Genre Analysis - Formatting Revised

Slipknot is one of the most influential albums of all time, whether you are a fan or not; especially when it comes to focusing in on the nu metal genre. But Slipknot's second album, Iowa, was one of their best-selling albums of all time, as they cashed in on their first album's success. The album also set the parameters to help form and maintain what was to come in the genre of nu metal. What is important is how Iowa and Slipknot are so influential to all metal music starting from their 1999 debut release and 2001 sophomore album release all through the 2000’s, and just why it fits into the nu metal genre so well, and helped skyrocket the progression and evolution of the genre.

Let’s start by going back to 1994 and look at what the metal scene looked like prior to Slipknot’s release. Classic rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Rolling Stones were becoming somewhat obsolete, and the world had already progressed through the heavy metal era, with bands such as Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax. Then, with hip hop gaining a lot of momentum in popular music, metal heads looked to transfusing the two genres to produce an extremely unique sound, soon to become known as nu metal. This idea of rapping over rock and metal had been used sparingly before, however, with bands like Faith No More, and Rage Against the Machine. However, there was something different about the nu metal genre that separated it from these groups, a certain characteristic of being a lot harder and heavier than all previous groups prior, and this was shown through Korn’s self-titled debut album in 1994, where the group was given credit for “creating and pioneering the nu metal genre.”

Over the next five years, we saw an influx of “Korn copycats,” or bands that formed and sounded exactly like Korn, due to the incredible success of their debut albums, and virtually no group formed after Korn sounded any different; that is, until Slipknot released their debut album in 1999. The group purposely tried to break away from what was being dubbed “nu Korn” and “Korn metal” to try and take a different spin on the popular genre, and oh did they succeed at their goal.

By starting at the base line of what was considered nu metal, rapping over metal, heavy riffs, tuned down guitars, high energy both on stage and on record, Slipknot was able to incorporate the underground sound of screaming and growling into the mainstream, and hit the music industry by surprise. After the release of the heavy hitting album, Slipknot’s first performance of the album was at Ozfest. Here, they first showed off what they are most famous for: completely matching jump suits and a different mask on each of the nine band members. Coming out as the heaviest band at Ozfest and putting on one of their best performances, almost instantaneously recruited thousands of metal heads that were in attendance.

While partaking in the nu metal hype that Korn had created years before, Slipknot was able to redefine the parameters of the genre altogether. They provided enough of the heavy sounds, heart-pumping screams and in-your-face guitar riffs to influence almost every one of the nu metal bands that came after, especially looking at groups like Mudvayne and Mushroomhead, who also wore complete face make-up and masks, respectively, as well as the matching apparel on stage. The shift from “nu Korn” soon turned into “nu Slipknot” and their sound tried to be replicated quite often, but none of these bands were able to achieve the popularity of the original.

This shift into "nu Slipknot" was furthered with the even heavier release of Iowa. With songs like "People = Shit" and "The Heretic Anthem," Iowa stands to this day the heaviest nu metal album ever released. It even hit mainstream success as it peaked at number 3 on the billboard top 200. Again, redefining what was expected in the nu metal genre, Slipknot continued their "violent audial assault" with relentless drumming and down tuned guitars, more screaming than ever before, and even more pronounced bass work. Where they tuned down on the rapping that had been consistent in nu metal so far, they made up for it in the use of DJ Sid Wilson's turntables. Iowa, just like Slipknot had before, took all the positives from the genre, got rid of the negatives, and again added their own concoctions, making the genre even more open and easy to listen to, while gathering an even larger audience and fan base for the genre.

Some critics say that Slipknot helped to kill the nu metal genre because they changed the genre so much and since their changes clicked and took up popularity, that over the next few years the genre died and the “new” genre Slipknot created would be broken into several different subgenres, pointing towards post-hardcore metal, black metal, goth metal, and horror punk for examples. However, these are also the same critics that say that Limp Bizkit inciting a riot at Woodstock ’99 was bad for the genre, but I take that with a grain of salt because Limp Bizkit was a group that never should have happened anyways, so we can blame everything on them, like the Holocaust, totally Limp Bizkit’s fault.

Anyways, as the early 2000’s came to an end, the genre did die, sadly enough. The few mainstream bands that were left over turned their sounds into either hardcore metal, Slipknot is the best example, or just mainstream rock, like Papa Roach, Korn, Linkin Park and Deftones. But with the death of nu metal, also came the death of some of the biggest names in the genre, like System of a Down and Rage Against the Machines. So with the growing popularity of modern pop music, hip hop, and country, would the genre of nu metal ever made it out of the 2000’s? I don’t believe so, I think that the genre was doomed from the start, no matter how many Korn’s, Slipknot’s, or Linkin Park’s took the genre and put it into the mainstream.