Music Essay: An ode to Nu Metal. It’s significance, rise and fall, and hopes for revival

I was walking through Target today (go figure) and saw a copy of Disturbed’s album “The Sickness.” Remember that? Catchy, frantic, angsty, METAL! Great music to rock out to. Disturbed, and all the other bands that were pegged in the late 90’s-early 2000’s as “Nu Metal,” essentially dominated the popular metal scene, establishing some of the biggest names in modern rock (Linkin Park, Korn, Slipknot, etc.) and producing some classic albums.

But almost as quickly as it caught on, the very same angsty, chains-wearing teenage boys listening to the stuff suddenly decided that Nu Metal wasn’t cool and started ditching Nu Metal bands like the plague (or the Sickness, if you will). Bands like Linkin Park, Staind, Papa Roach, and P.O.D. were forced to adapt or die. And in many instances, some bands didn’t get off the Titanic quickly enough and are now swimming in the oceans of obscurity. The question that I want to explore today is “why?” Why was Nu Metal so popular, important, and (in my opinion) awesome in the late 90’s-early 2000’s and suddenly completely culturally IRRelevant today?

To find the answer, it’s necessary to briefly examine the history of Nu Metal. Anthrax is widely accepted for creating the genre with their song “Bring the Noise,” both a remake and collaboration with Public Enemy in 1991. The distorted, syncopated guitar riffs combined with the rapping created a decidedly noisy rap-metal combination that worked brilliantly (check out the original song). Out of the spark of Anthrax came the fire of Korn. Korn’s 1994 eponymous debut album ranks as one of the most influential metal albums of all time, matching hip-hop drumming, funk baselines, and rapped/sung lyrics with moody, dark guitar riff and a LOT of screaming. This would become the hallmark Nu Metal sound. Korn’s success with “Korn” and “Follow The Leader” inspired other bands to do the same, notably Limp Bizkit, who became the posterchild for the genre as time went on with albums “Three Dolla Bill, Yall$” and “Significant Other”. In 1999, something extraordinary happened. “Significant Other” exploded and gave Nu Metal Top 40 mainstream success with songs like “Nookie” and “Break Stuff” (metal, catchy, and awesome). Along with this came a horde of Nu Metal bands within the next three years. Notably, Papa Roach (“Last Resort”), Slipknot (“Wait and Bleed”), Staind (“It’s Been A While”), P.O.D. (“Boom”, “Youth of a Nation”), and the most popular Nu Metal band of all time, Linkin Park.

Linkin Park is worth mentioning separately for a minute. At the time of Linkin Park’s wildly popular debut “Hyrbrid Theory” in 2000 (which later went diamond), Nu Metal was at its apex. Mike Shinoda’s rap-metal fusion had worked well, creating a classic album that really can’t be paralleled or exceeded. It was at this time that Nu Metal was doomed.

Nu metal’s ultimate demise comes from the fact that the genre is surprisingly inflexible. Nu metal is by definition unable to do much that isn’t metal or rap. The metal-inspired guitar riffs are generally too simple to yield experimentation and most band DJs were unable or unwilling to draw more samples from hip-hop or electronica to explore more of Nu Metal’s potential. Faced with these limitations, Nu Metal MCs/lead singers were unable to crank out catchy new songs that could beat Linkin Park’s grip on the genre, Nu Metal gradually became hackneyed and boring.

By 2002 Bands were forced with the not-too-difficult choice. Ditch Nu Metal or die. Bands who continued to try failed, such as Crazy Town’s pitiful second album “Dark Horse,” Korn’s “Untouchables,” and Papa Roach’s “Lovehatetragedy.” Limp Bizkit’s 2003 effort “Results May Vary” is considered by many to be one of the worst albums of all time. By Linkin Park’s less-successful “Meteora” in 2003, it was clear that Linkin Park was no longer able to carry the genre on it’s own. Nu metal was dead.

Established bands like Staind and Korn began to drift into the broader world of Alternative Rock, wielding more organic sounding guitar riffs, while some like Slipknot and Disturbed, abandoned the hip-hop element almost entirely and dove headfirst into Alternative Metal. Even Linkin Park changed its tune on “Minutes to Midnight” in 2006 to a much lighter, much less electronic rock.

Today, no successful Nu Metal band exists. The genre has become extinct. Is there hope for a revival? Chances are, not for a few years at least. The genre is still far too fresh in the minds of Top 40 kids and too painful for metalheads to remember (who now consider Nu Metal a blemish on the face of rock, due to their painful failures towards the end of the period). Rumor has it that Linkin Park will be returning to Nu Metal on their 2009 album, and thus, have a hope of reigniting the genre.

In my opinion, if any band wishes to learn from the rise and fall of Nu Metal, it’s that you can’t be inflexible. There’s constantly more room for experimentation. Not EVERYTHING has to be hyper-heavy, driven by hip-hop beats, and feature a catchy syncopated guitar riff/electronic hook. Let’s take Linkin Park’s “Given Up” off of “Minutes to Midnight,” which is brief restyling of their older work. It starts off with completely different instrumentation: organic clapping, and live-recorded drum beats. Still the syncopated guitar riffs, still the scratching and the dark baseline with screaming. But new song structure: a bridge with a build up to screaming and an synthesized guitar riff, then back to the main chorus. Inventive, no?

I’d like to see more of Nu Metal in the future. But until then, I’ve still got some “Issues” with Korn, and some “Chocolate Starfish” with Limp Bizkit to tide me over. If Nu Metal can “Break The Cycle” (Staind reference, for all you fans), maybe we’ll see a resurgence.