Marvellous G's Tool Top Twenty

[Marvellous G]

Yes, another top 'x' list. But Tool are my favourite band of all time, and I thought it would be interesting for myself, at least, to rank my favourite songs of theirs. This was a nearly impossible task, as 90% of their non-filler tracks could easily be in my top 50 songs of all time, so ranking them all was pretty difficult, but I think I'm happy with the list. There might be some big upsets here, but them's the breaks. So, here's my first three, I'll try and put up three a day from now on.

20. Aenema

Starting with a powerful riff that doesn’t actually sound like many other Tool songs, this title track quickly advances into more standard hard rock territory than Tool had been exploring up to that point on Aenima. The chorus is fantastic and catchy, and my one complaint with the song is that we don’t hear the chorus enough. The slower second half of the song feels almost dreamy, and leads into a fantastic outro that my friend described as ‘just noise.’ How wrong he is. The lyrics are a bit expletive heavy for my tastes, but they do a good job of conveying the anger Maynard clearly feels.

19. Rosetta Stoned

Including Lipan Conjuring and Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman) in this bundle of musical goodness, Rosetta Stoned starts off with one of my favourite first few lines in music (‘Alrighty then… picture this if you will…’) before launching into the kind of Maynard craziness we hadn’t heard since Hooker With A Penis. The song would be higher for me if it didn’t lose direction somewhat in the middle sections, but it redeems itself with one of the best musical climaxes I’ve ever heard, and a slightly surprising ending.

18. The Grudge

I might well get flamed for having this so low, but I don’t think it’s quite up with the top tier of Tool songs as some do. Still, it’s a wonderful start to my favourite album of all time, and the hypnotic riff leads into an interesting singing style for Maynard which initially put me off the song, but has since grown on me. The drums in particular in this song are fantastic, and the outro is one of the few times I’ve really wanted to learn drums after hearing it. Maynard’s scream is also of particular note, and the stunned silence this track leaves me in every time it finishes shows just how intense Tool can be.

Next 3 tomorrow if this gets any traffic at all.

[zxlkho]

I'm not a fan of Rosetta Stoned 

But Aenema and The Grudge are

LEARN TO SWIM

[DarkEternalNight]

What a sin it will be if Jambi isn't included in the top 10.

[Sintheros]

What a sin it will be if Jambi is included in the top 10.

[sonatafanica]

Spoiler for #1 position...

[LTE]

Lateralus for number one.
Hoping to see Third Eye in there too.

[ReaperKK]

Nice list so far. I like Rosetta Stoned but the song is 2 minutes too long.

[DarkEternalNight]

What a sin it will be if Jambi is included in the top 10.

Well that just hurts my feelings

[Gadough]

Following.

[Fluffy Lothario]

The Grudge would probably make my Top 5 of their songs.

I hated Tool for a long time, til my brother bought Lateralus, on the day it came out. When he first played it, it was The Grudge that brought me to borrow the album and listen to it myself. I did the same thing with this song and album as I did with Opeth's Bleak and BWP: sat there and played the song over and over until I loved it, then went and listened to the rest of the album, and found it fit like a glove. I had my own copy of the album by the end of the week.

I can't say I'm a massive fan of Rosetta Stoned. It has parts I really like, but it's kinda messy.

[Gadough]

Concerning Aenima, watching this guy play it on the drums made me see the song in a new light and made me realize just how good of a song it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO7gWiNJ9Hc

[Marvellous G]

Concerning Aenima, watching this guy play it on the drums made me see the song in a new light and made me realize just how good of a song it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO7gWiNJ9Hc

Yeah, that guy is awesome! He's the reason The Grudge is even in my top 20 because of the last 20 seconds of his cover.

And Fluffy Lothario, I do really really love The Grudge, it's just that it doesn't actually do that much musically imo. It is probably the most intense 8 or so minutes I can remember, it's just that I like the proggy side of some of Tool's stuff and The Grudge only has about 3 riffs, which annoys me because I'm pretentious. 

[zxlkho]

   

holy shit that cover was awesome.

[Marvellous G]

Next 3, with maybe a controversially low placing for one song in particular.

17. No Quarter

I don’t think it’s cheating to have a cover on this list, as *flame shield* I much prefer this to the original. The vocal effect Maynard uses in the first verse annoys me a little, hence it being in the latter quarter of this top 20, but the various buildups and climaxes are some of the high points of this sprawling cover. The outro riff especially stands out as bettering the Led Zep version’s conclusion, and the general atmosphere of the song, specifically during the instrumental section, is markedly different to the jazzier vibe of the original, and suits Tool better than mimicry of the original ever would have done.

