This heavy metal subclass is known as Nu Metal. This has been known to blend different styles of music elements and styles into their music, such as Grunge, Hip Hop, and Punk. Bands typically use melodic vocals, aggressive vocals, and forms of hardcore punk.
An article in Spin magazine featured this style of music as the “new metal” of the community. The term “newl” was changed to “nu” after pressing and appeared in the movie “Get Thrashed”. This type of metal was introduced by Korn in 1990 and grew through the 1990s right up to the 2000s.
In 1998, Korn released their third album, “Follow the Leader” which sold 9 million copies worldwide, and this was the beginning of bringing nu metal to the community. This opened doors for other bands and brought the community to the audience.
Once the community grew, gangs followed. Staind, Coal Chamber, and Limp Bizkit all began to find success in the community after the release of Korn’s album Follow the Leader. Coal Chamber, Spineshank, and Static-X all came from Los Angeles, California. Bands like Godsmack, Soufly, Disturbed, Limp Bizkit, Sevendust, and Slipknot are starting to make an impact on the community. Most of these bands join popular tours like the Family Values Tour, Lollapalooza, and Ozzfest. The largest being Woodstock’s 30th Anniversary which featured mostly nu metal bands.
Over time, more and more bands fell into nu metal. Linkin Park, Papa Roach, POD, and System of a Down all became huge hits, propelling most of their albums to platinum status. The community was at its peak in 2001 when heavy metal was the most popular in America. Nu metal bands were signed to most record labels during this time. With teams easily signed, this brought bad quality to the community.
In the early 2000s, popularity faded and the bands that started the wave didn’t sell their new albums as well as their previous ones. As things slowed down, the metal community moved on to the next generation of metal which is pop/emo. Nu metal is still very popular. Some teams have changed their style and others are still the same. Either way, nu metal will always have that place in society.