Simply put, anyone that thinks that Tool is simply 'another product' is both accurate and yet deluded.

With the talent is possessed by them they could achieve more or less any level of public notoriety they choose to. The write the type of music and lyrics that they do by design, not because the studio tells them to. Like they've said on more than one occasion, eventually the studios/producers learned that they were just going to "do it their way" - they record the music they want to record. And funny enough, it's still good enough to sell millions of copies without having to be plastered all over someone's television.

They are a product. But they are their own product, not some exec's.