I know you've probably read a thousand of these but I think I have a fairly interesting story about how I was introduced to Tool. The year is 2006, my mom suggested we go together on vacation and even though I'm a teenager I agree. We need to go there by a long hour train, so to have something to do I buy a Men's Health magazine (don't judge me I was an aspiring 16 year old).

When we get there, it's so hot and remote that beyond some few hours in the morning and evening when you can go swim in the sea, there's nothing else to do. So after reading about whatever it is I was interested in MH, I start reading it front to back out of boredom. And one of the articles is about this music album from a band I never heard before. The pages are BLACK and there's this weird cover art, and it's called 10000 Days. Okay, whatever. I start to read and it captivates me, it's hard to explain but the author was quite eloquent with his impressions about it. It was literally a review of each track separately, some back story, weird paragpahs about song structure (who does that? who cares?) and then the whole thing together, but it's written so intense that I started imagining what may it sound like.

My parents were into classic rock but I never was. I always listened (still do) to different kinds of electronic music, with a few very rare exceptions. Like, 3 or 4 bands? So anyway, this is not my kind of music but there's nothing else to do and so I read it, and I try to imagine it. Mind you, the year is 2006, I'm in the middle of nowhere with no internet or music stores, nothing, the phones didn't even have touch screens back then.

I read that review dozens of times, because I was stranded there for two more weeks and there was nothing to read expect for this MH and one video game mag. Over time I realized I just have to get this album just out of sheer curiosity. For two weeks I've been reading about each of the songs daily and since there's just one review and it's this one it must be important and good, right?

And when I got home this is was the first thing I did. Got 10000 days. It was fucking weird, man. Like jazz, no coherent simple 4/4 beat of anything, basically not having typical song structure and the vocals were all over the place. It was not at all what I imagined, obviously, so I went back and reread the article again and thought 'yeah man okay sure, whatever'. But somehow I didn't delete it and over the months or maybe even years it grew on me, to the point I finally got it, if that makes sense. To this day 10000 Days is my favourite album of theirs — I don't even consider it to be the best, but it's my favourite by a longshot because I always remember how I was a kid, 20 years ago, in a tiny hut, reading Men's Health and trying to imagine music that literally can't be compared to anything else, so how can you even imagine something like that if you never heard Tool?

:)

In my opinion I’ve gravitated around lateralus Salival and 10000 days but I want to see what you think the best one is.

This guy's work is gorgeous. I'll have to win a lottery to ever afford it, but definitely want to get something Tool inspired from him if I do! I don't know if anyone is interested, but I'd be happy to share his site if you are.

So there are a plethora of songs written by Maynard where the vocals repeat themselves. I have called the mantras and I have heard them referred to as mantras elsewhere by other people. Now, technically, the definition of mantra is a word or a few words or even a sound said by person to imply some sort of spiritual meaning into the words so that one should say these in meditation or something spiritual is not religious. Make sure we understand and then proceed, but I do believe that it’s pretty clear. Maynard seems to believe in a spiritual realm even if it’s only as we exist in this form, it seems like to me he’s saying in a song like Pneuma that you know we aren’t flesh and it’s not a stretch from here to go to the spiritual now that’s for his mantras and his songs. I just take him to be the repeated sequences of words that he says over and over again in many of the songs that they have written, but he writes all the vocals so he wrote all the mantras so these are Maynard’s mantras

My top five will go down from 5 to 1 and these were hard, except #1. Let me tell you one is not hard for me. One is so easy. It’s like knife through hot butter. I mean it’s like no-brainer type thing but I know there’s gonna be a lot disagreement with me on everything pretty much and that’s fine. I want to hear what’s other people like that is different and why. I like people that don’t agree with me and you are able to tell me why. I get it and I respect it.

5. Lateralus – the mantra “spiral our, spiral out, keep going, spiral our , keep going, “ etc you get the picture. It’s hard to put this number five in category because it’s probably one of their top songs they’ve ever been I know for a long time. I thought it was the best song I don’t think that currently but you know sounds big change overtime I know plenty of tools to take different shapes and forms for me That have dramatically changed my opinion from I hate that song to It’s my favorite song in the blink of an eye. That’s just the way the music works. Listen to it enough, it will happen.

