Limp Bizkit

Explore the band's historical lineups, musicians, and studio albums.

Active4 formations6 studio albums

Formation chronology

Newest first

Formation 4 of 4

Oct 19, 2025 – Present

Members

Fred Durst
Vocals
Wes Borland
Guitar
John Otto
Drums
DJ Lethal
Turntables

Formation facts

On 29 November 2025 in Mexico City, Limp Bizkit walked out for the first time since Rivers died. The surviving four watched a tribute that ended "Sam Rivers, our brother forever" and "Sam Rivers, we love you forever," then held each other. Durst told the crowd the night was for Sam.
The bass that night was Richie Buxton, known as Kid Not, already on the bill with opener Ecca Vandal and pulling double duty. He has kept the live seat since. The band has not announced him as an official member. The four names on the current lineup remain Durst, Borland, Otto, and Lethal.
In 2026 Wes told interviewers that Sam was family, the heartbeat, not a replaceable person, and that talking about it still brought him close to tears. He also said they feel lucky to have Buxton and want to hold onto him as long as they can.

Formation 3 of 4

2009 – Oct 18, 2025

Members

Fred Durst
Vocals
Wes Borland
Guitar
Sam Rivers
Bass
John Otto
Drums
DJ Lethal
Turntables

Formation facts

On 12 February 2009 Durst and Borland put out a joint statement: they were more disgusted with the state of heavy popular music than they were with each other. Fred Durst, Wes Borland, Sam Rivers, John Otto, and DJ Lethal were a band again. The Unicorns N' Rainbows dates followed in the spring.
Gold Cobra arrived on 28 June 2011 as the first Limp Bizkit studio album from that five-piece since Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water. Blabbermouth printed the configurations before street date: thirteen songs on the standard CD, extras held for deluxe and retailer editions.
In late March 2012 DJ Lethal went on Twitter and said Fred had plans for a new Limp Bizkit without him and John Otto. Wes answered that the fight should have stayed internal. Lethal later apologized for drunken rants. Otto never left. Lethal was not a regular onstage presence again for years. He is still credited on Gold Cobra and, later, Still Sucks.
In October 2015 Rivers posted that he had not quit. Degenerative disc disease and a pinched nerve, he said, made it impossible to play or even drive, and a substitute would cover the Russian dates. Years later he wrote that he had also been fighting liver disease, left in 2015 because he felt horrible, and received a liver transplant in 2017. He was back with the band in 2018. Both accounts are his.
On 17 March 2018, at Storm the Gates in Auckland, Lethal was behind the decks again. Local reviews flagged it as his first show with the band since 2012. He posted, "So this happened tonight," then, "It's pretty official. Nice to be back."
For most of the 2010s the next album had a working title, Stampede of the Disco Elephants, and almost no finished vocals. In June 2021 Wes told Johnny Christ they had gone into studios maybe seven times in ten years, with about thirty-five songs tracked instrumentally, and that Durst kept recording vocals and throwing them away. "If he's not ready to do it, he's not ready to do it."
At Lollapalooza in Chicago on 31 July 2021, Durst came out in a gray wig and horseshoe mustache, ran through the hits, then told the park a new song called Dad Vibes was for you and only you. They played the recording over the PA. The single followed on 30 September. On 31 October, Halloween, Still Sucks appeared as a twelve-song record, the first Limp Bizkit studio album in a decade and the last one Sam Rivers would play on.
Rivers last played with Limp Bizkit at Leeds Festival in August 2025. On 18 October the band wrote, "Today we lost our brother. Our bandmate. Our heartbeat." He was 48. The post called him the pulse under every song and was signed Fred, Wes, John, and DJ Lethal. They did not give a cause of death.

Studio albums

Still Sucks (Oct 2021)
Gold Cobra (Jun 2011)

Formation 2 of 4

2003 – Aug 2004

Members

Fred Durst
Vocals
Mike Smith
Guitar
Sam Rivers
Bass
John Otto
Drums
DJ Lethal
Turntables

Formation facts

On 12 October 2001 the band posted that Limp Bizkit and Wes Borland had amicably decided to part ways. ABC reported it the same day. Durst said they would comb the world for the illest guitar player known to man.
After Wes Borland left Limp Bizkit in 2001, the band launched a nationwide search for a replacement guitarist. The search failed to produce a permanent member, but in March 2003, Limp Bizkit introduced former Snot guitarist Mike Smith during a live performance at WWE's WrestleMania XIX in Seattle. Korn guitarist Brian 'Head' Welch joined them as a special guest, playing alongside Smith on Rollin' and Crack Addict. Smith subsequently became Borland's official replacement, while Welch remained with Korn.
Results May Vary came out on 23 September 2003, the only Limp Bizkit studio album recorded without Wes Borland. Smith was the band's guitarist. Durst also played guitar on the record.
The album's radio hit was a cover of The Who's Behind Blue Eyes, with a Halle Berry video.
Durst had called Smith a breath of fresh air when he arrived. By August 2004 he was telling a fan site the opposite. "Mike wasn't the guy. We had fun playing with him, but always knew, in the back of our minds, that he wasn't where we needed him to be mentally."
In August 2004 the official site posted studio photos of Wes Borland back with the band. Smith was out. They recorded The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1) the next year as a short EP, with Sammy Siegler on much of the drumming, then went quiet.

