The nu metal

An unforgettable sound going into the new millennium was a style of music called nu metal. This genre of heavy metal was generally typified by young tattooed guys with face piercings and short, spikey colored hair, incorporating rap, hip hop, turntables, groves, and clean singing among their heavy guitars and screaming.

In high school in the early nineties, I was into thrash, grindcore, and death metal bands—the heavier the better. Blast beats, double bass, guttural growling, tuned-down heavy riffs, hair swinging, and censored cover art. These were bands like Slayer and Cannibal Corpse, that latter of whom made a cameo in “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” at Jim Carrey’s request because he was a fan. In the Christian metal scene, I listened to Vengeance Rising, Deliverance, Mortification, Tourniquet, Believer, and Living Sacrifice.

As Nirvana and the grunge scene took over the early nineties and alternative music and pop punk like Green Day and Fall Out Boy became popular, heavy bands got experimental and metal was declared dead. Metallica, who had taken over the world in 1991 and became to heavy metal what the Beatles were to rock n roll, now had to cut their hair, wear fashionable outfits, and take the bite out of their sound. Pre-Black Album Metallica fans had already abandoned them for selling out, and now they were moving even further from their European-influenced speed metal roots. Despite the claim that metal was dead, Metallica’s 1996 “Load” still outsold Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and other bands that were signature sounds of nineties music.

Pantera and Sepultura carried the torch for uncompromising heaviness through the mid-nineties, while Marilyn Manson pushed all boundaries with shock, taking Alice Cooper’s shtick to the next level. But right alongside them, rap rock bands were cutting their teeth. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More, and Rage Against the Machine became prototypes for signature bands in the nu metal scene like Sevendust, Deftones, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, and Korn.

I went with friends in 1999 to see Slipknot at the House of Blues in Chicago and was blown away by the sheer energy of the band, all in jump suits and masks, clowns banging on giant kegs with sticks. I was equally impressed with the opening band, Mudvayne, in full make up. After the set I made my way to the bathroom where they stood handing out their demo cassettes. In the bathroom, blood on the floor. Someone had split his head open in the mosh pit. Between sets, a woman in the balcony flashed the crowd, letting them hang out, to a great roar from the audience. After the show outside, it’s all everyone talked about. I told my friend, “We just saw Mudvayne and Slipknot, but all it took was a pair of tits to steal the show.” All of that power under her shirt.

I’d also gone to see Korn in an arena show in 1999 with a woman I’d been dating from work. Their new album “Issues” had just been released. A few weeks later, this woman broke up with me over email using lyrics from their new song “Trash”: “I’m sorry, I just throw you away.” It was a nice touch.

With the advent of Ozzfest, Van’s Warped Tour, and Woodstock 1999, many of these nu metal bands built their audiences and gained airplay on MTV. The fires set at Woodstock as Limp Bizkit played “Break Stuff”put them on the map.

Being a part of the Christian scene, I was aware of bands like Payable On Death (P.O.D.), Project 86, and Blindside gaining ground, and with P.O.D. signed to Atlantic, they burst into the mainstream as a multi-platinum selling artist with “The Fundamental Elements of Southtown.”

Going into 2000 and the first few years of the new millennium, MTV’s “The Return of the Rock” show played nu metal and experimental bands on heavy rotation: Korn, Limp Bizkit, P.O.D., Slipknot, Mudvayne, Papa Roach, Godsmack, Powerman 5000, Static X, Deftones, Staind, Incubus, System of a Down, Creed, Disturbed, Linkin Park, and later, the massively successful Evanescence. Clips of many of these bands can be found here.

As much as I enjoyed some of these bands, they weren’t scratching that itch for heavy music I needed scratched. There was angst, anger, and screaming, but they weren’t metal the way I wanted it and i love soooooo much .