6. Reflection – I probably could’ve put lateralus here, but I’m going to go with reflection. Reflection is such a powerful spiritual song and so meditative in the drums just sing throughout that song I mean they are just like between manage vocals and gains drums. I mean that song is just out of this world like I don’t even know how in the world they made that song I mean both the subject matter and the music are so spot on beautiful. It is so true so metaphorically true I should say that they point to the truth is greater than what the words are actually say that’s hard to do but the man sure that I love him. This song is at the very end of course when he’s talking about crucified, we can get before we Pine away before Pine away. He says Pine away over and over and over that’s the number four rated mantra by me

7. Bottom – I really had a problem with this this one and number two. They’re on the same album,undertow, and yeah well its so hard to pick one over the other. sometimes I like the other l one sometimes I like this one better I mean just depends on like who I’m hating on right at that moment. But dead inside dead inside dead insiiiiiiiiude!!!! I think it should be pointed out that when states that the nameless now shameless now naked man nothing now that should be included in part of the mantra dead inside isn’t the two words he says the most, but those other parts are in person in between the dead inside Mantras so in a way they’re sort of a sub mantra within the mantra.

I mean when he is just screaming at the top of his lungs after that Rollins little commentary in the middle of it holy crap it is just stomach turning knowing angst that I have felt in my life only a few times, but Buddy I know what he meant and he did too. He felt dead inside. There’s no question about it.

2. Intolerance - you lie cheat and steal, lie cheat and steal, ad infinitum ”. In my opinion this one needs no explanation as for where you want to rank it, I’ll give it to you, but it better be in everybody’s top 5

3. Third eye all the way - 1st of all can we just talk about the number of Mantras He fits into this one song? I believe there’s at least one mantra left out of the salival of our version however, salival is my favorite person but it’s either four or five mantras depending I think on which version if I’m not mistaken, the valve version having the regular version having anyway, what are these mantras you might ask?

4. In, out - I this section of the song always reminds me of a train, pulling into a station and all those skiing noises and I mean it sounds really loud, but and I always get the sensation of a train coming in. It’s station in this case to see the goddess of death and destruction , the goddess Shiva with her blue form and third eye to tell us about our ancestors or what our forms were as people before this life that that is where you get, you know wines about when he tries to reassemble just to see who he might have been that is a reference to that part of the Hindu tradition. I’ll be honest with you. This might be my favorite monster in the whole song. There’s another one that’s competing for it. The number one spot of the mantras in this song but definitely top two and it’s in reference to the breathing and I took in to be when you inhale deeply and out when you exhale as you meditate. And all this is happening as the you’ll into shivas railroad station. I really love this past of the song.

5. Prying open my third eye - i’m going to be very, very honest with you guys and tell you that I have hated the song for much of my tool fandom. This is by no means a happy thing to admit it is just one of those songs I couldnt like that and it would kill the song vibe for me. I’ve loved the so good to see you once again… etc. I mean that was beautiful, but then he would have the screaming parts. I mean barbaric yalps of prying open his eye.

