Are Tool the best modern band?

The popular music world is bleak my friends. Rap is taking over the charts and falling behind it is ****** rock, emo and poser punk like Green Day, Fallout Boy, and so on. In these troubled times ...

... are Tool the best band, hands down, in the Universe? Yes. Guitar, amazing. Vocals, outstandingly orgasmic. Songwriting, actually stunning, which is INCREDIBLY rare these days.

Lateralus

Black then white are all I see in my infancy
Red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me
Lets me see
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn beyond the lines of reason.
Push the envelope, watch it bend.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition, missing opportunities and I must
Feed my will to feel my moment drawing way outside the lines.

Black then white are all I see in my infancy.
red and yellow then came to be, reaching out to me.
lets me see there is so much more
and beckons me to look through to these infinite possibilities.
As below, so above and beyond, I imagine
drawn outside the lines of reason.
Push the envelope. Watch it bend.

Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind.
Withering my intuition leaving all these opportunities behind.

Feed my will to feel this moment urging me to cross the line.
Reaching out to embrace the random.
Reaching out to embrace whatever may come.

Calmly embrace my, calmly embrace my desire to
feel the rhythm, to feel connected
enough to step aside and weep like a widow
to feel inspired, to fathom the power
to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain
to swing on the spiral
of our divinity and still be a human

With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in
I feel it move across my skin
I'm reaching up and reaching out
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.

Spiral out. Keep going...

Vicarious
- this is NOT an official video and it's pretty anti-US army, but just listen to the song?

Eye on the TV, cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavor it happens to be

Like:
"Killed by the husband"
"Drowned by the ocean"
"Shot by his own son"
"She used a poison in his tea
and kissed him goodbye"
That's my kind of story
It's no fun til someone dies

Don't look at me like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
But with the other
Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie
While the mother holds her child
Watches him die

Pleas to the sky crying,
"Why, oh why?!"

Cause I need to watch things die
From a distance
Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies
You all need it too - don't lie.

Why can't we just admit it?
Why can't we just admit,
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing
Neither the brave nor bold
Will write us a story, So,
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing

I need to watch things die
From a good safe distance
Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies
You all feel the same so
Why can't we

Just admit it

Blood like rain, come down
Drum on grave and ground

Part vampire
Part warrior
Carnivore and voyeur
Still have the transmittal
Synch to the death rattle...

Credulous at best your desire to believe in
Angels in the hearts of men
Pull your head on out
You Hippies and give a listen
Shouldn't have to say it all again

The universe is hostile
So impersonal
Devour to survive
So it is, so it's always been ...

We all feed on tragedy
It's like blood to a vampire

Vicariously, I
Live while the whole world dies
Much better you than I

10,000 Days


best lyrics ever...

Listen to the tales and romanticize,
How we follow the path of the hero
Boast about the day when the rivers overrun,
How we rise to the height of our halo.

Listen to the tales as we all rationalize
Our way into the arms of the savior
Feigning all the trials and the tribulations,
None of us have actually been there,
Not like you...

Ignorant siblings in the congregation
Gather around spewing sympathy,
Spare me...
None of them can even hold a candle up to you,
Blinded by choices these hypocrites won't see

But enough about the collective Judas
Who could deny you were the one who illuminated
your little piece of the divine

This little light of mine, a gift you passed onto me,
I'm gonna let it shine,
to guide you safely on your way
Your way home...

Ohh, what are they gonna do when the lights go down
without you to guide them all to Zion?
What are they gonna do when the rivers overrun
other than tremble incessantly?

High is the way
but all eyes are upon the ground.
You are the light and the way
They'll only read about

I only pray heaven knows
When to lift you out
10,000 days in the fire is long enough
You're going home...

You're the only one who can hold your head up high,
Shake your fist at the gates saying,
"I have come home now!"

Fetch me the spirit, the son and the father,
Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended.

It's time now!
My time now!
Give me my
Give me my wings!"
"Give me my wings!"

You are the light, the way, that they will only read about

Set as I am in my ways and my arrogance
Burden of proof tossed upon the believers.
You were my witness, my eyes, my evidence,
Judith Marie, unconditional one.

Daylight dims leaving cold fluorescense
Difficult to see you in this light
Please forgive this bold suggestion, but
Should you see your maker's face tonight
Look him in the eye
Look him in the eye and tell him
I never lived a lie, never took a life,
But surely saved one

Hallelujah,
It's time for you to bring me home.

Right in Two

Angels on the sideline,
Puzzled and amused
Why did Father give these humans free will?
Now they're all confused

Don't these talking monkeys know that
Eden has enough to go around?
Plenty in this holy garden, silly monkeys,
Where there's one you're bound to divide it.
Right in two

Angels on the sideline,
Baffled and confused
Father blessed them all with reason.
And this is what they choose
And this is what they choose...

