Editorial
the rede of nu m Mom jeans. Mullets. Cargo pants. Like clockwork, all fashion trends ebb and flow through the consciousness of American youth decade after decade. Styles come and go, merging and evolving into new aesthetics and designs based on the old. Like fashion, music follows a similar pattern. Society rejects and then later embraces genres, with creative influencers paving the way for their emergence into the mainstream. Despite all odds, there is a looming presence in the 2020 artistic climate: a genre that simply won’t die. You may see a sevenstring guitar on the stage of your favorite local DIY outfit, a sports jersey over a long sleeve tee, or perhaps even hear the faint scatting of Korn’s Jonathan Davis over a heavily syncopated guitar track. No matter your personal opinion on the genre, there’s no denying that nu metal is making a glaring reappearance in the alternative music scene. Part of nu metal’s ability to make a resurgence in such a powerful way are its open-ended roots. Citing influences from heavy metal, industrial, funk metal, hip hop, and more, nu metal is a conglomeration of rap and metal techniques that’s finished product is a sound filled with heavy, syncopated guitars riffs and rhythmic vocal deliveries. Vocalists often practice singing, growling, rapping, and even scatting. Any vocal style in existence has probably been emulated (or attempted) in a nu-metal track scattered somewhere across the early 2000s. Pioneers
Fall 2020
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of nu metal in its most popular form include the heavy-hitting Korn, the fan favorite Limp Bizkit, the mask wearing Slipknot, and the more melodic Staind. Although the style peaked between the years 19982003, its rise in the early 90s and decline in the late 2000s is not to be discounted. However, by 2010 the genre had mostly died out as softer folk rock like Mumford and Sons began to rise in radio popularity. The genre that had once overpowered Woodstock 1999 and even had its own tour, The Family Values Tour, was now nearly extinct. So, what happened to nu metal? One reason responsible for nu metal’s steep decline was that it was ultimately rejected by its founders. Korn, Slipknot, and Staind actively attempted to distance themselves from the label, claiming in interview after interview that they wanted nothing to do with the genre and didn’t appreciate being artistically linked to it. If artists within a scene, especially ones that are considered to be its founders, aren’t proud of what they forged, how can their fans be? When major nu metal pioneers rejected the genre, it became even more unfashionable to be associated with it. Many of the major bands’ distaste for the scene was a response to its overcrowding. By the early 2000s, mediocre nu metal artists seemed to be cropping up constantly, inspired by bands like Limp Bizkit’s radio success. Most nu metal tracks contain simplistic
“Citing influences from heavy metal, industrial, funk metal, hip hop, and more, nu metal is a conglomeration of rap and metal techniques that’s finished product is a sound filled with heavy, syncopated guitars riffs and rhythmic vocal deliveries.”
