Lookin' Under The Lid: Three Dollar Bill's, Y'all!

There was a time when red baseball hats weren’t so popular. Before they went behind blue eyes, before they were rollin’ and before it was all for the nookie, Limp Bizkit didn’t care about setting trends. Although later albums caught the eye of the teeny-boppers, Three Dollar Bills, Y’all! (their 1997 debut) rooted the band with a respectable rock following.

It all started out with a record deal … and a car accident. The band (discounting guitarist Wes Borland at the time) was driving to Texas to record their album, but a nasty accident almost ended their lives. After regrouping, signing with a new label (Interscope) and bringing Wes Borland back into the mix, Three Dollar Bills, Y’all was completed. In the “Intro,” Fred Durst (LB front man) asks God to get rid of all the evil on earth and kill the pollution, leaving me to think, “Metal’s supposed to be evil. This doesn’t sound very metal.” Soon after that, Wes Borland and Sam Rivers slam the strings of their guitar and bass (respectively), introducing “Pollution” and the rest of Limp Bizkit’s effort. The most unique characteristic of this album is that the songs reveal their own identity. The hip-hopish “Counterfeit” challenges people to stop being posers, the island-sounding “Sour” focuses on a whipped boyfriend realizing his ex-girlfriend is a bitch and the bass-jazzy “Stuck” centers on a money-hungry lady trying to ride the coattails of her ex-boyfriend’s musical success. Also jammed into this record is the famous cover of George Michael’s “Faith.”

There are several ups and downs about this disc. The positives include the rhythms, which are simply badass. The way Fred Durst incorporates his rapping style with his screaming ability simply rocks (prime example would be on “Counterfeit”). DJ Lethal also incorporates several good ideas with his scratching, which gives the album a “not so clean sound.” Sometimes though, we have to take the good with the bad. “Nobody Loves Me” officially marks the beginning of Fred Durst whining. The prayer in “Intro” does not seem too metal and at the end of every song, there is about forty-five seconds of annoying noise. If it weren’t for the killer rhythms, I’d throw this album in the trash.

The Decision: Keep it in the stash.

(Would you ‘Keep it in the stash’ or ‘Throw it in the trash’? Let us know.)

5 replies on “Lookin' Under The Lid: Three Dollar Bill's, Y'all!”

Not being a very big limp bizkit fan, i’d be throwing it in the trash… but i never bought it in the first place. 😀

i like the idea for this column, similar to wally’s old one but not the same.

That being said, yeah i kinda have a guilty pleasure in this album, i still listen to it from time to time, even though i hate their later shit, i can’t deny that this stuff was pretty good and original at the time, and still holds up. Too bad the band didn’t.

One problem though, seriously Bear… enough with the limp bizkit love, lol you need to move on with your life.

Comments are closed.