this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2024
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OK, I'm a little drunk and already realize that this will probably not be a well received post. I'm sure some of you have already closed this thread, but hear me out.

Nu-metal drew heavy inspiration from hip hop, which I remember many back in the day naming as one of the reasons for hating it. Sure, there are so many terrible white boy rappers in the genre, but as we know many nerds have a burning hatred of rap to this day, and it's almost certainly at least partially thinly veiled racism.

A band having a DJ was definitely singled out as a reason to dismiss them, and since DJs grew out of the hip hop scene, it reeks of us-foreign-policy to me.

You could also argue that it's just narrow minded rock and metal enjoyers dismissing anything outside of their genre, but I definitely don't remember them having nearly as much of a problem with industrial bands like NIN, Ministry, Godflesh etc. using samples, drum machines and electronic music elements. It sure seems like hip hop influences were far less tolerated thinking-about-it

Am I onto something or is this just weird overthinking that randomly came to my mind?

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[–] vonnieda 27 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Old metalhead here. Hated the nu-metal phase, because it took metal off the air. At least where I lived the radio stations that had been playing heavier alternative and metal switched entirely to nu-metal.

I didn’t like most nu-metal because it lacked the main part of metal for me - which is guitar focus. Nu-metal was all about the huge bombastic intro and then drop everything but a simple bass line and drums while someone sings or raps. Maybe a feeble little guitar solo midway through, but very little guitar work.

In my mind they are two different genres of music, and I’m a metalhead, not a nu-metalhead.

[–] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 10 points 7 months ago

Nu-metal was all about the huge bombastic intro and then drop everything but a simple bass line and drums while someone sings or raps. Maybe a feeble little guitar solo midway through, but very little guitar work.

there's a bunch of 70s music like this too with ripping intros and then the rest of the song is just incredibly mid basic shit that sounds like somebody else composed it

[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Makes sense, I was too young to have really cared about music at the time, but after listening to a lot of it later I definitely prefer the early-mid 90s alternative/metal stuff to nu-metal.

[–] wtypstanaccount04@hexbear.net 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I genuinely think some of Wes Borland's guitar work is great. Sure, there might not be solos, but Nookie and My Way have genuinely good guitar parts and a unique sound.

[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 5 points 7 months ago

I think it's been generally accepted that the rest of the band were actually good musicians, but unfortunately everything was centered around Fred Durst, who is terrible.

[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 7 months ago

I found YouTube links in your comment. Here are links to the same videos on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

Link 1:

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[–] trabpukcip@hexbear.net 26 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Nu-metal also specifically branded itself as lower class/trashy. Maybe that was due to it's proximity to hip-hop, but it leaned into the immature "your mom won't like you listening to this" aesthetic. I associate it with dumbfuck dirt bike/lifted truck bros. The kinda guy who starts a fight cuz he thinks you looked at him the wrong way

[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

This was definitely 1999-2001 when Limp Bizkit was big, then Hybrid Theory got massive and every bottom feeder nu-metal band suddenly became real introspective, lmao

[–] WashedAnus@hexbear.net 21 points 7 months ago (1 children)

There was definitely a big reaction against what a lot of people called "rap rock" at the time. Now, this wasn't a terribly new concept when nu-metal started, having already been done by groups like Rage Against the Machine and Run DMC/Aerosmith, but a lot of it was really badly done in nu-metal (see: Limp Bizkit, etc).

I would agree that a lot of it was based in specifically anti-black racism. That's what drove the reactions of people like my dad and uncles at the time. I was really into it when it was new, being a middle school-aged white suburban boy, and I didn't see a lot of negative backlash among my peer-group until some years later. As for me, I kind of 'aged out' of it and got into punk in high school, so I look back on it through the lens of cringing at my middle school self and am not a fan these days, but that really stems from self hatred.

[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

I was really into it when it was new, being a middle school-aged white suburban boy, and I didn't see a lot of negative backlash among my peer-group until some years later.

I recall none of my friends were into it at the time (around the same age as you), and online a lot of people used the W-version of the N-word to refer to nu-metal bands and fans.

[–] WashedAnus@hexbear.net 6 points 7 months ago

Oh yeah, that was definitely the peak "W-version of the N-word" usage era, between nu-metal and Eminem (something I was also into at the time).

[–] Angel@hexbear.net 16 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I never thought of it that way when it came to nu metal hate, but metalheads just, in general, tend to be elitists and purists who think that any blending of their beloved metal with another genre of music is bad. It's why a lot of metalheads feel the need to not shut the fuck up about how much they hate metalcore, for instance. Their opposition to it usually stems from not seeing it as "true metal" and just a subgenre of hardcore punk that incorporates metallic elements. Regardless if you hold that sentiment as truth or not, just because a form of music is "not metal" doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. You also have to consider that the lines between a genre can definitely be arbitrary and socially constructed.

