Is This Nu-Metal?

[Kaius]

Omg this thread has me HYPED I need to chill out

[Kevin Davis]

I have a hard time with the idea of lyrical content being a driver for musical genres. A genre can support a wide range of subject matter, and even ones which typically don't can survive anomalies. Just because something sticks out as unique within a category doesn't mean it can't also belong to the category.

I don’t think anyone is being particularly exclusionary here...

I was referring back to Jorge's comment about bands like SOAD not fitting the genre because they are too political rather than inward-looking.

[epilogue]

Re: Rage and System being too political for nu-metal. I have a hard time with the idea of lyrical content being a driver for musical genres. A genre can support a wide range of subject matter, and even ones which typically don't can survive anomalies. Just because something sticks out as unique within a category doesn't mean it can't also belong to the category.

Maybe a working definition of what does define, rather than what does not define, would be helpful?

[Kaius]

I’m embarrassed by the amount of posting I’m doing in here while listening to “I Miss Nu Metal” on Apple Music.

[Jorge]

Were Evanescence nu-metal?

Yeah, I think they fit. Her voice is excellent.

I think their original guitarist / co-songwriter left the band after that first album because he was so in love with her

[Kaius]

I have a hard time with the idea of lyrical content being a driver for musical genres. A genre can support a wide range of subject matter, and even ones which typically don't can survive anomalies. Just because something sticks out as unique within a category doesn't mean it can't also belong to the category.

I don’t think anyone is being particularly exclusionary here...

I was referring back to Jorge's comment about bands like SOAD not fitting the genre because they are too political rather than inward-looking.

He’s just hesitant to put one of his favorite bands into this box.

[epilogue]

Were Evanescence nu-metal?

Yeah, I think they fit. Her voice is excellent.

I think their original guitarist / co-songwriter left the band after that first album because he was so in love with her

Does that disqualify them from being nu-metal?

[Kaius]

Were Evanescence nu-metal?

Yeah, I think they fit. Her voice is excellent.

I think their original guitarist / co-songwriter left the band after that first album because he was so in love with her

[Jorge]

Yeah but when we're getting this level of granular it's not unheard-of to fit "lyrical themes" as a genre convention. Gangsta rap, protest music, Christian rock, all of those are sub-genres that are explicitly about something, lyrically. Not saying that's objectively the case with nu-metal, just saying that my own perception of the genre includes the my-life-sucks whiny lyrics.

[Kaius]

“Sugar” is very inward-looking. Sorry plat!

[Kaius]

Welcome to the club!

[Jorge]

Were Evanescence nu-metal?

Yeah, I think they fit. Her voice is excellent.

I think their original guitarist / co-songwriter left the band after that first album because he was so in love with her

I really do think that's what happened, but that's based on a half-remembered Ohnotheydidn't piece I read around the year 2004

[Kaius]

It’s hilarious.

[Kevin Davis]

Re: Rage and System being too political for nu-metal. I have a hard time with the idea of lyrical content being a driver for musical genres. A genre can support a wide range of subject matter, and even ones which typically don't can survive anomalies. Just because something sticks out as unique within a category doesn't mean it can't also belong to the category.

Maybe a working definition of what does define, rather than what does not define, would be helpful?

Jorge gave a pretty good one; I just disagree with that one part.

For what it's worth, I share your general distaste for the overclassification of music; the fact that this thread comprises fourteen pages of people trying to discern whether certain bands do or do not belong in a certain genre is evidence that the terminologies don't even really serve their basic function as shorthand for the body of work they supposedly encompass. But I can't deny that this has been a fun thread.

[BurtReynolds]

I really don't mind that slap bass

[epilogue]

If "save me from the nothing I've become" isn't a nu-metal lyric, I don't know what is.

[Kaius]

I sit, in my desolate room, no lights, no music
Just havoc
I've killed everyone
I'm away forever, but I'm feeling better
How do I feel
What do I say
Fuck you, it all goes away
How do I feel
What do I say
Fuck you, it all goes away
How do I feel
What do I say
In the end it all goes away
How do I feel
What do I say
In the end it all goes away
How do I feel
What do I say
In the end it all goes away
How do I feel
What do I say
In the end it all goes away
How do I feel
What do I say
In the end it all goes away
How do I feel
What do I say
In the end it all goes away
In the end it all goes away
In the end it all goes away
In the end it all goes away
In the end it all goes away

[Kaius]

I really don't mind that slap bass

I think I love it.

[BurtReynolds]

If "save me from the nothing I've become" isn't a nu-metal lyric, I don't know what is.

Lyrics like this kind of retroactively turned me off of grunge. Who wants to be so depressed all the time?

[epilogue]

Re: Rage and System being too political for nu-metal. I have a hard time with the idea of lyrical content being a driver for musical genres. A genre can support a wide range of subject matter, and even ones which typically don't can survive anomalies. Just because something sticks out as unique within a category doesn't mean it can't also belong to the category.

Maybe a working definition of what does define, rather than what does not define, would be helpful?

Jorge gave a pretty good one; I just disagree with that one part.

For what it's worth, I share your general distaste for the overclassification of music; the fact that this thread comprises fourteen pages of people trying to discern whether certain bands do or do not belong in a certain genre is evidence that the terminologies don't even really serve their basic function as shorthand for the body of work they supposedly encompass. But I can't deny that this has been a fun thread.

I honesty can't tell whether or not people are actually frustrated with me in this thread. But I THINK we're all in on the joke. Regardless, I love this thread and this conversation. No lie.