Let’s get something straight before we go any further: this isn’t a discovery segment. There was a stretch — and I mean years, not months — where Tool got played on this show every single week. Same songs, sometimes, over and over, week after week, because when something’s that good you don’t feel guilty about wearing a groove into it. That’s not a knock on the band. Still love Tool. Always will. But somewhere along the way the show moved on, the way shows do, and it turns out nobody was keeping score of exactly how long “moved on” had been. Turns out it’s been at least three years. Three years since a single Tool track hit this air. That number caught even me off guard.
Here’s how it happens: you play the hell out of a standard for long enough that you start to feel like you know everything it has to offer, and you go looking for what else is out there — and with Tool, “what else is out there” is a genuinely deep rabbit hole. This is a band whose fingerprints are all over prog metal, math rock, anything built on odd time signatures and patience instead of hooks. Chasing those threads is how you end up spending years away from the source without ever meaning to.
So tonight, Rolling with Scissors takes a one-week break from the Dolly Parton deep dive for a one-off Tool mini deep dive — not the full-catalog treatment this band has earned plenty of times before, just a long-overdue reunion. Don’t worry — Dolly’s not going anywhere. The deep dive picks right back up next week and runs through to the finish. And who knows — maybe the full Tool rotation makes a comeback down the line too. For now: Maynard James Keenan’s restraint, odd-time riffs stacked like load-bearing beams, and tracks that take eight or nine minutes to tell you what they’re actually about. This is exactly what the Solid Block format was built for. Settle in.
PLAYLIST
Artist – Song – Album – Label – Year
HOUR ONE
01. Tool - Sweat - Opiate - Volcano - 1992
02. Tool - Hush - Opiate - Volcano - 1992
03. Tool - Part of Me - Opiate - Volcano - 1992
04. Tool - Cold and Ugly [Live] - Opiate - Volcano - 1992
05. Tool - Jerk-Off [Live] - Opiate - Volcano - 1992
06. Tool - Opiate - Opiate - Volcano - 1992
07. Tool - Intolerance - Undertow - Zoo Entertainment - 1993
08. Tool - Prison Sex - Undertow - Zoo Entertainment - 1993
09. Tool - Sober - Undertow - Zoo Entertainment - 1993
10. Tool - Bottom - Undertow - Zoo Entertainment - 1993
11. Tool - Crawl Away - Undertow - Zoo Entertainment - 1993
12. Tool - Swamp Song - Undertow - Zoo Entertainment - 1993
HOUR TWO
13. Tool - Undertow - Undertow - Zoo Entertainment - 1993
14. Tool - 4° - Undertow - Zoo Entertainment - 1993
15. Tool - Flood - Undertow - Zoo Entertainment - 1993
16. Tool - Disgustipated - Undertow - Zoo Entertainment - 1993
17. Tool - Stinkfist - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
18. Tool - Eulogy - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
19. Tool - H. - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
20. Tool - Useful Idiot - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
21. Tool - Forty Six & 2 - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
22. Tool - Message to Harry Manback - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
HOUR THREE
23. Tool - Hooker with a Penis - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
24. Tool - Intermission - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
25. Tool - Jimmy - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
26. Tool - Die Eier Von Satan - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
27. Tool - Pushit - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
28. Tool - Cesaro Summability - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
29. Tool - Ænema - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
30. Tool - (-) Ions - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
31. Tool - Third Eye - Aenima - Volcano - 1996
32. Tool - The Grudge - Lateralus - Volcano - 2001
33. Tool - Eon Blue Apocalypse - Lateralus - Volcano - 2001
34. Tool - The Patient - Lateralus - Volcano - 2001