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Nu-metal gets such a bad rap, man. It can ultimately be boiled down to the raging toxic masculinity rampant through the genre’s culture in the late ’90s and early 2000s, but still, as a musical art form, nu-metal is much smarter than people think. Videos by VICE As someone who very much grew up on it, I feel like there are lots a clever moments that could help reframe the way you see nu-metal, so let’s look at a few… Mudvayne’s L.D. 50 Mudvayne is an interesting case study in nu-metal. Formed in Peoria, Illinois, in the late ’90s, the band exploded onto the nu-metal scene in 2000 with their debut studio album, L.D. 50, which was bolstered by their debut hit single, “Dig.” It took practically no time for people to compare the band to Slipknot, due to their use of costuming, slightly similar approaches to arranging nu-metal jams that lean a little more “metal” and a little less “nu,” and the fact that frontman Chad Gray and Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor’s screams sounded a little bit alike in their early days. While Mudvayne’s sound shifted a bit over the next several years, you have to go back and listen to how brilliant a debut album L.D. 50 is, and that goes for any band. The timing structure of the songs is fascinating, and there are so many djenty elements alongside portions that sound like they’re channeling early Korn. This one’s cerebral. “Prison Song” by System of a Down System of a Down had been somewhat up front about their political stances on their debut self-titled album, but their second album, Toxicity, cranked the fuckin dial. The album — which is easily one of the greatest nu-metal records of all time — literally starts with a protest anthem called “Prison Song,” wherein frontman Serj Tankian offers some facts about the U.S. incarceration system and prison industrial complex, while guitarist Daron Malakian juxtaposes the information with lines like, “I buy my crack, my smack, my bitch Right here in Hollywood.” Speaking about “Prison Song” and its meaning, Tankian once explained: “It’s about the unfairness of mandatory minimum sentences and how there are about 2,000,000 Americans in jail, and a lot of them are in there for marijuana possession and things of that sort. […] Instead of rehabilitating men who have drug problems, they’re throwing them in prison. That’s not really solving anything.” He also said that “Prison Song” addresses “how drug money is used to rig elections in other countries by the CIA.” This song (along with most of Rage Against the Machine’s catalog) is what radicalized me, and probably most other millennials, and it was truly a smart move by the band to inject this crucial real-world Deftones. Just, Deftones The Deftones are simultaneously not nu-metal, and one of the bands most responsible for nu-metal. As much as nu-metal was a formidable genre for me, and how much I still love it to this day, I just cannot subscribe to the notion that you can fit Deftones into this box (even though their most nu-metal song is, like, the best nu-metal song). However, there is no denying that their first two albums, Adrenaline (1995) and Around the Fur (1997), collectively had a massive influence on nu-metal and beyond. Hell, I’ll even throw 2000’s White Pony in there.