Monkey killing monkey killing monkey
Over pieces of the ground
Silly monkeys give them thumbs,
They forge a blade,
And where there's one
they're bound to divide it,
Right in two
Right in two

Monkey killing monkey killing monkey,
Over pieces of the ground
Silly monkeys give them thumbs,
They make a club.
And beat their brother down
How they survive so misguided is a mystery

Repugnant is a creature who would squander
the ability to lift an eye to heaven,
conscious of his fleeting time here.

Cut it all right in two
Cut it all right in two
Cut it all right in two
Cut it all right in two

Fight over the clouds, over earth, over canyon
They fight for our love, for our blood, over heaven,
Fight over love, over sun,
over nothing, they fight till they die,
and for what? For their lives ending.

Angels on the sideline again
Benched along with patience and reason
Angels on the sideline again
Wondering when this tug of war will end

Cut it all right in two
Cut it all right in two
Cut it all right in two

Right in two...

No... Maybe. I'll give them a listen later.

Tool is great, probably one of my favorite bands. Everyone I knew, when I was in high school, loved them at the time but I havn't heard them much lately.

they cant beat this

No.

How do people not like tool? They are awesome unless you have a solely 1 dimensional taste in music.

Tool (and up until they broke up, A Perfect Circle) are awesome, IMO. Personally I find the song Parabola to be orgasmic, but anyway...

Im not sure whether tool are the best modern band, but they are a damn sight better than the R&B/hip hop crap we got thrown these days...

"The best 'modern' band"? No. Good at what they do? Yes. There are just too many genres, too many producers and so many moods to say that any is the 'best'.
Also, please try to not confuse r&b (I refuse to capitalise it, unless it is for Rhythm and Blues bands like Jools Holland..) and (c)Rap with Hip-Hop. Yes, I am quite pedantic, but Acts like Ugly Duckling, DJ Format, J5, DJ Yoda and similar are so far away from any 'Guns *****es and Bling' tripe.

A nice statement starts about 1:19 - and it seems to suit the theme of this thread!!

Quite clearly, yes they are. But (and this is coming from a massive fan of the band) its mainly due to the general lack of quality in modern rock music.
Tool, in my opinion, are the Led Zeppelin of their generation (although they will never be as commercially successful) but that doesn't necessarily make them the "best" band of the moment. In an ideal world there would be a lot more competition for that title, in the same way that Zep had competition in the 70's.

I prefer Deadsoul Tribe, but seeing as they're really a bit of a Tool ripoff, they lose points on originality.

Anyway, some bands I prefer to Tool:
Ulver
Calexico
Pain of Salvation
Mercury Rev
Agalloch
Ayreon
Porcupine Tree
Probably Lambchop, I've just started listening to them.
Apart from that, Tool =

Though Nine Inch Nails is my favorite band, I'm going to give this poll a yes, because Tool is so awesome. We need more bands like this.

Short answer: No

Long Answer: Yes I like Tool, and yes the band has skilled musicians, but when it comes down to it, it's arguably true that they don't explore their sonic landscape nearly enough to be called 'greatest'. Individually perhaps yes, but not as a whole under the monicker 'Tool'.

There are numerous other fusion bands that I would rate higher than Tool.

as of now, yes.

I've known about them for a while, but really only discovered them a few years ago and have been hooked since.

But I will echo Rhah's sentiment that the main reason Tool blows every one else away is because right now is there isn't much originality out there while Tool manages again and again to keep it "fresh"

That said, if you don't like them, then "**** you buddy"

No way.

They are alright, but way overrated.

EDIT: Also, I got extremely sick of hearing Schism on the radio. I think the music in their songs are so much better than the singing, which kind of sucks most of the time IMO.

Originally Posted by the_mango55

No way.

They are alright, but way overrated.

EDIT: Also, I got extremely sick of hearing Schism on the radio. I think the music in their songs are so much better than the singing, which kind of sucks most of the time IMO.

They play Tool on the radio where you live? The chances of that happening in the UK are so minimal its not worth mentioning, except possible on a specialised rock show, or internet radio stations.

What is it about the singing that you don't like? Personally I think Maynard James Keenan has an excellent voice. Some of his vocal work with Tool can be a bit dissonant, but IMO it adds to the music. Check out "Wings for Marie pt 2" for an excellent example of his vocal's at its best.

I echo Pra's statement.

Tool is not my cup of tea.
I like Radiohead more, but everyone likes other bands.

Heard of them but nothing by them, until now, so thanks for the info, but it's obviously not my thing. Too heavy for me.

I give you Stonegard, the band I've been shamelessly bragging about:

http://www.stonegard.org/enter/index...ayer&Itemid=17

Listen to The White Shaded Lie.
NOW. OBEY!

I've always been wary of deciding on a "best" band, and while Tool are definitely one of my top 5 bands, I'd find it hard to say they were. Amazing instrumentally and with awesome songwriting they'd be up there vying for it, but truly, as has been stated, there's just too much out there for it.

Specifically, I would like to think they have struck the balance perfectly. They're not so Progressive/Complex (in fact, there's a vast amount out there that is far more musically complex) that they loose the ability to hook new people, but not nearly "Popular" enough to simply be liked for their status. They certainly deserve recognition for their attitude to the industry too.

Yes. No question about it.