anti nu-metal rant

In this current (some, ie. me, might say crap) climate of music, it seems that lead guitar is taking a back seat, or in some cases sitting in the trailer. Every guitarist under the sun these days seems to always bleat on about a lead/solo not 'fitting in' with the track, and that its 'more important to have a song' This gets up my nose, do you think it's seriously because leads dont fit the music, or do you think it's because modern guitarists cannot play like their predeccesors from the 80's?
I ask, because it gladdens my heart to see all these teenage shredders on here, not suckered in by the 'nu-metal' generation of being forced to abandon their chops for some 'serious' drop D, one finger riffing.
I'm also utterly sick of the quiet to loud dynamic everyone and their auntie seems to employ, yes it's a good way of building tension, but I can just predict the way a song will sound nowadays 'huge groovy riff, nice and bouncy, drops into plodding bass figure, some moaning from the singer, before leaping back into aforementioned groovy riff' I think that's about got it pegged?
I know it worked for Nirvana, and Korn and a zillion other generic rock bands, but I for one am sick of it, more and more songs are sounding the same, when you only have 3 different riffs per song, the structure gets repetetive and boring!
I myself played guitar in a nu-metal band, I wasnt allowed to play leads, because the singer was an attention seeker, and everyone should be looking at HIM all the time. Now I consider myself quite an experimental guitarist, I used pick scrapes, harmonics and whang bar gargles to fill in the gaps, but I realised, Tom Morello has already DONE that sound.
You need to bring back lead guitar playing, maybe not in the over indulgent 80's fashion, but in some sense, so guys, when you're working out all your amazing tricks (and they are amazing) write a song to go with it, record it and upload it on vitaminic.com and the other unsigned music places, if you email me at nasum_human@yahoo.com I'll put a link to the page on my own website and I've got friends who'll do the same.
Only if the musicians refuse to compromise, can we break this deadlock of generic and commercial, not to mention boring and predictable music!

god forbid that the over indulgent 80's guitar should come back...
It's easy for us guitarist to bitch about not having solos, but to be fair, no one outside the guitar fraternaty really cares..
there is some AMAZING music from the 80's, sadly very little of it is paid attention to by us guitarist (see: Stone Roses, Talking heads, (early) Sonic youth, Blondie, late Joy division, New order (although i'm not that keen on thier lyrics), Paul Newman, the smiths, the early house/ hip hop music of the time, etc etc).

There is also some great experimental sounds which most guitarist here dont really know. bands like, "My bloody valentine" (listen to "loomer" or "swallow" to see what i mean)...

There are also just great POP TUNES, like "video killed the radio star", "the international language of screamning" by the super furrie animals, "been caugh stealing" by janes addiction, etc etc, These are great SONGS, not 30 seconds of OTT solo...

THe great thing about writting a song, is that your creative freedoms are FAR FAR greater than trying to figure out a solo... A song is ANYTHING you can think of, which what it so great about it... it's not about being able to practice scales 5 or 6 hours a day, only to make some seriously cheesy over produced hair metal cack...


Lol, but seriously, check out "my bloody valentine".. once you start to hear this stuff, most other music you've heard will pale in comparison.. it's just very cool

point taken, and yeah I love my bloody valentine!

I was really saying that the current rock/metal scene needs an overhaul, I've lost count of the number of bands I listen to expectatly only to be disappointed, I also feel that you dont HAVE to have a solo at all, just dont write them off as so many people do. I wish that there was some complexity in the music modern rock bands write, instead of the aforementioned drop D riffing, around 3 chords.
I got into rock and metal, after hearing metallica and slayer, those bands were an inspiration to me, so I picked up the guitar with the goal of playing skillfully. Nowadays what inspiration is there for the modern player? I look at the 'tricks by artist' section, and there are a great deal of players who were big in the 80's but have just vanished, van halen, malmsteen, steve vai. Those guys are an inspiration to pick up an instrument and master it.

I'm glad that kids are still getting into shred, but it's a shame that there are no modern popular acts encouraging virtuosity

and about your guitarist comment, my wife is often known to comment that she misses the days when they made their guitars sing, she's no guitarist!

Also it's not just leads and solos, I just feel there is little quality playing around, you can be a good player and not play leads, bands like Candiria show that, you need a good deal of skill to play that music, and it's not full of widdly widdly stuff. There are a few bands with some ability, incubus and vision of disorder spring to mind, but there arent ENOUGH!

some people dont like guitar solos uh huh

the answer to this is simple. pop music isn't the only kind of music around. Look at Phish, they were amazing, massed a huge audience, but still most of america doesnt know who they are. Perfect!

One Point:

Nirvana and Korn weren't generic when they came out. They were actually remarkably different from everything else in the main stream. At the time, "Hair Metal" was the over-abused generic and "the masses" were bored with it. Then BAM! Smells Like Teen Spirit hits the radio and there's a brand new sound. Nevermind that there had been bands before Nirvana that sounded similar, but Nirvana broke into the big picture, opening the flood gates for everything "Alternative." So now there's a lot of bands that sound really similar and the newer they get, the less imaginative they sound (for the most part).

