Many of you have already worked out what the number one in my Tool Top 10 is by using your powers of deduction. The same powers that you use to pull the mystery clues from each of Blair’s newsletters.
Number one is of course Aenema. To be honest the top 3 tracks on my list (Third Eye, Lateralus and Aenema) are pretty much interchangeable.
There’s a number of reasons I like Aenema enough to proclaim it number one. Firstly, the lyrics are the perfect blend of metaphor and straight up anger. And they are delivered in the best possible way. Sure, Maynard hits some higher notes in other songs, and the screams maybe aren’t the best, but as far as nailing the theme and emotion of the song, Maynard nails it here.
Musically, Danny shines on this track as well. While the first half of the song is pretty standard Tool fare, the brutal second half shows off some of the more unique moments Danny is able to bring to the band. Justin and Adam both make solid contributions to the track as well, albeit in a more subtle way than Maynard & Danny.
Lastly, Aenema also has the best Tool video. I can never get enough of that little guy being thrown around the box.
A worthy top 3… The drum rolling beat on the second half had me scouring the internet for videos of him performing it. That was back when there weren’t very many Danny cam vids. I would probably put Lateralus at no. 1, just because it defines the Tool experience for me. They said they had their “Lateralus” for the new album, so here’s to hoping. As for the music videos, I could do without all of them. Unless a music video is fully synced to the music, I have a hard time appreciating the artistic value. Vicarious was pretty good,… Read more »
Solid top 10, I would have had H and The Patient somewhere in there though.
Parabol/Parabola & Schism as music videos were incredibly intense & awesome!
What do you mean N’sync and MTV? You definitely listen to too much N’sync and watch way too much MTV… get with the times man… buy or build a home theater PC… WTF?
Not sure if this is a poor attempt at a joke, or a poor attempt at reading.
At any rate (@ PG Rant Ham), I’ll mark this as a first (for me) in seeing a Tool fan say they could do without the videos. To me the visual stimuli is very very very much a part of Tool. And Vicarious is probably the most *out of sync* tool video. Appropriately so since it was a director’s note from Adam.
But to each their own.
I said music videos, not visual stimuli. A Tool show is visual stimuli in sync with the music. A Tool music video is, I think, Adam’s artistic reaction to the music. It’s interesting enough, but I’m simply not a music video fan unless it is subservient to the music, i.e., more abstract. Yeah, you can nitpick and say “well, music videos=visual stimuli,” then I’ll just leave the conversation be and let you be right.
Aenima is the greatest album of all time!
Here Here!
Aenema is a great song but the video is boring. Stinkfist is the best Tool video.
aenema is my fav tool video too. it just has the best over all vibe to it or something compared to all the other videos. i think vicarous is the lamest prob. except the alex grey part..thats good. that whole war of the worlds thing was kinda lame.
aenema for sure!
I generally agree with you about the Vicarious video (it’s easily my least favorite Tool video) but I prefer the first half to the Alex Grey stuff.
That didn’t post the way I intended it to, apparently I need to re-learn how the hell to use HTML…
“If anyone feels like having a bit of fun, then feel free to predict my top 10 in the comments below. Should anyone nail it, I’ll send them a little something from my collection.”
“madson4562August 29, 2013 at 5:30 pm
My guess (based largely, but not entirely, off of my own favorites):
10.) Flood
9.) Eulogy
8.) Jambi
7.) Pushit
6.) 46 & 2
5.) The Grudge
4.) Parabol/Parabola
3.) Ænema
2.) Third Eye
1.) Lateralus”
Wow, not to sound egotistical, but at least in my own Tool universe this defniitely shows a trul long time fan.. It would be incredibly hard for me to do a tool top 10, and I can’t argue really with the other suggestions. To me though Ænima is by far the number one. To me it was an absolute masterpiece written at the hieght of the rifht balance of their youth and evolution, an absolutely amazing song! Though Ænima is my favorite song, I have to give nod to Lateralus as their best overall work, but truly they are all… Read more »