page: 6
 title: Stern vs.Tool?
author: Corey Levitan

Your'e no doubt familiar with the many cool songs gracing the soundtrack
to Howard Stern's "Private Parts" biopic.  Here's the story of one that
got away...  "No Quarter" was a cover tune orignally recorded by Tool for
the 1994 Led Zeppelin tribute album Encomium but dropped at the last
minute.  Tool's label, Zoo Records, agreed to license the unreleased track
to Stern and even shook hands on the deal, only to later discover that the
band - which retains control over the use of its master tapes -
disapproved.  (A source close to Tool told Rock Flash that
guitarist/leader Adam Jones objected not because he dislikes Stern but
because he dislikes soundtracks in general; he has turned down several
offers in the past.)  When Stern's people assumed the reneging was a ploy
to up Tool's asking price, they offered Zoo more money.  Finally, the
embarrassed label had to admit that it never had a right to promise Stern
the song.  The gaffe sent an angry Stern scrambling to loca te a
replacement track.  "F**k 'em," Stern told Rock Flash between live
commercials during his nationally syndicated radio show.  "F**k Tool and
F**k Zoo, and I don't care if you print that.  They're a**holes."  A day
later Stern ordered his producer to remove Tool's music from his on-air
lead-ins.  (Until then he had been a confirmed fan.) 

Posted to t.d.n: 12/22/97 12:32:53