aneerudh
12-22-2002, 06:38 AM
i dont know if i came up with this myself, or im quoting someone i read (if i did, well, you have my gratitude) but I've always thought of tool songs not to have just one specific meaning (eg. stinkfist is about the desensitization of people) but i prefer to treat the music as a sort of 'background music to life'. I think this is somthing all of us tool fans feel. Each songs seems to speak to you in one particular time, in one particular phase of your day. What I've noticed from my friends who like tool, is that they tend to go through phases, where theres one song they just cannot stop listening to, (actually, i wonder if this is more common. If it is, please say so) i think it has to do with the fact that each individual songs creates a mood for a particular emotion, and in that, a song is not about a particular feeling (eg. jerk off is about rage) jerk off IS rage (well, actually, i think thats triad) thats why tool music is so focused on creating an atmopshere. I mean, we all know that mr. Jones can solo, and do it quite well (listen to the background in 3rd eye) he still does solo, but theyre more drawn out individual notes rather then they are all- out solos. The thing that seperates tool from most others is the fact that, rather then talk ABOUT how they felt when something happened, the music is about WHAT they were going through when it happened, and WHAT they (as well as us) feel/ felt.
To go through a few examples. I feel reflection is exaclty what they title says, a time of reflection. The talk about the 'million light reflections' and crucifying the ego, is all about those few minutes we have once in a while, there we actually have to stop, and reflect on ourselves, the times when we see ourselves for ourselves i.e. by crucifying the ego. The last line really is an urge to do this ('so crucify the ego before its far too late')
4 degrees, i think, is when you realize something new about yourself. You go digging, bring it out and take it back. You show yourself another way. In a sense, the song is made in atmosphere about shedding you skin.
Then ofcourse, you have songs like ticks and leaches, which is somehting we've all probably felt, when someone you know is acting like a 'blood sucking parasitic tick'. And a song like lateralus, is about moving beyond yourself, and drawing yourself outside the lines.
I think some songs however, are just maynard talking to us (well, considering the alternative press article' talking at us. Telling not the be sodomized [prison sex] etc etc.
Well, thats my 2 cents (or something like that) i believe tool music is really a background song to how we feel. And because of that, i often feel each individual song reminds me of someone i know, perhaps because i feel that what the song is saying, relates to them, or my relationship with them.
well, do reply. And please forgive and spelling / punctuation mistakes.
Crucify The Ego....
To go through a few examples. I feel reflection is exaclty what they title says, a time of reflection. The talk about the 'million light reflections' and crucifying the ego, is all about those few minutes we have once in a while, there we actually have to stop, and reflect on ourselves, the times when we see ourselves for ourselves i.e. by crucifying the ego. The last line really is an urge to do this ('so crucify the ego before its far too late')
4 degrees, i think, is when you realize something new about yourself. You go digging, bring it out and take it back. You show yourself another way. In a sense, the song is made in atmosphere about shedding you skin.
Then ofcourse, you have songs like ticks and leaches, which is somehting we've all probably felt, when someone you know is acting like a 'blood sucking parasitic tick'. And a song like lateralus, is about moving beyond yourself, and drawing yourself outside the lines.
I think some songs however, are just maynard talking to us (well, considering the alternative press article' talking at us. Telling not the be sodomized [prison sex] etc etc.
Well, thats my 2 cents (or something like that) i believe tool music is really a background song to how we feel. And because of that, i often feel each individual song reminds me of someone i know, perhaps because i feel that what the song is saying, relates to them, or my relationship with them.
well, do reply. And please forgive and spelling / punctuation mistakes.
Crucify The Ego....