Rock Legend Maynard James Keenan Of Tool Thinks It's A #Bummer Justin Bieber Likes His Music; Hailey Bieber Calls Him 'Childish'
Put some respect on his name!
Getty He's been calling out pop stars and fake musicians for longer than Justin and Hailey Bieber have been alive. Yet, when he did what he's done best for generations, Hailey Bieber took offense and got her feelings all bent out of shape. For the benefit of millennials and Gen Z-ers who believe that music made before the year 2010 is "irrelevant" and "old-head" stuff, let's look at what we know about this modern rock legend. Who is Maynard James Keenan?
1. He's the lead singer, songwriter, and producer of the influential industrial rock band, Tool.
To describe Maynard James Keenan's extensive career in a paragraph would be nothing short of a Herculean task. He's predominantly known, of course, as being the lead singer, songwriter, and producer of the influential industrial rock act, Tool. They first came to prominence in 1991, when they signed with Zoo Entertainment. That same year, they released their debut EP, Opiate, and went on a nationwide tour with Fishbone and Rage Against The Machine in support of the album.
But Tool didn't break into the rock mainstream until 1993, when they released Undertow. The album was certified gold after just eight months, and platinum less than a year later. (Understand that this was a time prior to the Internet becoming as mainstream as it is today; there was no social media to make something "go viral," so for an album to reach gold, let alone platinum, status was no easy feat.)
Their best-known studio album is, perhaps, 1996's Aenima. The album went gold in six weeks, was certified double platinum in ten months, and won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 1998. The hits from the album are a veritable OMG lineup of now-classic hits: "Stinkfist," the title track "Aenima," "Hooker with a Penis," and "Forty-Six & 2" are just four of the many songs that are part of what magazines like Rolling Stone, Guitar World, and Kerrang call "one of the most influential albums of all time."
Keep the faith Tool fans — we'll get that new album soon enough.
RELATED: Listening To Heavy Metal Music Actually Makes You Calmer
2. Maynard James Keenan also serves as the lead singer, songwriter, and producer of A Perfect Circle.
While Maynard James Keenan's work in A Perfect Circle didn't have the cultural impact that his work in Tool had, it still produced two amazing albums: Mer de Noms, and Thirteenth Step, both of which were certified platinum. A Perfect Circle's best-known hits include "Judith," "Three Libras," and (this writer's personal favorite) "The Noose."
In an interview with NME last year, Keenan said that if bands today hope to achieve the influence his own bands had, they needed to get away from social media and become more accountable for their art output.
"With everything that’s happened with digital and social media, there’s an abundance of platforms for people to squeak,” he says, when asked about the idea of accountability, a theme running throughout ‘Eat The Elephant’ and a phrase that’s been shared countless times by the Californian in explaining his bands’ new songs, ever since its release into the world this past April. “What they’re squeaking about,” he continues, “always seems to be about what you’re doing wrong, rather than what they’re doing wrong. There’s little accountability. There’s little desire to look at themselves and ask what they’re contributing to make things better," he told the outlet.
3. Maynard James Keenan has long despised the "celebrity worship" culture.
Those of us who were alive and lucid in the 1990s and beyond — and who are familiar with Keenan and his work — know that it's no surprise that he scalped Justin Bieber. To be clear, the below tweet is what Maynard James Keenan said, in its entirety, when it was revealed that Justin Bieber was a Tool fan: