How Did Limp Bizkit Get Their Name?

What’s in a name, and more to the point, how did Limp Bizkit get their name? As the band’s official website explains, Bizkit has been rocking it since 1995, enjoying a successful career that was at a fever pitch around the turn of the millennium and has seen a resurgence over the last several years.

But how did Limp Bizkit become the band name on the tip of everyone’s tongues?

Where Did Limp Bizkit Get Their Name?

“We were actually in a room riffing at the moment,” Fred Durst once commented to KDGE 102.1FM about the moniker, adding, “We were just trying to think of something, and we don’t take ourselves so seriously all the time, but we like things that are a little left of center and sometimes really quirky and corny.”

Limp Bizkit’s Speaks With KDGE 102.1 FM

What Does Limp Bizkit Mean?

There have been various theories on the Limp Bizkit name over the years, ranging from Durst naming it after his dog who walked with a limp to a certain NSFW masturbatory game, but rest assured, the moniker has nothing to do with either.

In fact, it’s a bit of a nonsensical name that came about more for its ability to roll off the tongue than anything. In the 2000 Colin Devenish book titled Limp Bizkit, it’s revealed that the name really means nothing — but it was chosen also to evoke a reaction.

“The name is there to turn people’s heads away,” Durst says in the book. “A lot of people pick up the disc and go, ‘Limp Bizkit. Oh, they must suck.’ Those are the people that we don’t even want listening to our music.”

He would later tell a fan in a Reddit AMA, “I wanted it to have the same roll off of the tongue as Led Zeppelin, but be so odd that you would have a hard time forgetting it. I remember things like Gimp Disco, Split Dickslit, Bitch Piglet, and somehow…Blood Fart. Plus, we never really took our name or purpose very seriously considering the chances of succeeding were slim to none at that point.”

According to Devenish’s book, every record label that approached Limp Bizkit about a deal had pressured the band to change their name, but the group relented and Limp Bizkit stuck, along with such odd future album titles as Three Dollar Bill, Y’All, Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water and Gold Cobra.

READ MORE: Why Limp Bizkit’s Fred Durst Wears a Red New York Yankees Hat

Did Limp Bizkit’s Name Act as a Deterrent?

Apparently not. The band’s Three Dollar Bill, Y’All debut album hit No. 22 on the Billboard 200 chart right as nu-metal was starting to take over as the predominant form of rock music. It went on to achieve double platinum certification.

From there, their sophomore set Significant Other hit No. 1, spawned four big singles and has reached seven times platinum status. Then came Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, which also topped the Billboard Album Chart en route to yielding five more singles and a six-times platinum certification in the U.S.

Things started to sour with 2003’s Results May Vary, but that had more to do with oversaturation of radio play, backlash against Durst’s persona at the time and the beginnings of a shift at rock radio than it did with the band’s name. The years since have seen extended periods of inactivity, lineup changes and album delays, but the group has seen a resurgence of interest in the 2020s with 2021’s Still Sucks album and a return to touring.