Studio albums

Results May Vary (Sep 2003)

Formation 1 of 4

1996 – Oct 12, 2001

Members

Fred Durst
Vocals
Wes Borland
Guitar
Sam Rivers
Bass
John Otto
Drums
DJ Lethal
Turntables

Formation facts

In Jacksonville, Fred Durst went looking for a rhythm section that could rap and rock at the same time. He heard Sam Rivers tearing through a set on a five-string bass, asked him to quit the band he was in, and Rivers answered by bringing his cousin, jazz-trained drummer John Otto.
Durst wanted a name that would turn heads away. A lot of people, he said in the band's press kit, would pick up the disc, see Limp Bizkit, and assume the band must suck. Those were the people the band did not want listening.
When Korn came through town, Durst offered free tattoos, handed Fieldy a demo, and waited. Fieldy passed the tape to producer Ross Robinson. Robinson made Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ at Indigo Ranch, the same Malibu studio where he had recorded Korn's first albums.
After House of Pain, DJ Lethal (Leor Dimant) joined in 1996 and stopped being just a DJ. He talked about trying to sound like another guitar player, using turntables for riffs and atmosphere instead of ordinary scratches. That five-piece recorded the first three Limp Bizkit studio albums.
Before recording their debut album, Limp Bizkit was considering a deal with Mojo Records. The band jokingly told a competing label that the only way they wouldn't sign with Mojo was if their van overturned on the way to Los Angeles. Then, unbelievably, it happened. Near El Paso, Texas, their van rolled over five times, seriously injuring the band members. A dispute followed over how quickly the musicians should return to work. Limp Bizkit eventually left Mojo and signed with Flip Records, which financed the recording of Three Dollar Bill, Yall$. The extraordinary coincidence was recounted in a 1999 Los Angeles Times interview.
Ross Robinson did not want a George Michael cover on the debut. Durst had already been closing sets with aggressive 1980s pop, and he pushed Faith into the sessions anyway. The heavier studio cut became a radio single from Three Dollar Bill, Yall$.
Flip and Interscope released Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ on 1 July 1997. The sleeve title runs the Florida y'all into Yall$ on purpose. It was not an overnight smash. In early 1998 the labels paid Portland station KUFO about $5,000 to play Counterfeit fifty times over five weeks, with the paid status disclosed on air. The debut then grew through Family Values and the Faith video.
Significant Other arrived on 22 June 1999 and opened at No. 1. SoundScan counted about 635,000 copies in the week ending 27 June, enough to knock the Backstreet Boys off the top of the Billboard 200. Nookie was already a radio hit.
On Saturday night at Woodstock '99 in Rome, New York, Limp Bizkit played to a restless crowd. During Break Stuff, Fred Durst talked about days when you just want to break some shit. The New York Times reported that people tore plywood from camera-tower barriers, passed the boards overhead, and that the set paused while stretchers moved injured fans. Durst later said he meant jumping and singing, and that from the stage he did not see people getting hurt. The Sunday-night fires happened after other bands had played. Blame for the weekend remains disputed.
In 2000, while Metallica and Dr. Dre were taking Napster to court over unauthorized music downloads, Limp Bizkit went in the opposite direction. Fred Durst argued that free downloads helped fans discover music. Then Napster agreed to cover approximately $1.8 million in expenses for Limp Bizkit's Back to Basics tour with Cypress Hill. Fans could attend the concerts for free, with admission offered on a first-come, first-served basis. The tour also helped build anticipation for Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water, released that October.
Durst told MTV in March 2000 that he was Chocolate Starfish and the rest of the band was the Hot Dog Flavored Water. Wes Borland later said the second half started as a truck-stop joke: he saw bottles of Crystal Geyser flavored water and asked why nobody made a hot-dog flavor. That became the title of Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water.
When Limp Bizkit released Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water on October 17, 2000, it sold an astonishing 1,054,511 copies in its first week in the United States. That made it the first rock album to sell more than one million copies in a single week, surpassing the previous rock milestone set by Pearl Jam's Vs. in 1993, which had sold approximately 950,000 copies in its opening week. Chocolate Starfish debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, cementing Limp Bizkit's position as one of the biggest rock bands of the era.

Studio albums

Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water (Oct 2000)
Significant Other (Jun 1999)
Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ (Jul 1997)