10 Nü-Metallic Songs That Don’t Completely Suck

Elevate your hand when you’ve ever made enjoyable of nü-metal. It’s okay. In a lot the identical means that the sub-genre tends to be remembered as one huge, bizarre, Jnco-clad section for American popular culture across the flip of the millennium, retroactive apologies for having ever been down with it within the first place turned their very own ceremony of passage for a sure era.

However, was all of it so unhealthy?  Certain, it’s straightforward to suppose again on Woodstock 1999 and the tales of bands attacking one another with dildos in the course of the Household Values Tour and write off the whole lot of nü-metal’s run as a bizarre abomination in music historical past. However that oversimplifies a number of essential context, together with the essential indisputable fact that nü-metal was completely huge in its heyday, and that needs to be for some form of motive. Who is aware of, possibly America had much less to fret about within the grand scheme of issues, however there’s a motive all the identical.

In gentle of Korn’s new album, The Nothing, we cherry-picked 10 songs which can be (in all probability) higher than the established imply inside nü-metal. They’re not ranked in any means, and whereas our outcomes could fluctuate from your personal, we genuinely tried to reclaim an incredible many artists’ laborious work from the repute it’s developed. After all, their worst songs are among the worst that music has ever seen, however that’s a unique article for a unique day.

Alright, you understand what time it’s…

–Dominick Suzanne-Mayer
Movie Editor

System of a Down – “Toxicity”

There are a meager handful of bands who had been lively within the early-2000s Ozzfest circuit who transcended the nü-metal label and are thought of extra on their very own deserves immediately than as bands very particularly of that point. System of a Down is arguably one of many higher bands to emerge in the course of the interval, and whereas their music completely turned extra formidable as their run went on, it’s laborious to contend that they’ve ever launched a greater album than Toxicity, nonetheless among the many finest information of that period of mainstream heavy music. Now, be a part of us in going completely goddamn wild to that breakdown on the finish of the title monitor, one of many album’s standouts and one of many best-ever showcases of Serj Tankian’s inimitable vocals at their peak. –Dominick Suzanne-Mayer

Slipknot – “Wait and Bleed”

Slipknot’s “Wait and Bleed” exemplifies nü-metal’s tendency to sofa the melodic pleasures of mainstream ‘90s alt-rock inside an artifice that scans extra like a horror film. Wanting like variations on The Texas Chain Noticed Bloodbath’s Leatherface and counting on heavy, drop-tuned chords to get their level throughout, the group’s 9 (!) members disguised the humanity behind their first huge hit. Of all of the bands to headbang their means by the Ozzfest circuit within the early 2000s, Slipknot will be the most enduring — in all probability as a result of they backed away from the awkward hip-hop parts of nü-metal and targeted extra on crafting lean, vicious rock songs like “Wait and Bleed”. –Collin Brennan

Korn – “Freak on a Leash”

The place had been you when Korn premiered their music video for “Freak on a Leash”? Who didn’t worship that Todd MacFarlane masterpiece? Rattling, keep in mind Todd McFarlane!? Sigh, it was a enjoyable time appearing just like the world was on our shoulders amidst such macabre artists, and Korn has at all times firmly planted their steel-toed sneakers in that panorama. “Freak on a Leash” celebrates these gnarly attributes with ease, like a goth child who stumbles out of his or her home on Halloween, and people extraterrestrial thrives nonetheless sound fairly dope. Frontman Jonathan Davis has at all times been a novel beast, and we’d be hard-pressed even now to seek out many imitators. Having mentioned that, his schtick will get previous quick, and those that adopted the chief, effectively, they too finally fell off the cliff. As for this track, it’ll at all times be a “a part of me.” GO! –Michael Roffman

(həd) p.e. – “Bartender”

(həd) p.e. appears horrible on paper — a much less chill model of Elegant, possibly, or the bastard baby of each forgettable has-been from Orange County’s hardcore heyday. However the group’s signature fusion of “G-punk” (gangsta rap and punk) is a silly sufficient thought to yield at the least one or two impressed moments, and “Bartender” miraculously endures as considered one of nü-metal’s finer moments. The track packs in a number of hooks (the Spaghetti Western-tinged guitar intro, the chugging riff within the verse, the shout-along refrain) and a number of genres, conserving the listener off-balance for a lot of its four-minute runtime. Inside the context of 2000 — a 12 months during which the state of rock was principally depressing — “Bartender” stood out as a blast of recent air, even when its style shortly grew stale. –Collin Brennan

Linkin Park – “Faint”

When any individual begins speaking about nü-metal at a celebration or bar, it’s inevitable that in the end, any individual will bust out a guttural “CRAAAAWWWWLING IN MY SKIN.” Linkin Park are one of many bands most synonymous with this period of platinum-sales peaks and untold valleys, and if we’re being trustworthy, they’ve emerged with time as one of many higher. Whereas views on their later evolution right into a extra simple arena-rock band fluctuate, it’s straightforward to overlook simply how beloved their early materials actually was. And Meteora, their sophomore report, had a fairly substantial run of singles, topping out with “Faint”, pretty much as good a monitor because the band has ever recorded. That synth-violin pattern is a killer, Mike Shinoda’s verses had been hardly ever higher, and it even led to a mashup with “Jigga What”, as a result of time and tradition ought to by no means be allowed to overlook about Collision Course. –Dominick Suzanne-Mayer