I wrote this off the cuff in a deabte we were having on MusicBanter. Theres a link at the bottom if you want more context but I thought I'd just put it here and see if there were any other Tools out there who enjoy them as much as I do...

Tool has, for me, always been something of an anomaly. Because while every other shit band out there was writing the same old things with the same distorted power chords, TOOL was out on Mars. The topics might have been bumper sticker politics, but the lyrics were such a massive diversion from the same stupid "i'm going to be politically active by yelling angrily as a name-less 'you'." lets take Stinkfist for example:

Every band was warning us about oversaturation, about letting the television tell us what to do, how we're all just becoming whatever, and then Tool, who takes that concept and marries it with an even more meathead topic, anal sex, makes a masterpiece by never really mentioning either. I'm not going to call MJK a poet because I don't think thats what he does on albums (he may be privately, who knows) but he's got a poets eye for the world. This device that he uses in Stinkfist, take a character doing activity X and basically talking about Y (and X i guess) at the same time is exactly what Adrienne Rich and Sylvia Plath were doing while writing poetry.

Beyond this, while other bands were out there following a formula well treaded by everyone else, TOOL was trailblazing through uncharted territory, making music that was more identifiable by its erratic "mistakes" than its solos or riffs. Who doesn't always remember Sober's feedback at the beginning, or Eulogys highhat work around the end of the song (minute 5 maybe?). TOOL was strange as an entity back in 1996. The bridged the gap between Distrubed and Soundgarden, between Korn and Primus, Between Ozzfest and Lollapalooza and the art gallery opening down the street. TOOL's most major and underrated accomplishment to me was that the showed everyone what was really possible if you just did what you loved. Loved enough to really learn it, and put effort into it.

They followed no trend, and while they weren't an end point (I wouldn't say TOOL is the final stop on anyones musical progression) they certainly were a boarding pass to destinations previously seen as well beyond the reach of many young nu-metal heads. To leave them out of the best of the 90's is inexcusable and ignorant. its not a question of whether or not you like them, its a question of whether or not we need them, and if any act was the rope thrown to a man drowning in a well of fecal matter, TOOL is that rope.

Read more: http://www.musicbanter.com/rock-metal/43681-official-tool-thread-31.html#post871090#ixzz0orW0rAzG

I prefer my founding fathers to be elitist.

Is it me, or were politics more enjoyable before Joe Dipshit got involved? Now I have to listen to someone who gets his U.S. History from a cereal box and every would-be king cry about term limits. There are exactly two things you should know about Term Limits; they prevent you from voting for people, and no one who ever said they believed in term limits and would stopping running after 2 terms ever has...Lindsay Graham, Bob Bennett.

Somewhere along the line, people got the idea that everything is political. And the right co-opted the Lefties "The personal is political." It isn't. It never was. And when people try to make the personal political I have to listen to diatribes about the subversive adminstration, liberal media, and imperialism to rule an oil empire. If you've said any of this, for what its worth, I think you're an idiot. And I think you're an idiot empirically.

This country needs to start looking at policy like a math problem. Does it work? What doesn't work? What do we need to make this happen. There are, by and large, far too many emotions in politics and it turns everyone into a would be Jesus on the Mount. It should be said that I wouldn't outlaw sensititivties to plight. We have always operated on good moral principles. But if I seen another Presidential Candidate cry on stage, and I mean cry literally, about how they just love their country/religion/family/ et. all I promise to spread every filthy rumor about them and their families. Yes I think that makes me a horrible person. Yes, I think it would save lives. Watching a Kennedy documentry one time they said that before JFK, politicians were boring, sexless. They wore gray suits. I want that back. At least in part.

Having passions has even ruinined the way government works. With everyone a full-throated partisan, even deal making has become a dirty word. DEAL MAKING. How can everything get without making deals? When you condem deal making you essentially ask for a room full of grown men and woman screaming at one another until eletion time when maybe the otherside gets a majority. This is why I think you're an idiot. For the record, I like what Rush Limbaugh does, despite not agreeing with him ever. ever. The only thing I don't like about him is that he's so successful that he's spawned a bunhc of know-nothing morons who cry abotu family values.

You know what I think is a good family vlue? Basic cable 24 hour uncensored porn channel. It isn't liberal, its a parental litmus test. If you're such a god damn idiot that you can stop a 5 year old from watching television then you ought to have your children taken away from you. And not for a little bit, for good. I'm all for putting into place permits for breeding. Christ, yesterday we had a guy in Northhampton try to trade his child for beer.

And another thing. I know a lot of you went out and got liberal arts degrees, but somethings just are what they are. Like science. There isn't a liberal bias in science. You think that because you haven't met scientists. This is obviosuly a generalization but they aren't the most empathetic group. Unless by empathy you meant autistic. Rules matter. Physics matter. Just because Al Gore works for a party you don't like doesn't mean we can start challenging the laws of the universe. Admit that you got a C in chemistry abck in highschool, that you don't know shit about science, and that you just don't like certain people or policies.

And before you scream about jobs, let me remind you that its Economics that deals with that. Not Sociology...which is what your degree is.

Politics is a job. Like most jobs, it requires people to put in effort and thought. We don't let joe six pack up in a space shuttle, we shouldn't let him into the Senate either. it leads to terrible, terrible things. We had a Senator in our state, repping my district and he was the biggest scum bag you've ever met. So we voted him out against a guy with the political skills of a garden slug. And he cost us countless dollars in government funding because he spent his time saying and doing what he thought was popular. He passed out countless times on the chamber floor.

This is what we get when we elect your neighbor. Too often people think the Founders wanted every man to serve his time. This isn't Jury Duty, there is a great deal of long term responsibility. The founders assumed we'd pick from an upper crust until Andrew Jackson shattered that notion. And now Joe the Plumber, who embodies the worst of everything we have to offer, is an elected official. We congratulations Ohio. At least he doesn't need a permit he won't get for that job. If you ask me, we need to start tossing out every idiot with an agenda. You want to elect Farmers, fine, elect them. But only elect the ones who've never voted before because those are the only guys willing to listen to reason. The rest of these assholes are just waiting to be Majority Leader.