Nü-metal is a weird genre. While we tend to lump bands like Linkin Park, Korn, Deftones, and System Of A Down into the broad nü-metal category, none of those four bands sound very similar to one another.
Over the years, bands that once despised being labeled nü-metal have also come around on the term like Papa Roach‘s Jacoby Shaddix; while folks like Tony Campos of Static-X aren’t sure why they were ever lumped into it in the first place. Then there’s the arguments of where it all fell apart, as Korn‘s Jonthan Davis and SOiL guitarist Adam Zadel have weighed in on.
In a recent interview with Metal Hammer, System Of A Down and Seven Hours After Violet bassist Shavo Odadjian said he originally wasn’t cool with the nü-metal tag but grew to accept it: “I never liked being compared to anyone. When they put us in a group, I would always be like, ‘We’re not nu metal, we’re our own thing!’ Now I’m older and wiser.”
Odadjian further reflected on the nü-era, saying: “Those are my bros, man. I made great friends in that community. Touring with these guys and hanging out with them every night, it created some special bonds and I’m proud of that. We’re still in that group and that era.
“You can’t compare System or Korn to Static-X. It was an era of doing metal a different way. It was bringing in other elements to metal as a whole and not giving a fuck. That’s what the kids of today are attracted to and bonding with in that genre.”
Odadjian’s last sentence in the above quote is pretty interesting, because I personally hadn’t thought of it like that. Maybe it’s not the big bouncy rhythms and “future” fashion of the genre, but the actual freedom musically it provides? Or a mix of all three. Nü-metal is pretty damn fun.
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