Creativity Quote by John Otto

There’s a sly power in how unremarkable this sounds. “I’ve always liked funk and rock and everything” is the kind of line musicians toss off in interviews when they don’t want to audition for the role of Genre Guy. John Otto isn’t staking a claim to taste as an identity badge; he’s refusing the whole premise that taste needs a thesis. The phrase works because it’s both expansive and evasive: funk and rock are real signposts, but “and everything” blurs the map on purpose.

Coming from the drummer of Limp Bizkit, that looseness is loaded. Nu metal lived on collisions - hip-hop rhythms under heavy guitars, swagger next to angst - and Otto’s drumming was a major bridge between those worlds. Saying he’s “always liked” funk is also a quiet nod to technique: funk drumming is about pocket, restraint, micro-timing, the groove that makes aggression danceable. Rock, meanwhile, supplies the blunt force. “Everything” becomes a defense of hybridity, the idea that the band’s notorious mash-up wasn’t a gimmick so much as a natural diet.

The subtext is also reputational. Limp Bizkit became a cultural punching bag, and genre talk can turn into a courtroom. Otto’s casual, inclusive phrasing sidesteps the trial. It frames influence as instinct rather than calculation, and it invites listeners to hear the band not as an era-specific punchline, but as a product of wide, messy listening - the most honest origin story pop culture allows.