Limp Bizkit's "Boiler" was a hit for the group back in 2001, but here's why the music video for the song was censored by MTV back in the day.
Here's why MTV censored the music video for Limp Bizkit's "Boiler" back in 2001. Back in the 1990s and 2000s, musicians and music groups occasionally liked to splash out on expensive music videos to launch a new song. The most expensive video of all time goes to "Scream" by Michael and Janet Jackson; the Mark Romanek-helmed promo cost around $7 million to shoot, most of which was spent on elaborate sets. Other pricy videos include Michael Jackson's "Black Or White" from director John Landis, which cost $4 million and Madonna's "Express Yourself," with the David Fincher music video coming in at $5 million. Another entry at the top goes to Limp Bizkit.
Their music video for "Rollin'" cost an estimated $3 million, with the promo itself being directed by frontman Fred Durst. The video even features cameos by Ben Stiller and Stephen Dorff. "Rollin'" came from the group's album Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, which is one of Limp Bizkit's most popular records. In addition to "Rollin'," it featured hits like "My Way," "My Generation" and "Take A Look Around," which featured on the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack.
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Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water also featured Limp Bizkit's "Boiler," which received another expensive music video directed by Fred Durst. The video for "Boiler" doesn't have much in the way of a story, and is really just an array of arresting images, including a woman who vomits out a bomb or an animated sequence where Durst runs from a hot dog monster. It carries something of a horror movie tone, which is one reason why MTV censored Limp Bizkit's "Boiler" music video during its original release.
While not extensive cuts, around 20 seconds of footage was removed from the MTV version of "Boiler." The moment where Limp Biskit guitarist Wes Borland's head suddenly falls off was cut, as was much of the section where Durst wakes up in a room full of beds. Various shots of the couples on the beds enjoying themselves were a little too spicy for MTV, so they censored most of these images from Limp Bizkit's video.
That fact MTV - which has some shows that haven't aged well - censored Limp Bizkit's "Boiler" music video did little to harm the song's performance. Outside of music, Durst would go on to direct several feature films, including Jesse Eisenberg drama The Education of Charlies Banks and Ice Cube comedy The Longshots. He also directed the somewhat infamous The Fanatic in 2019, which featured John Travolta as the troubled fan of an action movie star played by Devon Sawa.
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It's pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that's out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he'd like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site. A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games; he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU - where Hawkeye is clearly the best character - to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle. He's super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman.