Nu Metal

NU METAL WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO AGE GRACEFULLY.

Neither were we.

Once upon a time, Nu Metal was everywhere. Korn was terrifying parents. Limp Bizkit was breaking stuff. Linkin Park made an entire generation realize sadness sounded incredible with a turntable. Slipknot looked like the worst company picnic in human history. And somewhere in America, a teenager was spending fifteen dollars on a CD because one song sounded cool on MTV.

Then something strange happened.

We grew up.

The music we were told was stupid, embarrassing, and destined to disappear somehow stuck around. So did we.

NU METAL: NU'ER EMOTIONS is a hilarious, heartfelt trip back through the bands, albums, concerts, malls, movie soundtracks, burned CDs, bad fashion, cultural backlash, and gloriously excessive emotions that defined one of rock's most mocked eras.

But this isn't a book arguing that Nu Metal was secretly perfect.

Some of it was ridiculous.

That's part of why we loved it.

Because beneath the baggy pants, down-tuned guitars, turntables, questionable facial hair, and grown men screaming like someone had just revoked their Blockbuster membership was something real. These songs were playing while we were becoming ourselves.

And decades later, they still know exactly where to find us.

Funny, nostalgic, deeply personal, and occasionally interrupted by Fred Durst, NU METAL: NU'ER EMOTIONS isn't really about defending Nu Metal.

It's about the people we were when the music found us.

Turns out the songs weren't embarrassing. We were just young.