I stumbled upon this article recently: 10 Reasons Why Nu-Metal Was The Worst Genre Of All Time.
If you read the comments, you’ll already know why I have problems with this article. The problem here is that she sticks to no real reasoning whatsoever. Her facts aren’t straight, and it looks to me like she’s trying to jump aboard the popularity train of “It’s Cool To Hate Things.” Pretentious contrarian.
Let’s go down her retarded list, and play a game of spot the fallacy.
Reason 1: Rap and metal = crap
Oh really? At the time, rap was at its peak. Eminem was at the top of the charts, and there was a significant gangster rap movement. Rap was the angriest and harshest style of music out there. Then you had punk and grunge that were spreading like wildfire. These were anti-culture genres that incorporated metal and even aggression. Lucy here likes to attribute the idea to Anthrax’s “I’m the Man” album, but the problem is she’s wrong. The real idea behind nu metal was Faith No More’s song “Epic”. That song has been described as the prototype for nu metal. I’d also like to point out that hardcore punk bands had been doing rap rock/metal for quite a while. Need I remind you that Rage Against the Machine came out before Korn did? Nu metal was born by combining music’s 2 most aggressive and angriest styles of music into a hybrid style.
She also takes the time to mention 2 kinds of nu metal: a “pure nu metal” and “nu metal with rapping”. Some bands actually get the rapping part right (Linkin Park, Mushroomhead, Twisted Method) and others don’t (Limp Bizkit). However, the point here is that you can’t complain about a genre when the thing you’re complaining about isn’t a defining feature of the genre. It may be used quite a bit, sure, but it doesn’t define it. Already you’re proving to be an uninformed idiot.
Reason 2: Sucked other bands into the shitstorm
She mentions Cypress Hill and Jay-Z. Wow. That’s a lot of bands there. Actually, one of those isn’t a band at all, but you can’t be bothered to actually make sense, can you?
However, yes, I’ll admit that nu metal did indeed suck other artists in. Perfect examples are the death metal/industrial band Fear Factory, thrash metal band Machinehead, rap artist Vanilla Ice, Korean pop artist Seo Taiji, and hardcore punk band (hed)P.E. Can you blame nu metal for this, though? I’d rather blame the music industry that all these artists and bands are slaves to. In fact, many are still slaves to it, but that’s another story. But yes, other music projects strayed from their style as they were put through the Ross Robinson filter. Technically this is a fair point, but your delivery of it had what my favorite writer Maddox would describe as: “the grace of a drunk eating his own puke”.
Reason 3: Lyrical content
Lucy takes absolutely no time to actually explain the lyrics, nor directly quote the lyrics of any nu metal songs. This means that she’s paraphrasing because she has no absolutely no clue what she’s talking about. Let’s go through some of these…
“I hate my daddy”
I’ve only ever heard one band that, while never saying these words verbatim, does allude to it. Do you know what band that is? Otep. She hates her father because he held her down and raped her multiple times as a child. Huh. Gee, it doesn’t sound so weak anymore does it? Sounds like a legitimate reason to hate someone… In fact, it sounds like an invitation for everyone to hate someone.
“face down in a rotting corpse drownin’ in blood”
Again, what? No band has ever said this. Where the hell is this coming from?
“bitch I’ll suck”
You’re not even making any sense anymore.
“you should’ve kept my pants on”
“wah wah wah wah wah”
No band has ever sad “wah”. They’ve come close with probably screaming “why”, but not “wah”. Unless you’re alluding to the fact that they’re crying, in which case there was only one song that ever did that: Korn’s “Daddy”. But before you think I’m agreeing here, understand that “Daddy” was about being molested and nobody giving a shit. You don’t joke about molestation, and it is serious. So many people found solace in that song, because our culture doesn’t talk about that kinda thing. So for the one example of actual crying to fit what you’re talking about, you’re an idiot because it’s the one case where crying was totally acceptable. That shit’s serious, and the sick fucks who do this to kids need to hear the damage they’re causing.
The rest of the lyrics she mentions are said by quite a few nu metal bands: “i’m drowning”, “do you know how it feels”, “ashamed of who i am”, “i hate you”, “i fucking hate you”, “i’m dying”, “i’m crying”, “you don’t know what it’s like”. The problem here is that they’re said by the pussy metal side of nu metal. There were 3 distinct camps of nu metal bands: whiners, partiers, and aggressors. The whiners were linkin park, papa roach, three days grace, adema, taproot, and a myriad of others. The aggressors were slipknot, korn, ill nino, otep, and recently five finger death punch. The partiers were static-x, limp bizkit, skindred, sevendust, mushroomhead, machinehead, fear factory, dope, and oh i’ll mention one more: celldweller. Korn actually dipped into the whiner category around the era of their 4th album, but quickly pulled back from it (then doubled-down on whiny angst in their 10th album… yuck).
