Tool - The fans
Now listen up, here’s the story about the culture of Tool. Inside, and outside we will look at the people who i have experienced in the past decade for the band, because they don’t have anyone else who would listen to them. You see, most people say that it’s alright, it’s okay to look the other way if you don’t like the same music, as a sane human would try to understand. Most people would say, it’s alright, it’s okay, I’ll live to see another day if you like something other than myself. But Tool fans are the opposite of understanding.
Tool is a unique Band that seems self aware of the mysterious marketing ploy it set up upon the dawn of their inception. There is a song, however not in their newest album, but they discuss how tool fans literally buy into the eccentric marketing around them. It is as if every breath they take is held sacred to the fans, every move they make a piece of art that must be kept safe and appreciated by all. It is a curious look at how the simple act of playing a song from an upcoming album with little hint as to what the song was is so shocking and “new” to their fans, that it just works and they need little advertisement otherwise. The simple after thought, the careless line of “Oh yeah, we’re dropping a new album” was more than enough. The band captivates, but their overall attitude is they’re too sexy Milan, New York, and Japan, but this very attitude is what draws the people in.
Fans obsess over their lack of in depth music, self proclaimed by Maynard himself, yet you can find endless tweet after tweet talking about how deep and dark their music is, how it challenges the way you think or consider the happenings of the world. They claim the songs speak right to their hearts, even without saying a word they can light up the dark as Tool is known for their extensive instrumentals. Sure, the songs when you look at the lyrics have meaning, but there is nothing ground breaking there or unique. It is reminiscent of an Adele song: there is so much power there but when you analyze the words, it’s like a well known family recipe that was cooked too many times during your childhood. Yet these people consume and consume, wanting every piece of merch and every song on every device, tattooing simple line after simple line of lyric upon themselves to be the Super Tool Fan.
There are even those who claim to be so addicted with tool that their own grades would suffer in school, that an unhealthy obsession with the music would cause them to fail in relationships if their significant other did not appreciate the music of the band. You don’t see this often in other cult followings, but it screams true here. Even for the likes of Linkin Park, through the years I have listened to them and attended shows and watched how social media reacted to the suicide of the lead singer, there is nothing that compares to those who listen to Tool. Someone might say that this is their favorite song that is about to play and they refuse to text with a drink in hand, the phone in the other- and heaven forbid someone doesn’t stop calling them as they say they’re kind of busy.
Yes, the culture in the Tool community can be described in an ironic way: just a bunch of obsessive tools who think they’re so deeply in tune with the band, as if it was an opioid addiction but really, they’re just pretentious individuals who are just a little too into the music. Their new album was 10 years in the making, and though it shines in its own way, it isn’t monumental for the music community as a whole. Is it something you could regularly listen to on repeat? Of course. But is it worth quitting your job over because your boss won’t let you play it through the speakers of a Starbucks? No. Only in this world, in this very timeline could we have such a beautiful band, named after its own followers.
But if we choose to look deeper into this, into the sweat filled mosh-pits and the balding men with over-sized black shirts sporting the images of albums, we find a nuance that we can start to appreciate. These people want nothing more than to belong to something, and they are united through something that is only elevated by their obsession. Without it, tool would have no voice, no albums, no encouragement. If they saw fans next to never, how could they go on forever? But wherever tool goes, whatever they do, the fans follow, right there waiting for them, together in a harmonious blend of passion and the need for escapism. Truly, madly, deeply, they do love the band and that love gives them a deeper meaning. Their music is the arms of an angel, flying away from this earthly place. Far from the wreckage of their lives, they are in the arms of the angels, and they find some comfort here.
Tool carries a popularity a brilliant popularity that took them to the number 1 chart rapidly in the land down under. Where beer does flow in heavy waves at stadiums, where men drink to excess and vomit after a full night of moshing, the band took Australia by the heart and it was a fire that makes you really want to believe there is so much more to the culture of the fans.
Most fans find it hard to believe they’re in heaven at every album release. It was like their music was the love that they always needed, and they found it there in the arms of Tool. Their self described loathsome lives are only made better by the rock and vibes of the band, a sweet embrace of peace in an otherwise mundane yet hellish experience of a life. When they money comes in from the work that they do, they pass almost every penny onto the band. It’s a beautiful thing, the dedication. I do enjoy seeing so much passion, but that doesn’t make them any less tools.
