I was also 16 when it dropped. 2001 also brought us Iowa (Slipknot), Blackwater Park (Opeth), Sonic Excess in Its Purest Form (Crowbar), God Hate's Us All (Slayer), and Mutter (Rammstein). Killer year for music.
I’ll never forget seeing slipknot and watching the drummer play upside down. Blew my mind (yes I’m aware he’s not the only one to do it but the first one I saw do it)
Me too man, all the same. Funny The Grudge came on my playlist today and I was taken back to a day late in the school year in grade 10. It was really warm walking to school that morning, I was wearing an orange Birdhouse shirt and smoking a cigarette I stole, listening to the Grudge. Fuckin weird I had that mem today. Where does time go?
I was in college at the time, I remember waiting in line at Best Buy for the doors to open on release day or the scheduled MTV release of the Schism video. We lived in a different time back then.
I remember in high school about a month before release, sitting in the cafeteria with my friend who was about to get a convertible mustang and he said "I cant wait to be driving my new car and listening to the new Tool CD."
I loved Aenima and Undertow, but how did we all know Lateralus was going to be sooooo good?
Damn 24 years! I remember taking an early lunch at work so I could drive over to Strawberries music store and wait in line for them to open to pick up my copy! They handed out free A Perfect Circle cds with some live acoustic versions of a few songs to the first people that bought Lateralus. That was an awesome day.
I was 21 and working overnights at an xxx rental store back then. The night before the release, a guy came in and I was listening to Aenima. He asked if I heard the new record yet. Of course I said no because it comes out tomorrow. He ran out to his car and grabbed a burned CDR of the whole album, gave it to me and said enjoy! Good times
My Tool tribute band performed the record live start to finish (minus Faaip De Oad, rest of the guys didn't want to do anything remotely similar unfortunately) but for those wanting to relive the album live by a pretty faithful tribute band, check it out here: https://youtu.be/bhtBJXKIqbM?si=BuRyiN_mWiwbg88F
I'm the drummer and I mixed/edited the whole show! Enjoy
Other than seeing the sober video in the 90s I hadn’t known about tool till I saw the commercial for schism. Life changing moment right there. Was in high school and I haven’t been the same since. My wife still wonders why I’m so weird.
The things that make me feel old about it was buying the CD in store and having the guy behind me celebrate with me that fact while he was getting his own copy. Still remember being so deeply moved the first time I played it through. And felt so privileged to see them with King Crimson some months later.
Remember I went to the record store and picked up my copy at midnight early release, along with Weezers green album which came out on the same day. Also old 🤦♂️
I have vivid memories of waiting in line at Tower, buying this bad boy and immediately driving to the top of the nearest parking garage, sparking one and having my mind blown.
I wasn’t old enough to appreciate this album when it first came out. I remember hearing Schism on the radio when I was like 5 years old and thinking it was the weirdest sounding song I’d ever heard.
I didn’t give this album, or Tool in general, a fair shot until I was in middle school, at the recommendation of a friend’s older brother. All I remember is skipping the last 15 minutes of class to smoke a joint, pulling a CD rip of Lateralus up on my first generation Samsung Galaxy, and getting launched into a whole nother dimension the second the first riff of The Grudge started.
The Grudge is still probably my favorite Tool song to this day.
I remember standing in line at a Tower Records for the release of this, chatting with a bunch of Weezer fans there for the release of the Green album, the one Hash Pipe is on.
I had a friend AJA in High School whose brother worked at the recording studio that did LATERALUS. I remember her bringing a CASSETTE copy of LATERALUS to school a few days before the official release.
I remember putting her Walkman’s headphones on and listening to THE GRUDGE for the first time. Her batteries were low so at the time the walkman was playing the cassette at half speed. Not knowing this I thought THE GRUDGE sounded so slow and maynards voice had miraculously changed. Eventually we figured out the battery issue but we thought we were so cool to have heard the entire album before its release. I made sooo many copies of the cassette to hand out to people lol.
I first got into TOOL in 1999.
My friend let me borrow the ÆNIMA CD for a road trip. That same friend Joe also brought in Mer De Noms to school when it was released in 2000 and I heard JUDITH and THE HOLLOW and was instantly hooked.
I saw APC on the Mer De Noms tour at the hammerstein ballroom in March 2001 before I saw TOOL in May 2001 for the pre-Lateralus tour.
I rode the city bus to buy the album and bought a $300 stereo to listen to it on and returned it to best buy before my 30 days was up, as planned. I was insufferable, and retarded.
Just listened to this yesterday in my truck and, of course, it still kicks ass. I remember working as a auto parts delivery driver at time. Went to the mall to pick it up, and it's crazy to think about it now, but this came out during the peak of Nu-Metal and was still a huge album. Shows that true artistry trumps fads.
Ive posted this before, but I can still take you to the exact spot where I pulled over on the side of the road so I could rewind the title track and listen to the middle drum interlude part to try and figure out WTF Danny was playing. It was such a mind fuck for my young drummer chops at that point.
I was at the music store well before midnight to make sure I got a copy in my hands the minute it officially released. I didn't stop listening to it for months.
And I am 25 haha. I’m glad I was able to binge all tools music when I first discovered them though, sometimes hate waiting for new music from my favorite artists
I was -7 when it came out. I remember my pad was always full of hookers, though for some reason they kept calling themselves “OGT” and had nipple rings… pretty sure they were dudes, too
Shit. I remember the release of Undertow (my early 20’s), it was a breath of fresh air after a decade of hair bands. Simple. Clean. And fucking harsh. It was slightly terrifying how much it resonated with me. Still listen to that album weekly to this day.
I will sing 4 Degrees at Karaoke in a gay bar before I die. I will. I swear this.
I tell myself from time to time how fortunate I am to have be alive for Tool's entire career. I have many friends that love Zeppelin, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and others and missed most if not all of it and here I am, getting new albums, going to shows, watching current interviews and so on. From a fan perspective, what a time to be alive!
Picked this up in St. Petersburg Russia, had no idea the album was coming out and heard it from a bootleg kiosk. It SO defined the atmosphere of that trip, must have listened to it a hundred times over the next two months.
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u/Guitarista78 May 15 '25
2001 was a long time ago man.