Puddle of Mudd

How have rock fads shifted during recent years? The career turns of Puddle of Mudd and its original benefactor, Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, are excellent barometers. Today Durst would probably leap at the chance to humiliate himself on some bottom-scraping reality show, but back in 2001, he was popular enough...

By Michael Roberts

August 25, 2005

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How have rock fads shifted during recent years? The career turns of Puddle of Mudd and its original benefactor, Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, are excellent barometers. Today Durst would probably leap at the chance to humiliate himself on some bottom-scraping reality show, but back in 2001, he was popular enough to have his own vanity label, Flawless Records. The Puddlers were among his first signees, and their initial release for the Limp one, the neo-grungey Come Clean, went triple platinum despite (or perhaps because of) its almost total lack of originality. This trick didn't work twice, however, and when 2003's Life on Display tanked, the downward spiral began. Last year, the biggest news frontman Wesley Reid Scantlin made involved being publicly wasted; he was arrested at a Toledo, Ohio, gig he was too soused to complete. Given all that, Scantlin and crew are lucky to be playing the Gothic, especially since the flamboyant opening act, El Vez, may be a bigger current draw than the Mudd men, whose signature single, "She Hates Me," now cuts both ways. If you live by the trends, you die by them, too.

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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