In a brand new interview with Matt Pinfield of 95.5 KLOS‘s “New & Authorized” present, SYSTEM OF A DOWN bassist Shavo Odadjian spoke about being a part of the so-called “nu-metal” style which swept the airwaves and peaked for a short interval within the late ’90s and early 2000s. He stated (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Somebody requested me just lately about being a ‘nu steel’ band. And I’ve a distinct outlook on nu steel. It is not a mode. It was an period the place bands performed heavy music, however did it in one other method. They did not do the essential ’80s heavy. They blended rock-metal with one thing completely different, whether or not it’s hip-hop, punk rock, eclectic stuff, difficult, progressive stuff, psychedelic prog. Individuals did various things. For instance, DEFTONES had that PORTISHEAD vibe that they introduced into steel. It is so freaking cool. There’s a complete fashion now — there’s a complete DEFTONES-style music proper now popping off on TikTok.”
He continued: “If you concentrate on it, bro, although we received villainized a little bit bit — the nu steel factor was tacky for some time as a result of each period comes out and it is cool. Then some bands come up that ruined that cool vibe… Heavy steel was nice within the ’80s. Then these bands got here out that form of ruined it, the cheesier glam steel bands got here out. I do not wanna title ’em, however some tacky bands got here out.”
Final month, Odadjian admitted to U.Okay.’s Metallic Hammer journal that he was initially against being lumped into the identical style as KORN, SLIPKNOT, LIMP BIZKIT and others however that he has since come round to just accept it.
“I by no means favored being in comparison with anybody,” Odadjian informed the journal. “Once they put us in a gaggle, I might at all times be, like, ‘We’re not nu steel. We’re our personal factor.’ Now I am older and wiser.”
Talking about a few of the different bands that got here out of the “nu steel” motion, Shavo stated: “These are my bros, man. I made nice mates in that neighborhood. Touring with these guys and hanging out with them each evening, it created some particular bonds and I am pleased with that. We’re nonetheless in that group and that period.
“You possibly can’t examine SYSTEM or KORN to STATIC-X. It was an period of doing steel a distinct method. It was bringing in different components to steel as a complete and never giving a fuck. That is what the youngsters of right this moment are drawn to and bonding with in that style.”
Evaluating the range of the nu steel bands to the early days of punk rock within the Seventies, Shavo stated: “Our period was like that differently: we did not care we have been mixing Arabic and Armenian components with loss of life steel, KORN did not care that they have been mixing in hip-hop, DEFTONES did not care they sang like Sade. STATIC-X added disco… There was such a cool melting pot. You possibly can’t deny that it was cool and particular, proper?”
Nu steel thrived through the outstanding decade from 1994 to 2004 when mainstream charts, magazines, radio and TV have been all taken over by a number of numerous artists performing their very own manufacturers of exhausting rock, hip-hop and heavy steel.
Primarily a fusion of rap and different rock (arguably born out of RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE),nu steel inexplicably swept the airwaves and peaked for a short interval, with Gregory Heaney of AllMusic describing the style as “one in all steel’s extra unlucky pushes into the mainstream.” Alongside the way in which, a number of bands related to nu steel, together with KORN, DEFTONES and SLIPKNOT, took a considerably defensive stance towards being labeled as such. Even these much less apologetic nu steel teams finally modified their sound, successfully disowning the style that they helped pioneer.
