these guys were clearlysome of the absolute best musicians in the scene,especially Danny Carrey's drumming. But what I find especially interestingis that although their songs obviously can be kind of longand meandering at times, they really aren't as self-indulgentas a lot of other progressive bands are. And so if you were just sort of the casualmetal fan that heard them on Beavis and Butthead or whatever, you could just kind of get into theirgroovy riffs, which were not so different from other bands. They are like helmet or White Zombieor Rollins Band. But if you're a musicianor more of a hardcore fan, there's like almost an endless amountof all these little technical details to their music that you can geek out onand so on. The back of all of that undertow went goldin just a few months, and it was clear that the band had brokenthrough to a whole new level of stardom, all of which led up to the releaseof their second album, Anima, in 1996, which many people considerto be their defining album. And it debuted at number one on Billboard,led by the first single Stink Fist time. And this song in particular, I think is a really great exampleof what makes tool tool. On the one hand, the song seems to beabout how a lot of people in modern societybecome kind of like pleasure junkies, going to further and further extremesto feel aroused and alive because they get so desensitizedby everything in modern life, which in my opinion is a pretty genuinelydeep, insightful idea. But then on the other hand,the song might just be about fisting, or maybe it's about both of those things. Who knowswell too. You really just never know. The artwork is also very dark and crypticwith a long essay about ketamine and Timothy Leary, the famoushippie LSD advocate, all of which sort of seems to build around the ideathat this album is talking about evolution and how mankind as a speciescan continue to evolve and be better. It's just a processof becoming a conscious being. If you if you exploreall the stuff that you write right away. I kind of avoid some of this as well. I don't like to think aboutthat kind of stuff. That's probably that'sprobably where you should concentrate. And the music reflects that as well. With this albumbeing a very clear evolution from their earlier material, songslike Eulogy in particular have those trademark tool arrangementsfull of all these intricate details and unusual time signaturesand that sort of like brooding ambiance. I'd say. Yeah. But then at the same time,they've balanced that out with songs that have titles like HookerWith a Penis and Daya von Satan, which sounds like this really menacing,scary, like Marilyn Manson kind of thing. But actually the lyrics are just a recipefor cookies in German. I hope it doesn't sugar. Into me. This is the actual genius of tool that Ithink a lot of people may not be aware of. There's a perception that tool fansare kind of these hopeless nerds that think the band is much deeperthan they really are, but I actually think it's the opposite of that. I think the band is actually far deeperthan people give them credit for in that they really do have true depthto their work, that they're simultaneously these incredible musicianswriting these epic prog songs that they do take very seriously,packaged in incredible artwork with a lot of genuinely thoughtprovoking lyrics and ideas. But at the same time,the band's logo is literally a metal deck and they have many, many songsabout but stuff. And some people might think thatthat silliness undermines the more substantial partof their message. But I don't agree with that. I think that that kind of dualityand balancing those two elements is far more interesting than a band that just takes themselvessuper seriously all the time. To me, the best art can make you think and laugh and crysometimes all at the same time. And to methat is what all is trying to do. Although I do get the sensethat those light hearted aspects of tool can be, let's just say,kind of lost on their most devoted fans. As Maynard himself said about the band's use of humorand whether their fans picked up on that. It's lost insufferable people. It's just ridiculous. Retards I'm sorry, can't help them. Way too serious, too much lighten up. Which brings us to the most well known, or maybe I should sayinfamous example of tool lore. There are 2001 album laterals,which, as everybody knows at this point is full of examples of the Fibonaccisequence, also known as the Golden Spiral. The Fibonacci sequenceis a series of numbers that starts at one, and the next number in the sequencecomes from adding the previous two. For example, one plus one equalstwo, one plus two equals three. Three plus two equals five, fiveplus three equals eight and so forth. And if you go through the album,you'll find a lot of references to that. For example, the lyrics to the title trackhave one three, five than eight syllables in each of the lines,and then it goes backwards and like unwinds thatand the song alternates between the time signatures of nine, eight, eight,eight and seven, eight and nine eight, seven is the 16th numberin the Fibonacci sequence. You get the idea. It's simple logarithmic spiral integerapproximate theory. Now, of course,only the most, like hardcore devoted fans would ever even think of that or digdeep enough to find out all of that. But again, I think that is exactlywhat makes tool who they are. The layers. Did you say, Hey, it would be a nifty idea,Do something to a mathematical sequence? No, no. That was a complete accident. And for those who do want to really go in thereand peel back all the layers of the onion, that builds