How WES BORLAND (LIMP BIZKIT) Nearly Joined One Of the Biggest 90's/2000's Bands

How Wes Borland of Limp Bizkit nearly joined Nine Inch Nails

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By 2001 Limp Bizkit were one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. Their first three albums all went platinum with their most two recent records at the time selling 6-7 million copies a piece. Despite riding high on commercial success, it was in 2001 guitarist Wes Borland left the group telling MTV at the time.

‘I could have probably gone on and still played the part of the guitar player of Limp Bizkit, but musically I was kind of bored. If I was to continue, it would have been about the money and not about the true music, and I don't want to lie to myself, or to them or to fans of Limp Bizkit,"

Borland would admit in the same interview that his bandmates soon felt more like business associates or co-workers making his gig in limp bizkit feel more like a job. Then years later in 2015, during an interview with Stereogum, Borland revealed how a tragedy was part of his decision to leave adding "We played the Big Day Out Festival and had a girl die during our set, which was devastating to me and I still haven't really ever gotten over that, but I was like, 'That's enough. I'm done. I don't like all the attention that we're getting. I don't like that we're on 'TRL.' This is not what I thought being in a rock band would be like.'"

Borland would reveal in 2020 on the let there be talk podcast, that timing of him quitting the band couldn’t have been worse. After 9/11, the stock market plunged resulting in him virtually losing all of his money, over a million dollars Despite the financial setback it wasn’t enough to make him reconsider, despite assurances from management, that he’d make millions if he stayed in the band.

Borland would form a new group with his brother called Eat the Day, but the project proved to be unfruitful as the duo couldn’t find a suitable vocalist. Meanwhile, his old bandmates in Limp Bizkit teamed up with Guitar Center to launch a 22 city tour through the US to find a replacement for Borland. Dubbed the “Put Your Guitar Where Your Mouth Is” contest, the band invited anyone who thought they were good enough to audition for the band.

Well, the whole thing was a disaster with many claiming the search was a publicity stunt and soon enough stories circulated online about what was really happening at the auditions. Contestants who partook in the auditions would claim the tryouts had strict rules and conditions including


No guitar solos were to be performed
No cover songs were allowed to be performed including no playing limp bizkit songs so you’re basically playing something you came up with, which didn’t sit well with a lot of people.
Any guitar riffs or ideas the contestants came up with could be used by limp bizkit and the band would not be required to pay compensation and anything they play basically becomes the property of limp bizkit.
The agreement also stated that these contestants images could be used in a forthcoming documentary without compensation.
At the end of the day Limp bizkit wouldn’t hire anyone from the auditions at guitar center, instead enlisting ex- snot guitar mike mike smith to play on their next album , 2003’s results may vary the album. While the album went platinum it sold only 15 percent of the copies of it’s predecessor. If you guys are interested in learning more about the contest, i’ve done a whole video on it, and i even interviewed someone who attended two of the guitar center rehearsals. The link is down below.
Despite being out of Limp Bizkit for several years, Borland would claim in several interviews that being connected to Fred Durst and company hampered his employment opportunities when it came to playing with high profile musicians including Marilyn Manson and Nine Inch Nails. Borland offered his insights into why the Limp Bizkit brand was so toxic telling NME It was too much in people’s faces for too long. I think Fred’s romance with celebrity was really toxic and he realises that now. But you know, when you’re in your 20s and all this shit’s happening, you’re like ‘Yeah, I’m going to do that!’. When everything’s as crazy as it was for us and blowing up, we were fucking kids and we acted like kids. Then this arrested development happens where you stop maturing into an adult and become this complete bozo. And yea