Thus the masses, tired with Alternative latched onto this new stuff spearheaded by Korn which has become known as Nu-Metal. They'll get tired of it pretty soon and something new sounding will come along and in a few months everything will sound like that...

And the cycle shall continue.

dude you want some technique? check out people like steve vai, the guy from primus, satriani, michael romeo from symphony x, yngwiee, DT and many more
They are still playing and releasing cd's and stuff..
you dont have to hear your music on mtv or the radio to enjoy it. you can buy cd's and listen to them.
i dont get my Stevie ray vaughan from the mtv so i get the cds..
besides all those guys sound the same in their genere like all the nu metal bands.
for a nu metal fan theres a difference between korn and pod or any other band just like for you and me theres a difference between steve vai and petrucci but basicly i can say that people are tired of those virtuosos because we all want to play guitar like the guitarists we love but most of us have life and dont want to play 10 hours a day to play like steve vai..

I agree with that, and all the points, and yeah I know Vai, malmsteen and satch are still releasing material, I just want some NEW talent to arise, some guy with a new style, making something different to listen to, I understand there is a place for everything, but at the moment ESPECIALLY in england, it's all one type of music, you're not allowed to use the top 3 strings on your guitar and you cant go higher than the 7th fret....
And about nirvana and korn, yeah nirvana did do something different, as did korn, but when I first heard them back in 95, I just thought uh-oh something bad is about to break.
At the end of the day I respect whatever music people decide to make, just that back in the 80's and early 90's there was more variety with less bands, if you wanted posey lead guitar work, there were bands that catered for it, you wanted hip hop rapcore? bands like orange 9mm and downset played that music.
Now it's just all one huge great samey music scene. The sad thing is that I do find myself listening to bands and artists who were originally from the 80's, slayer, vai, morbid angel, I just wish people hadnt compromised with music, at the end of the day I'm happy for a band to play what they want, but I've played in bands and had the law laid down to me about what I can and cant play, this attitude sucks. I wrote most of the music in my old band and if I tried to put some kind of lead break in there, the singer would veto it, saying it's just not 'cool'
At the end of the day, who CARES if it's not cool? this was the music *I* wanted to write and hear, and I was prevented from doing it, one of the reasons I quit the band.
I think that with modern music, there are too many limits on what someone can and cant play, maybe skillful music isnt popular, but a band should first and foremost make music THEY want to hear, metallica played like that for years, they got huge without compromising their sound, and I understand so many people think they 'sold out' maybe they're just mellowing in their old age
I think what sparked this off, was about a year ago, I was looking through the metal section at my local record store, and some of the nu-metal kids (pink spiky hair, flares, slipknot hoodie) were making fun of me and told me to stop looking at the wrong music, 'go get some dance music' they shouted, this annoys me, I've been listening to metal since I was 8 years old, prolly before many of them were born. I'm all for kids getting into metal music, but not people with that attitude!

oh yeah... kids these days are c-nts... they really are... Luckly i've not been hassled my self.. cos i would smack them.. (hey, I'm only 5' 8 I'm allowed)...
I dont really like the stuff in the CHARTS at the mo... but it's all peaks and troughs... I remember the time that the last primal scream album came out, around that time the Foo fighters were in the charts, and there was loads of great stuff commming out... that was one of the few times where the Chart stuff got really intresting...

To be fair though, I really really detest made-for-tv pop stars, like Pop Idol... They get too much exposure, you begin to really hate them, because you cant go anywhere with out them getting into yer face.. I really dont think the American version will fly though.. the american scene is very tough for a cemercail sound (especially one that's not bringing anything new or intresting to the fore front), plus the US channels have alot of compition ... and the fact they always seem to dumb down british programs when they cross the atlantic, which is stupid....

Yeah I totally agree, I'm glad that I'm living in the USA now, the music scene is at least more varied over here, in England it's either chart music, or korn klones
I love how they play Ozzy and Sabbath on popular radio in the states, at least you get the classic rock which you dont even get in the UK
All I'm saying is that in terms of originality, I feel that the heavier genres are suffering from a lack of creativity, the music I write is often in direct opposition to what is being released, because that stuff isnt what I want to hear, I just wish more bands would try new ideas, and not realise that it's easy to sound popular, it's hard to sound original

The bitching about kids thing reminds me of the feeling I get every time I go to my favourite record store, which is always full of kids with dyed hair wearing Slipknot hoodies and chains and ****.....one time a load of them were talking to the guy behind the cash register about how 'wicked' they thought nu-metal was, and then I came along in my plain clothes to queue up to buy a Led Zep album. After getting the CD for me the cashire tells me its the best album thats been bought that day...none of these opinionated little boys with fake attitude problems could believe he said that. They were like 'f**k man we thought you were cool, like...' so I asked them

'Have you even heard Zeppelin?'
'Well not much.....'
'Has anyone ever told you that if zep hadnt arrived on the music scene we may not even have the metal we've got these days?'
'Huh?'

I can understand if people dont like a band but its attitudes like that which piss me off. Kids often dont stay open minded.

