Maynard James Keenan Reveals One Big Regret About Tool’s Career

Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan recently spoke with Allison Hagendorf and divulged one big regret that he has about the band’s career. That involves the band’s late arrival to streaming services.

It was August of 2019 when the band’s music finally arrived on digital streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music. Prior to that, fans were mostly relegated to finding the group’s music through YouTube. But the move to finally include streaming platforms came in the lead up to their Fear Inoculum album release.

Shortly after the arrival of all the band’s music on streaming services, Billboard reported that the band held down all of the Top 10 spots on the Rock Digital Song Sales Chart. “Sober” held down the No. 1 position, while “Fear Inoculum,” “Schism,” “Forty Six & 2,” “Stinkfist,” “AEnema,” “The Pot,” “Vicarious,” “Lateralus” and “Prison Sex” rounded out the Top 10.

The arrival on streaming helped boost the band’s albums as well, with Aenima surging back up to No. 10 on the Billboard 200, while Lateralus returned at No. 16, 10,000 Days at No. 18 and Undertow at No. 19. Even their Opiate EP hopped back onto the chart at No. 59.

Why Maynard James Keenan Regrets Tool’s Late Arrival to Streaming

In speaking with Hagendorf, Keenan shared his thoughts on the band’s relationship with streaming platforms.

“I feel like we missed the boat,” admits the singer. “Like it started with downloads, you know, 24 years ago. And then by the time we actually came out, downloads are done. We missed 20 years of reaching two generations of people to understand what it is that we do, in a format that, you know… I don’t like listening to the mp3 version. I listen to CDs and vinyl. But that’s the gateway to get them into the vinyl and the CDs.”

“I feel like we made a mistake not being on those on those mediums for 20 years. Me every year, saying ‘we should do this,’” stated Keenan, noting his support for the streaming move prior to it actually happening.

In fact, in January 2019, Keenan answered a fan bemoaning Tool’s lack of streaming presence telling the person on Twitter, “Squawking at the wrong Tool.”

Maynard’s Response Once Tool Blew Up on Streaming Services

As previously stated, Tool’s arrival on streaming platforms catapulted their prior catalog on multiple charts. When Hagendorf likened it to a music event, Keenan responded, “Well fans that knew about it. There’s an entire two generations that didn’t. That’s why [there was] the big surprise when we ended up bumping Taylor Swift off the chart for her second week. They didn’t know who [we are]. I mean ‘Who is this?’ ‘I don’t know who the fuck this.’”

“That’s just the reality, that people didn’t know who we were because we weren’t around,” noted Keenan. On top of their streaming absence, Tool famously had a 13-year span between new albums that became meme-worthy.

At the time, drummer Danny Carey shared with Kerrang! that one of the primary reasons for their absence from streaming was a “complicated label history and record deal.”

He explained, “We signed a five-record deal that was based around CDs. It got to this point where to accomplish the finality of releasing this record, we had to negotiate the whole digital domain. And we had already missed out on a huge facet of that as far as the download thing. It was a culture shock for us, but it’s a necessary [thing] that has to be done if you want to reach people with your art,” remarked Carey at the time.

READ MORE: Every Tool Song, Ranked

Reflecting on that period, Keenan drove home the missed opportunity. He told Hagendorf, “My son just went and finished law school, and his peers have no idea who we are. They weren’t exposed to it. It’s not on your phone.”

Maynard James Keenan Speaks With Allison Hagendorf