From the boy's point of view

[UtUmNo1]

I can empathise with the kid to whom this song is responding.

So, the kid gets into this new band, Tool, that he's been following around the circuit and they release a pretty heavy and metal-like EP.

All good, Metallica's gone to shit, maybe these blokes will be the next big thing.

Now I'm unsure of the single release dates but what if the next thing he hears is Sober? What the fuck! would be my intitial reaction.

Although most people in here love it, its nearly 'slow rock song' by numbers. Yeah, it may have a few 'fuckens', but it does have some pretty cheesy moments. (think of the couple of high notes just prior to the last chorus).

Don't get me wrong, I love the song, but I can understand the point of view of the boy wearing vans.

[collapsed shell]

i remember a night when i was a young teen. it was the middle of a summer night. i was in a country house on the best hit of acid i'd ever had, even to this day. i was in a transition stage of life. kinda leaving my much older sheltered religious parents grasp and becoming me. i had heard tool maybe a time or two. i can remember seeing sober on beavis and butthead and thinking pretty cool. so in this house the radio played (quietly) yet it echoed through the whole house. i was alone in a bedroom buring my eye lashes on the bulb of a strobe light. (true) any way sober came on the radio. it was amazing. i realized at that moment something had really touched me. i don't mean to sound dumb. but something really did. i realized i had something that fit me. like a taylored suit of emotions feelings and expressions. i have been a die hard tool fan ever since. i think the song is great. yes its a single and gets played out a lot but doesn't take anything away from it.

its a simple song yet it compells you to draw closer

[SpiralExit]

i started listening to tool with that song too.. it fit my psychologic mood cuz at that time, i lost in several things in life (school, dad, girl friend and others)
but i dont listen to it anymore cuz it reminds me the old days..

[symbiosis]

What if the boy hadn't been wearing vans, or drinking coke... what if the boy was homeless and broke as hell... would maynard still point a finger at him for saying tool had sold out?

[cold and faded anger]

Probably hed still chew the persons ass out...I have a great image of Maynard yelling at a bum in my mind now...

[bluefire]

What if the boy hadn't been wearing vans, or drinking coke... what if the boy was homeless and broke as hell... would maynard still point a finger at him for saying tool had sold out?

then he'd bitch at him for buying cds instead of necessities.

[bluefire]

I too empathise with the kid. Think about when a band starts making music to make money, instead of it being an artistic reaction to life. Don't we have the right to not like the music, to call the artist a "sell-out". The only thing that maynard effectively argues with this song is that he has no artistic credibility.