Fred Durst says people misunderstand Limp Bizkit’s ‘Nookie’: “Nobody listened to the story”
Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst has pointed out that fans frequently misunderstand the lyrics to the band’s 1999 hit ‘Nookie’.
Despite the song’s chorus, where Durst raps that he “did it all for the nookie”, people frequently overlook that the song is concerned less with sex than it is with love despite its title.
In a new interview with Dazed, Durst was asked: “In 1999, you’re doing it all for the nookie. What are you doing it all for in 2025?” prompting him to explain his frustrations with how the song gets misinterpreted.
“The funny thing about that though, nobody listened to the story in ‘Nookie’ — they just listened to the catchphrase,” Durst said. “It’s like when I say Rage Against the Machine, they listen to, ‘Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me‘ — they don’t listen to the rest of it.
“‘Nookie’ — the first time I had been intimate with someone it happened later and I was very much head over heels in love because of that, and I was just that guy. I was very much a vulnerable person in that world and I couldn’t believe it even happened. So I fell in love and then this person was sleeping with other people, and people would say, ‘Fred, you’re so upset, why are you staying?,’ and I’d say ‘Because, we made love’ and I found a different way to say that: I did it all for the nookie. That sounded more fun. So what I did it for then was the love.”
This much becomes clear when it comes to lyrics like, “It’s kinda sad, I’m the laughin’ stock of the neighborhood/ And you would think that I’d be movin’ on (movin’)/ But I’m a sucker like I said/ Fucked up in the head (not)/ And maybe she just made a mistake/ And I should give her a break/ My heart will ache either way.”
In other news, Limp Bizkit recently became involved in a legal battle with Universal Music Group.
In October, Durst filed a lawsuit against UMG for $200million on the count of fraud, alleging that the music label and publishing company had withheld the band’s royalties for years before they made an inquiry on it and only got paid “recently”.
According to the Limp Bizkit vocalist, the group “never received any royalties from UMG”, until this August – despite having sold millions of albums and still earning “millions of streaming users per month on Spotify alone” for years. The lawsuit also alleged that UMG had intended to “unfairly keep those profits for itself”.
Now, it has been revealed that UMG are reportedly seeking to get the lawsuit dismissed. Per Rolling Stone, UMG on Friday (November 22) filed for their motion and said in a statement that Durst’s allegations were “based on fallacy.” UMG added: “Plaintiffs’ entire narrative that UMG tried to conceal royalties is a fiction”.
A rep for Limp Bizkit has since commented to Rolling Stone on UMG’s motion to dismiss: “We will rely on the facts, the law and the courts. When someone is caught red-handed, their first response is often to hire very expensive outside law firms who first, as a matter of course, try anything to dismiss the suit when they are in trouble with the facts.”
The representative added: “In this case, we believe UMG is using a typical, formulaic, well-trodden strategy of reaching for any escape route by desperately grasping at technicalities.”
Earlier this month, Limp Bizkit revealed that they have been back in the studio and are working on a new album. The upcoming album will serve as a follow-up to Limp Bizkit’s 2021 LP ‘Still Sucks’, which marked their first full-length release in a decade, following on from 2011’s ‘Gold Cobra’.
They have also announced their ‘Loserville’ UK tour for 2025. You can visit here to purchase tickets.
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Emma Wilkes
NME
