Limp Bizkit v Nine Inch Nails: what led to the feud between the two acts touring the UK in 2025?

Metal fans are in for a dose of nostalgia, with Nine Inch Nails and Limp Bizkit both visiting the UK in the next 12 months.

Nine Inch Nails are set to bring their Peel It Back Tour to the UK in June, with dates at Manchester’s Co-op Live (June 17) and The O2 in London (June 18), while Limp Bizkit’s LOSERVILLE tour rolls into town with dates in Glasgow (March 8), Birmingham (March 13), Manchester (March 15) and London (March 16) before performing at Leeds and Reading 2025.

Both bands are still lauded to this day, with Trent Reznor becoming an Oscar-winning composer and Nine Inch Nails still considered the peak of artistic and commercial acclaim with their catalogue of works, meanwhile Limp Bizkit’s exuberant energy and sing-a-long anthems evoke the spirit of the millennium, where wallet chains and hoodies were all the rage.

Both bands were incredibly popular, but a divide would form between alternative music fans at the turn of the millennium; one where the commercial nature of music and the ‘meat head’ attitudes of nu-metal jarred against the works and artistic endeavours of industrial and alternative music.

Long before Kendrick Lamar and Drake beefed over musical ideologies, Trent Reznor and Fred Durst were caught up in a beef that played out across music television, music magazines and ultimately a song on one of the band’s most successful releases.

Limp Bizkit v Nine Inch Nails - what led to their feud?

The rise of nu-metal’s commercialism vs artistic expression

It’s the late ‘90s and the musical landscape has changed; nu-metal has become the dominant genre, with MTV playing the likes of Korn, Deftones and Staind, alongside Fred Durst becoming as much a media personality as he was the frontman for Limp Bizkit.

Nu-metal was no longer this underground movement, but instead had become part of the cultural fabric leading into the new millennium; and its commercial value was at an all time high; these were the years where an incredibly heavy song would still be on A-rotation on radio stations and music networks across the world.

However, within the alternative scene, a group of artists remained more interested in the artistic endeavours of their music rather than simply the commercial viability - think some of Kendrick Lamar’s barbs towards Drake as a modern day equivalent.

One of those artists would be Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, who after releasing the highly celebrated, if not deeply unnerving The Downward Spiral in 1994 was set to release the much-anticipated follow up, The Fragile, in 1999. While both albums would gain critical acclaim and commercial success (The Fragile ended up topping the Billboard 200), it felt like the more ‘serious’ musicianship was being overlooked for nu-metal.

That then led to Trent Reznor making his first comments about nu-metal and, in particular, Fred Durst.

The Spark: Trent Reznor's Initial Criticism

Reznor’s attitude towards the commercial aspect versus the artist aspect of nu-metal during its rise was one of disparagement and openly critical; in a 2002 interview with Kerrang! Magazine, when questioned about nu-metal, he responded that the genre seemed “really insincere” and even went as far as to call it "comical, a parody of itself,” with this sentiment particularly directed towards Fred Durst.

With Durst very much the ‘spokesperson’ at the time for the nu-metal movement, whether he wanted to be in that position or not, it led to many musicians who were not fans of Limp Bizkit or ‘nu-metal’ to make him the personification of what was wrong with it.

In a now infamous interview with Rolling Stone Magazine in 1999, when asked about the Limp Bizkit frontman, Reznor referred to Durst as a ‘moron’ and referenced the infamous Woodstock 1999 performance, which was marred by reports of fires and violence, by stating: “Let Fred Durst surf a piece of plywood up my a**.”

Reznor would also go on to parody Fred Durst, along with many of names in the music industry, in the music video for 1999’s Starf****rs Inc, with the singer throwing a baseball at a plate bearing Durst’s image.

This open disdain may have also been intensified by events happening within his record label, Interscope. Reznor formed the imprint nothing through Interscope 1992, with the major label providing distribution for releases, but allowing Reznor artistic control over the catalogue of releases.