Now, what’s the difference here between true nu metal and pussy metal? Both kinda mention the same things… angst, regret, anger, depression… but there’s one main difference between the two. Pussy metal bands have singers and band members that look like models, and their voices are usually very weak. Their lyrics and songs are designed around getting attention, and getting little teen girls to say “awwwww”. The true side of nu metal features a singer that might not be pretty, and most definitely is insane. There are those pussy metal bands that feature kids that grew up in relatively normal households and probably got picked on just a little bit. The pure side of nu metal artists are people who went through absolute shit growing up. Being molested, beaten, neglected, living poor, drugs, hospitalization… By this point, these artists are hanging by a thread of sanity. and on stage, they give in and go absolutely insane. It’s a caged animal waiting to be unleashed, and in many ways they’re frightening to watch.
That, my friends, is proper nu metal, and proper lyrical content. These people don’t want attention: they want relief. They’re taking a seriously fucked up moment from their past, reliving it, and dealing with it right in front of you. It’s supposed to to shocking, frightening, sad, and emotional. That’s life. This is also why most nu metal fans are usually pretty fucked up themselves: this speaks to us.
Reason 4: The fashion choices
She complains about “beards” first. right, because every nu metal band had beards… actually, as a matter of fact, most nu metal bands at the time were clean-shaven… perhaps a little stubble here and there, but that’s about it. Bang-up job on your research there, Lucy. Then she complains about “frosted highlights”. The only bands I’ve ever seen with “frosted highlights” are coal chamber, and Rammstein (though Rammstein isn’t nu metal, they’re industrial metal). Another fine research job. Then she says “baseball caps, oversized sports shirts, white socks pulled up to the knee, and over-styled greasy hair.” Wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong. Wow. Every single style you’ve mentioned is not in nu metal’s repertoire. The only dipshit wearing a baseball cap was Fred Durst. The only dipshit with socks pulled up to the knee was papa roach. And over-styled greasy hair? Welcome to metal, sweetheart.
Here’s the actual style of nu metal: wallet with chain attached to belt loop, dreadlocks, hooded sweatshirts, baggy cargo pants, jumpsuits, eye liner, gothic makeup, and ridiculous lip and eyebrow piercings.
I’ll let you all decide whether any of that is fashionable. Just don’t judge based on Lucy’s lack of doing any actual work.
Reason 5: Limp Bizkit’s “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water” album.
I’d argue that she says absolutely nothing about this album, but then again the title alone is enough. This is the one and only true fair point she’s made. Limp Bizkit is that band we all try to forget existed, and we’re ashamed to admit we liked any of their songs. This album title was stupid, and so were the songs in it.
Reason 6: Vocals
Finally, some research has been done, although she hastily grabbed it from wikipedia. Trent Reznor’s comment about vocals sounding like cookie monster. Then she says “whining, desperate, pained, angsty, emo mopes that sounded like a dog caught in a trap.” really? Have you ever heard a dog in pain? Because honestly that sound is more close to hearing today’s pop music like justin bieber or kesha. She never actually gets into the technicals of the styles of vocals at all, and makes a broad sweeping judgment across all of them.
I’ll take the liberty of actually listing the vocal styles:
- chants/raps
- gutturals (cookie monster)
- roars (death metal growl)
- screams(scratchy yelling)
- yells (no vocal scratching)
- growls (pitch lower than screams, but higher than roars)
- shrieks (pitch higher than screams… deftones comes to mind)
And then the categories of clean vocals:
- pop
- soul
- hair metal
- whiny
All of these styles of vocals can be found in just about any style of metal, so for you to complain about vocals to me is just stupid. How about this: stop listening to music.
Then Lucy goes on about “lyrics about teenage alienation and earnest loathing, sung by men well out of their teens”. I’m sorry, I thought we were talking about vocals? Didn’t you already have a category for lyrics that you totally botched earlier? Oh fuck it, let’s talk about it now. Yes, there are nu metal bands that are guilty of this, but there are also quite a few that aren’t. Again, you suck at doing any real research.
Reason 7: Their names
‘Human Waste Project’? ‘Defenestration’? ‘Mushroomhead’??
Seriously, I’ve heard worse… These names aren’t really all that bad. Fucking hell, “Smashing Pumpkins”, “Weezer”, “Motley Crue”, “The Black Dahlia Murder”… Seriously, there’s far worse. This isn’t even something worth complaining about. Also, I’d like to point out that the bands you’ve mentioned are very unpopular anyway (with the exception of mushroomhead, but even they’re kinda low on the familiarity list). For this point, you could have easily picked a group from the familiar list… “Papa Roach”, “Korn”, “Slipknot”… these are equally weird names.
