September always marks that mad switch from a frenzy of summer festivals to an explosion of new material through the autumn and winter months. With that said this was quite a hard choice, but in light of their recent resurgence and build up to the upcoming tour this just had to be Limp Bizkit. September 2003 was an interesting time in the life cycle of this band. Perhaps the real 'genius' behind it all Wes Borland was no longer in the band, instead replaced with Snot's guitarist Mike Smith who to be honest put in a sterling effort, but fact is Results May Vary just didn't cut it.
Significant Other was one of the most important nu-metal releases of all time, then Chocolate Starfish catapulted this band into another universe, but when Results May Vary came along there was just something different, something lacking. Fred Durst still had his red hat on and his aggressive ego, but maybe it was the Borland factor. Limp Bizkit had gone from writing albums of wall to wall bangers to an album with only very few highlights. Some of the highlight's on this album though really are just that, Eat You Alive still features prominently in live sets and always gets a good reaction. Gimme The Mic and Head For The Barricade (which breaks down into an absolutely ridiculous thrashy section) had all the kinds of riffs and lyrics which made this band so much fun in the first place. Away from that though most of the tracks just lacked direction, just really long verses and a slower pace, similar somewhat to My Way but just not as good. And don't even get me started on the Behind Blue Eyes cover.....
Despite all of the mixed reviews and just generally negative prose towards Mr Durst, this album sold brilliantly but this was mainly because it was taking a ride on the great success previous releases had. How did the album impact Limp Bizkit though? Well there was a brief stint in 2004 where Borland returned and the band recorded the more experimental The Unquestionable Truth Part One but after that they went on hiatus. The pressure on Results May Vary was massive and in the end it definitely caught up with them. The band's resurgence in 2009 up until the present day was hugely unexpected and they still put on one of the most fun live shows you'll ever see. But the fact that the set-lists from gigs in the past few years have been distinctly lacking in Results May Vary material says a lot. You can easily go as far as saying Results May Vary brought this band crashing back down to earth in a hurry.