Tool is a unique Band that seems self aware of the mysterious marketing ploy it set up upon the dawn of their inception. There is a song, however not in their newest album, but they discuss how tool fans literally buy into the eccentric marketing around them. It is as if every breath they take is held sacred to the fans, every move they make a piece of art that must be kept safe and appreciated by all. It is a curious look at how the simple act of playing a song from an upcoming album with little hint as to what the song was is so shocking and “new” to their fans, that it just works and they need little advertisement otherwise. The simple after thought, the careless line of “Oh yeah, we’re dropping a new album” was more than enough. The band captivates, but their overall attitude is they’re too sexy Milan, New York, and Japan, but this very attitude is what draws the people in.
Fans obsess over their lack of in depth music, self proclaimed by Maynard himself, yet you can find endless tweet after tweet talking about how deep and dark their music is, how it challenges the way you think or consider the happenings of the world. They claim the songs speak right to their hearts, even without saying a word they can light up the dark as Tool is known for their extensive instrumentals. Sure, the songs when you look at the lyrics have meaning, but there is nothing ground breaking there or unique. It is reminiscent of an Adele song: there is so much power there but when you analyze the words, it’s like a well known family recipe that was cooked too many times during your childhood. Yet these people consume and consume, wanting every piece of merch and every song on every device, tattooing simple line after simple line of lyric upon themselves to be the Super Tool Fan.
There are even those who claim to be so addicted with tool that their own grades would suffer in school, that an unhealthy obsession with the music would cause them to fail in relationships if their significant other did not appreciate the music of the band. You don’t see this often in other cult followings, but it screams true here. Even for the likes of Linkin Park, through the years I have listened to them and attended shows and watched how social media reacted to the suicide of the lead singer, there is nothing that compares to those who listen to Tool. Someone might say that this is their favorite song that is about to play and they refuse to text with a drink in hand, the phone in the other- and heaven forbid someone doesn’t stop calling them as they say they’re kind of busy.
Yes, the culture in the Tool community can be described in an ironic way: just a bunch of obsessive tools who think they’re so deeply in tune with the band, as if it was an opioid addiction but really, they’re just pretentious individuals who are just a little too into the music. Their new album was 10 years in the making, and though it shines in its own way, it isn’t monumental for the music community as a whole. Is it something you could regularly listen to on repeat? Of course. But is it worth quitting your job over because your boss won’t let you play it through the speakers of a Starbucks? No. Only in this world, in this very timeline could we have such a beautiful band, named after its own followers.
But if we choose to look deeper into this, into the sweat filled mosh-pits and the balding men with over-sized black shirts sporting the images of albums, we find a nuance that we can start to appreciate. These people want nothing more than to belong to something, and they are united through something that is only elevated by their obsession. Without it, tool would have no voice, no albums, no encouragement. If they saw fans next to never, how could they go on forever? But wherever tool goes, whatever they do, the fans follow, right there waiting for them, together in a harmonious blend of passion and the need for escapism. Truly, madly, deeply, they do love the band and that love gives them a deeper meaning. Their music is the arms of an angel, flying away from this earthly place. Far from the wreckage of their lives, they are in the arms of the angels, and they find some comfort here.
Tool carries a popularity a brilliant popularity that took them to the number 1 chart rapidly in the land down under. Where beer does flow in heavy waves at stadiums, where men drink to excess and vomit after a full night of moshing, the band took Australia by the heart and it was a fire that makes you really want to believe there is so much more to the culture of the fans.
Most fans find it hard to believe they’re in heaven at every album release. It was like their music was the love that they always needed, and they found it there in the arms of Tool. Their self described loathsome lives are only made better by the rock and vibes of the band, a sweet embrace of peace in an otherwise mundane yet hellish experience of a life. When they money comes in from the work that they do, they pass almost every penny onto the band. It’s a beautiful thing, the dedication. I do enjoy seeing so much passion, but that doesn’t make them any less tools.
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