As you might have already guessed, toolgasm is a
contraction of the words
Tool (as in the band) and
orgasm. The term was coined by a guy who went by the
screen name Stubbs, and brought to the public by him in a post in the alt.music.tool
newsgroup. Needless to say, all the regular posters in the group
wet their pants in ecstacy over this new word.
So what is it? A toolgasm is a place in a tool song or album in which the listener
reaches a level of maximum listening pleasure. A good example would be the end of eulogy, where Maynard screams goodbye for 15 seconds or so.
Back when Maynard's other band's cd was released, someone proposed a similar concept, called "a perfect climax", but it never really caught on in the land of alt.music.tool.
Some of my favourite toolgasms:
- Intolerance at 03:38 ("how can I toleraaaaaaaaaate you?")
- Swamp Song at 03:44 ("why don't you geeeeeeeeet out?"), and again at 04:10 ("no one told you to come")
- Stinkfist at 3:50 ("something kind of sad about the way that things have come to be")
- Pushit at 06:17 ("never wanna see that place agaaaaaain")
- The Patient at 05:52 and onward, for the rest of the song (Good one!)
- The transition between Parabol and Parabola. That one literally made me shout out in joy and happiness the first time I heard it.
If you're a
Tool fan, you should get the
point by now. And if you're not, well, you should be able to grasp the idea too.