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brent
11-19-2002, 11:52 AM
i am REALLY happy to see this part of the site (back) up. i personally OVER-analyze everything, especially TOOL. if you havent been to www.innuendocornecopria.com you HAVE to check it out. its quite amazing how deep you can get with TOOL "references." i personally believe that my interpretation of the music and videos that accompany them are predictably wrong, however, the feeling or "message" i walk away with is FAR more important than the literal meaning maynard or adam might have meant it to be. thus, here is my ATTEMPT at an "opinion" of the masterpiece S T I N K F I S T:

in this situation, i believe the lyrics actually DO pre-write a script for the scenes on screen.....

in the end i believe this song, accompanied with the visuals, tells a tale of desensitation and the process of using technology to stimulate ones self.

"boredom's not a burden anyone should bear"
-man, a very curious animal, is bored with life and is seen fucking around with a jar. once opened, the "stimulation" begins....leaving the man to want and desire MORE.

"constant, over-stimulation numbs me"
-you can really see the metaphor for this "over-stimulation" when the man is breathing through the apparatus. from that point on, the man becomes almost infected with something.

"its not enough, i need more, (nothing seems to satisfy)"
-it quickly causes him to become addicted and then sick.

"i can help you change tired moments into pleasure"
-this to me is the "turning point" in which i have two theme ideas. while dating this girl back in high school i would use these lyrics when writing her cheap "love-notes." the lyrics themselves almost tell a love story. i wont deny there have times of personal "bliss" by simply sitting around with someone i love. this meaning, i was able (with her help) to turn "tired moments" into something "pleasur[able]" in the videos case, technology has replaced that void. it is able to turn a mundane situation into a physically altering moment (the mans face begins to stretch and change).

"blend and balance, pain and comfort"
-not trying to think to deeply about sadomasacistic rituals, but apparently humans have a thing with "pain and comfort."
not directly corressponding at the same time with the lyrics, the woman is seen trying to open the mans eyes with a her finger. she is stretching the eyelid........which to me looks pretty fucking painfull.

my favorite scene of this video is once the chick has breathed through the apparatus too, and she is in what looks like a restroom. she looks in the mirror and begins to freak-out. the image on screen where she is covering herself up with the (shower?) curtain becomes almost digitalized and pixelated. it is happening to her too.....

"what became of subtlety"
-this being probably my favorite line and/or part of the song i feel that humans, as a species, have forgotton the subtleties of life and try to fill the voids with technology and false enviornments. through such grand escapes as the T.V. in the begining, and the breathing apparatus, the man is forced to physically change and eventually shed his skin and die.

"ill keep digging, till i feel somthing"
-i belive this is maynards personal statement about life and the search for "meaning." in a world filled with endless possibilites, it is VERY easy to just ignore them and believe they dont exist. the only REAL way to understand yourself and your current enviornmnet is to "dig:" to search for more.

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man, after writing all that crap i still feel i have SO much more to say about this song and the accompaning video. i didnt quite dive into the "love" song thing as much as i had wanted to. if you read the lyrics you can really tell the song is between two lovers searching for meaning or stimulus in their relationship. in a "relationship," the basis should be trust and love. directly in the lyrics, maynard is asking his lover to "relax," to "turnaround and take [his] hand." once again, in the videos case, the woman follows almost blindly right behind her lover. she is quick to breathe from the apparatus and soon enough she too changes and sheds her skin. i probably could write more, but ill save that for another day.

please post your opinions on this video and on my personal "in-sights." i KNOW im not "right." but i feel satisfied being able to share my thoughts.

-s p i r a l - o u t - k e e p - g o i n g-

paper_head
11-27-2002, 09:22 PM
I agree with what you wrote, but the first time that I ever heard the song, I always figured that the main message in the song was when ever you have a problem in you life, it's better to face it with a loved one then to take it on alone. Ya know, "Relax, turn around and take my hand". And in the video, those two people are assisting each other when the girl like you said is trying to help out the guy by opening his eyes. She is helping out the man with one of his problems. Thats just the main thing that I get out of the song and video. I know that a lot of different people are gonna have a lot of different opinions about what all of Tool's videos and songs mean, but the way I look at it, as long as you get something positive out of what ever you think it is about, thats all that really matters. Ya know, I can so see Maynard looking at these opinion pages and laughing his ass off at all the different people who might think one thing about his lyrics and videos and it really is the exact opisite of what Maynard origonaly had in mind.