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 and other metal genres, most often thrash metal and groove metal. The popularity and perceived vast commercialisation Limp Bizkit, Puddle of Mudd, and Staind for example, have used the same marketing firm pop music artists such as Nsync, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.[http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:E1LJtMspyAgJ:www.zerodegrees.com/public/Vanessa%2Bdaffron%2B12865671.html+limp+bizkit%2BM80+marketing&hl=en&ie=UTF-8" target="_blank" >^* 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.

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/metal crossover of Rage Against the Machine, the industrial metal of Nine Inch Nails and Ministry, and the aggressive experimental rock of Faith No More, Tool and Helmet 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.

The tour featured the band Body Count, who were fronted by the rapper Ice-T. This inevitably attracted attention from the rap audience, and many record shops classified Body Count under "rap" despite the best efforts of Ice-T to make clear that the band were supposed to be a rock group.

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. 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, P.O.D., Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot are typically cited as the genre's instigators, bands like Fishbone, Body Count, Faith No More, Rage Against the Machine, Helmet, and others are also proclaimed as progenitors. Linkin Park is the best selling nu metal act with 36 million copies sold out of their first two full-lengths (Hybrid Theory and Meteora) and of the collateral remixes and live albums. 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 resurgence of metal in the public eye with the rise in popularity of bands such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, and 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).

Korn had released their first album in 1994 at the height of alternative rock's popularity, but 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, Incubus, Linkin Park, Powerman 5000, Saliva, Coal Chamber and Staind, who represented an equally as influential "second wave" (some of the above remain highly popular), 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 and pairing it with funk-influenced basslines and a hip-hop overtone in the lead singer. Instead of dressing up in spandex, conjuring up images of the occult and dating models, nu metal bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit mixed hip hop and skateboarding fashion, goatees, tattoos, and piercings of the alternative scene from the early and mid 1990's (Korn bassist Fieldy), painted their faces (Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland), expressed angst about relationships and childhoods.

Mainstream success and criticisms

Nu metal bands essentially defined the image of modern metal music in the late 90s/early 2000s on the mainstream 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 emphasis on angst and aggression in the music. Many disapproved of the rapping and screaming of Nu Metal frontmen, favoring the more ambitious vocal performances of classic metal acts. Fans of rap music often feel that their genre has been adapted tastelessly by nu metal bands (Papa Roach's Jacoby Shaddix, for example, for this reason has abandoned rapping in his band's most recent work). Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst, too, tried to give up rapping in most songs from Results May Vary, and faith bound band P.O.D. remain one of the few original nu metal bands to still release rap-incited chants as a focal part of the music (it sometimes leads many classifying P.O.D. as rapcore rather than nu metal).

People who consider themselves "metal purists" refer to fans of nu metal as "mallgoths," "mini-moshers," or "angsters" in a derogatory way, claiming that nu-metal fans are subversive "rebels without a cause" (whose rebellious attitude is questionable because of their allegiance to corporate vehicles). Some people believe that the entire nu-metal genre was invented by record executives (similar claims have been made about Post-Grunge). The postmodern art design of nu-metal albums and music videos has come under criticism for attempting to appear raw and gritty in spite of the multimillion dollar production teams behind such designs.

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 once it became popular, with band members going so far as to vehemently deny to press that they were 'by no means a nu-metal band This partially had to do with the use of the term nu metal as an insult by many people, including extreme metal fans and alternative rock fans. Nu-metal is also frequently, and almost by default, panned by critics. As such, many nu-metal bands that accompanied its rise and peak have since fallen away into relative obscurity, including Limp Bizkit, Coal Chamber and Powerman 5000, while others who have kept their sound consistent have experienced diminished sales, including Taproot and P.O.D.. Nu-metal bands that remain highly popular today usually utilize a more melodic side to their aggression drawn much more from alternative metal's outset (the influence of Alice In Chains is particularly evident) than the incorporated elements of funk and hip-hop. Chart-toppers Disturbed, who blend a heavy metal side with melodic singing; Staind, whose 2001 album Break the Cycle, which spent several weeks on top of the charts, sold several million copies and is commonly imitated by up-and-coming nu-metal bands who mix the genre with post-grunge; Linkin Park, who have sold a total of 35 million albums worldwide and rely on electronically-generated loops more often than others; and Sevendust, a band who employ heavy riffs under melodic passages, are recognized as the forefront behind nu-metal's future. Korn also remain internationally popular, attempting to reinvent themselves with their latest album See You On the Other Side into a funkier basis [http://excellentrock.com/korn/jonathandaviskorn/, as do Mudvayne and Slipknot, who make use of make-up, masks, and shock-rock to enhance their music. 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 early and mid- to late 1990s and blend elements of nu-metal with many other genres, making them technically unclassifiable.

Musical traits

(These traits are designated as general guidelines and do not apply by default to bands that are classified as nu-metal)

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.

Linkin Park, Spineshank and Disturbed are three 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 Korn.

Bass

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 and also to bind the very diverse hip-hop, rock and electronic sounds. The nu metal bass is often slow and reminscent of hip hop or pop music, strutting a funky, loud sound that could 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 genre's hip hop influence. These 4/4 beats are sometimes used as a sole drumming pattern. 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 rhythmic instrumentation (especially scratches and electronic backgrounds). Some of the more famous nu-metal DJs are DJ Lethal of Limp Bizkit, Joe Hahn of Linkin Park, and Sid Wilson of Slipknot.

Vocals

Nu metal bands often feature aggressive vocals that range from melodic singing akin to pop and rock (and in many cases punk and emo), guttural screaming and shouting from various forms of metal music and metalcore types, and rapping.

Some distinction is usually maintained between bands who use rap vocals extensively, and those that do not. Bands featuring almost exclusively rap vocalization are sometimes loosely called "rap metal," while the less common term rapcore is used by fans to describe bands who use a combination of singing, screaming, and/or rapping (for example, the vocals of Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and P.O.D., Korn, and most songs from Papa Roach's early releases). Moreover, whether Corey Taylor raps in several Slipknot songs is disputed. One method of rapping common in nu metal crossfades rapping with shouting and screaming akin to classic punk rock and hardcore music. The Thousand Foot Krutch single "Rawkfist," for instance, finds vocalist Trevor McNevan shouting hardcore punk-style in the form of rapping. Another common form of rapping slightly different to that in conventional hip hop in nu metal has vocalists rapping in a solemn, aggressive voice. This technique was popularized by Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park.

Tool is a recognizable origin for some nu metal vocalization; Chevelle's Pete Loeffler, Taproot's Stephen Richards and Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst have cited Maynard James Keenan's signature style as an influence. Keenan, however, has expressed distaste for this and has stated that he does not see the influence, specifically referring to Limp Bizkit.

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. More often, this is usually discussed candidly rather than in songs.

=Footnotes

Sources

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

External links

MTV.com: Nu Metal Meltdown

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