Delving into the PoMo of Tool's "10,000 Days"

Tool has proved to be one of the more enigmatic bands of the past twenty years, releasing albums sparsely, never known for being media spectacles, and when giving interviews, well, they constantly lie. An idea came to me in the car, where most of my ideas come from, while listening to their last release "10,000 Days" that not only was it a giant piece of trash, but it was severely Postmodern.
In 1992, Tool released their first official EP "Opiate" and quickly followed with the full length album "Undertow" the following year. It was three years later, and a giant shift in the musical dynamic when "Aenima" was released in October of 1996. The "sophomore slump" that many bands suffer–a term referring to a band’s second album not standing up to the acclaim that their debut album had–was entirely circumvented an "Aenima" put Tool on the map of progressive rock until this day. Three years in the industry sense between albums is not unheard of, nor uncommon or uncharacteristic, but many labels prefer a two year span between albums, especially when it is a big label pushing a band’s marketing hard. It was five years until Tool would speak of a new release, when in January of 2001 the band announced their new album "Systema Encéphale" and along with it, a 12 song set list. Bootleggers immediately rushed to begin printing up teeshirts, and file sharing networks filled with leaked song files, but alas it was Tool that had the laugh. "Systema Encéphale" and the 12 song set list was completely made up and in May of the same year "Lateralus" was released (with a 13 song set list), leaving many over-zealous fans stuck with a heap of unlicensed and bogus merchandise. Let me take this opportunity to pause the Tool discography lesson now.
In Don DeLillo’s Mao II character Bill Gray is a famous author who avoids any and all media attention. After publishing two very successful books, he finds himself in a period of editing, scrapping, rewriting, and editing the same book. Years go by with his fans desperately waiting for the release, and many fans plan search parties to locate Gray to see him after spending so many years as a recluse. Gray’s editor, Scott says that he does not want Gray to actually publish the book because the hype for it is so great that it could never live up to the standards that his fans have placed on it for so long. Scott and partner Karen also would rather Gray not have his photograph taken by photographer, Brita. The reasons for this privatization is to keep the power with Bill Gray. As soon as Gray has his photographs released then he is expected to live up to looking like those photographs. It is the same as when he releases his book then he relinquishes all power and the book that he wrote essentially becomes property of the public.
Now, unpause. After the wild success of both "Aenima" and "Lateralus" Tool toured and then faded away into the depths of their private lives. Vocalist Maynard James Keenan worked on starting his vineyards, and releasing albums with A Perfect Circle and the rest of the band did whatever the hell it is that they do. August 2004 brought about news that Tool was releasing a new album "within a half year" which actually seemed plausible, but as it happens many times in the Tool universe, it was just another untruth. That same news update paraphrased Keenan saying that new material was being worked on daily. The chatter began, the questions, the doubts, etc. Considering the huge shift in dynamic between the previous three albums, what would this one be? How would age factor into the new material? Constantly spanning out albums nearly five years apart, the guys get older faster–in some sort of weird timing if you go by album releases–and the creative parts of the brain start to dwindle. But many Tool fans had the faith that "Tool takes their time on their albums and does things right."
So "10,000 Days" officially was released on May 2nd of 2006, five years after their last album. Essentially, the "Bill Gray" of Tool had now died after a half decade of silence. So what about the hype? Did "10,000 Days" stand up to expectations? Absolutely not! The best review I read of the album called it "aural sloppy seconds" although the media giants considered it favorable; but hey that’s what giant label corporations do, pay media giant corporations to speak kindly about them. Hmm, that’s an interesting use of the word "corporation" it kind of reminds me of when Bill Gray tells Brita that all writers have now been "incorporated." But as a side bar, "10,000 Days" was leaked on the internet by a non-password protected FTP that allowed not only radio stations to download the album (the intended downloaders) but the entire internet. Some rumors have led some fans to believe that this was done intentionally by Tool to spite their label.
The big problems with "10,000 Days" was a lack of songs to speak of. At 11 tracks the album only actually has five tracks. Vicarious, Jambi, 10,000 Days (Wings pt. 2), The Pot, and Right In Two. Vicarious is a song that Baudrillard would be proud of. It deals with the Hype-reality and imagistic media-drive society we have become.