There are also a fair amount of racist metalheads.

Regardless, metalhead purism and metalhead racism are both toxic traits.

[–] BoxedFenders@hexbear.net 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Coming from a different angle, I was deep into the punk rock scene at the time of the nu-metal explosion and we disliked the genre because we viewed them as corny fratboy meatheads. I loved both metal and hip-hop but despised nu-metal bands even though I enjoyed some proto-nu-metal bands that fused the sounds (like Anthrax). And the Judgment Night soundtrack went HARD. So I guess some of it was just prejudiced elitism on my part.

[–] DonkMagnum@lemy.lol 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

For me personally, it just comes down to the fact that nu-metal was terrible, imho.

[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 13 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I'm not a fan of most of it because many bands just hopped on the bandwagon making formulaic music, but just saying it was "terrible" is a useless statement in terms of analysis because it's purely subjective.

[–] fanbois@hexbear.net 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I think it's a genre that was incredibly locked into it's time. The sound, the vibe, the aesthetics all coagulated into this peak Y2K moment, where it looked like it's the future... And then basically it was a musical blip, apart from a few bangers and Linkin Park as one the most successful bands of all time. Is there even a (known) band in last ten years that would call what they make "nu metal"? Even Linkin Parks music sounded nothing like their early stuff after 2007 or so.

[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 3 points 7 months ago

I think it's a genre that was incredibly locked into it's time. The sound, the vibe, the aesthetics all coagulated into this peak Y2K moment, where it looked like it's the future... And then basically it was a musical blip, apart from a few bangers and Linkin Park as one the most successful bands of all time.

There were also just a shitload of nu-metal bands with a terrible white boy rapper and frosted tips, to the point where I'm sure some of them were straight up created by record labels. The people nostalgic for nu-metal probably tend to forget, now that only the most popular ones are remembered, just how many shitty bands that all sounded the same there were. I doubt there are many people nostalgically listening to Reveille or Primer 55 or whatever.

Is there even a (known) band in last ten years that would call what they make "nu metal"?

A new band? Probably not, but with the recent nostalgia wave, so I'm not completely ruling it out. Many of the older and best known bands are still going.

[–] anarchoilluminati@hexbear.net 12 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Rage Against the Machine was the best!

[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Both politically and musically, yes (even if Morello is a bit of a lib).

[–] Angel@hexbear.net 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

It's hard to expect any musician to be truly revolutionary, NGL

[–] taiphlosion@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 7 months ago

Hey there are some of us lol but yeah not a lot, at least the ones who are well known. I'm guessing it's cause they either don't know or they don't wanna lose the money

Morello is a bit of a lib

Isn't he like pro Shining Path? And a wobbly?

[–] marx_mentat@hexbear.net 1 points 7 months ago

RATM was way before nu metal

[–] RyanGosling@hexbear.net 11 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Is linkin Park nu metal? If so I don’t remember anyone hating them. Everyone was obsessed with it especially after transformers came out. But I also was a kid so I didn’t exactly go on forums and look at people’s discussions on music

[–] BelieveRevolt@hexbear.net 10 points 7 months ago

Linkin Park was one of the most hated bands on the internet for years.

[–] LemonGrease@hexbear.net 7 points 7 months ago

Linkin Park? more like STINKIN FART!!! This post was made by REAL MUSIC listeners

[–] tocopherol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 7 months ago

They were super popular but mocked constantly by pretty much everyone I knew, they were sort of seen as a joke by 'real music fans' in my experience

[–] TheDialectic@hexbear.net 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

From what I understand of the metal community rascism is not a thing that can be ruled out. However people tend to embrace white rappers no matter how mediocre so I don't think that was a key factor here.

[–] SpiderFarmer@hexbear.net 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I dunno. My issue with nu metal was usually its most vocal fans. They were just vaguely shitty white guys. The music was alright enough.

[–] emptiestplace@lemmy.ml 4 points 7 months ago

My issue with nu metal was usually its ~~most~~ vocal~~fan~~s.

[–] Gorillatactics@hexbear.net 8 points 7 months ago

Nu-Metal was for guys who thought the machine Rage Against The Machine was raging against was bed-time or homework.

[–] QueerCommie@hexbear.net 7 points 7 months ago

As a nu-metal fan, sounds about right.

[–] goog@hexbear.net 7 points 7 months ago

Is the hate against terrible rap sections in overplayed pop songs primarily due to racism? Probably, because why the fuck would westoids miss an opportunity. Doesn't really make them any better