La música alternativa es uno de los estilos musicales más populares a nivel internacional. El rock alternativo fue producido como una alternativa a la música a finales de los 80 y principio de los 90. Siendo en esta última década donde alcanza gran aceptación por parte de los amantes de la música, y esto se debió en gran medida a la colaboración de bandas punk de los años 70 y 80. La baja en popularidad del rock alternativo fue debido a la sobresaturación del mercado causado por los ejecutivos de compañías disqueras quienes solo pensaban en ganar plata.
Tool es una banda contemporánea de rock/metal progresivo de los Estados Unidos. Se caracterizan por tener canciones de larga duración, generalmente de más de siete minutos, creando paisajes sonoros únicos, teniendo temas completamente instrumentales (“Eon Blue Apocalypse”) o canciones con letras que tratan temas como el abuso sexual (“Prison Sex”), la religión (“Opiate”), la trascendencia (“Lateralus”) y la comunicación (“Schism”), así como complejos cambios de ritmos y la polifacética voz de Maynard.
Tool se ganó la admiración de la crítica con uno de sus discos más destacado: Ænima. Dicho álbum superó ventas millonarias dándoles varios discos de Oro a la fecha además de haber ganado un Grammy. Para finales de la Gira del Ænima, los millones de fans esperaban con ansia su próximo álbum, pero por problemas con la discográfica, mercadotecnia y sumado a que los integrantes de la banda rara vez conceden entrevistas, tratando de no vender su imagen, hizo que pasaran más de cuatro años sin nuevo material de Tool. Solo aparecieron en dos de sus siete vídeos: en “Hush” y brevemente en el video de “Sober”. Aunque recientemente han sido publicados en distintos medios, estudios fotográficos que se le hicieron a la banda para su última producción "10,000 Days".
See, I think drugs have done some good things for us, I really do
And if you don't believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favor
Go home tonight and take all your albums, all your tapes, and all your CDs and burn 'em
'Cause you know what? The musicians who've made all that great music
That's enhanced your lives throughout the years were real fucking high on drugs
Today a young man on acid realized
That all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration
That we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively
There is no such thing as death, life is only a dream
And we are the imagination of ourselves
Here's tom with the weather
It's not a war on drugs, it's a war on personal freedom, that's what it is, okay?
Keep that in mind at all times, thank you
Dreaming of that face again
It's bright and blue and shimmering
Grinning wide
And comforting me with its three warm and wild eyes
On my back and tumbling
Down that hole and back again (and back again)
Rising up
And wiping the webs and the dew from my withered eye
In, out, in, out, in, out
A child's rhyme stuck in my head
It said that life is but a dream
I've spent so many years in question
To find I've known this all along
So good to see you
I've missed you so much
So glad it's over
I've missed you so much
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running?
Shrouding all the ground around me
Is this holy crow above me
Black as holes within a memory
And blue as our new second Sun
I stick my hand into the shadow
To pull the pieces from the sand
Which I attempt to reassemble
To see just who I might have been
I do not recognize the vessel
But the eyes seem so familiar
Like phosphorescent desert buttons
Singing one familiar song
So good to see you
I've missed you so much
So glad it's over
I've missed you so much
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
So good to see you once again
I thought that you were hiding
And you thought that I had run away
Chasing the tail of dogma
I opened my eye, I opened my eye
I opened my eye and there we were
I opened my eye, I opened my eye
I opened my eye and there we were
So good to see you once again
I thought that you were hiding from me
And you thought that I had run away
Chasing a trail of smoke and reason
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye