The boy...

[King Nothing]

I met a boy...
"Vans" "501s" "Beastie t" "Coke"

whats up with products?

is that supposed to mean the boy was selling out?

[bionic_anchovy]

Yeah. A product of MTV and consumerism. Emphasising the hypocrisy of the boy in question I guess.

[blood_wh0re]

...maybe the brands mentioned are part of a subversive marketing campaign. Product placement. Paying a band in exchange for their brand to be burned into the minds of their listeners. $.
...maybe I am totally jaded but the same notion occoured to me the first time I heard Rosetta Stoned.

There is no way I would mention brand names on my record ...unless I was payed well to do so with dirty fucking money.

[pivotal digit]

...maybe the brands mentioned are part of a subversive marketing campaign. Product placement. Paying a band in exchange for their brand to be burned into the minds of their listeners. $.
...maybe I am totally jaded but the same notion occoured to me the first time I heard Rosetta Stoned.

There is no way I would mention brand names on my record ...unless I was payed well to do so with dirty fucking money.


Good point , but it also drives home the fact that we are all junkies on these products , if they were to make up a list of phony products , it would not seem authentic and be as relatable.

[imatoolhed]

All you read and
Wear or see and
Hear on TV
Is a product
Begging for your
Fatass dirty
Dollar

So...Shut up and

Buy my new record
Send more money
Fuck you, buddy.

[bionic_anchovy]

I think you hit the nail on the head.

[lizbiz]

...maybe the brands mentioned are part of a subversive marketing campaign. Product placement. Paying a band in exchange for their brand to be burned into the minds of their listeners. $.
...maybe I am totally jaded but the same notion occoured to me the first time I heard Rosetta Stoned.

There is no way I would mention brand names on my record ...unless I was payed well to do so with dirty fucking money.

They did this in RS too because the songs have the same theme. Ignorance and irresponsible use of Tool's lyrics.

[(self(other]

he is just painting a picture... a kid wrapped in product calling someone a product

[murph83]

"New tattoos that claimed that he
Was OGT "

what does the OGT mean?

[whooz]

Original Gangster Tool, I believe.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooker_with_a_Penis)

The term "OGT" has never been explained by the band, but a common theory is that it stands for "Original Gangsta (of) Tool," referencing the popular gangsta rap of the time, and how the rappers claimed to be OG, or Original Gangstas. OGT has been known to mean ON GOOD TERMS.

[fretforyourfigure462]

I think the labels are just further emphasizing the hypocrisy of the boy.

[Exarch]

he is just painting a picture... a kid wrapped in product calling someone a product

Thats it, right there, you got it.
Maynard obviously doesn't like products :P

[mjkajdcjc]

Original Gangster Tool, I believe.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooker_with_a_Penis)

The term "OGT" has never been explained by the band, but a common theory is that it stands for "Original Gangsta (of) Tool," referencing the popular gangsta rap of the time, and how the rappers claimed to be OG, or Original Gangstas. OGT has been known to mean ON GOOD TERMS.

I think "Original Gangsta Tool" ties into the MTV and its hip-hop/rap dominated shows/mind set.

However, "on good terms" refers to the fact that he was with them back in '92 as a "hardcore" fan.

Either way, it makes good sense.

[fretforyourfigure462]

he is just painting a picture... a kid wrapped in product calling someone a product

Thats how I see it.

[ZiGgy]

anyone know who the boy is?

[Right-In-46-&-2]

I reckon the boy was just a hardcore fan from '92 when Tool released Opiate EP.
I agree with "mjkajdcjc" (lol, I like the name. Go DC), that the boy is on good terms with the band.

[Yoxodo]

maybe a one time close friend of the band? I dunno. A dude from another band that Tool used to be on good terms with, until the person and/or the band sold out?

[zedd]

anyone know who the boy is?

yeah i do, blood_whore



blood_wh0re ...maybe the brands mentioned are part of a subversive marketing campaign. Product placement. Paying a band in exchange for their brand to be burned into the minds of their listeners. $.
...maybe I am totally jaded but the same notion occoured to me the first time I heard Rosetta Stoned.

There is no way I would mention brand names on my record ...unless I was payed well to do so with dirty fucking money.

[notregistered]

I really think there isn't an actual "boy"... I think the song is a metaphor myself. I doubt there really was an actual fan who told them they sold out... like they're a small town punk band or something.

[opiated]

I really think there isn't an actual "boy"... I think the song is a metaphor myself. I doubt there really was an actual fan who told them they sold out... like they're a small town punk band or something.

Just throwing this out here, but people do label bands "sell-outs" once they gain popularity or feel as if the band has alienated them somehow (as if the band owed them anything). It could have happened to Tool, as with any other band out there.

