Limp Bizkit released Results May Vary in the United States on September 23, 2003, through Flip/Interscope. Their fourth studio album followed a difficult search for a guitarist and a substantial restart in the studio. Wes Borland had left in October 2001, and the band eventually recruited former Snot guitarist Mike Smith while reconsidering the songs that would become their next record.
Smith’s arrival changed the work already underway. Rolling Stone reported in July 2003 that Limp Bizkit had set aside a completed album’s worth of material that spring and begun again, with Smith co-writing some of the replacement songs. Finding him had taken time, even though he and Fred Durst had played together before. In MTV’s account of the recording process, Durst recalled contacting Smith after remembering their earlier chemistry. A 20-minute jam led to an invitation to join.
“Eat You Alive” became the introduction to that lineup on record. Smith shared its songwriting credit with Durst, bassist Sam Rivers and drummer John Otto. Durst also directed the music video, casting Thora Birch as the woman his character abducts and Bill Paxton as her pursuing father. In a message on the band’s website before the album arrived, Durst cautioned that the single’s aggression did not describe every song they had made.
The finished album retained several production partnerships. Durst and Terry Date produced “Eat You Alive,” while “Down Another Day” and “Build a Bridge” paired Durst with Rick Rubin. Brendan O’Brien mixed those recordings. Smith’s contributions extended to co-writing “Underneath the Gun” and “Almost Over,” but other writing partnerships remained: Durst and Rivers wrote the closing song, “Drown.”
Discussing “Drown” with Rolling Stone before release, Durst described feeling that things were slipping beyond his control. “It’s my cry for someone to save me before I drown,” he said in the interview, excerpted by Blabbermouth. That concern extended to “Underneath the Gun.” In a September 2003 website message preserved by Blabbermouth, he explained that the song dealt with suicidal thoughts and urged fans to spend time with the record. “It is an album that will take time to sink in,” he wrote. He also said the band had recorded more than 30 songs, making clear how much material existed beyond the released collection.
The cover of the Who’s “Behind Blue Eyes,” written by Pete Townshend, appeared near the end as well. At a London album playback, Durst explained that he identified with its account of a misunderstood man, NME reported in September 2003. Choosing it put someone else’s words alongside his own accounts of isolation. It became the follow-up single to “Eat You Alive,” presenting another side of the album after the first video’s violent storyline.
Results May Vary debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with approximately 325,000 U.S. sales in its first week. That was below the more than one million copies Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water had sold in its first week in 2000.
By August 2004, Borland had rejoined Limp Bizkit. Photos posted on the band’s website showed him working with his bandmates in the studio, ending the lineup that had made Results May Vary.
