@JiveTurkey
Best bands of the genre. Seemingly a straightforward discussion but lets see.
As far as I'm concerned the Big Four of the genre are considered to be:
1. Korn
2. Limp Bizkit
3. Linkin Park
4. Slipknot
Points of discussion:
These aren't necessarily my 4, but I suppose they all warrant talking about.
Korn are far and away the leaders of the genre - they were VERY early in the game, genuinely fused outside influences and created a sound that hadn't been done before. Helmet are SORT of in the discussion, but for what they have in innovation and creating a new sound, they lack personality/charisma/iconic songs/classic albums. Korn made a brand new sound, had huge songs, huge albums, massive influence. I like Helmet a LOT, but Korn have something that they don't and ultimately piss all over them.
Limp Bizkit, I'm not really sure why they're in my big 4 (how many good albums do they have? maybe a handful of songs that hold muster?), but I suppose for a while they had enormous commercial success and appealed to the mainstream beyond what Korn and Slipknot might have. Quite a few iconic songs, and they tick all the boxes as far as fusing hip hop/groovy riffs/dissonance/rapping/screaming/stupid lyrics/the charisma/look etc. Personality wise, they kind of embody the sound perfectly.
Linkin Park - stadium fillers. I loved Hybrid Theory as a kid, and kind of lost interest with them after that. I still like the sound of that album but so much of their stuff just sounds embarrassing. I heard Numb on telly the other day, and while I can kind of laugh at Limp Bizkit in a funny way, LP's lyrics just make me cringe. Kind of like LB are in on the joke, and LP deserve to be laughed at by trying to be serious. Still, they had the right sound, the right look, big songs, filled stadiums, big commercial appeal. That collaboration with Jay Z was sort of predictable/not very good, but also a pretty huge thing in hindsight.
Slipknot. I don't really get why Deftones get away with skirting the fringes of being called Nu Metal (mostly because everyone doesn't want them tarred with that brush). To me Slipknot are no more nu metal than Deftones are. Still, they were fucking huge, still are. To me they're some kind of death metal offshoot that incorporated some other influences. I dont really hear any hip hop/groove influence in there, and even the commercial stuff isn't really leaning into nu metal for me. I dig them for what they are, but I think Deftones are a better band and neither are nu metal.
Other Bands/albums
- Mudvayne - LD50 really brought a lot to the table but them looking ridiculous made people probably overlook them more than they deserved. Probably lost their way a bit from there though, and music as nutty as theirs isn't going to have the widespread + commercial appeal of the bands mentioned above
- Papa Roach - their first album is arguably one of the best Nu Metal albums, but they seemed to just shift genre to whatever would bring them success so its hard to consider them a nu metal band in the way I would the others.
- Sevendust. Pretty great players, great sound - lacking in charisma and HUGE songs. Hard to say they're anywhere as innovative or creative as some of the other bands, they just did what they did very well.
- Disturbed. Always struggled with these. Probably in buttrock territory (see also Godsmack, Staind, Drowning Pool etc). There's something about these bands that feels more derivative of Alice In Chains than it does hip hop or anything groove based.
- System of a Down. I actually think they deserve to be in the top 4, I just don't think they are considered in that category? Didnt do that many albums, but they released a lot of great, innovative stuff of the time.
- Incubus. great players, probably deserve the nu metal tag in a good way. Innovative, great players, drawing on different influences.
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