[Lysander]

Gah. I really can't believe people are confused on the meaning of Hooker With a Penis. I mean come on, the lyrics say it about as plainly as it's possible to say something. Read them as if it's somebody telling a story: "I met a boy, wearin' van's 501 and a Dope beastie tee, nipple rings, new tattoos that claimed that he was OGT back from '92 and the first EP; and inbetween sips of coke, he told me that he thought *we* were selling out... layin' down, suckin' up, to "the man." Well, now, I've got some advice for you, little buddy: before you point your finger you should know that *I'm* the man; i'm the man, you're the man, and he's the man as well, so you can point your fucking finger up your ass. All you know about me is what i sold ya, dipshit; I sold out long before you ever even heard my name. I sold my soul to make a record, dipshit, and then YOU BOUGHT ONE. Everything you read and see and hear on TV is a product, begging for your fat-ass dirty dollar... so shut up and buy, buy, buy, buy our new record, buy, buy, buy, send more money! Fuck you, buddy!" If you can't figure out what that means, stop listening to music. Actually, stop reading. Stop watching movies, too. Get a job in an accounting firm; become another drone of the capitalistic "free market" society working slavishly to please your corporate taskmasters the best you can by increasing their bottom line by 13.5 percent by firing half the Indian immigrant children and cutting the other halfs' pay to $2.50 an hour.

[Inner_Eulogy]

Gah. I really can't believe people are confused on the meaning of Hooker With a Penis. I mean come on, the lyrics say it about as plainly as it's possible to say something. Read them as if it's somebody telling a story: "I met a boy, wearin' van's 501 and a Dope beastie tee, nipple rings, new tattoos that claimed that he was OGT back from '92 and the first EP; and inbetween sips of coke, he told me that he thought *we* were selling out... layin' down, suckin' up, to "the man." Well, now, I've got some advice for you, little buddy: before you point your finger you should know that *I'm* the man; i'm the man, you're the man, and he's the man as well, so you can point your fucking finger up your ass. All you know about me is what i sold ya, dipshit; I sold out long before you ever even heard my name. I sold my soul to make a record, dipshit, and then YOU BOUGHT ONE. Everything you read and see and hear on TV is a product, begging for your fat-ass dirty dollar... so shut up and buy, buy, buy, buy our new record, buy, buy, buy, send more money! Fuck you, buddy!" If you can't figure out what that means, stop listening to music. Actually, stop reading. Stop watching movies, too. Get a job in an accounting firm; become another drone of the capitalistic "free market" society working slavishly to please your corporate taskmasters the best you can by increasing their bottom line by 13.5 percent by firing half the Indian immigrant children and cutting the other halfs' pay to $2.50 an hour.

Haha...so true

[Chronicle0]

Thats it, right there, you got it.
Maynard obviously doesn't like products :P

yeah check out the puscifer myspace, maynard pointing out the american products in other countries lol.

[Paradyne]

I feel the product placement is used as a way to emphasise the point that we as society are forever in the shadow of what makes us "us", that people can associate stereotypes with different products such as skaters wear DC shoes and Jews like money and Kosher Morton salt.

[McButterpants]

I feel the product placement is used as a way to emphasise the point that we as society are forever in the shadow of what makes us "us", that people can associate stereotypes with different products such as skaters wear DC shoes and Jews like money and Kosher Morton salt.

Jews? Nah, its only in America that Jews stereotypically love money. For the rest of the world its Americans - begging for the fat and dirty dollar.

Joking aside, America is currently ripping the rest of the world off. It's current trade balance, budget deficit and ridiculously low exchange rate can only be explained by being financed by foreign money. America doesn't have to follow the same fiscal rules as the rest of the world, because the rest of the world believes the American economy is as solid as a rock and keeps sending its money there so that we (I am British - 51st state and whatnot) can have more useless stuff like Vans, DCs and tattoos.

Lizbiz - HWAP does NOT have the same theme as Rosetta Stoned - although ignorance is a big part in both. RS *is* about a Prophet, or anyone coming into the world with an idea of truth, and trying to reconcile it with the reality they are used to. HWAP simply does not have the same layers as RS, but it is still a kick-ass track. Before anyone gives a 'it's your own interpretation' whinge, Tool songs have many layers, each is a different interpretation. What I mean is that the words in HWAP can't be stretched in the same way as those in RS.

So Lizbiz, you're wrong, which is all I really wanted to say after all.

[BlueTape]

ok, theres this boy drinkin coke and wearin vans preaching to ol maynard about how hes sellin out to the man and shit cause of aenima and he needed to go back underground

maynard looks at this boy, seeing that he was a fan of tool from the opiate days and tells him that before he points the finger he should know that maynard is the man, and since he bought the CD, hes the man as well, fuck you buddy, point that fukin finger up ur ass.

send more money!!

[FightingMonkey]

While I agree that HWAP and RS are very much different in meaning and it's near impossible to reach the same interpretation if you hear them closely, everything else I have read here seems pretty solid. My favorite part of this song is when he says "I'm the man, you're the man, and he's the man as well so you can point that fucking finger up your ass." I, like others, see that as Maynard saying we are all part of the system, we are all "the man," so we need to be careful when pointing others out and calling them sellouts. In one way or another we are all sellouts.