Five musicians that hated nu-metal with a passion (2024)

When Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins was asked for his opinion on nu-metal, he was excited by the idea of genres crossing over. “I think it’s fantastic,” he said, “I think the more people that are cross-pollinated between different musical styles, it not only has musical implications but it has cultural ones as well.”

In music today, there is a lot of crossover between different genres, and few artists stick to one particular sound. Given that nu-metal was one of the first styles of music to use two separate genres so blatantly, it should be reviewed as a turning point in sound, but that’s not the case. Instead, people look at bands such as Limp Bizkit and cringe at their existence, seeing it as a dark period in music where originality went out the window.

This attitude was reciprocated by many musicians at the time. When the genre was at the height of its popularity, and nu-metal bands continued to top the charts, many other rock and metal bands turned their noses up at it. There was a general push away from nu-metal, as musicians deemed the genre a fad and said it would never last.

Now, some 20 years later, the genre is having a slight resurgence but still receiving pushback from the music community at large. This article will look in more detail at some of the original artists who vocalised their disdain towards nu-metal.

Artists that hated nu-metal:

Tom Morello

Tom Morello had a complicated relationship with nu-metal. While he could appreciate what some of the bands were doing musically, he could never get behind the message of the majority of nu-metal bands. Recognising himself and Rage Against The Machine as one of the influences behind the development of the genre, he felt somewhat responsible for it.

“For better or for worse, Rage Against The Machine seems to have planted the seeds for the genre that’s sprung up known as nu-metal… my apologies,” Morello said the genre stemmed from Rage Against The Machine, which waited about four years between album releases. “There’s a lot of great music in that genre, a lot of great musicians in it, but the ethos of it tended to be much more misogynist in nature, anti-women, fratty, and there was political and intellectual content to Rage Against the Machine which is singular in that broad genre of music.”

Lemmy

“People like Limp Bizkit, I don’t understand it.” If you want some pure and energetic metal music, look no further than Motörhead. They had an utterly inescapable sound as every second was packed with distortion-laden fire, and Lemmy’s voice only added to their style. It was about as far removed from nu-metal as you could get. Naturally, Lemmy was never a big fan of the genre.

“What the f*ck is this,” he said, “It’s just rubbish! You’re just garage attendants with f*cking gas masks on… Everything there is fad-driven. Limp f*cking Bizkit and Tool and all that. It’s just f*cking hopeless. If that’s the future of rock ‘n’ roll, it’s suicide for me.”

Billie Joe Armstrong

There was a period when Green Day was the biggest name in punk. This meant that not only was their music laced with attitude and honesty, but they were also quick to give their opinions on forms of music they disliked. Nu-metal got caught in that crossfire, as Billie Joe Armstrong wasted no time expressing his hatred for it.

“I think that the nu-metal rap thing completely sucks ass,” he said, “I don’t get it, I don’t wanna get it, and I don’t really mind if I get it.”

Corey Taylor

Corey Taylor was never a big fan of nu-metal, and he was especially never a fan of the fact that Slipknot was often thrown into the category of nu-metal. Due to the fact that Slipknot had some hip-hop elements in their music and a lot of Taylor’s singing was upbeat and rhythmic, the parallels were undoubtedly there, leading to an ongoing feud between the bands.

“As far as labelling Slipknot a nu-metal thing, I think that sort of came down to A) the timing when we came out and B) the fact that we were still kind of using hip hop elements and whatnot, but I think honestly, we were more of a precursor to what they call the new wave of American heavy metal.”

Maynard James Keenan

As the lead singer of Tool, Keenan resented Limp Bizkit and other nu-metal bands because he didn’t consider their success the product of good music. He believed these bands had the right teams behind them, which led to their success, not musical ability.

“There should be a separate billboard chart that has to deal with clever marketing plans, so like McDonald’s would be right up there with McNuggets, and then those bands you mentioned would be right up there,” he said, “They shouldn’t really be on a music chart.”

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