nu metal

The tradition & historical record

Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, with a metal umlaut) is a subgenre of alternative metal that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip-hop, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu metal rarely features guitar solos or other displays of musical technique and emphasizes rhythm with instrumentation that is heavily syncopated. Nu metal guitarists often use seven-string guitars that are down-tuned to produce a heavier sound. Vocal styles are often rhythmic and influenced by hip-hop, and include singing, rapping, screaming and sometimes growling. DJs are occasionally featured to provide instrumentation such as sampling, turntable scratching and electronic background music. Nu metal is one of the key genres of the new wave of American heavy metal. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, bands like Pantera, Helmet, and Faith No More were influential in the development of nu metal with their groove metal and alternative metal styles. Korn is often credited as pioneering the subgenre in the mid-1990s with their self-titled debut album. Nu metal became popular in the late 1990s, with bands and artists such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Slipknot all releasing albums that sold millions of copies. Its popularity continued through the early 2000s, with bands such as Papa Roach, Staind, and P.O.D. all selling multi-platinum albums. The popularity of nu metal came to a peak in 2001 with Linkin Park's diamond-selling debut album, Hybrid Theory. ¹

Nu metal is a subgenre of alternative metal. Sometimes stylized as nü-metal, the genre has also been dubbed aggro-metal or simply aggro. MTV states that the early nu metal group Korn "arrived in 1993 into the burgeoning alternative metal scene, which would morph into nü-metal the way college rock became alternative rock." Stereogum similarly said that nu metal was a "weird outgrowth of the Lollapalooza-era alt-metal scene". Nu metal merges elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as industrial, hip-hop, grunge, funk, alternative rock and post-grunge according to Blabbermouth.net. Nu metal bands use many elements of heavy metal genres such as rap metal, industrial metal, groove metal, and funk metal. Some nu metal bands, such as Static-X and Dope, made nu metal music with elements of industrial music. In contrast with other heavy metal subgenres, nu metal tends to use the same structure of verses, choruses, and bridges as those in pop music. ¹

Instrumentation in nu metal is heavily syncopated and is based mostly on guitar riffs, although these riffs are prominent, guitar solos are not integrated heavily within the genre. These riffs were often being inspired by groove metal. Mid-song bridges and the general lack of guitar solos contrasts it with other genres of heavy metal. Kory Grow of Revolver wrote, "... [i]n its efforts to tune down and simplify riffs, nu-metal effectively drove a stake through the heart of the guitar solo". Another contrast with other heavy metal genres is nu metal's emphasis on rhythm, rather than on complexity or mood. The wah pedal is occasionally featured in nu metal music. Nu metal bassists and drummers are often influenced by funk and hip-hop, respectively, adding to nu metal's rhythmic nature. Blast beats and double bass drumming, which are both common in heavy metal subgenres such as black metal, thrash metal and death metal, are uncommon in nu metal, with drummers such as Slipknot's Joey Jordison and Mudvayne's Matt McDonough being notable exceptions. Nu metal's similarities with many heavy metal subgenres include its use of common time, distorted guitars, and power chords and note structures primarily revolving around Dorian, Aeolian or Phrygian modes. While loud and heavily distorted electric guitars are a core feature of all metal genres, nu metal guitarists took the sounds of "violence and destruction" to new levels with their overdriven guitar tone, which music journalists Kitts and Tolinski compared to the "...sound [of] a Mack truck being crushed by a collapsing skyscraper." Some nu metal bands use seven-string guitars that are generally down-tuned, rather than traditional six-string guitars. Likewise, some bass guitarists use five-string and six-string instruments. ¹

Vocal styles used in nu metal music include singing, rapping, screaming and growling. Vocals in nu metal are often rhythmic and influenced by hip-hop. While some nu metal bands, such as Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park, have rapping in their music, other nu metal bands, such as Godsmack and Staind, do not. Nu metal bands occasionally feature hip-hop musicians as guests in their songs; Korn's song "Children of the Korn" features the rapper Ice Cube, who performed on the band's 1998 Family Values Tour. The hip-hop musician Nas was featured on Korn's song "Play Me", which is on the band's album Take a Look in the Mirror. Limp Bizkit has recorded with multiple hip-hop musicians including Method Man, Lil Wayne, Xzibit, Redman, DMX and Snoop Dogg. Linkin Park collaborated with hip-hop musician Jay-Z on their 2004 extended play Collision Course. Kid Rock has recorded with hip-hop musicians Eminem and Snoop Dogg. Trevor Baker of The Guardian wrote, "Bands such as Linkin Park, Korn and even the much reviled Limp Bizkit... did far more to break down the artificial barriers between 'urban music' and rock than any of their more critically acceptable counterparts." ¹

Lyrics in nu metal songs are often angry or nihilistic; many of the genre's lyrics focus on topics such as pain, angst, bullying, emotional issues, abandonment, betrayal, and personal alienation, in a way similar to those of grunge. Many nu metal lyrics that are about these topics tend to be in a very direct tone. However, some nu metal songs have lyrics that are about other topics. P.O.D. has used positive lyrics about promise and hope. The nu metal song "Bodies" by Drowning Pool is about moshing. The Michigan Daily wrote about Limp Bizkit's lyrics, writing that the band "used the nu-metal sound as a way to spin testosterone fueled fantasies into snarky white-boy rap. Oddly, audiences took frontman Fred Durst more seriously than he wanted, failing to see the intentional silliness in many of his songs". Limp Bizkit's lyrics have also been described as misogynistic. Dope's lyrics are usually about sex, drugs, parties, women, violence, and relationships. In contrast, according to Josh Chesler of the Phoenix New Times, the lyrics of Deftones, who were once considered a nu metal band, "tend to have complex allusions and leave the songs open to many different interpretations." ¹

Nu metal clothing typically consists of baggy pants, shirts, and shorts, JNCO jeans, Adidas tracksuits, sports jerseys, baseball caps, baggy hoodies, cargo pants, and sweatpants. Nu metal hairstyles and facial hairstyles include dreadlocks, braids, spiky hair, chin beards, bald heads, goatees, frosted tips, and bleached or dyed hair. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Nu metal”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

nu metal is musical subgenre of alternative metal, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 12 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²