The 1990s was the era of the blockbuster movie soundtrack. From Trent Reznor’s game-changing work on Natural Born Killers to The Crow’s goth-centric OST, soundtracks contained some of the most exciting sounds of the decade.
Even when the movie itself was a turkey, there was a good chance that the music had something going for it – witness the groundbreaking rap-rock collision of Judgment Day or even Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Beelzebubian bomb The End Of Days, which saw Guns N’ Roses drop their first new song in nearly a decade.
By the turn of the millennium, nu metal had conquered all before it, and movies were no exception. Even the mist risible film could be partly salvaged by a set of banging tunes served up by any combination of Linkin Park, Disturbed, Limp Bizkit and System Of A Down. Here are 10 big screen misfires with killer nu mteal soundtracks.
Dracula 2000 (2000)
This hokey modern update of the vampire icon was salvaged by a soundtrack that featured Disturbed, Linkin Park, Static-X, (hed) PE plus System Of A Down’s killer cover of The Metro by 80s new wavers Berlin.
Little Nicky (2000)
Adam Sandler’s comedy about the geeky son of the Devil got a soundtrack that read like a who’s who of nu metal: Linkin Park, P.O.D., Disturbed, Deftones and Incubus. Sandler even jammed with the latter two bands on Saturday Night Live on the back of it.
The belated follow-up to cult 1981 classic Heavy Metal wasn’t a great film, but it was livened up by a soundtrack featuring Coal Chamber, forgotten Puerto Rican nu metallers Puya and System Of A Down (again), the latter turning in rare track Störagéd.
Scream 3 (2000)
The Scream franchise was looking decidedly creaky by its third instalment. The good news was that it had a, ahem, killer nu metal soundtrack featuring Slipknot, Incubus, Orgy, Coal Chamber and – oh yes – System Of A Down.
Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)
Metallica’s one-off single I Disappear was the headline news on worst entry in the Tom Cruise action franchise, but Limp Bizkit weren’t far behind with Take A Look Around, which featured Freddy D rapping over Lalo Schifrin’s iconic original M:I theme.
The Scorpion King (2002)
A justly derided spin-off of The Mummy, The Scorpion King was notable for a) starring a pre-superstardom The Rock, and b) having Drowing Pool, P.O.D., Mushroomhead and – yep – System Of A Bloody Down on the soundtrack.
Queen Of The Damned (2002)
This loose adaptation of an Anne Rice novel was a be-fanged turkey, but the soundtrack featured an array of nu metal icons from Chester Bennington to David Draiman singing songs written and performed by Jonathan Davis in the actual movie.
Rollerball (2002)
A lesson in why dystopian 70s sports satires should never be remade, the box office banana skin that was Rollerball was made mildly less painful by music from Slipknot, Fear Factory, P.O.D. and Drowning Pool. No System Of A Down, though. Boo!
Daredevil (2003)
Years before Ben Affleck was a rubbish Batman, he was a rubbish Daredevil. Thankfully, the soundtrack featured the Drowning Pool/Rob Zombie collab The Man Without Fear and, more importantly, helped fire Evanescence’s Bring Me To Life to prominence.
Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
The ultimate monster mash was a massive letdown, but the soundtrack proved to be nu metal’s last cinematic hurrah, with the likes of Slipknot and Ill Niño handing over the baton to rising NWOAHM stars such as Killswitch Engage and Chimaira.