16. Undertow

One of the earliest signs that Tool would later venture into more progressive territory, this short but sprawling track laid the groundwork for some of their more complex songs. Undertow has fantastic lyrics and great vocals, and the slowdown at the end is simply stunning, and elevated this song to a new level for me when I first heard it. Maynard’s elongated scream of ‘euphoria’ at the end is also a song, and album, highlight, and still gives me the chills every time I hear it. The riffs are all pretty simple, and repeated a lot, but do the job very well, and right from the start this is an unpredictable and aggressive song.

15. Third Eye

A fan favourite, this song basically requires listening through earphones or headphones late at night. The spacey intros with the Bill Hicks clips, the various wordless Maynard screams, and the off-key guitar soloing under the verses all combine to make this a real trip of a song. My favourite moments are the titular ‘prying open my third eye’ screams (which TERRIFIED me the first time I heard the song late at night, as I was just beginning to nod off towards the end during the quieter sections. When that scream started I practically jumped out of bed) and the spoken word section in the middle which manages to creep me out massively despite me knowing there aren’t many sudden loud bits after it. The Salival version is also excellent, but loses something compared to studio for me, at least.

[LTE]

>Ben Hicks

DERP.



haha

[Marvellous G]

>Ben Hicks

DERP.



haha

LOL, I just realised that's someone in our year who is completely unlike Bill Hicks. 

[Fluffy Lothario]

Third Eye would also be Top 5 for me.

I don't care much for either No Quarter.

[AwakeFromOctavarium]

Having my first ever Tool experience. I'll be using this as a guide.

NP: The Grudge

[zxlkho]

first ever Tool experience

[Quadrochosis]

You guys are all spelling "Ænema" wrong. Stop it. The album is Ænima, the song is "Ænema"

[Marvellous G]

Three picks that will hopefully surprise some people:

14. Hooker With A Penis

While some see this song as immature and stupid, I see it as ironic and hilarious. While it is the closest Tool can really come to a ‘novelty song’, it’s actually got great riffs and vocal moments, with the chorus being an expletive-filled delight. The various moments where it breaks down to just Maynard whispering are excellent, especially the ‘shut up and… BUYYYY! MY RECORD!’ bit, which is the best, and most hilarious, artist response to being called a sellout that I have ever heard. It also has one of Tool's best instrumental section.

13. You Lied (Live)

Another cover, but a fine one again from Danny Carey’s old band. The atmosphere in this song is incredible, with the bass riff in the intro building up anticipation that is added to by wonderfully harmonised guitar parts, before the crashing, and, for lack of a better word, epic riff, comes in (a riff that reminds me a lot of Metallica’s Outlaw Torn, incidentally) Maynard’s on top form here, and Justin Chancellor does a great job doing the backup vocals in the final verse, which really add more to the song than they’d seem to. Add an amazing outro to all of this, and you’ve got yourself a wonderful cover, and an even more stunning live performance.

12. Cold And Ugly (Live)

This is really the song that proves to me that Tool can do straightforward hard rock with the best of them. The production on Opiate is so raw (probably unintentionally…) but in this song it really adds to the sound. My favourite parts of this song are the way Maynard sings ‘trembling at the thouuught of, feeeeeling,’ for some reason, I really love the way he draws out those words. The quasi-solo is also great, and the fact that it’s live actually adds to it in this case for me. A low-key, angry, straightforward song, three adjectives that are rare to find all in the same Tool track.

[zxlkho]

Hooker With A Penis is

[Marvellous G]

Hooker With A Penis is

I think it's excellent, but it seems to get hated on by some fans.

[Gadough]

True story, I've never listened to Hooker With a Penis before because the name freaked me out. I'll remedy that now.

[zxlkho]

POINT THAT FUCKIN FINGER UP YOUR ASS

[Marvellous G]

Surely with all the Tool discussions going on in other threads we could get more here? 

Anyhoo, next 3.

11. Intolerance

I got Undertow after I got Aenima, 10,000 Days and Lateralus, so I was a little worried that the earlier Tool material was going to be immature, or just plain bad. This song immediately silenced my worries. Some of Maynard’s better lyrics, and easily one of my favourite vocal performances of his. He sounds so tortured in the ‘veil of virtue’ sections that you’d swear he was singing this to whoever it was written about as they sat cowering in front of him. Another excellent surprise is the bluesy, almost funky riff, that enters the song at the halfway point and later closes it out. Another great shorter song from Tool, proving they can handle songs of varying lengths equally well.