But, then again, I’m only assuming you mean the names are weird, because you don’t go into any actual detail about the names you mentioned. Human Waste Project, Defenestration… ok, what about them? Are they too long? Too many syllables? Too abstract? Your lack of any insight or explanation at all makes me wonder who you had to suck off to be able to post anything on this site.
Reason 8: Sexism
“A lot of nu metal lyrics are really gross, depicting women as mere sex objects. The lyrics to Korn’s ‘Kunt’ for example are so offensive I won’t quote them here.”
Again, you fucking suck at research. Korn’s song ‘Kunt’, (actually, it’s labeled as “K@#Ø%!” in the album) was written as a joke. They wanted to jokingly make a statement about censorship, so when radio stations asked them for a new single, they made this song instead. Yes, of course it’s offensive; that was the idea you fucking idiot. The entire song is pretty much vulgar curse words and disgusting sexual innuendo. They wrote it, sent it to the radio, and said “have fun censoring that!”
See? Do you get the mildly funny humor of it now?
Also, again you point out “lyrical content” again, for the third time, even though you already had a category for it above that you, again, botched. the second time you mentioned lyrics, you botched it up. and here we are again with you botching it up. So which is it… are they angsty, emo, and whiny? or are they “really gross, depicting women as mere sex objects”? Trick question; the answer is neither. The only bands actually guilty of intentional misogynistic lyrics are (hed)P.E. and Limp Bizkit. That’s it. Korn’s “K@#Ø%!” has them as well, but that was a joke, remember?
Then you mention System of a Down and their “sexist claptrap”. Really? SOAD is full of sexist claptrap? Oh do tell me which songs and lyrics you’re talking about… This should be good… Oh wait, you don’t…
Once again, you have no fucking idea what you’re talking about.
You end this section by complaining about Limp Bizkit’s lyrics. Yes, the one and only band who’s actually guilty of what you’re complaining about. Oh, but if one band’s doing it, then all the bands are doing it, right? You fucking dolt.
Reason 9: Desecrating Michael Jackson
While I agree that Alien Ant Fuck’s rendition of “Smooth Criminal” showed little to no respect to the original song, this is not a reason to hate nu metal. In fact, only one band here has bothered to cover Michael Jackson. You can’t use what one dipshit punk/post-grunge band does and blanket the entire genre. Idiot.
Reason 10: These guys
Who? Oh, the dudes in that arbitrary picture you put there? One that I couldn’t immediately recognize, so I had to look at the url of the jpg image to get a clue as to who you were talking about? The band you’re referring to is Mudvayne. I am normally able to recognize them, but I’ve never seen them in that getup before. Great, now that we’ve established who you mean, how about you actually explain what about Mudvayne is so bad, or how their music is so magical that it’s gained the ability to be omnipresent throughout the entire nu metal genre. Oh wait, you don’t. We’re just supposed to read your lazy mind and think up our own reason?
You also post pictures throughout the entire article and have nothing to say about them. The picture at the top (after, once again, checking the filename) is Twisted Method. I ask you: what about them? “Look! A nu metal band!” And? Are you going to talk about twisted method at all? Hell, explain to me why you never bothered to even mention their fucking name?!
The next picture is in reference to fashion choices. Yet again, I had to check the filename to find out who you were referring to. The picture was of Drowning Pool. Now I think your category about fashion makes slightly more sense… since now I know you were really only complaining about Drowning Pool (who aren’t wearing half the shit you complain about, further reaffirming you can’t be bothered to look anything up, even if it’s literally 2 inches above your ramblings). But, you never bothered to explicitly mention Drowning Pool at all, nor does Drowning Pool stand as any model for the nu metal community.
Your next picture is of Limp Bizkit’s album we mentioned earlier. Yes, this album speaks for itself for those of us who have heard it. But what about the people who have been blessed with never having heard it? How about you say something about the artwork, or the songs, or something!?
Your next picture is under the names category. Thankfully, I was able to recognize what band this picture represented immediately, but plenty of other people don’t. So in addition to your shoddy job explaining anything in the category, you have an even more ambiguous picture. What about this picture? What does it have to do with names? What does it have to do with anything? Who the hell is it? (It’s Mushroomhead, so at least the picture made sense in context of your senseless diatribe.)
Your next picture is in between Sexism and Desecrating Michael Jackson, and I can’t honestly tell which category it’s supposed to go with. It’s a picture of Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington screaming into a mic. Again, you never bothered to mention who it was, what band it was, or anything about the picture at all. I can post random pictures too, but unlike you I’m actually aware that I have an audience.
Lucy Jones, you are a complete and utter failure. I think enough has been said here… You don’t know what you’re talking about, you never bothered to research anything, and you don’t bother giving any explanation whatsoever.
The next time Lucy thinks about writing another article, somebody please do us all a favor and hold her under water until she stops kicking.