Del.icio.usTool
Fact Sheet
| Country | USA |
| Years active | 1990- |
Indicative of their varied and far-reaching influences (chiefly King Crimson, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin), their music features complex harmonic structures, unconventional time signatures, and borderline New Age subject matter. They may be the only popular musical group to have recorded songs about the mutation of DNA and geometric plane curves. D'Amour left the band in 1995 and was replaced by Justin Chancellor of the UK band Peach in time for Tool's 1996 album Ænima.
Tool has long clashed with conventional television and radio due to their dark musical content and dry disposition: their first single from Ænima was at first shortened for radio play by broadcasting companies until overwhelming fan response compelled them to play the track uncut. The music video for that single, "Stinkfist," was consequently renamed because of the title's suggestive nature to "Track #1." Though their Ænima singles received heavy radio play, their 2001 release Lateralus featured songs that averaged six and a half minutes in length, unwieldy for even the most pioneering of commercial radio disc jockeys. Additionally, the length of their most recent music video for the song "Parabola" clocked in at an unheard of ten and a half minutes, almost condemning it from being aired on mainstream music channels. Compounded with their aversion to appearing in their own music videos, these aspects of their collective personality makes the band's popularity especially peculiar.
Tool are currently working on their fourth full length album which is expected to be released by this year's end or the first quarter of 2005. Tourmates Fantômas and Meshuggah were cited as influences.
Many stories and rumours circulate this band, and they've been known to incite rumours themselves, encouraging fans and listeners to think for themselves.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, a list of 150 songs circulated on the Internet, purported to be from radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications to its subsidiaries, with the recommendation that these songs be pulled from airplay (it was later revealed that the list was originally the work of a few specific station program directors, was not an official Clear Channel missive, and changed over time as it was distributed). Tool's "Intolerance" was on the list.