Originally Posted by guitarpete987

Tool never asked to be taken all that seriously; that's the thing. All they have ever wanted -- and this is based on what I've gathered from their music thus far and what I've heard them express in interviews -- is to get us thinking and talking while still giving us something interesting to listen to.

They've never claimed to be some higher power or even know-it-alls. They just like to do what they do because they love to do it and hope to light a spark under a few brain cells' asses in the process.

Aside from a couple of songs on Lateralus and also Wings/10kDays, Tool's music -- other than some really interesting instrumental dynamics and Maynard's creative use of vocabulary -- has never really been that deep. The band just knows how to twist incredibly cool sounds out of relatively simple techinques (polyrhythms, dissonant and atonal harmonic ideas, push-pull instrumental motifs, all-around funkiness).

But when it comes down to it, just as Maynard said to the rowdy crowd at Street Scene '06: "It's only rock 'n' roll."

That's my take on it.