blastingas10

They were definitely influence by king crimson, but they still sound quite a bit different. I can't remember which member of king crimson said it, but one of them said something along the lines of "tool influenced king crimson more than king crimson influenced tool".

Here are the exact quotes:

King Crimson member Robert Fripp has downplayed any influence his band had on Tool. In an interview with Tool, he touched briefly on how the two bands relate to each other, stating "Do you hear the influence? There's just one figure where I hear an influence, just one. It was a piece we were developing that we dropped. And it's almost exactly the same figure: three note arpeggio with a particular accent from the guitar. So I do not think you could have heard it. That's the only thing."

He also revealed, "I happen to be a Tool fan. The members of Tool have been generous enough to suggest that Crimson has been an influence on them. Adam Jones asked me if I could detect it in their music, and I said I couldn’t. I can detect more Tool influence in King Crimson, than I can hear King Crimson in Tool."