TOOL

Distributor(s): Sony Music Entertainment

Label(s): RCA

Info:
TOOL is a grunge band of prodigiously talented individuals. formed in Los Angeles in 1990 by Paul D'Amour and Adam Jones, who were making a career in the film industry. Maynard James Keenan studied visual arts in Michigan and worked as a pet store remodeler. Drummer Danny Carey recorded and toured with singer-songwriter Carole King while also being in a country band with Jeff Buckley.

In 1992, they released their debut EP, Opiate, which was met with critical praise and an ever-expanding fanbase. With the grunge and alternative rock explosion in full effect, TOOL released their debut album, Undertow, in April 1993. Timing is everything, and TOOL's darkly aggressive, ethereal rock fit the scene like a glove. The album pushed more diverse musical dynamics and lyrical concepts than Opiate. Their abrasive sonic assault begins with the opening notes and continues through the final moments. With its technical brilliance, musical complexities, and aggressive overtones, Undertow not only paved the way for Tool's own subverting of rock cliches, but it also proved that alternative rock/metal/whatever you want to call it could be simultaneously intelligent, emotional, and brutal.>br>Singles like 'Sober' and 'Prison S-' had a searing self-reflection that punks, goths, metallers, grungers, and shoegazers could revel in. The band married Maynard James Keenan's lyrics to a host of formidable, kaleidoscopic, and often mathematical passages. Each song is laced with razor-sharp hooks and crushing emotional intensity. The album is a potent reaction to the Hollywood hair-metal scene and the hypocrisy of the film industry. Though rarely one to get into specifics about the meaning of his lyrics, Keenan revealed in 2015 that the album allowed him to vent his frustrations while trying to make a living doing set design in Hollywood during the band's early days. 'I was busting my ass working on movie sets in Hollywood, trying to survive,' he recalled. 'Rent was high, and a lot of weird hypocrisy happened in the film and music industries. There was a whole dog and pony show, which I found very awkward. So, that kind of energy inspired many of those original pieces. The music was emotionally driven and very reactionary.'
L.A.'s superficial and self-consciously decadent hair-metal scene dominated the local clubs into the early Nineties. As Maynard recalled, TOOL railed hard against that scene, 'We were trying to get past all the hair bands and these poofy-haired idiots doing their thing, and they were taking up all the good club space. There was a great underground music movement in L.A. at that time, and we were bonding with them to fight against it and create a new scene we felt was more worthwhile.'

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TOOL

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