I'll admit I like some Nu-metal but most of the time I just stick to watching it on TV rather than buying the albums....after so many times of hearing the songs I grow tired because for me they dont improve every time I hear them, I find nothing new after about 4 or 5 listens. I put nu-metal on to have pure attitude when I need it, rather than to have a serious composer or a die-hard lead shredder. When I listen to nu I get into 'This kix ass!' mode and feel good, but other times I can hear it and feel nothing at all and there's nothing worse than listening to music you're not in the mood for.

Metal's always been a part of my music, but I feel myself drawing away from it at the moment and back into blues and some classical guitar....at the moment composing is more important to me that a few power chords and attitude. And as far as solos go, I like to solo....its pleasureable and rewarding but my lead playing is also about melody. I dont have a great voice for singing so I let the guitar sing for me to comensate. Thats another thing I miss in todays music is the guitar playing a melody.

without robert johnson we wouldnt have any led zeppelin
its ok to like music and to ignore the origins.
as long as you dont laugh at it

I totally agree with your point about the inner and outer rage thing. Modern metal always seems to be about expressing anger and hate, always written about a sucky childhood, I've been through a lot and I realised when I was 20 that the experiences you go through in life are what make you the person you are today. The problem with inner vs outer rage is indeed that modern metal fans are likely to be violent, I've been to gigs and had far more bruises from the pit than I ever used to get back in the day, I saw slayer when I was 14 and thoroughly enjoyed it, the spirit you got when you were in a large club with several thousand people who all felt the same. I just dont feel that way these days, the singer in my old band was the kind of guy who would mosh just to get in someone's face, and that mindset is becoming more and more widespread.
And kids not knowing where music comes from is criminal, I like most Led Zep tunes, I'm a huge Sabbath fan, and I like the quality songs from pink floyd's back catalogue, I can see the influence and indeed without such hugely influential bands, the music scene of today would be totally different. It's fine that kids dont know about zeppelin and camel, but it's when you tell them and they look at you like a freak that gets me down.
I find I have to go to more and more extreme and obscure lengths to get some originality in the music I want to listen to nowadays, and it didnt have to be that way 10 years ago, you knew the new metallica album would be good, you knew that iron maiden would make a good record, these days that kind of reliability doesnt exist, since the first 'nu-metal' bands came out, around 95, there really hasnt been any musical growth, I stopped buying kerrang around 2 years ago because it stopped having any new original bands featured.
I do agree that there are a few interesting bands around, SOAD are a family favourite, but they're an original sounding band, at least he realises you can actually USE those thin strings...
I cant help feeling jaded by the whole music scene right now, from a guitarists point of view anyway, I guess I should have made that clearer in my original post

What do you guys think of the new punk bands coming out? We have The Strokes, Hives, Vines, White Stripes, and probably many more in the months to come. I'm thinking this is going to be a bad trend since none of these bands are contributeing anything new to the genre. It's just late 70's nostalgia with no new ideas.

well, I recieved an insulting email, from someone who obviously didnt like my post, his name was something akin to misfit_punk182 or similar, and he told me to 'eat sh*t and die muthaf**ka'

nice huh?

and yeah, I cant STAND these new 'garage punk' bands coming out, another BAD trend....

Lol.....like we've said before, you've gotta put up with the lovers and the haters. Too bad he mailed you with that insted of post it here so his ass could be banned :mad:

when the mordern music starts to become complaicent and pointless, the journey into maturity and adulthood has begun.

Talk about Bad Trend! The same thing is happening with Nu-Metal bands now that happened with the Hair Bands in the 80's. There are too many of them and there only copying the guys who started this style of music anyway.
I could care less about nu-metal. I think its a fad to be honest.

I think theres plenty of good bands around now. Theres the new wave of punk bands(not the Blink/Green Day type) like the White Stripes, The Strokes, The Hives, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club who arent going to get no.1 singles but are succesful, then there is the old reliable bands that will always be succesful: Oasis and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers have the #1 and 2 albums this week, and Oasis came back after 2 years without touring or anything and got a #1 single. Numetal is on its way out, Limp Bizkit dont havce a guitarist and cant find a new one, Korn and Papa Roach have moved on, the rest have faded away.

I can only hope you're right..... although I'm not really a fan of punk music a'la white stripes either....

There will always be people jumping on the bandwagon, I think that I've never noticed it before, I was quite heavily into nu-metal at first, but I grew bored and disillusioned with it when there was nothing new coming out, I'm not a person who knows little about the genre, I own the first 4 korn albums, ones by disturbed, mudvayne, deftones and many others, so I actually have taken the time to listen, I'm not just judging the bands from looks or the odd bad track alone.
Korn had some originality, as did a few of the first nu metal bands, but the genre rapidly spiralled out of control and it seems that every new band doesnt have anything new to say
I feel that from a guitarist's point of view, a person who has spent many years practising and performing, to see these people, some of whom have talent but dont use it, playing generic, boring, unoriginal music, there isnt enough musical variety or dynamism.
I listen to lots of genres other than metal, and dont have such a problem, I find softer rock to be original and captivating, there is still new music coming out in all kinds of areas, just not metal, I'm glad this has sparked off such a lively debate, one strong enough to get me hate emailed!