Nu metal rarely features guitar solos or other displays of musical technique, and emphasizes rhythm with instrumentation that is heavily syncopated.
Nu metal became popular in the late 1990s, with bands and artists such as Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Slipknot all releasing albums that sold millions of copies.
Bands such as Of Mice & Men, Emmure, Issues, My Ticket Home, and Bring Me the Horizon combined nu metal with metalcore or deathcore.
[7][25] Kory Grow of Revolver wrote, "... [i]n its efforts to tune down and simplify riffs, nu-metal effectively drove a stake through the heart of the guitar solo".
[43] Limp Bizkit has recorded with multiple hip hop musicians including Method Man,[44] Lil Wayne,[45] Xzibit,[46] Redman,[46] DMX[47] and Snoop Dogg.
[51] Trevor Baker of The Guardian wrote, "Bands such as Linkin Park, Korn and even the much reviled Limp Bizkit ... did far more to break down the artificial barriers between 'urban music' and rock than any of their more critically acceptable counterparts.
[56] The Michigan Daily wrote about Limp Bizkit's lyrics, writing that the band "used the nu-metal sound as a way to spin testosterone fueled fantasies into snarky white-boy rap.
[58] In contrast, according to Josh Chesler of the Phoenix New Times, the lyrics of Deftones, who were once considered a nu metal band, "tend to have complex allusions and leave the songs open to many different interpretations.
[81] Joel McIver acknowledged Korn as the band that created and pioneered the nu metal genre with its demo Neidermayer's Mind, which was released in 1993.
[84][85] The aggressive riffs of Korn, the rapping of Limp Bizkit, and the melodic ballads of Staind created the sonic template for nu metal.
[104] Deftones also were temporarily controversial in 1996 when their vocalist Chino Moreno was blamed by TV news reports for a riot that occurred at the 1996 U-Fest festival on October 5, 1996.
[107][109][110] Nu metal continued to rise in popularity when Korn's 1996 album Life Is Peachy peaked at number 3 on the Billboard 200[101][111] and sold 106,000 copies in its first week of release.
[112] Attention through Ozzy Osbourne's 1996 introduction of Ozzfest was integral to boosting the careers of many nu metal bands, including Limp Bizkit.
[113] Few artists were playing nu metal until 1997 when bands such as Sevendust,[114] Coal Chamber,[115] Limp Bizkit,[116] and Papa Roach[117] all released their debut albums, in what Billboard writer William Goodman calls a "banner year" for the genre.
[130] Follow the Leader peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200,[101] was certified 5× platinum by the RIAA,[131] and paved the way for the success of other nu metal bands.
[174] During the late 1990s and early 2000s, many nu metal bands performed at Ozzfest, including Kittie, Disturbed, Mudvayne, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Papa Roach, Otep, Static-X, Methods of Mayhem, Taproot and Drowning Pool.
[185] Crazy Town's debut album The Gift of Game peaked at number 9 on the Billboard 200,[186] went platinum in February 2001,[187] and sold at least 1,500,000 copies in the United States.
American Head Charge, Primer 55, Adema, Cold, the Union Underground, Dope, Apartment 26, Hed (Planet Earth) and Skrape—all of whom released albums between 2000 and 2001—left more of a collective impression than individual ones".
[227] Despite the ongoing decline of the genre, several international bands began to experience success with nu metal, such as Three Days Grace from Canada, and Lostprophets from Wales.
Linkin Park's third studio album Minutes to Midnight, released in 2007, was noted for its near-complete departure from the band's nu metal sound.
[275] Some media outlets viewed a nu metal revival as beginning in the 2010s with groups like Blood Youth, Cane Hill,[276] Stray From The Path, Sworn In, DangerKids, Islander,[277] and Blind Channel.
According to PopMatters writer Ethan Stewart, Code Orange's 2017 album Forever led to nu metalcore becoming "one of the most prominent flavors of contemporary metal".
[150] Also, several nu metal bands returned and released new music after decades like Staind,[301] Adema,[302] Alien Ant Farm[303] and Kittie.
Several songs on the album, such as lead single "The Emptiness Machine", "Heavy Is the Crown", and "Two Faced" call back to their earlier nu metal sound prominently featured on Hybrid Theory and Meteora.
[308]Lamb of God's vocalist Randy Blythe criticized the nu metal genre and spoke about its loss of popularity in 2004, saying: "Nu-metal sucks, so that's why that's dying off.
[314] Helmet frontman Page Hamilton said, "It's frustrating that people write [us] off because we're affiliated with or credited with or discredited with creating nu-metal and rap metal ... which we sound nothing like".
Jack Porter of The Michigan Daily defended nu metal, writing Unfortunately, some barriers prevent listeners from understanding nu-metal bands apart from the identity that genre label has given them—picture a bone-headed suburban white kid sporting a backwards baseball cap.
What used to be a descriptor for a specific strain of alternative metal turned into a ghetto for every band that a) plays extremely heavy yet radio-friendly music and b) sucks.
[335] Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park spoke about the nu metal label in an interview with NME, saying "We never held the flag for nu-metal—it was associated with frat rock.
So after we made Hybrid Theory and Meteora, we really wanted to take risks beyond what we had already done on those first two records, creatively, and show the world that we can do a lot more than just make nu-metal songs.