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Nu Metal Vs. Old Metal - Which is Better?

© Marianne Moro

Is the nu-metal craze really on a par with the hard rock acts of the past - both in song structure and musicianship? Or is any debate about the viability of nu-metal bandsmerely a generational thing? This thought surfaced because of a recent article on Salon.com suggesting that the spate of nu metal bands out there (from Spineshank to Glassjaw to Disturbed), are merely a musical fad like tv-made pop bands. There are too many bands of the same ilk being played and promoted, with disregard for quality.

What differentiates a band like Mudvayne from Twitzed or Insane Clown Possee. The same complaints were probably enlisted from the birth of rock 'n' roll. "They all sound alike, etc.,etc." Subject matter changes from decade to decade."I don't know what to make of this new metal stuff, I said to one of my friends. "It's all about anger and this screaming and yelling and there's never any melody or love songs or social issues. What's it about, really? Just being pissed off? Is it a different form of catharsis or a lifestyle?" If you can't decipher it because you belong to a different ouvere of humankind, or because you're too old or pacifist or whatever, fine.

The main factor in deciding what bands will last (forget genre - thats just a names used to identify the music. We've got to call it something) is the quality of the music. This determines whether Britney Spears or Eden's Crush will be played on the oldies stations in 2010. Case in point - oldies station devoted to the 1980s. They play a lot of Duran Duran, but not a lot of Debbie Gibson or Tiffany. Why is that? All of the aforementioned artists were platinum sellers in their time. Quality and timelessness make an artists' work last, so does true musicianship. Black Sabbath is currently recording their first new album in 25 years. Maybe Limp Bizkit or Korn will have the same staying power - and maybe a lot of the other rap-metal bands won't. Some bands build the wagon; others jump onto it.

A Retro-Review of Kid Rock's Devil Without A Cause

I didn't know what to expect the first time I brought home this CD, expecting a mediocre at best attempt at rap by a white guy. For all the good work of the Beastie Boys, the ghost of Vanilla Ice was still ingrained in most peoples' minds in 1998 and early 1999 when they thought of a mainstream white rapper.