Well, sorry , but I belive strongly that nu-metal, metal , rock , rap and all of these other 'genres' are just media-enforced labels on manufactured, pre-fabricated unoriginal muzak rip-offs, thought up by record industry executives to increase record sales.
Korn had a vision within the context of their metal band music, with their then unusual (unusual until Limp Bizkit ripped them off, that is,) use of a seven-string guitar to encompass a broader range of low-frequency metal guitar mayhem.(The seventh string was lower than the usual six strings, not higher.) Also, Johnathan Davis, who was mentioned in the write up above as having a guttural growl, was a victim of abuse in his childhood, and he sought to lyricize those turbulent and highly personal experiences into the context of early Korn music, making it an angry, raw, very heavy, twisted and schizophrenic musical experience.
Korn were actually preceeded by a slew of underground hardcore punk bands, originating mostly from America, and driven by the straight edge ethos of Fugazi and Minor Threat and a slightly more metallish and heavy sound. These bands even incorporated some heavy metal-sounding riffs into their music, making it sound highly unique, and yes, they had a form of the rap-shout vocal style in their music too.. Not forgetting Beastie Boys' part in all of it; with Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun and Sabotage; as heard in the recent Star Trek movie... Not to mention Afrika Bambaata's rock infused funk and soul; and even all those fusion bands of the 70's; who have been sampled ceaselessly by the 90's hip hop communities (including the ones across the pond in places like Bristol)
The most high-profile of these bands probably was Sick Of It All. From New York, they had a minor hit with Just Look Around, which featured rap-like lyrics that focused on the state of a modern society slathered with hate and prejudice. The song was bass-driven and had a very groovy feel, though it remained quite heavy, as it was played almost exclusively on the low E string. This song was released sometime in the mid to late eighties.
Bands like Rage Against The Machine and Korn were probably influenced in part by the appearance of all these bands, if not by the music itself. Rage Against The Machine and Korn (and some other bands as well,) managed to break through the mainstream and gain acceptance and popularity among the MTV crowd and the mallsters and high-school jocks and cheerleaders and dirt-bike enthusiasts and other social animals of every ilk and stripe.
This was around the time that the term nu-metal started to surface. Rushing to quickly encapsulate the whole new broad range of diverse musical styles that were springing up in the mainstream (read: teenage audience), into an easily-palatable wholesome package, record companies, radio stations and music video channels blessed everything into a sort of unholy union; lumping together all the musical nuances and subtleties they couldn't understand too well into a tightly-cramped, highly restrictive, creativity-stifling box called nu-metal.
What everyone believes to be nu-metal doesn't even exist, at least not in the way most people perceive it. It's just a convinient way to sell music, label it so sales and marketing personnel can package it in a shiny, brand-spanking new sheer-plastic case, that looks so good, but tastes so corrosive and toxic. For metal music, heavy music, any music to progress, somehow these labels that have enabled uninspiring, unoriginal music from uninspiring, unoriginal bands to gain precedence and let these bands take credit for something they copied wholesale from other people, (not very well-copied either, in my humble opinion) must be at least forgotten and ignored, if not universally derided and exposed for what it truly is, a major marketing ploy, that is - god forbid -killing the music.
In essence, probably, the music we hear now, is just an extension of what Kurt Cobain started, for better or worse. When Smells Like Like Teen Spirit exploded onto radio,(read this article for an in-depth look at the impact of Nirvana on modern music and the implications of Kurt Cobain's suicide:
http://dir.salon.com/ent/music/featu...ain/index.html It was inevitable that one day heavy, uncommon music, real left field genres like industrial and core music would be thrust into the mainstream. This is just probably a teething phase.
