Nu metal

Nu metal (also called aggro metal or nü-metal, using the traditional heavy metal umlaut) is a musical genre that has origins in the mid 1990s. It typically fuses influences from the grunge and alternative metal of the early 1990s with hip-hop, electronic music, thrash metal and other forms of heavy metal music. The popularity and perceived vast commercialization ^[1] of such music in the late 1990s and early 2000s led to widespread negative associations with the term nu metal, which in turn led to many fans and artists rejecting it.

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KoЯn

Overview

The origins of nu metal can be pinpointed to the Lollapalooza music festival in the 1990's which increased the exposure of bands who performed brands of metal and metal-influenced alternative music that had little to do with traditional genre approaches (see Alternative metal). The funk influence of Primus, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone, the hip hop crossover of Rage Against the Machine and Urban Dance Squad, the industrial metal of Nine Inch Nails and Ministry, and the aggressive experimental rock of Tool have been mentioned numerous times as influences who toured on the festival by nu metal bands who gained mass-media exposure at the end of the millennium.

Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's death in 1994 would signal the beginning of the decline of alternative rock (and grunge in particular) as the driving force in modern American rock music, paving the way for nu metal to gain ground with the public. Grunge is perhaps the most recognizable ancestor of nu metal; the quick jolts of distorted guitar chords, tortured vocals and lyrics of angst associated with grunge have found clear public display in signature nu metal artists, including those with a reputation for integrating hip hop into their sound.

While Deftones and Korn are typically cited as the genre's instigators, bands like Fishbone, Body Count, Urban Dance Squad, Faith No More, Jane's Addiction, Helmet, Soundgarden, Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tool, and others are also proclaimed as progenitors. Linkin Park is the best selling nu metal act with 35 million copies sold out of their first two full-lengths, Hybrid Theory and Meteora. Producer Ross Robinson was labelled by some as "The Godfather of Nu Metal" due to his producing of several notable Nu Metal albums. Nu metal bands also typically claim influence by more conventional metal acts, particularly Black Sabbath; it also has some sonic similarity with death metal as well as thrash metal bands like Metallica and Megadeth. Entertainment!, the 1979 debut from British post-punk group Gang of Four has been cited as an indirect influence. Critic Andy Kellman suggests that the album's "vaguely funky rhythmic twitch, its pungent, pointillistic guitar staccattos, and its spoken/shouted vocals have all been picked up by many."

The term "nu metal" was coined in the late nineties to denote the resurgance of metal in the public eye with the rise in popularity of bands such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, and the Deftones, as well as the success of the traveling Ozzfest festival. Ozzfest, unlike the diverse Lollapalooza, provided a venue solely for the metal scene. Mainstream metal had been largely derided in America for most of the decade as glam metal excess had been eliminated by the success of alternative rock, but Ozzfest demonstrated that a sizable audience existed for new heavy metal sounds. Unlike previous eras who held bands such as Led Zeppelin and Judas Priest as their icons, the newer bands typically drew direct inspiration from more recent metal movements (particularly thrash and alternative metal).

While Korn had released their first album in 1994 at the height of alternative rock's popularity, their true breakthrough came with the release of their 1998 album Follow the Leader and the accompanying Family Values Tour that year, which also included Limp Bizkit, Incubus, Orgy, Ice Cube and Rammstein. Soon other bands gained major radio airplay and rotation on MTV's Total Request Live program, leading critics to declare a resurgence in rock music as a whole.

The sentiment was reinforced by MTV's "Return of the Rock" specials which featured Korn, Limp Bizkit, and related bands. Other acts, such as Slipknot, Godsmack, Papa Roach, P.O.D., and Incubus, also managed major mainstream success at the turn of the century. Nu metal became a term not only encompassing alt-metal bands like Korn, but also a large number of bands who were considered a revitalization of metal by adopting and updating the extreme aggression and tropes of metal such as showmanship and machismo for the turn of the century. Instead of dressing up in spandex, conjuring up images of the occult and dating models, nu metal bands like Limp Bizkit mixed hip-hop fashion and the goatees and piercings of the alternative scene, painted their faces, expressed angst about relationships, and dated porn stars.

Criticisms

Nu metal bands essentially defined the image of modern metal music in the late 90s/early 2000s by headlining major rock concerts like the Ozzfest festival and Woodstock 1999 as well as dominating the playlists of both Modern Rock and hard rock radio stations, to the chagrin of many. Criticisms included the incorporation of hip-hop and electronic sounds, the emphasis of groove and texture over traditional metal hallmarks such as solos and intricate riffing, the mass appeal that some viewed as selling out and a faux rebellion, and particularly the empashis on angst and aggression in the music. A pivotal moment in nu metal's history was Woodstock 99 where a large number of nu metal acts appeared on the bill. After the three-day festival ended in rioting, many blamed the aggressive nature of nu metal bands for the destruction; Limp Bizkit's set drew particular scorn, in particular their performance of the song "Break Stuff" where some believed frontman Fred Durst encouraged the audience to engage in violence. However, nu metal continued to be quite popular, and in 2000 Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water became the rock record to debut with the biggest first-week sales in the SoundScan era up to that point. Another Family Values tour launched in 2001, with Fred Durst label signings Staind headlining the tour.