10. H.

This is the song that really shows off how good a lyricist Maynard is. They manage to be mysterious, slightly eerie at points, and very, very powerful in this incredibly intense song. The tension in the verses is palpable, with some understated but interesting guitar work by Adam Jones over some calmer vocals. When the chorus kicks in, all hell breaks loose, and Maynard sounds, once again, genuinely tortured. The final chorus is my favourite bit of the song, with the underlying guitar chords sounding at the same time dissonant and perfect. A hugely emotional song, but a great one with a surprisingly catchy chorus to boot.

9. Eulogy

The song that has taken me longer to get into than most others, when it finally clicked I was in love. The awesome percussive intro sets the mood nicely, and the verses and choruses are all very good, if standard. It’s at around the halfway mark that the song kicks into one of Tool’s better riffs, and the final two minutes are astonishingly good in terms of vocals, with some of Maynard’s best screams. Just listening to the ‘TO ASCEND YOU MUST DIEEE!’ bit is an adrenaline rush, I can’t imagine what it would be like live. This song seems to be overlooked when people list their top Tool songs, but it’s definitely up there for me.

[Gadough]

Bump. Want moar.

[zxlkho]

MOAR PLEASE

Eulogy should be much higher, imo 

[Ben_Jamin]

FYI You Lied is by Justin's old band Peach

[Marvellous G]

Sorry to all three of you, I was on holiday, but I'll bang the rest of this out at some point just to get it done. 

Eulogy should be much higher, imo 

Yeah, I felt a little guilty about placing it so low, but I feel the eight songs I ranked higher inched it probably.

FYI You Lied is by Justin's old band Peach

Thanks, I thought it was Danny's for some reason but it makes way more sense to be Justin's because of the bass-heavy nature of it.

[zxlkho]

[AwakeFromOctavarium]

Welcome back, mate!

[Gadough]

VIGINTI TRES AT NO. 1

I'M CALLING IT

 

[Marvellous G]

GADOUGH STOP SPOILING THE END 

Despite the number 1 being out in the open, I'll continue with another three. We're into the heavy hitters now, so my number eight is:


8. Vicarious

As a friend of mine commented, the intro actually sort of sounds like Midi. But I think that’s inevitable when you’ve got such a multi layered piece of music that it took me weeks to decipher. After that first superb fifty seconds are over, the song grows in volume and kicks into some of the best riffs of the band’s discography. The main riff is one of my favourite of all time, and Maynard’s vocals are very emotional throughout, even if the lyrics are a little disappointing for me compared to other songs on this list. The song is one of Tool’s most complicated structurally, but learning it all on guitar was one of the more rewarding things I’ve done in a while. The song has so much built into it that you don’t really hear until many many listens later that it still hasn’t got old to me, and the final chorus is one of the high points in 10,000 Days. Sure, the outro sounds like Schism’s, but it’s still great, and leaves me feeling similarly to how I do after listening to The Grudge afterwards. Fun fact, it's the second word I learned from Tool after 'atrophy' from Schism. True that.

7. Reflection

I have no idea how this is as low as number seven on my list, but I’m not gonna let myself include Disposition and Triad in this pick, which would push this up to the top five at least. Reflection on it’s own is still easily my favourite song of that sequence, and while some of my friends describe the intro as too boring to listen further, I see it as the best example of a song building up slowly that I have ever heard. The bass riff that is heard throughout most of the song just sounds so… paranoid, and the drums are outstanding throughout. This almost becomes a mood piece, as the vocals act as more of an instrument than they have before or since in Tool’s music. The lyrics are sublime, and the eventual, long-awaited climax (tee-hee.) is one of the best in the band’s catalogue. Also of note is the hypnotic riff that repeats at the end, as you’re left in a state of shock after the sonic bliss you’ve just experienced.


6. Right In Two

Another grower of a song. Starting out very quietly, the production really shines through (amazingly for a Tool song…) as Adam Jones’ riff echoes around in your head. Maynard’s lyrics here are admittedly a little preachy and hokey, but the ‘repugnant is a creature…’ line is probably one of, if not the greatest, lines I’ve ever heard. The song builds and builds and builds, and then during the first ‘chorus’, you wonder how on earth there can be another five minutes of that intensity. But the instrumental section is one of Tool’s finest, with a surprisingly heavy set of riffs culminating in a completely brilliant polyrhythmic section reminiscent of  Forty Six & 2. The final reprise is as intense as they come, and the best closer to an album I can remember since, well… Third Eye. (I don’t count Viginti Tres as the closer here…) I saw someone say that this song should be a B-Side, and I wanted to kick them, kick them in the head. It is sort of minimalist I suppose, but that's what Tool can do well where other bands fail. And that polyrhythmic bit is so eargasmic that this has to take the number six spot for me.

Top 5 now HNNNG.

[Fluffy Lothario]

I went from loving Vicarious to more or less hating it and then back to loving it again.

Reflection would probably be Top 5 for me.