5 Rock/Metal Bands Who Completely Changed Genre…And Probably Shouldn’t Have Bothered!
3. Korn – From Nu-Metal To Bloody Dub-Step
Source // underthegunreview.net
Korn weren’t strictly nu-metal to begin with, as leaders of the pack they originated a sound rather then joining an already established club and with their down-tuned riffs, slap-funk bass and strangled-parrot guitar noises they revolutionised the 90’s metal scene.
The title of their 3rd album, released in 1998, really said it all. Follow The Leader cracked the mainstream market and the band knew they were leading the charge but just 9 years later Korn found their career on the slide with diminishing returns and a metal audience apathetic towards their recent releases; 2007’s Untitled album proving particularly divisive.
At this point, Korn had a decision to make. Should they return to the safe sound of old and continue pumping out album after album with very little variation or should they change genre completely?
They in fact did a little of both.
2010’s Korn III: Remember Who You Are was a satisfying return to their roots and the response from critics and fans was positive but what came next took everyone by surprise!
On The Path Of Totality, the band decided to hire various electronic music producers and throw in some dub-step. That’s right, f*ckin’ dub-step!
For any metal band to incorporate elements of dance music is practically unheard of….and probably for good reason. The 2 styles do not mix, they just don’t get on, they’re as comfortable in each others company as Barack Obama and Kim Jong-un! The merging of dub-step and metal may sound courageous on paper but in reality the path was a treacherous one; one better off avoided.
Led Zeppelin managed to meld funk grooves into hard rock – we.g. Whole Lotta Love on The Song Remains The Same and Trampled Underfoot. The hybridization of popular music styles went out as soon as the music industry got control back from the artists (roughly mid 1970s onward) and everyone conformed. Get people addicted to one thing (like food companies do with sugar) and people expect the expected. Anyway don’t forget the response Scorpions got with Eye II Eye. (Grunge and techno styles gently mixed with their sophisticated hard rock) upset the narcotic expectation.