Around the turn of the millennium, adolescent rage was personified by an anarchic blend of rap and rock, which gave birth to a new genre: nu-metal. The genre was severely theatrical, melding the brash, guitar-forward instrumentation and screaming lyricism of metal with rap’s poetic delivery and drum machines.
Nu-metal took cues from early '90s alternative scenes where thrash-inspired bands such as Faith No More, Nine Inch Nails, Primus and Ministry mixed industrial, electronic, and metal music to create a dark, moody sound. Nu-metal took this further, often employing slow tempos, down-tuned guitars, and distorted string instruments. Groups such as Cypress Hill, Korn and Linkin Park featured a DJ and incorporated rapping.
While nu-metal was ripe for a wide variety of expression, the genre generally promoted individualism, breaking with tradition, and political anarchy. Its lyrics combined hip-hop's political history and metal's brutal aggression to create a sound that resonated with disaffected, sometimes isolated — a clear deviation away from the proto-masculine themes of 1980s metal. Singers like Korn's Jonathan Davis expanded upon pervasive post-9/11 pessimism, tackling complex subjects like child abuse, suicidal thoughts, and depression. Other groups adopted imagery from horror icons H. R. Geiger (whose work inspired Alien) and Spawn comic creator Todd McFarlane.
Unlike metal in the '80s or grunge in the '90s, nu-metal was not dominated by caucasian men. Nu-metal's experimental incorporation of rap widened the genre's audience, bringing in Black and brown fans who might not otherwise listen to rock. Female-fronted bands like Evanescence, Kitty, and In This Moment were pivotal to the genre’s dominance of festival circuits and merchandise, appealing to both sexes with strong female singers whose intensity and aggression matched that of their male counterparts. Deftones — who fused Chicano sartorial aesthetics and lowrider iconography with goth culture — along with Fear Factory, P.O.D., and Rage Against the Machine, were fronted by Latinos. All System of Down members are of Armenian descent.
Nu-metal was as much a look as it was a musical genre, uniting fans in spiked hair, Adidas jumpsuits, and JNCO jeans. The fashion sense, ideology, and in-your-face aggression of the genre’s musicality were personified by an intense commitment to the act. The members of Korn wore dreadlocks, black nail polish, unkempt facial hair, and baggy clothes. Slipknot took it one step further, donning disturbing yet mesmerizing masks, each one invoking the historical plague masks, horror icons, and at times, the darkness members felt inside them.
While nu-metal is sometimes remembered as a throw-away genre during a low point in alternative music — due in part to the legal issues and problematic public perception of nu-metal acts like Marilyn Manson, Limp Bizkit, and Kid Rock — many of its elements were groundbreaking at the time. Nu-metal groups including Korn and Slipknot, who released a new album this year, continue to resonate with listeners. GRAMMY.com collected the essential albums that best define nu-metal's aggression and innovation.
Korn - Korn (1994)
Nu-metal was formed and led by Korn, who was at the forefront of the genre’s move to mainstream music in the 1990s. Over 14 studio albums, the band solidified the brash musicality of their signature sound — often melding rap/rock lyricism of bands like Cypress Hill with lyrics about alienation and loneliness. James "Munky" Shaffer and Brian "Head" Welchplayed seven-string guitars through a bevy of pedals, incorporating funk-laden bass lines that distinguished the California group from metal bands of the previous decade.
These experimental leanings were evident from the band’s self-titled debut album, released six years before the genre broke into the mainstream. The album's cover laid the groundwork for what awaited listeners, an album filled with disturbing lyrics on childhood abuse and real-life boogie men. A little girl sits on a swing, motionless, peering up at a monstrous figure we only see by the outline of his shadow. From the moment Davis scream, "Are you reaaaddyyyy!!" on the opening track, "Blind," like it or not, you are on an 11-track crash course towards existential hell.
Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire (1996)
Of all the nu-metal bands that leaned on hip-hop’s legacy, Rage Against the Machine did so with the most authenticity and reverence. (Frontman Zach de la Rocha was well regarded within hip-hop circles, often being asked to tour and collaborate with acts like KRS-One, Chuck D, the Roots, and Saul Williams.) RATM was also one of the most political bands of the era, whose far-left, militaristic lyrics railed against capitalism, colonialism, military intervention abroad, and class warfare — all socio-political issues in the daily headlines during the late '90s and early 2000s.
Evil Empire was made during a period of vicious infighting among the group, which had just wrapped three years of touring on the success of their debut album. What culminated was an album motivated by the band’s distinct multicultural backgrounds and stubborn, idealistic stances on sound and theme. Songs like "People of the Sun," "Bulls on Parade" and "Down Rodeo" were liberation songs for the underclasses and oppressed. Its liner notes thanked writers and cultural critics Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Abbie Hoffman, and Norman Mailer.
With Evil Empire, RATM solidified itself as a band for the people and cut one of the great musical manifestos in the process. The populist political advocacy the band pursued in the early '90s was a precursor to contemporary American sentiment where many are overwhelmed by student loan debt, low-paying jobs, inequity and housing instability.
Deftones - White Pony (2000)
On their third release, Deftones embraced the anti-traditionalist mentality of the genre to make an anti-nu-metal album. White Pony tracks like "Adrenaline" and "Around the Fur" were a tonal shift away from the genre’s darkness, favoring melody and romanticism.
Musically, the album had more in common with shoegaze than hip-hop or rap. The guitars were tuned lower than on "Around the Fur," and the album’s only single, "Change (In the House of Flies)," sounded more like the Cure or Depeche Mode than Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit. Moreno sings in a sensual, reverb-drenched wail and adds a soft layer to tracks like "Feiticiera" and "Knife Prty." The album is ethereal and dream-like, thanks to the band stacking effect petals and creating a multi-textured sound. Rather than stand in defiance to nu-metal, White Pony characterizes how diverse and broad the genre’s influences are.
Slipknot - Iowa (2001)
As macabre as the members of Slipknot looked in their straight-jacket jumpsuits and torture-porn masks, their music was even more brutal. Slipknot embodied the pain many teenagers felt from school bullying and conservative values and encapsulated it by turning into a nightmarish group of nine mask-wearing maniacs delivering musical filth.
Their sophomore album, Iowa, was named after the band's birthplace while delivering their career's heaviest and darkest album. P"When we did ‘Iowa,’ we hated each other. We hated the world; the world hated us. Hate is the optimum word when describing the ethos of Slipknot," percussionist Shawn Crahan recalled.
Hate also fueled Slipknot's lyrical content and stage presence. This is never more apparent than on the album’s second track, "People=Shit," which is a spiritual successor to philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s infamous line, "Hell is other people" in his 1944 play, "No Exit." Alternative Press described the album as "like having a plastic bag taped over your head for an hour while Satan uses your [privates] as a speedbag."
System of a Down - Toxicity (2001)
After 9/11, America was searching for a place to project its sense of anger, sadness, and fragility. Mosques were attacked. Middle Easterners were profiled at airports. Out of this xenophobic muck, System of a Down emerged as a voice against the warmongering of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. "Toxicity" was released mere days after 9/11, but it presupposed the feelings of American interventionism that would permeate our country’s news cycle for the next two decades.
Musically, the album mined influences from pro-rock, funk, jazz, hip-hop, and alternative metal, to create a sound that was impossible to define. The band used Middle Eastern instruments like sitar, as well as banjos and pianos to create ballads on love, spirituality, police brutality, and third-world politics. Serj Tankian’s vocals resembled the stream-of-consciousness, automatic writing of Beat poets one minute and then the balladry of Leonard Cohen in the next.
System of a Down were similar to RATM in their incorporation of hip-hop’s political poetry, but they spun this influence so far that the connective tissue is almost impossible to trace. SOAD was louder and more abrasive than other bands with hip-hop influences, but they could turn melodic at the stop of a dime, creating a flippant, surreal journey into a psychedelic symphony that showed the breadth of nu-metals expression.
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