"
Counterfeit" is a song by
Limp BizkitLimp Bizkit is an American nu metal band from Jacksonville, Florida. The band achieved success with over 30 million albums sold worldwide. The members of the band include vocalist Fred Durst, guitarist Wes Borland, bassist Sam Rivers, drummer John Otto and DJ Lethal...
from their debut album
Three Dollar Bill, Yall$Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ is the debut album of the band Limp Bizkit, released July 1, 1997 on Flip/Interscope Records. It was produced by Ross Robinson....
. It was the band's first single, and hit among fans (although it was "Faith" that brought the group into the mainstream).
The song can be traced back to one of the band's early demo tapes in 1996, but it could have been written as early as 1995, when guitarist
Wes BorlandWesley Louden Borland , better known as Wes Borland, is an American musician, best known as the guitarist for the band Limp Bizkit....
first joined.
There were two single releases.
"
Counterfeit" is a song by
Limp BizkitLimp Bizkit is an American nu metal band from Jacksonville, Florida. The band achieved success with over 30 million albums sold worldwide. The members of the band include vocalist Fred Durst, guitarist Wes Borland, bassist Sam Rivers, drummer John Otto and DJ Lethal...
from their debut album
Three Dollar Bill, Yall$Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ is the debut album of the band Limp Bizkit, released July 1, 1997 on Flip/Interscope Records. It was produced by Ross Robinson....
. It was the band's first single, and hit among fans (although it was "Faith" that brought the group into the mainstream).
The song can be traced back to one of the band's early demo tapes in 1996, but it could have been written as early as 1995, when guitarist
Wes BorlandWesley Louden Borland , better known as Wes Borland, is an American musician, best known as the guitarist for the band Limp Bizkit....
first joined.
There were two single releases. The first was
Counterfeit/Nobody Loves Me in 1997, and the second was
Counterfeit Countdown in 1999, when the group suddenly broke through into the mainstream.
Counterfeit Countdown contained a collection of remixes of the song.
DJ LethalLeor Dimant , better known as DJ Lethal, is a turntablist and producer. He is best known as a member of the band Limp Bizkit, and formerly a member of the Irish-American-influenced hip hop group House of Pain.Currently, DJ Lethal is the main producer of hip hop group La Coka Nostra, which includes...
's Extreme Guitar Remix of the song later made it onto
New Old SongsNew Old Songs is a Limp Bizkit remix album, released December 4, 2001. Despite having no singles released, it achieved Gold certification by the RIAA in February 2002 in the US.It remixes songs from their first three full-length albums...
, the band's
remixA remix is an alternative version of a song, different from the original version. This name is also used for any alterations of medias other than a song ....
album.
The song was later part of the band's 2005
Greatest HitzGreatest Hitz is Limp Bizkit's 2005 greatest hits compilation album. Along with the group's most successful singles, the album also features three new songs. "Why" and "Lean On Me" were left-overs from Results May Vary, which were dropped due to Mike Smith joining the band and new "heavier" songs...
compilation.
Song meaning
"Counterfeit" is a song about people who don't act genuinely. Instead of staying true to who they are, some people follow trends, and change their style to go with what is popular in order to fit in. In other words, the song is a criticism of overly conformist individuals.
The song title also fits in with the title of the album
Three Dollar Bill, Yall$Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ is the debut album of the band Limp Bizkit, released July 1, 1997 on Flip/Interscope Records. It was produced by Ross Robinson....
, as there is
no such thingFake denominations of United States currency have been created by individuals as practical jokes, by money artists such as J. S. G. Boggs, or as genuine attempts at counterfeiting....
as a three
dollar billA Federal Reserve Note is a type of banknote issued by the Federal Reserve System and is the only type of U.S...
available in
American currencyThe United States dollar is the unit of currency of the United States. The U.S. dollar is normally abbreviated as the dollar sign, $, or as USD or US$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies and from others that use the $ symbol. It is divided into 100 cents .The U.S...
, thus a three dollar bill would be
counterfeitA counterfeit product is an imitation which infringes upon a production monopoly held by either a state or corporation. Goods are produced with the intent to bypass this monopoly and thus take advantage of the established worth of the previous product...
.
Cover Art
The cover art for the
Counterfeit Countdown single was produced by Christopher Karl Salat "BeZerk" and M. Figueroa "GONZO247" of the Aerosol Warfare graffiti crew from Houston, Texas. The sculpture was created by "BeZerk" using spray paint cans, clock parts, colored tape and white/red audio chords. The piece is entitled "Aerosol Warfare 2" (US Copyright: VA0001131224) and was displayed by Christopher in many art galleries all over the U.S. before appearing on the single used to promote Limp Bizkit’s song "Counterfeit". The photograph of the sculpture used on the single was taken by "GONZO247" at the “Worship Center”, in Houston’s downtown metropolitan area. Aerosol Warfare was also an underground video documentary about Hip Hop Culture that circulated the underground during the 90's golden age of Hip Hop. The video kept up with current underground subjects such as; MC/Beatbox battles, graffiti marathons, graffiti artist interviews, breakdancing, and the new styles of the current graffiti movement.
Music Video
There were several music videos of the song and its remixes. The original video portrays a teenage boy with
bleachA bleach is a chemical that removes colors or whitens, often via oxidation. Common chemical bleaches include household "chlorine bleach", a solution of approximately 3–6% sodium hypochlorite , and "oxygen bleach", which contains hydrogen peroxide or a peroxide-releasing compound such as sodium...
ed hair who is harassed by others. Wanting to fit in, he starts by cutting his hair short. He then takes his shirt off, and starts to cover himself with a black
tarTar is modified resin produced primarily from the wood and roots of pine by destructive distillation under pyrolysis. It is a viscous black liquid. Production and trade in tar was a major contributor in the economies of Northern Europe and Colonial America. Its main use was in preserving and...
-like substance. He puts on a
flyTrue flies are insects of the order Diptera , possessing a single pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax....
mask, as he continues to cover himself with the tar, with Fred Durst suddenly watching him in the background with a disgusted look on his face. The boy then exits his room and comes down the stairs, now mutated into some sort of human fly. He enters the kitchen, where his family simply ignores him. He jumps onto the kitchen table, and begins to throw around the food on the table, while rubbing some into his face. The band plays the song in a musty basement throughout the video.
Counterfeit/Nobody Loves Me (1997)
- Counterfeit (Radio Edit) - 4:14
- Nobody Loves Me - 4:01
- Counterfeit (Album Version) - 5:08
Counterfeit Countdown (1999)
- Counterfeit (Album Version) - 5:10
- Counterfeit (Lethal Dose Extreme Guitar Mix) - 3:32
- Counterfeit (Lethal Dose Remix) - 3:24
- Counterfeit (Phat Ass remix) - 3:04
- Counterfeit (USA Radio Edit) - 4:15