AMG Review of Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

The scatological meaning of Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water is obvious to anyone who's graduated junior high. Hot dogs and chocolate starfishes are metaphors, as Fred Durst uses them to illuminate his one topic, how nobody understands him. He occasionally frames his rage as us versus them, as on "My Generation," but, ultimately, it's all about himself. Durst dwells on bad things said about him, dismissing the criticism that he helped stoke the fires at Woodstock 99 with a round of the "critics that don't get it," and devoting a song to an attack at labelmate Trent Reznor. Some fans may empathize with Durst, but will it resonate?