TOOL – Prog-Metal Giants Released Controversial Single ‘STINKFIST’ Today 30 Years Ago
Top singles from the past
1 October 2026
Prog metal rockers TOOL released controversial single
STINKFIST on 1 October 1996, 30 years ago today.
It was the opener of their 2nd album Ænima
The song title – also also referred to as “Track #1” due to the perceived offensiveness of
the actual title and perceived subject matter – fisting and drug addiction – caused changes to be made to the originally released version by TV and radio programmers, who also shortened the track.
Maynard Keenan (vocalist) explained: “‘Stink” and “fist” and the resulting perception
of “fist fucking” is actually symbolic in dealing with a friend of drummer Danny Carey who
“isn’t afraid of getting his hands dirty” rather than a “write-off” of the sexual term. Instead, fisting is a metaphor for the real cause of ailment.”
#1 in Canada, #17 in the US.
More than 185 million streams on Spotify.
The video clip has, as of today, more than
27 million views.
The music video for the song was created with stop-motion animation techniques featuring live actors, and was directed by the band’s guitarist Adam Jones (who had previous experience in art direction and animation)
