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The LOL At Nu-Metal thread

Brocklock

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SOAD had the advantage of absurd humor that could actually be funny ("Pogostick" for example) and where always (outside of their drummer nowadays) unapologetically left wing in their politics.* The album "Toxicity" came out a week before 9/11, and still feels relevant as it tackles such themes as the industrial prison system and police brutality, while also predicting the fear and paranoia of a post 9/11 world. I wouldn't call it or them Nu Metal, but it does feel like the ultimate "the bubble has burst" album. After that and the events which followed, there's no going back.

I did a relisten to SOAD over the Summer and I was surprised at how well it all aged. The Zappa type tendencies on their first two albums really shine through in the lyrics. "Prison System" still has a ton of bite with the lyrics remaining as relevant as ever. They also are much heavier than any actual Nu-Metal band besides Slipknot. There are sections on their self titled that almost go thrash metal and Serj does some death growls on that album as well. System does start to get a little troubling on the double album because for some reason Daron Malakian got a big head and tried to share or take over Serj's vocal duties. On Hypnotize more than half the songs are sung by Daron. Daron is a solid backup vocalist, but it's like if Stevie Van Zandt tried to sing half of the songs on a Bruce album. Serj's vocals is one of the main reasons System stood out and were so unique. Daron's voice is whiny and awful on songs like Old School Hollywood, Violent Pornography, and Lonely Day which almost had a Emoish tone to them and was so much better on Toxicity where he would just be in the background.

I will say also there are a couple Slipknot songs from All Hope Is Gone and Volume 3: The Subliminal Verses that I like and they have a few songs I think are pretty close to actual Heavy Metal. Some sections straight up sound like death metal until the vocals kick in. Their self titled album is still pretty obnoxious and dated, but they definitely have some talented people in the band even if the music they are making isn't my favorite.

From reading interviews, Corey Taylor from Slipknot is straight up progressive and has talked about that while he supported Bernie, Dems need to unite to get Trump out like a year ago. It's weird to see someone associated with Nu-Metal seem so with it and most of what I've read from him when discussing politics have been right on. Also, the Papa Roach singer Jacoby Shaddix dislikes what Trump is doing to the country and has spoke out against him.
 
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Gary

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From reading interviews, Corey Taylor from Slipknot is straight up progressive and has talked about that while he supported Bernie, Dems need to unite to get Trump out like a year ago. It's weird to see someone associated with Nu-Metal seem so with it and most of what I've read from him when discussing politics have been right on. Also, the Papa Roach singer Jacoby Shaddix dislikes what Trump is doing to the country and has spoke out against him.
Even Better: they once made fun of Paul Ryan.
 

King Kamala

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I forgot how late in the nu metal craze Linkin Park was. I also remember making fun of the ads for Hybrid Theory and thinking even as a 12 year old “Do we really need another one of these bands?” Then it became the biggest nu metal band of all time and they really became bigger than the genre.

I will even now begrudgingly admit they were a fairly decent unique pop rock band. Cut the snark, adolescent Kamala.
 

Gary

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I forgot how late in the nu metal craze Linkin Park was. I also remember making fun of the ads for Hybrid Theory and thinking even as a 12 year old “Do we really need another one of these bands?” Then it became the biggest nu metal band of all time and they really became bigger than the genre.

I will even now begrudgingly admit they were a fairly decent unique pop rock band. Cut the snark, adolescent Kamala.
In no way a fan, but as far as Nu Metal is concerned, they are far from the worst. I guess that's a compliment?

Edit: The article makes some interesting points and makes me come to my own conclusion. As far as the article is concerned, I'd say it's correct in saying late 2000 is when Nu Metal was starting to near it's peak, that I'd probably would've l had been at least a year or two younger, and that they weren't as belligerent as the likes of Limp Bizkit or Primer 55 or whatever. As far as my own conclusion, I'd say it feels like a transitional album. It's obviously Nu Metal, but as the article mentions, it's not something made by Meatheads. I'd argue that it was kind of a transitional in that a lot of people who liked this ended up getting into other kinds of music, or outside of this band ended up abandoning Nu Metal altogether.

The article also mentions this bands popularity in it's peak was around a time where bands like The Strokes & The White Stripes had "saved rock", or when LCD Soundsystem had brought Dance Punk into the mainstream. Someone in the comment section made a good point in that for all the praise those bands got, you weren't hearing them coming out of a lot of peoples cars. Granted, I had grown tired of recent indie rock years ago, so that's probably just m.
 
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Laz

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I begrudgingly accepted Linkin Park as a solid pop act around the time of their Transformers singles.
 

King Kamala

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The Strokes & The White Stripes had "saved rock", or when LCD Soundsystem had brought Dance Punk into the mainstream. Someone in the comment section made a good point in that for all the praise those bands got, you weren't hearing them coming out of a lot of peoples cars. Granted, I had grown tired of recent indie rock years ago, so that's probably just m.
The White Stripes have some songs I could see blasting in cars (and sellout era The Black Keys ramped up the formula). Anyone who would blast LCD Soundsystem and The Strokes probably lives in a major metropolitan area and doesn't have or spend enough time in their car to blast music.
 

Laz

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I hope they open the show with "Dig" and then lose steam as the crowd disperses, quickly realizing the band has no other listenable songs.
 

Laz

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It wasn't bad, and you can hear the influence it had on legitimate metal in the 20 years following (they had a surprisingly strong influence on an entire generation of BDM/slam, for example), but I mean...it's still fucking MuDvAyNe, guys. A couple of cool ideas and a gimmick they dropped right after hitting it big.

I saw Mudvayne twice, thinking back. Once opening for Rob Zombie and Ozzy on the Merry Mayhem tour, once a few years (one album, and a whole different look) later opening for Metallica. Deathly boring both times, with the crowds really only responding to "Dig" and whatever that song from Ghost Ship was.
 

Epic Springs

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I remember Mudvayne winning the MTV2 Award (whatever that was) at the 2001 VMAs and instantly thinking they were uncool because they had gone corporate, bro. Slipknot never appeared on some shitty award show!
 

Gary

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In case you were wondering what Fred Durst Looks like today.
 
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