10 Classic Music Albums That Will Make You Love Nu Metal

Ever since 2008, nu metal tends to be looked at as a bad word in the world of rock and roll. And it's not hard to see why either, since most of the giants of the time were putting out songs that were either too whiny or too stupid for their own good. If you just write off an entire genre like that, you're going to end throwing out a lot of music that may have been pretty good.

In between the more cringy acts that have come and gone like Staind or Puddle of Mudd, there have been just as many artists willing to take the genre into some new directions, whether that be in terms of their sound or just how heavy they could go. Granted, if you're looking to get people into the genre, you're going to have to have some pop hooks every now and again. You could call it selling out, but this is about something more than just making the ultimate angry white boy song.

These are the kind of strange turns in the nu metal community that could get the uninitiated into the genre, and you need those hooks to reel them in. The rock world was becoming a different place in the late '90s, and it was albums like these that made people pay attention to just how much you could do by merging metal, hip hop, and electronica all under one roof.

There are probably a bunch of people who only remember Drowning Pool these days for the memes. As much as people may have liked their songs back in the day, this felt more like the band that was meant to soundtrack walkouts on WWE and nothing more. And while they may have a point, Drowning Pool gave us something that we hadn't heard in nu metal before: fun.

Though not every song was a ray of sunshine or anything, the grooves on here are a lot more sticky that you probably remember, with Dave Williams having an impressive shout on him at the best of times. Around this time was where nu metal was first starting to find its swagger, and you can hear that Dave is looking for something a little more than just moaning about his unhappy childhood.

Granted, there is still a bit of hilarity that comes with listening to something like Bodies these days, especially with the kind of Monster energy stamina that's going on in the video. This was the start of something good though, only for the band to take a bit of a dip in quality once Williams tragically passed away a few years after this album was released. This might be far from the best that nu metal has to offer, but this at least showed potential for the angry white boy set to actually have some fun every now and again.