Lyrics to Vicarious
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Eye on the t.v cuz tragedy thrills me.Whatever flavor it happens to be.(like)Killed by the husband...drowned by the ocean...Shot by his own son...she used a poison in his tea, Then she kissed him goodbye.That's My kinda storyIt's no fun till someone dies.Don't look at me like I am a monster.Frown out your one face but with the other youStare like a junkie into the t.v.Stare like a zombiewhile the mother holds her child. Watches him die.Hands to the sky, cryin' "why, oh why?"Cuz I need to watch things die, from a distance.Vicariously, I live while the whole world dies.You all need it too don't lie.Why can't we just admit it?We won't give pause till the blood is flowing.Neither the brave nor bold nor brightest of stories told,We won't give pause till the blood is flowing.i need to watch things die, from a good safe distance.Vicariously, i live while the whole world dies.you all feel the same so why can't we just admit it?Blood like rain come down. Drum on grave and ground.Part Vampire, Part warrior, Carnivore, and VoyeurStare at the transmittal. Sing to the death rattleCredulous at best, your desire to believe in angels in the hearts of men.Pull your head on out your hippy haze and give a listen.Shouldn't have to say it all again.The universe is hostile. so Impersonal. devour to survive.So it is. So it's always been.We all feed on tragedy. It's like Blood to a vampire.vicariously, I live while the whole world dies.Much better you than i.
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"That’s my kind of story. It’s no fun till someone dies." Keenan sings. It is exactly the highlight of the era of Post-Modernity where reality is the image, and reality is just a simulation as dictated by the media and the television screen. Monica wrote "Baudrillard says the postmodern human condition is a combination of ‘fascination,’ ‘melancholy’ and ‘indifference.’" Highlighting any more of the lyrics to Vicarious would be useless, as it is all apparently fascinated and indifferent towards the images of death and horror. In that sense, one could couple this song with Stinkfist which uses the imagery of having an entire arm, up to the shoulder inserted into an anus just to create a feeling over the appalling desensitivity of the culture.

Lyrics to Right In Two
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Angels on the sideline,puzzled and amused.Why did Father give these humans free will?Now they're all confused.Don't these talking monkeys know that Edenhas enough to go around?Plenty in this holy garden.Silly monkeys,where there's one you're bound to divide it,right in two.Angels on the sideline,baffled and confused.Father blessed them all with reasonand this is what they choose?Monkey killing monkey killing monkeyover pieces of the ground.Silly monkeys,give them thumbs they forge a bladeand where there's one they're bound to divide it,right in two.Monkey killing monkey killing monkeyover pieces of the ground.Silly monkeys,give them thumbs they make a cluband beat their brother down.How they survive so misguided is a mystery.Repugnant is a creature who would squander the abilityto live tonight in heaven,conscious of his fleeting time here.Cutting it all, right in two.Cutting it all, right in two.Cutting it all, right in two.Cutting it all, right in two.Fight over ground, over earth, over sky.They fight over life, over blood, over air and light,over love, over some, over none.They fight or they die, Over what?Over writing!Angels on the sideline again,Benched along with patience and reason.Angels on the sideline again,Wondering where this tug of war will end.Cutting it all, right in two.Cutting it all, right in two.Cutting it all, right in two.Right in two!Right in two.
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In the Postmodern sense with this track it could be said that this is a dystopian view on the world. It also goes back to the days prior to Modernism when the Age of Reason had come to be and subsequently failed with the World Wars, when people realized that people are arguably innately horrible creatures. I’ll also count it to be hypocritical of Keenan to be writing and singing about angels considering he is avidly against organized religion. See: A Perfect Circle’s "Judith" which is actually a reference to the subject of "10,000 Days" Judith Marie, Keenan’s mother.
The lack of songs on "10,000 Days" isn’t the only disappointment, it’s more the disappointment that the actual songs deliver. It seems as if Tool got stuck in their own language and couldn’t find new ways to express themselves. They’ve always been hailed for their technical ability, Danny Carey’s absolutely mind blowing drumming complete with odd time signatures, incredible accuracy, his unique style. Adam Jones’ scant guitar work that somehow always seems to be just exactly perfect for the song and never seems like too much or too little. Justin Chancelor’s driving bass lines that end up caught in your head on a continuous loop for days on end. Maynard James Keenan’s challenging lyrics that make any fan run to their local library looking up Saturn Ascensions and Bill Hicks, and his booming powerful voice. But on "10,000 Days" it seemed like everyone except Justin had showed up more than just physically. Adam Jones recycled riffs from the past twenty years to either create stunning rip-offs of himself, or use guitar warm up techniques as actual riffs. Danny Carey who I swear could have an epileptic seizure with drum sticks in his hand and still sound better than 65% of drummers ever worked with what he had been given by the guitars but even then seemed more interested in playing his mandalas–triggering sound effects–than creating the stunning mathematical masterpieces his drum beats are known to be. Justin Chancelor didn’t so much as disappoint, delivering his one-of-a-kind bass lines and at times creating some absolutely beautiful creative riffs, but considering the songs dragged on for so long at times (I’m looking at you "Wings For Marie" series) that his riffs began to become stale when played for 45 seconds at a time; and not in the good way like in Schism.