Now if somebody called in to question why haven’t you asked or put up the scream as Mantras? you know the very first thing he ever does in this song that could be considered possibly mantra cause remember it doesn’t have to be a word. It can be a sound. it’s just Ahhhhhhhh ahhhhhhbhhbhb ahhhhhhhhhb but I guess you could say it sort of a mantra. He just screams at the top of his lungs. That actually would be the first mantra if we’re counting from first to last would be the screams just ahhhhhhh. I left it out. I’ll be interested to hear if you consider it a mantra.
3. I opened my eye - this is the other mantra that I would rank in the top two there’s just a celebratory way in which he’s singing. It’s almost like a child skipping around jumping I open my eye. I open my eyes so funny I love it. Absolutely adore that part of the song he’s like a little kid running around with his Christmas presents or something look at what I got. I open my eye i open my eye. what a Christmas gift indeed. 4. Prying open my third eye (regular version) - even though salival verxion is my favorite The regular album version of this does the prying of my third eye at the end of it like 20 times and I never get sick of it man I wish you were on the salival version aka the live version I mean that would’ve been epic for him to do live because I think he only does it five times in the live version because it’s probably pretty tough on cords and I don’t know how many times he does it in the regular version. It’s like 10 it’s gotta be over 10 maybe 15. I think it’s 10 I mean 10 times saying that is a lot now there’s no question the mantra that he says the most in any of the songs I’ve listed so far is from intolerance. He says that 50 times but we’re not talking about that. I love the fact that he says it 50 times I’ll be honest with you that repetitive like you lie cheat still lie cheat do I mean that just get you in the zone of just hatred and intolerance like I just wanna beat the shit out of somebody you know it’s good to feel that way sometimes sometimes you just need to feel like that and then you just let it go live the grudge teaches. No one can tell me that it’s not nice to go to that hatred place just every now and then just let all that out…. anyway that is my top five maynard mantras.

Hey TA. Was looking to stock up on some tool new tool shirts as all of mine have holes or the logo is gone lol.

I really love heavy weight cotton t shirts (like Carhartt material). Do you all know any site that sells tool t shirts that are heavy-ish cotton? I hate the thin, stretchy shirts the official tool site is selling. They feel so cheap and crappy.

My buddy introduced me to Pneuma, Sober, the Pot, 46&2, Schism and they were cool and all but I wouldn't have called myself a Tool fan. Fast forward 2 years, Tool plays in our city and I bought us tickets (160 for both including fees!) I was blown away by hearing them live. At the time, I only knew 2 of the songs they played. I then listened to their entire discography and Parabola just hit me on an entirely different level. I'm already into that esoteric stuff and this song resonated very well for me. Ever since then, Tool has been my favorite artist. I'm also starting to feel that same feeling with APC, with "The Outsider". Maynard truly is a treasure.

Since 2000 only one rock band has had two albums sell over 500,000 copies in the US in their debut release weeks and that is Tool.

Lateralus in 2001 with 555,200 copied sold and then 10,000 Days with 564,000 copies sold.

Linkin Park, Limp Bizket, Coldplay and Green Day are the only other acts who had one 500k debut week's for an album this century.

Anyone forgot or has never heard this absolute classic from Shpongle! Still a sister band to Tool as far as I’m concerned!

https://youtu.be/a83Z1d1_ERo?si=NGEAiSJV3B3UMKfg

Vicarious by... The Red Hot Chili Peppers?

Spiral out :) quilt was finished

Wow, didn't know he was a fan of the show!!

I know, this has been asked before, but I'm sure some opinions have changed so I'd like to hear them!

Here's mine:

1. Rosetta Stoned
2. The Grudge
3. Pneuma
4. Lateralus
5. Vicarious
6. Prison Sex
7. Forty-Six & 2
8. Schism
9. The Pot
10. Sober

I used to make mix tapes for all tool albums that removed the interludes. Now have playlists for each album without any interludes. Does this make me a bad tool fan or the worst tool fan? On a scale of 1 to -10000 how terrible am I?

Edit: useful idiot and intermission are exceptions. Intermission is also my ringtone.

Their guest this week was “Taxidermist to the stars” and she mentioned, among other celebrities, that she did a “goat’s head with 4 horns” for Adam and it gave me a chuckle. Seems like the kind of thing he would commission from her lol. Her name is Amber Maycut

She didn’t really elaborate specifically on Adam but the host said something like “I can see stuff like that working for metal guys”

Logged in to check out a sale a while ago, and it was asking me to "become a member" - but I've had a lifetime membership since way back in the day.

I did indeed contact support almost 2 weeks ago now and have heard nothing back. Curious if anyone else with a lifetime membership has logged in any time recently and checked?

I don't wanna be caught without access if/when there's a US Tour again.

so ive been listening to tool non stop for about 2 months now and i wanna listen to some more stuff like it. im aware that maynard is in APC and i see people mentioning it here so im guessing its similar do you guys have songs recommendations i could start off with?

Sounds about right