Tool

[Leviathant]

I don't think new album anticipative excitement will match that of the 10,000 Days level to need an exclusive forum.

I started the Tool Hotline because of 10,000 days, and it gets next to no traffic. The Tool fan machine ain't what it used to be.

[Ryan]

I started the Tool Hotline because of 10,000 days, and it gets next to no traffic. The Tool fan machine ain't what it used to be.

Yeah, Lateralus was the pinnacle. I knew deep down it would never get better than that 2001 era.

[iamanexit]

Yeah, Lateralus was the pinnacle. I knew deep down it would never get better than that 2001 era.

Unfortunately.

[ManBurning]

I'm just lucky I caught a show on that tour in 2002, that was a damn good TOOL show!

[theruiner]

Yeah, Lateralus was the pinnacle. I knew deep down it would never get better than that 2001 era.

Yeah, honestly, I don't expect them to ever top Lateralus. I'd like to be wrong about that, but I doubt it will happen.

That being said, I'm not looking for them to top it. I'd be perfectly happy with a good album; I don't expect them to top themselves now. 10,000 Days was such a massive letdown that I think they can't go anywhere but up at this point.

[Emil Dorbell]

Yeah, honestly, I don't expect them to ever top Lateralus. I'd like to be wrong about that, but I doubt it will happen.

That being said, I'm not looking for them to top it. I'd be perfectly happy with a good album; I don't expect them to top themselves now. 10,000 Days was such a massive letdown that I think they can't go anywhere but up at this point.

10,000 Days is my second favorite Tool album after Aenima. Lateralus has the best individual tracks I guess but there's just so much pointless filler on there. 10,000 Days was all... music.

[jonypony81]

Well like Maynard always says it takes 3 years for people to catch on and get everything that he has been involved with, it took 3 years for people to get TOOL, same for A Perfect Circle, and it will be the same for Puscifer. Yet I think that 10,000 days was concept album just like all the rest and the next album has a lot of material to live up to. I will still buy it regardless, and so will all of you if only for the album cover coolness!

[Jinsai]

Well like Maynard always says it takes 3 years for people to catch on and get everything that he has been involved with, it took 3 years for people to get TOOL, same for A Perfect Circle, and it will be the same for Puscifer. Yet I think that 10,000 days was concept album just like all the rest and the next album has a lot of material to live up to. I will still buy it regardless, and so will all of you if only for the album cover coolness!

That's a pretty pretentious thing for him to say... I would assume he meant it sardonically. Otherwise, it just kind of sounds like he's saying "the music that I make is so deep that its brilliance flies over most people's heads, and eventually they manage to grasp it."

Regarding Tool, it wasn't uniquely alienating to audiences. It usually takes bands time to cultivate an audience. Three years is almost a minimum benchmark. When Aenima came out, the critics unanimously praised it and people went nuts overnight.
With Perfect Circle, that debut album was huge out of the gate, and they were touring sold out shows from the start.

[Goldfoot]

That's a pretty pretentious thing for him to say... I would assume he meant it sardonically. Otherwise, it just kind of sounds like he's saying "the music that I make is so deep that its brilliance flies over most people's heads, and eventually they manage to grasp it."

Regarding Tool, it wasn't uniquely alienating to audiences. It usually takes bands time to cultivate an audience. Three years is almost a minimum benchmark. When Aenima came out, the critics unanimously praised it and people went nuts overnight.
With Perfect Circle, that debut album was huge out of the gate, and they were touring sold out shows from the start.

I've never heard of Maynard saying that until pony's post up there. It actually goes against what I have heard him say, which is that people should get their own meaning from the music. There's no written lyrics that come with the albums because it's about the whole musical experience, not just the words he chose to sing over the other three playing. I prefer to think of Maynard as that person than the one jony is describing. As for it being a concept album, I have to disagree. They may have had a loose concept in mind when writing it, but there is no cohesive story that continues throughout the entire album. I wouldn't call any of theirs a concept album, according to the definition of what one is. A collection of perspectives, with a diversion or two, perhaps. That's really what all of them are, but I don't interpret them as telling any kind of coherent story*.

