Nu+Metal

toc =Nu Metal=

What is Nu Metal?
What is Nu Metal? It is very simple. tons of angry explicit lyrics, strong hip-hop influence, heavy drop-tuned guitar sounds and occasional samplings forms nu-metal.

Nu metal, also called new metal is a music genre that has origins in the mid 1990s. Nu metal might be a new music genre but actually it is a subgenre of heavy metal music of 1970s. The key characteristic of Nu metal is its experimental trial of combinning grunge and alternative metal of the early 1990s with hip hop music, electronic music and other metal genres, most often thrash metal. Nu metal can be generally characterized as a hybrid between guitar-rock and rap. Many bands of Nu metal began to use rapping instead of singing, hip hop samplings beats and other new techniques with traditional heavy metal guitar and drum sounds. These never-before-heard sounds made big sensation to the listeners and music industry. To be more specific, Nu metal is a composed of aggressive distorted drop-tune guitar sounds, heavy drum beats (sometimes similar to heavy hip hop beats), hip hop influenced rapping involving lots of growlings and screamings throwing out angry explicit lyrics and hip-hop beats or samplings usually generated by a DJs.

Nu Metal has become sensational to both listeners and music industry. It has become increasingly popular among youth who are fascinated by the fury and absolute loudness that exemplifies the genre. Nu metal basically represented the anger and stress of teenagers and exploded through music. Bands that can be categorized under Nu metal include Korn, Deftones, Slipknot, Incubus, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, and many other unknown musicians.

Origin of Nu Metal
In fact, the idea of combing rock with hip-hop is not a new one. The song "Walk this way" released by Run DMC and Aerosmith in 1980s has introduced this alternate music (rapping with heavy guitar sounds and drum sounds) and it has been successful to both hip hop fans and heavy metal fans. Also Public Enemy joined forces with Anthrax in 1991 for 'Bring The Noise'. But it was the 1990s that nu-metal was introduced in full-scale. Fans needed to be able to differentiate between 'traditional' heavy rock and this new breed, and 'nu-metal' was born. The progenitors of Nu metal can include such respected bands like Rage Against the Machine, Tool, and Faith No More. One of the most popular and famous Nu metal artist in the early stage is Kid Rock The world biggest rock festival “Woodstock Rock Festival” in 1998 introduced the song “Bawitdawa” and the performance of Kid Rock in Woodstock became the hot and shocking issue of music industry. Maybe Kid Rock’s performance in Woodstock boosted recognizing Nu metal to public. Today bands like Linkin Park, System of the Down, Korn, Limp Bizkit have taken the mantle as the ambassadors of Nu metal.

Nu metal bands 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. (The picture on the right: Metallica Vocalist James Hetfield with Linkin Park Vocalist Chester Bennington)

Mainstream success and criticism
For the last 10~15 years, it has been a period of Nu metal. The rise of Nu metal into mainstream was huge. The nu metal style has been one of the most aggressive and popular forms of music in the music industry. Because their style was not clearly defined, Nu metal bands were often considered within multiple genres. For example, Korn crosses into alternative metal and funk. Limp-Bizkit crosses into hip hop and rap-metal while Disturbed crosses into alternative and heavy metal. Nu metal has proven somewhat difficult to define. The mix of styles led to some criticism that nu metal was no longer related to traditional metal. Rap is often used in nu metal, and fans of mainstream metal didn't always respond well to it. Some hardcore metal fans argue that Nu metal is diluting and ruining traditional heavy metal genre. The fact that nu-metal is becoming increasingly commercialized also does not strike a good chord with hardcore "true" metal fans.

Lyrical themes
As it is mentioned, the lyrics of Nu metal contain many of explicit words. The lyrics of nu metal songs are about reflecting on the stresses and mishaps of everyday life. For example, one of the most famous Nu metal bands Korn covers childhood alienation or abuse and Limp-bizkit’s main subject of their lyrics are sex, drugs and criticizing other Hollywood stars. However, the songs aren't generally depressing; many songs in the genre send messages of hope and strength to get through the difficulties of life.

Bands that have a major contributions
Korn are often credited with inspiring the wave of nu-metal bands in the 1990s, with singer Jonathan Davis's unusual style bringing them major recognition. Korn have been credited with assisting the careers of the Deftones, and more successfully, Limp Bizkit, who shot to fame, with 'Nookie', and 'Rollin', released simultaneously with 'My Generation'.

If Limp Bizkit showed its possibility to succeed in mainstream, Linkin Park raised Nu metal to a upper level. Linkin Park is a rare example. Although many other bands have had success among the metal community, few have managed to break into the mainstream. But this does not slow them down. Linkin Park's major debut album //Hybrid Theory// in 2000 went on to become the most popular album in the Nu Metal genre with over 20 million copies sold world wide, also making it the best selling debut album in the 21st century.

List of Artists
(Feel Free to add)
 * [|Korn]
 * [|Limp-Bizkit]
 * [|Linkin' Park]
 * [|Evanescence]
 * [|Godsmack]
 * [|Mudvayne]
 * [|P.O.D.]
 * [|Papa Roach]
 * [|Slipknot]
 * [|Staind]
 * [|Static-X]
 * [|Trust Company]
 * [|Trust Company]

Key Albums in Nu Metal

 * The album //Korn// (1994) by the band Korn is arguably the album most responsible for the rise of Nu Metal. While //Follow the Leader// (1999) is commercially the band's most successful album. //Korn// has proven the most influential, influencing Nu Metal bands such as Limp-Bizkit, Static-X, Slipknot and so on. [[image:Korn-Korn.jpg]] || The album //Three Dollar Bill, Y'all// is Limp-Bizkit's first album released in 1997 and shows the hip-hop influence to a grunge based metal musical stying. [[image:3dollar-LimpBizkit.jpg]] ||
 * //Slipknot// by the band of the same name released in 1999 is the bands second album. The group wore masks as to "not be famous for anything but their music" and the trend continued onto some other nu-metal bands wearing masks and make-up. [[image:Slipknot-Slipknot.jpg]] || The band Linkin Park released //Hybrid Theory// in 2000. It went on to become the most popular album in the Nu Metal genre with over 20 million copies sold world wide, also making it the best selling debut album in the 21st century. [[image:HybridTheory-LinkinPark.jpg]] ||

Music Video Clips
media type="custom" key="12643" Korn: Blind

media type="custom" key="12644" Limp-Bizkit: Take a look around

media type="custom" key="12645" Linkin Park: Numb

media type="custom" key="12646" Slipknot: Duality