Sam Rivers, the founding bassist of Limp Bizkit, died on October 18. He was 48 years old. The surviving members of the nu metal icons shared the news on Instagram. TMZ says the cause of death was cardiac arrest, but further details have not been released.
Rivers was born on September 2, 1977 in Jacksonville, Florida, where he grew up and met his future Limp Bizkit bandmates. His first instrument was the tuba, which he picked up in middle school, before moving on to guitar -- and later, bass -- in high school. He met Durst, who was looking to start a band and was impressed with Rivers' bass playing style. They began jamming together and eventually formed Limp Bizkit in 1994, with Rivers recruiting his friend John Otto (though they were initially believed to be cousins) on drums. In 1996 Limp Bizkit brought in producer/turntablist DJ Lethal to round out their initial lineup, and their debut album Three Dollar Bill, Y'all arrived the following year. With their following two recordsSignificant Other (1999) and Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water (2000), Limp Bizkit established themselves as one of the defining artists of the nu metal subgenre. Limp Bizkit's hit single "Break Stuff," in particular, made the band a household name, both due to the celebrity cameo-ridden music video that accompanied it and an infamous appearance at the ill-fated Woodstock '99.
When Rivers left Limp Bizkit in 2015, it was reported that he'd been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease. Five years later, however, Rivers stated in Jon Wiederhorn's metal oral history book Raising Hell that his departure was due to liver disease caused by excessive drinking, and that he'd undergone a liver transplant in 2017. Rivers reunited to perform on Limp Bizkit's most recent album, 2021's Still Sucks.
Durst shared a video tribute on his own Instagram explaining how Rivers was instrumental to the band's formation and success. You can watch the full thing here, but Durst says in part:
I saw Sam play and I was blown away. He’s playing a five-string bass, too. I've never really seen someone using a five-string bass, and he was so smooth and good and he stood out. And I could hear nothing else but Sam, you know, everything disappeared besides his gift. I went up to Sam after the show and I said, “hey man, you're unbelievable. You know, I got this idea for this band I want to do.” And kind of threw it out there and told him what I wanted it to be. And he looked at me and he says, “Killer, I'm in. Let's do it.” I was like, “oh my God. Well, let's do it.” And you know, that's kind of how things started to come together. I had a bass player. And after me and Sam had been jamming around and messing around for a bit, you know, I started looking around for other players and things. And Sam said, “well, you know, my cousin John's a killer drummer. He's a jazz drummer. He should jam with us.” And I said, “well, jazz would be great because it'll give us that kind of beat we want...” It was a magical thing, the two of them, and I felt like, “this is it. This is what I've been looking for.”
"Rest in power my brother," DJ Lethal commented under the band's tribute post. "You will live on through your music and the lives you helped save with your music, charity work and friendships. We are heartbroken. Enjoy every millisecond of life. It’s not guaranteed." See that and revisit some Limp Bizkit classics below.
