nu-metal

A much-hated subgenre of metal or hard rock, depending on how you view it, that started in the early 90s. The main characteristics of nu-metal are as follows: 1. Rather short, simplistic songs with some sort of pop hooks 2. Lyrics about personal issues and feelings 3. Lack of guitar solos (if any solos are present, they are usually ahort or not very complex) 4. Many bands take in some elements of funk and rap and mix it with heavy metal music (early Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, Korn, etc.) 5. Music which places more emphasis on lyrical meaning and image than technicality While I agree that some nu-metal out there is quite terrible, a lot of nu-metal out there is hated for the wrong reasons. Some people hate it just because it's popular, some people hate it just because it has no solos, or some people hate it just because the lyrics are somewhat more emotional than lyrics of old-school metal. Hating a band just because it's popular is like refusing to play a sport like, say, football, just because a lot of people love it. "No way, man! I'm TOTALEE underground and kvlt. I should not be doing any shit that more than 2 people are a part of. I must be DIFFERENT!1!" Honestly, no one cares if you're a rebel. No one is going to praise you or follow in your footsteps. Why must you try so hard to be different? It's also pathetic to hate a song just because of the lack of technicality. "Ooo, look at me! I'm generic tr00 metal guitarist #628! I can wank off on a guitar and hit 6489789704 notes per second!!! I am so tr00 metal." Face it, some artists like Yngwie Malmsteen and Dragonforce may have a lot of skill and speed on guitar, but a lot of their songs get old REALLY fast. Speed does not always equal talent. There's more to songwriting than making sure that every song has more than 10,000 notes in it, and if you can't understand that, then you obviously know nothing about music. Also, what's wrong with emotional lyrics? Even "real metal" bands like Megadeth and Dream Theater bring lots of emotion into their songs (Megadeth - Trust, or Dream Theater - The Glass Prison), but are they hated for that? No. Why should nu-metal be any different? It's sometimes pointless and dumb to write every song about random evil crap like Slayer just to prove how much of a "tough guy" you are. Everyone has feelings. Some people want to express them. Deal with it. So, now that that's out of the way, once again, I'll agree with most of you that some nu-metal out there is definitely a false type of metal that's made just for money or mass appeal. These bands should be burned alive along with their music collections if they won't learn to make real music. But you should also know that some nu-metal out there can be really good. Don't just hate a whole genre to be "rebellious" and "different."