Abandoning the Term

Many bands have tried to distance themselves from the "nu metal" tag over the years, particularly the Deftones, who early in their career stopping touring and collaborating with Korn partly out of fear of being classified as part of a generic sound. This partially had to with the use of the term nu metal as an insult by many people, including traditional metal fans and alternative rock fans. A few bands also dislike to be pigeonholed into a single movement they felt they had no real connection with. Quite a few nu metal bands, including Papa Roach and Limp Bizkit, abandoned the integration of hip-hop (once viewed as vital to the sound of nu metal) and experimented with different sounds on their later albums, often with less success than they had previously. Currently nu metal has declined in popularity in the United States as Indie rock, Emo, Metalcore, and other genres have gained support, although it is still considered an active force in the music mainstream, particularly overseas in places like the United Kingdom.

Categorization of specific artists as "nu metal" is difficult, considering the widespread mistrust of the term among artists and fans alike, and the "edges" are fuzzy where nu metal bleeds into other genres. In general, the artists in question are American bands that found their first success in the mid- to late 1990s. Immediately, other artists began shaping their sound to resemble the new groove-driven metal.

Musical traits

Guitar

Unlike traditional metal, the overall defining trait of nu metal guitar-playing is the emphasis on mood and texture over melody or complex instrumentation, achieved largely through performance or effects. Generally speaking, the emphasis in the music is on either communicating feelings of angst and hostility, or motivating a crowd to move with the beat -- ideally, both at once. However, guitar-playing in nu metal still often varies vastly in complexity, sound and usage. Bands take elements from several forms of music when composing the riffs for their guitars, causing a high variance between the bands. One common trait of most nu metal bands however, is to emphasize the guitar as a rhythmic instrument. Riffs often consist of only a few different notes or power chords played in rhythmic, syncopated patterns. To emphasize this rhythmic nature, nu metal guitarists generally make liberal use of palm muting, that is often widely spaced out and blend easily into the surrounding riffs.

Another common technique with nu metal guitarists is the use of de-tuned strings whose lower pitch creates a thicker, more resonant sound. Strings 'de-tuned' in this way, are often drop-D or lower, sometimes adding a seventh string. Guitar solos are generally not part of nu metal songwriting, and when they do appear they are often short and uncomplex when compared to those of other metal genres. Some even consider these as more like melody lines for their short length.

Bands such as Linkin Park, and Spineshank are two bands that may be considered to represent examples of many techniques common to nu metal. There are exceptions in the genre however, with some bands using few to none of these common traits, such as System of a Down and Korn.

Bass

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Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu from KoЯn

The speed and skill of a bassist in traditional heavy metal plays a large part of outcome in the band's sound, complementing percussive tempos (and occasionally the guitar riffs) to add a strong rhythm to the tone.

In nu metal, the bass is often the main focus of the music, acting often as the lead instrument, setting the bands other instruments as acting as rhythm. The nu metal bass is often slow and reminscent of hip hop or pop music, strutting a funky, loud sound that would arguably compete with the presence of the band's vocalist.

Drums

Nu metal drumming usually consists of 4/4 beats, often believed to come from the genres hip-hop influence. These 4/4 beats are sometimes used as a sole drumming pattern, but some drummers often reach beyond traditional heavy metal patterns for more syncopated beats, such as Eastern dance rhythms, jazz drumming, and the complex breakbeats of hip-hop. One of the most important aspects of nu metal drumming, is that tempo rises above the estabilished midtempo range on chorus lines and bridges. This is an almost universal rule, with a relatively small number of bands, including Slipknot and System of a Down, being the rare exceptions. Also, many notable nu metal bands feature a DJ for additional rythmic instrumentation. Two of the more famous nu-metal DJs are DJ Lethal of Limp Bizkit and Joe Hahn of Linkin Park.

Vocals

Nu metal bands often feature aggressive vocals that range from melodic singing akin to pop music and heavy metal styles, guttural screaming and shouting from various forms of metal music and metalcore types, and rapping.

Some distinction is usually maintained between bands that use rapping vocals extensively, and those that don't. Bands featuring rap vocals are sometimes loosely called 'rap metal', while the less common term rapcore is term used by fans to depict bands that use a combination of singing, screaming, and/or rapping (for example, the vocals of Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, some Korn b-sides, and most songs by Papa Roach and P.O.D. in their early careers).

Tool has been a recognizable origin for some nu metal vocal styles, Chevelle's Pete Loeffler, Inner Surge's Steve Moore, Taproot's Stephen Richards and even Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst have cited Maynard James Keenan's signature style as an influence.

Lyrical themes

The lyrics of most nu metal bands reflect on the stresses and mishaps of everyday life. Topics covered in this manner range from childhood alienation or abuse, socio-economic status and relationship/marital difficulties. Political progressivism and activism is a less common theme, but still noticeable in many nu metal bands, the most notable being System of a Down. More often, this is usually discussed candidly rather than in songs.

Footnotes

1. ^ Limp Bizkit, Puddle of Mudd, and Staind for example, have used the same marketing firm [2] as pop music artists such as Nsync, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. [3]

See also

• List of Nu metal musical groups
• Mallcore
• Post-grunge

Sources

• Quart, Alissa (2003) Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers. Perseus Books Group. ISBN 0738208620
• Kitts, Jeff and Tolinski,Brad (2002) Guitar World Presents: Nu-Metal Hal Leonard. ISBN 0634032879
• Christe, Ian (2003). Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. HarperCollins. ISBN 0380811278.

External links

• MTV.com: Nu Metal Meltdown
• Nu Metal at Ringsurf.com
• Stylus Magazine list of "Top ten nu metal bands"