But by June 1999, owing to the success of Limp Bizkit’s Significant Other, Fred Durst was given the role of Senior Vice President of A&R - which allowed him to sign acts such as Staind, Puddle of Mudd and Cold; all acts which fit into Reznor’s notion of commercialism vs artistic expression, therefore solidifying Durst in Reznor's mind as the personification of the problem.

The Response: Limp Bizkit's "Hot Dog"

In contrast to Trent Reznor's direct disdain towards nu-metal and Fred Durst, Limp Bizkit's initial response was mixed and tempered; reports started to do the rounds that Durst felt Reznor was merely “jealous” of Limp Bizkit’s commercial success while at other times reports were that the band were just doing what they did, and that they had "nothing to say about anybody."

Except for the opening track on their 2000 album, Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water.

Hot Dog seemed to take a specific aim towards Reznor, with lyrics such as “a nine-inch nail'll get knocked the f*** out" and perhaps the biggest attack of them all, the interpolation of Nine Inch Nail’s classic Closer, with Durst singing: “You wanna f*** me like an animal/You like to burn me on the inside/You like to think that I'm a perfect drug/Just know that nothing you do will bring you closer to me.”

The release of Hot Dog transformed the Reznor/Durst conflict from a private disagreement into a public spectacle. Suddenly, fans, critics, and the music industry itself were forced to pick a side: Limp Bizkit or Nine Inch Nails.

Picking a side: Limp Bizkit or Nine Inch Nails

There was a clear divide among some (importantly, not all) alternative fans, whether you were all in with the nu-metal boom or whether you felt that alternative music still needed that element of artistic expression.

Fans who sided with Limp Bizkit embraced the confrontational, ‘I don’t give a f***’ attitude Durst and the band had, perceiving Reznor’s comments about the band and nu-metal as a whole as pretentious, that the clap back was a rebellious move in line with the band’s image at the time and that the band didn’t care about what critics and ‘serious’ musicians thought.

But in contrast, those who supported Nine Inch Nails felt that Hot Dog was a cheap and immature attempt to gain attention, that Fred Durst was beneath Trent Reznor and that the interpolation of Closer was a perceived lack of artistic merit and a desecration of the wildly popular NIN track.

With the rise of internet forums and fandom in the early ‘00s, opinions spread like wildfire, fanned in part by the media’s reinforcement of music-related feuds at the time (see: Spice Girls v All Saints.) MTV would play both bands’ videos on heavy rotation, visually showing the 'beef' - even if the clap back didn’t have an official video.

What happened next?

As the early 2000s progressed, the intensity of the Reznor/Durst feud began to subside. But while the public spectacle faded, the legacy of their clash remained, leaving a lasting impact on both bands and the broader music landscape.

While Fred Durst would ultimately become vilified by the metal scene, be it oversaturation of the band, of Fred as a personality, or just a change in tastes, the band would continue to release music - though nothing to the acclaim of both Significant Other and Chocolate Starfish…

But for Trent Reznor - he would go on to work on movie soundtracks such as David Fincher’s The Social Network, Gone Girl and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Coincidentally, Fincher would be the music video director for Nine Inch Nail’s classic, Closer, the very song Limp Bizkit used in their attack on Reznor.

It would be these works that saw Reznor earn his first of two Academy Awards with Atticus Ross, with The Social Network earning him Best Original Score in 2010, followed by his second win for Soul in 2020.

Fan opinion has also settled down decades later, with Nine Inch Nails still revered as this artistic, serious, very astute musical project while Limp Bizkit as a revered, party band and a nod back to the hedonistic times of nu-metal when it ruled the airwaves.

Tickets to see Limp Bizkit at Leeds and Reading Festival and their LOSERVILLE tour are currently on sale through Ticketmaster, with tickets to see Nine Inch Nails on their UK tour also available through the ticketing agent.