after reading a bunch of posts declaring that Rosetta Stoned is mocking fun of peopl ehwo think MJK is a god or that we missed the boat on their "enligtening" messages i've looked at Rosetta Stoned in a new light. IMO, I think MJK is saying to us "you fucktards didnt listen to us before and now you're all gonna reap what you sew"

also, i do believe since aenema and lateralus both had tracks dissing the media/fans would it not be obvious to continue this cycle? Rosetta stoned takes a big dump on the fans IMO, as the the narrator encounters aliens (tool) and gets some holy enlightening message but ends up forgetting it (the fans forgetting everything on lateralus)
thoughts?

Thank fuck I don't knit...

i think rosetta stoned is basically saying

"were tool and we had this great message to give everyone. but nobody listened to us because they think were just some drugged out hippys with no idea whats going on"

hooker is all like "fuck you for thinking your special for listening to our music and being og or whatever"

ticks is about people that want too much from them

I think the band is wrong in thinking "we didn't listen." Did they really think their music was gonna make the nation vote Democratic? Please... I doubt we even elect our presidents anyway. I think the best they could've hoped for was increased awareness... which I certainly think they've achieved.

I don't see Rosetta as being a message to fans or anyone at all.

I think it's simply telling a story. The story of a bad Trip. Possibly the downside of the same Trip as Third Eye, given the musical references to Third Eye within the song.

I agree that the song is sort of a joke. Making fun of their fans. The pot is definitely about politics not fans. If tool started a church how many of you would devote yourselves to it? Jeebus!

I'm with you. I think people are just over analyzing.

Coming down is a bitch.

The song previous is subtitled "Blame Hoffman"

Albert Hoffman is the inventer of LSD

Rosetta Stoned is possibly about tripping on LSD

thats all i know

It's about communicating with aliens. Duh.

Don't ever compare two of the best TooL tracks with one of their worst.
I have no desire to check the lyrics or understand the 11 minute filler called "rosetta stoned"

And Ticks and Hookers could have been about butterflies and ribbons, they still would be two of the most intense, brutal songs ever made.

we didnt listen!!!

disagree on the first agree, Agree on the second. (butterflies and ribbons...nice).

Enough with the Ticks worship. It has become schtick.

this thread delivers

It's a track about a guy that took LSD and got a trip and thought he would finally stop being a loser, but in realizing that he can't remember the message, he finds out that he still is a loser.

END OF STORY.

I've noticed that happens a lot on these here forums....

Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Or maybe there is!!! :P

HAHAHA...wow...rosetta is by far the best song on the album. you probably think the pot is actually a good song.


on topic...i don't think this is about anyone in particular. it's about a bad trip.

submachine, I wonder how you could've written that without feeling silly. You know nothing about opinions, don't you?

Ive thought this EXACT same thing. I also think Vicarious has HUGE elements of schism. This is why i keep saying i have a feeling this is tools VERSION of a best of, not a bunch of selected songs chukd on an album, but their best of songs, dramatically influenceing rythm/riffs/voice styles and general sounds. Its a long shot, but its seems very obvious to me.

wasnt HWAP in the end really about unity?

Dude you blow my mind

I don't know, seems to me that if this line of interpretation is valid at all, it's the opposite of that. Not a "you should have listened to us, you didn't take us seriously before" (because really, of all the things you could accuse Tool fans of, not taking Tool seriously enough is among the most ridiculous), but more of a "think for yourself, don't look to us to reveal all the secrets of the universe to you, that's fucking ridiculous". Especially the lyrics at the song's climax, "Overwhelmed as one would be placed in my position / Such a heavy burden now to be the one". Maynard's certainly in an unusual position of having every word he writes analyzed for years by hundreds of thousands of fans, even moreso since he was writing the follow-up to Lateralus. I think this album is very different from previous albums in that it doesn't have a strong unified theme, it's more complex and contradictory, and generally less like the writings of a cult leader on a divine mission.

I think a Tool fan should know that their songwriting moves in a small place. They have their style in melodies and sounds and no one can change that.

Two of the best? So top 30% maybe? Which 10 of The Grudge, The Patient, Schism, Parabola, Lateralus, Disposition, Reflection, Stinkfist, Eulogy, H, 46&2, Jimmy, Pushit, Aenema and Third Eye would you rate below those two?

I said "submachine, I wonder how you could've written that without feeling silly. You know nothing about opinions, don't you?" the same is for you, asdf.

Well I can't say that kind of argument isn't mind-bogglingly stupid, though I think "two of the best" is very possibly a mild exaggeration even by his standards. Whether a dispute over the exact meaning of "two of the best" is worth turning a thread into a flamewar is another matter.

Has anyone thought that maybe the meaning is just the obvious one: its a story about a person who actually has a close encounter with an alien being whilst on drugs and as a result of being in an altered state of mind he forgets what he was supposed to learn from the encounter and no one will believe him anyway because they assume what he is saying is just the ramblings of a wasted "Deadhead"

your post was a slobberknocker

That is too simple for some tool fans to digest, from what I've read the past few months on these forums is that there is an ultimate message that fans are looking for, when it is quite possible that some of their songs are meant to be taken at face value.

Sweet. That's a near flawless line of thought, asdf. I only stumble on the album not having a strong unified theme. If you haven't yet, check out dumbwhat's post "the point of this album" and duncang's "My interpretation of 10,000 days". Each help with bringing each song together through "not-so-popular" interpretations, IMO. Actually, I guess I do agree with you. You did write "STRONG unified theme". But only the author can verify....