*I did rearrange the songs on Lateralus to form a story, but it completely changes the track order, and thus, not what the band intended.

[botley]

I started the Tool Hotline because of 10,000 days, and it gets next to no traffic. The Tool fan machine ain't what it used to be.

I've noticed this too. It is certainly not a function of the fine work you've done on the Hotline over the years.

My theory is that we've become too jaded as an online music culture for bands like Tool. When everything in the world is a file on a computer it is just too hard to get into a long contemplative track or (God forbid) a whole album.

Not saying that this in and of itself is good or bad. It is just a shame because so many of us were introduced to new concepts and ways of looking at the world through this band.

[Ryan]

I've noticed this too. It is certainly not a function of the fine work you've done on the Hotline over the years.

My theory is that we've become too jaded as an online music culture for bands like Tool. When everything in the world is a file on a computer it is just too hard to get into a long contemplative track or (God forbid) a whole album.

Not saying that this in and of itself is good or bad. It is just a shame because so many of us were introduced to new concepts and ways of looking at the world through this band.

The part that upsets me the most is that in the leadup to the follow-up to Lateralus, I distinctly recall saying to a friend at the time "how on earth are they going to make something better than Lateralus?" and I had a feeling things would go downhill. Circa 2001-2003/2004 things were still kind of "special" in the music world. There were surprises to be had and so on. It's only been in approximately the last five or six years that everything has become jaded, as you mentioned. There's this sudden lack of mystery. Now on YouTube you can see footage of a gig literally right after it's over, or while it's happening in high quality. You see candid sides of Maynard on his property in Arizona. And the crumbling point, at least directly in terms of Maynard's downfall, was immediately apparent: the release of The Outsider "video". Everything went downhill and lacking in quality after that.

I think you all get the general gist of what I'm saying. There was a definite altering point somewhere there. I feel as though everything essentially post 2004 or 2005 saw a real decline in our appreciation for music and we just got to see too much. Or more than we want to know or should know about artists. I think that's the problem with Tool now. When we didn't have access to twitter or being essentially able to see inside Maynard's ass hole via the web, when it was all more of a distant, mysterious type thing and we didn't know what to expect... those were the days.

[snaapz]

I started the Tool Hotline because of 10,000 days, and it gets next to no traffic. The Tool fan machine ain't what it used to be.

'Tool ain't what it used to be', Maynard has made it clear that he isn't heavily involved with TOOL now, not like he was in the 90s; being a TOOL fan is boring, even my devote TOOL fan friends are kind of meh about TOOL lately.

If anything admins should make a MAYNARD subform (Puscifer, APC, Tool, Caduceus Cellars...).


I find Metallica's stance fascinating, "no Jason Newsted, you cannot have a side band, any creative juice and ideas you have are for Metallica"


I wonder how much Tool has suffered because of APC, Puscifer, and the vineyard (and all that legal shit TOOL dealt with).

[pulse]

'Tool ain't what it used to be', Maynard has made it clear that he isn't heavily involved with TOOL now, not like he was in the 90s; if anything admins should make a MAYNARD subform (Puscifer, APC, Tool, Caduceus Cellars...).


I find Metallica's stance fascinating, "no Jason Newsted, you cannot have a side band, any creative juice and ideas you have are for Metallica"


I wonder how much Tool has suffered because of APC, Puscifer, and the vineyard (and all that legal shit TOOL dealt with).

Yeah that band that sells out every large arena show with ticket prices pushing $80-100 and only headlines festivals needs its subforum thread combined into an MJK thread. Beyond the vocals, those other projects sound nothing like Tool because Carey, Jones and Chancellor. If you really think so little of Tool's new music, fine, that's subjective. However, I can also state my opinion. Your association of how others should think based on your opinion sucks balls as does your understanding of how a forum works.