Did we all miss the deeper message of Limp Bizkit’s “Nookie” all along? During a recent chat with Dazed reflecting on 1999 and hyping his film appearance in Y2K, Fred Durst revisited his ever-present hit and reveals that it’s been his experience that most listeners have glossed over the song’s story over time and primarily honed in on the hook and infectiously catchy titular line.
Fred Durst Compares ‘Nookie’ Surface Attention to Another Big Rock Song
Think about it! What’s the first line you think of when someone asks you to pull up Limp Bizkit’s “Nookie?” It’s the hard-hitting catchy chorus in which Durst sings, “I did it all for the Nookie / The Nookie / So you can take that cookie / And stick it up your (yeah).” It’s fun, defiant and an incredible earworm that’s stuck with you for years.
But that surface attention Durst feels may have kept fans from taking in the meaning of the rest of the song.
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“The funny thing about that though, nobody listened to the story in ‘Nookie’ they just listened to the catchphrase. It’s like when I say Rage Against The Machine’s [‘Killing in the Name]] they listen to ‘fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me,’ they don’t listen to the rest of it.”
Is he right?
What Fred Durst Says ‘Nookie’ Is Really About
Yes, it may come off very aggro, but the Limp Bizkit singer says the song is actually coming from a more vulnerable place.
He explained to Dazed, “The first time I had been intimate with someone it happened later and I was very much head over heels in love because of that and I was just that guy. I was very much a vulnerable person in that world and I couldn’t believe it even happened.”
“So I fell in love and then this person was sleeping with other people and people would say ‘Fred, you’re so upset, why are you staying?’ and I’d say ‘because, we made love,’” he added.
“I found a different way to say that: I did it all for the nookie. That sounded more fun,” Durst revealed in how taking that tender moment formed the basis for the hit song. “So what I did it for then was the love. And what I do it for now is for the love. I have a new daughter, she’s eight months old.”
Did you miss the deeper meaning all along? It’s time for a revisit. Take a listen to the song below.
Limp Bizkit, “Nookie”
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