Maynard James Keenan was up to par with the rest of the band in being boring as well. The opening to The Pot actually is something unheard on all prior Tool releases, vocally, but quickly becomes the same exact vocal style that he had in every song on the "Undertow" album. Now don’t get me wrong, it was nice to bring back in some of that old style, but over six minutes of the same repeating and not so interesting verse/chorus routine, it made me remember why I hated "Undertow." Keenan got stuck in his own language barriers, be it vocally, or lyrically. The album opens with Vicarious which could easily be slid right into the track listing of "Lateralus" and nobody would ever suspect it didn’t belong there, save the lower diction lyrical content. Then after Vicarious there is Jambi which is an obscure allusion to something in Sumatara, one of those typical Tool type things to do, that makes a listener scramble to Wikipedia or the famous Tool FAQ. Nothing on the album was new, they weren’t saying anything different, and didn’t even seem to be trying. "The world is pretty saddening" was the basic gist of the album from Vicarious talking about the media, down to The Pot and hypocrisy, and Right In Two’s commentary on angels being confused about humanity. Everything that was done musically on the album as well was either a rip-off of "Undertow" or something that sounded like it belonged on "Lateralus" yet less interesting.
The track "Lipan Conjuring" is one of those examples of the Postmodern "borrowing." The whole track is just an Apache tribal chant. It actually deserves an award for serving no purpose on the album.
Now the title track 10,000 Days (Wings pt. 2) has a very connection with two other tracks. At 11 minutes and 13 seconds long it features a long build up without much action beside repetitive instrumental tracks and Keenan’s low vocals which actually come to the pinnacle of the album, a three part vocal harmony. The track prior to 10,000 Days (Wings pt. 2) is Wings for Marie, pt. 1 which is the first track I heard off of the album (I chose it at random from the internet leak and refused to listen to anything else). My initial reaction was "Wow. Nothing is happening!" until the four minute, twelve second mark when the guitar and the drums inexplicably pick up, and then stop seconds later. The track features mainly ambient noise and the same drum and bass lines as the title track. It does not serve properly as a lead in to the title track, nor does it stand up to be its own track at all. Odd. The last track of the album Viginti Tres is five minutes and two seconds long and features nothing but ambient noise that sounds either like wind, or television static. Now check this out. If one were to first put Viginti Tres then Wings for Marie, pt. 1 together and play them as one track without any gap in between then the length would add up to 11 minutes, 13 seconds. Play that couple over the 11 minute, 13 second song 10,000 Days (Wings pt. 2) then one song is formed. The ambient noise syncs with the other ambient noise, then the instrumentals start to sync, and at one point Keenan starts to do a call and response with himself on the combined track. How is that for anti-form? Take a song and then demolish it and make three unfinished songs? Wow, Tool. Raising the bar over their own heads now.
The track Intension sounds so much like the "Triad"–a coupling of three songs at the end of "Lateralus" Reflection, Disposition, and Triad–that it’s almost uncanny. It’s as if they mashed the "Triad" together with the next track, Right In Two together, and added in the same two note riffs that Jones plays at the beginning of 10,000 Days (Wings pt. 2). PoMo Alert! But an interesting fact about the word "Intension" that in referring to language without intension words have no meaning.
"10,000 Days" did challenge the notion of CD packaging with the award winning work that Adam Jones directed with Alex Grey. The cover opens three-fold, vertically. The top portion is a pair of 3D goggles that the viewer uses to look at the rest of the inner-packaging, creating 3D images of the band, as well any of the extra stuff in the booklet. In May of 2006 the band’s official webmaster said that the four individual photos of the band could be used in conjunction with another to used to create "pieces of a kind of puzzle." To my knowledge, what that is, has not been discovered.
Anyone who is a fan of Tool for long enough begins to look deeper into their work for things like 3D picture puzzles, hidden meanings of songs, etc. When I began to delve into this project of looking at things in the Postmodern sense, I didn’t know what I’d find, and I’m sure I could still find more. It all started with thinking of how it related to Bill Gray. My eyes hurt now. Any feedback is much appreciated, as well as suggestions of other things to explore/explain.