Nu-Metal: The Last Musical Revolution??

[Alex]

So I was reading my Classic Rock magazine and it was saying how Nu-Metal was the last great rock revolution and I'm inclined to agree.

I mean Nu-Metal started in the mid 90s and was massive until about the mid 2000s and i that time span there were several bands that are seen as the pioneers of the genre (Limp Bizkit, Korn, Deftones) then there were the bands that capitalised massively on the scene (Linkin Park, Papa Roach) and then there were bands who just got lumped in with them (Slipknot) and lest we not forget the legions of bands who played that style of music during the time period who probably aren't remembered.

I mean these bands were playing big festivals like Woodstock and you'd see loads of band merchandise everywhere (when I first started secondary school in 2002 I saw loads of Korn and Slipknot stuff) and to this day even with the popularity of the genre waning the bands still get to play either the main stage (sometimes headlining) or headline the second biggest one at festivals and still play pretty big places on tour.

Compare that to Metalcore (arguably the sucessor to Nu-Metal) and it doesn't seem to have blown up like Nu-Metal did. Most of the bands in the genre seem to play medium sized places at best and if they're lucky get to play the main stage at big festivals (but not headline) I know acts like Killswitch Engage and Bring Me The Horizon are the exception, but aside from those two (one I'm a fan of and the other my friends listen to) I'd be hard pressed to name many metalcore acts. I know the genre has a die hard fanbase (one of my friend is one of them) but it doens't really have much crossover appeal

I know there's Indie and Pop Rock/Pop Punk, but they've technically been going for ages with slight alterations here and there over the years so they're technically exempt.

Is today's music so fragmented that there can never really be another rock revolution so to speak (music message boards seem to enforce this) or is the rock stuff that's out now just doesn't have as much crossover appeal that Nu-Metal's rock and rap had??

 

[Whap Me Jungles]

The only possible "rock revolution" I can think of is the combination of rock and Dubstep. But that would put me right off music forever, so I'll just leave that one alone.

 

[Nikeo]

Give it ten years and you'd be surprised what might jump back up in popularity. Who would have predicted the resurgence of 60's inspired bands during Britpop's heyday in the 90's? Most people proclaimed that type of music dead.

Metal and rock are not going to be topping the charts for a few years if previous music trends are any indication. Dance music is dominating every market across the world. I'm not talking solely about dubstep but "EDM" (as it's now being called) hasn't even reached its peak yet. What's happening to dance music right now is what's happened to rap in the late 90's/early 00's. It's massive, it's everywhere, and now you have record labels scrambling to churn out SHITE to deal with the popularity. Look at Agulera (not even going to try spell it right) and the like and the dance synth in the background.

During the 20's there could well be a gap in the market and a resurgence in some form of metal/rock music. Music trends are all a big cycle anyway.

 

[El Rev sXe]

Nu metal was to some degree a revolution, much like punk, grunge and to some extent punk-pop did in their time, this genre was representative to a specific public, teenagers. And much like the past genres mentioned, when their public started to grow, well their popularity started to fall... In fact, I recently read an interview from Fred Durst and he said that he has seen mostly teenagers in his concerts since Limp Biskit started to this day.

Nu metal for me is a dumb label, Korn, Linkin Park, Deftones, Slipknot and SoaD (amongst others) aren't similar at all, is just as dumb as "indie" or "alternative" music, that doesn't mean shit, it doesn't make any kind of references to how the music is structured, its progression or other characteristics as far musical theory goes.

Slipknot and Deftones for example have change very very much their sound since the beggining of the millenium and today they aren't so much related to that "nu metal" movement. Also probably from all the bands from this "revolution" Slipknot is probably the only one who is big enough to headline some music festivals, serious festivals like Download not Woodstock wich btw was a completely joke.

As far musical revolution goes I think people can very easily confuse it with something that is trending much like today it could be said dance/electro pop could be labeled as a musical revolution. As far rock is concern there isn't much more territory to be explored, there have been all kinds of (crazy good and bad) fusions, with rap,folk, jazz, blues, electronic music in general.

Rock isn't going anywhere but I really doubt that a new genre is going to appear. Btw Alex, I think that the industrial music was a bigger musical revolution than nu metal, but I'm too lazy to write about it.

 

[ABMorales787]

The only possible "rock revolution" I can think of is the combination of rock and Dubstep. But that would put me right off music forever, so I'll just leave that one alone.

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Look into Celldweller. It is certainly not a bad combo at all.

But I don't think that we'll see a genre explode like Nu-Metal did or Grunge before it. Musicians have learned to be very diverse nowadays and music producers are quick to go into crossovers in order to look into getting the most out of their artists. Unless a time period where music becomes more reserved comes and slows everything down, I don't we'll be seeing some new genre pop out and change everything majorly. Dubstep seemed to be heading in that direction, but it was quick to spread out and become "just another style".