THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

583-Limp Bizkit-Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle)

2000-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 0.07. At a cost of approximately $3 million, the songs video was filmed around, and on the roof of the World Trade Centre. The day before the twin towers were destroyed the band received a letter from the World Trade Centre thanking them for featuring the towers in the video.

Limp Bizkit were formed in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, in 1994, and remained active until 2006, then after a hiatus they reformed in 2009. The original line up was made up of Fred Durst, (vocals) John Otto, (drums) Sam Rivers, (bass) and Rob Waters (guitars.) Waters left in 1995, soon after the arrival of Wes Borland, (guitars) then DJ Lethal, (turntables, and sampling) joined the group in 1996, after leaving the ‘Hip-Hop’ group ‘House of Pain.’ (see also best songs 75) The groups other two members were Terry Balsamo, (guitars) who was a member in 1995, and Mike Smith, (guitars) who was a member between 2002-2004. It was the groups lead singer Fred Durst who named them ‘Limp Bizit,’ because he wanted a name that would repel listeners, he has said,’The name is there to turn people’s heads away. A lot of people pick up the disc and go, ‘Limp Bizkit, they must suck.’ Those are the people that we don’t even want listening to our music.’ It is said that every record label that showed an interest in the band pressured its members to change its name.

Limp Bizkit who record in the musical genres of ‘Nu Metal,’ ‘Rap Rock,’ and ‘Rap Metal,’ have sold in excess of 40 million records worldwide. Their discography includes six studio Albums released between 1997-2021, and 21 singles released within the same time period, there are also three official compilation Albums, and one live Album available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, they have never had a top 40 hit single, although the majority of their singles have charted high on either the ‘Alternative Airplay’ chart, or the ‘Mainstream Rock’ chart. In America they are seen as an Albums group, with two of their Albums ‘Significant Other,’ (1999) and ‘Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water,’ (2000) both reaching Number 1. In the UK Limp Bizkit have achieved seven top 40 singles, with ‘Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle’) making the Number 1 spot in 2000.

‘Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle’) was the third of five singles released from ‘Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water,’ the third studio Album by Limp Bizkit from October 2000. The music was written by group members Wes Borland, Sam Rivers, and John Otto, with the lyrics written by Fred Durst, who also co-produced the track along with Terry Date, who is an American music producer who has produced, engineered, or mixed for dozens of other ‘Rock’ artists, including Soundgarden, Slipknot, and Pantera.

‘Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle’) was not actually the original version of the song, as it in fact started out life as a ‘Hip-Hop’ track called ‘Rollin’ (Urban Assault Vehicle’) collaborated upon by Fred Durst, and the Hip-Hop music producer Swiss Beatz, with contributions from the rappers DMX, (19070-2021) Method Man, (see also best songs 359 and 166) and Redman. The ‘Hip-Hop’ version appears on the ”Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water’ Album as the second last track, and is the version which reached Number 65 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Wes Borland of Limp Bizkit has said, ‘Rollin’ was originally going to be just a straight Hip-Hop song,, but after we heard it, we were like, ‘No, man, we’ve got to turn this into a rock song.’ We liked both versions so much that that’s what it ended up being, two versions: a Hip-Hop version of the song and a rock version of the song.’

Limp Bizkit are one of the leading protagonists in the development of the musical genre ‘Nu metal,’ which is a sub-genre of ‘Alternative Rock,’ that combines elements of ‘Heavy Metal’ music, with elements of other music genres such as ‘Hip-Hop,’ ‘Alternative Rock,’ ‘Funk,’ ‘Industrial,’ and ‘Grunge.’ Vocal styles in ‘Nu Metal’ include singing, rapping, screaming and growling. In the late 1980’s, and early 1990’s, it was groups such as Pantera, Helmet, Faith No More, (see also best songs 335) and Korn who were influential in the development of ‘Nu Metal,’ with groups such as Papa Roach and Linkin Park helping it reach it’s commercial peak in the early 2000’s.

‘Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle’) has been critically acclaimed by many publications, but not always the songs lyrics. My advice is don’t look for any in-depth meaning, after all the American wrestler ‘The Undertaker’ used the song for his entrance in the ‘WWE.’

‘Alright, partner, keep on rollin’, baby, you know what time it is. Throw your hands up, throw your, your hands up. Ladies and gentlemen, Chocolate Starfish, wanna keep on rolling, baby.’