Song · Tool
“Lateralus” by Tool
From the album Lateralus (2001)
“Lateralus” by Tool appears on 17 radio countdowns from 14 stations between 2001 and 2024. It was first released in 2001 on the album Lateralus. Its best result is #10 on The End Top 107 Songs of 2002. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #101 alternative song of 2001.
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"Lateralus" gave Tool's third album its name in 2001 and later became its third single, and it's progressive metal as sacred geometry. Danny Carey has said it started life titled "9-8-7" after the chorus's shifting meters, 9/8 sliding to 8/8 sliding to 7/8, before the band noticed that 987 is the 16th number in the Fibonacci sequence; the words follow patterns of their own to match.
Adam Jones' guitar and Justin Chancellor's bass coil around each other while Carey rolls through the odd meters as if they were plain 4/4, and Maynard James Keenan climbs from a murmur to a roar. Keenan has said the colors named in the song come from the creation stories of North American aboriginal peoples, and one line nods to Hermeticism and the Emerald Tablet. David Bottrill co-produced with the band, recorded it and mixed it.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 46 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 2001 | 91 |
| 2001 | 95 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2001 | 106 |
| 2001 | 60 | K-Rock New York, NY | K-Rock Top 92.3 Songs of 2001 | 93 |
| 2001 | 87 | 107.7 The End Seattle, WA | The End Top 107 Songs of 2001 | 107 |
| 2001 | 73 | 89X Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON | 89X Top 89 Songs of 2001 | 89 |
| 2001 | 86 | CD101 Columbus, OH | CD101 Top 101 Songs of 2001 | 101 |
| 2001 | 36 | The Buzz Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY / Montreal, QC | The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2001 | 99 |
| 2001 | 83 | 97X Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL | 97X Top 97 Songs of 2001 | 97 |
| 2001 | 78 | 99X Atlanta, GA | 99X Top 99 Songs of 2001 | 99 |
| 2002 | 70 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 2002 | 91 |
| 2002 | 78 | K-Rock New York, NY | K-Rock Top 92.3 Songs of 2002 | 92 |
| 2002 | 49 | WFNX Boston, MA | WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2002 | 100 |
| 2002 | 10 | 107.7 The End Seattle, WA | The End Top 107 Songs of 2002 | 107 |
| 2002 | 59 | Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) | Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2002 | 99 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 758 | KISW | KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) | 999 |
| 2010 | 190 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | 102.1 The Edge Top 200 New Rock Songs of the Millennium | 200 |
| 2024 | 874 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
Also listed as: Lataralus.
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