| "Nookie" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byLimp Bizkit | ||||
| from the albumSignificant Other | ||||
| Released | June 15, 1999 (1999-06-15) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
| |||
| Label | ||||
| Composers | ||||
| Lyricist | Fred Durst | |||
| Producers |
| |||
| Limp Bizkit singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Nookie" onYouTube | ||||
"Nookie" is a song by the Americannu metal bandLimp Bizkit. It was released on June 15, 1999, as the lead single from their second studio album,Significant Other (1999).[5]
In a 2008 interview with British rock magazineKerrang, guitaristWes Borland said the following about how the lyrical content turned out: "The music was cool, but I didn't like the lyrics at all. The funny thing is that 'Nookie' was actually the working title. When we were in the studio there was aporn magazine that had the word 'nookie' on the cover, so I was like, 'This song's called Nookie!', I never thought someone would actually run with it. I suppose it's all my fault."[6]
Fred Durst said about the song, "It's about my ex-girlfriend, how she treated me like shit, and I couldn't leave her, wouldn't get over it," he said. "She screwed my friends and used me for my money. I tried to figure out why I did it, and I figured I did it all for the nookie."[7]
In the music video, filmed inLong Island City,[8][6] Durst sings the song while walking through city streets drawing a crowd of female followers as he leads them to a secret concert performance of the song in an alley. The band allowed hundreds of fans to participate, playing the song in front of the large crowd. All the guys went to one side of the stage, and the girls on the other side. When Durst sang the chorus at certain parts, he would hold out his microphone to the crowd, getting that particular side to sing. This was, according to Durst, to show that "guys go off hard, but girls go off even harder". At the end of the video, Durst gets arrested and taken away by the police fordisturbing the peace.[9]
"Nookie" made Limp Bizkit extremely popular,[10] helping its parent albumSignificant Other become certified 7× Platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[11] It was their first single to chart on theBillboard Hot 100, debuting at number 80 on July 31, 1999 and staying on the chart for 11 weeks.[12] It also went to number 74 on theRadio Songs chart,[12] number six on theMainstream Rock chart,[12] and number three on theAlternative Songs chart.[12] The song's music video went to number one onMTV'sTotal Request Live six times during late July and August of 1999.[13] "Nookie" was also the band's first single to chart internationally, reaching #13 in Australia, #33 in New Zealand, and #36 in the Netherlands.
The song gained Limp Bizkit its firstGrammy nomination forBest Hard Rock Performance at the42nd Annual Grammy Awards, which it lost toMetallica's "Whiskey In The Jar".
Pharrell Williams, while recordingN.E.R.D.'s 2008 albumSeeing Sounds, cited this song as part of the band's incentive and drive to record more energetic music, noting it as the last energetic hit single before the album's release.[14] According toStereogum, "aside from the infantile lyrics, the awful rapping, and the yelling, it’s really not that bad of a song".[15] AuthorDave Holmes wrote that "Nookie" is "terrible, yet the kids ate it up".[16] In 2022,Louder Sound andKerrang ranked the song number two and number three, respectively, on their lists of Limp Bizkit's greatest songs.[17][18]
| Charts (1999) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[19] | 13 |
| El Salvador (Notimex)[20] | 5 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[21] | 36 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[22] | 33 |
| USBillboard Hot 100[23] | 80 |
| USAlternative Airplay (Billboard)[24] | 3 |
| USMainstream Rock (Billboard)[25] | 6 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[26] | Platinum | 30,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[27] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
Released the summer beforeY2K, that band's sophomore albumSignificant Other dominated modern-rock airwaves with instant nu-metal anthems like "Nookie" and "Break Stuff".