an incredibly deep connectionfor them with the music. But unlike a lot of other progressivemusic, like, say, King Crimson or Cynic, where you honestly have to be kind of anerd to even listen to those bands at all. And I say thatas someone who absolutely loves cynic tools accessible enoughto where they can be appreciated by just like your averagebreaking Benjamin fan, not just the nerds. And personally,even though I am not necessarily the biggest fan of tools music, I have an incredible amount of respectfor any kind of art that can do both of those things that can appealto that, like broad mass mainstream audience, and also at the same time appealto those really hardcore nerds simply because it's just so difficultto do both of those things at once. For example, like Lord of the RingsFallout Star Wars. I mean, these are some of the greatest pieces ofIP of all time, and that is the reason why they are able to do both. That is the reason why they're ableto move millions and millions of albums and sell out arenasand yet still have the same kind of insanely dedicated fansthat you usually only see with these relatively small, obscure bandsthat maybe draw 200 people a night. And as an example of that,look at how their fans think about merch. This is not just like,Oh, go to the show and buy a t shirt to remember that you went. It's like a religion to them. On many of the tours the band has, artistscreate these limited edition prints and t shirts that are only available at one specificshow in any of those limited edition items immediately become highly covetedsought after collector pieces, despite the fact that, to put it bluntly,while it is really fucking expensive, like one of the most covetedpieces of tool merch is the custom painted drum heads that they'll put out sellfor as much as 1500 dollars at the show and are instantly worthmany times that on the resale market. Like look at this one on eBaygoing for almost $10,000. Like their fans are thrilled to pay $500 for a VIP ticket that gets first accessto that limited merch in. Think about that. They're paying the bandfor the right to pay the band more money. That's some serious devotion. As one fan put it. If you have VIP,you are going to get something. If you're general admission, it's a wholeother level of planning and strategy. It's a game and I want to win that game. And to me, the ultimate proof of all ofthis is their most recent album from 2019. And for context, the band had gone 13years between albums for various reasons, one of which was a lawsuit with the artistwho drew a version of their logo and had a dispute with the band. And that lawsuit turned into a lawsuitwith their insurance company, which dragged out for over seven years,cost the band millions of dollars and just sort oflike sucked out all their creative energy. Another factor is Maynard being busymaking another album with his side project a perfect circle,and also working on his wine company. And the fact that the bandjust takes a very, very long time to write their material because that'sjust how seriously they take it. A lot of work is being doneand a lot of work's been done. I'll go on record now as saying you'regoing to see some new music next year. And that delay alone between albumswas enough to make a lot of people wonder if the band had lost relevance. And to make matters worse,their music was very famously not available on streaming platformsthat whole time. And so a lot of people wonderedif Toole still had it. So why have you guys not heard anythingon streaming up until this moment? Like, yeah, no, I love my brothers. I'm justgoing to take the Fifth on that one. Okay, So there was some sort of internal discussionor no discussion or no discussion. Yeah, just the typical Tool Time of like,what it was. There was a meeting. Mm hmm. And yet, despite all of that, whenthey came back with Fear Inoculum in 2019, it debuted at number one on Billboard,beating out Taylor Swift's lover. And so to me, that is really the ultimate validationof everything that they have done. A 30 year old progressive metal bandbeating out literally the biggest pop star on the planetin her prime broke out. This time, she said, I've had enough. It's likewe haven't seen each other in a months. And you said you needed space. And so that brings usto the last question, our tool fans. Well,kind of tools at times, to be honest. They are. And I think the fans themselves even realize that,especially when they do literally insane things like send the band death threatsfor not making a new album fast enough. And as much as I may have madefun of tool fans over the years and I probably will continue to do so,I actually do get it. The band are incredible musiciansand there really is a lot of substance behind their music, including a lot of genuinely insightfulideas and humor that unfortunately, it seems like a lot of the fansmaybe don't necessarily appreciate. And so what is the honest truthabout Tool? Well, the truth is thatthere is only one tool, and honestly, there will probably never againbe another band like them. All right, my friends,that does it for this video. As always, let me know what you thinkin the comments. And I would like to thank everyonewho supports me on Patreon, especially those of you who supportat the true cult level or above. Patronsget all my podcasts and videos early. There are members only channelson my Discord that I'm super active in. I do giveaways and there iseven a way to have me review your music. So if any of that sounds cool, hitthe link in the description of this video. And with that, I'm going to sign off fornow. But obviously next time.