B.Y.O.B (Bring Your Own Ballot) | The Nu Metal Rate | Winner Revealed

Fixed that for you.

 

"Okay, so this first video...I have kids, and I won't show them this [...]. It's just so bad. By the way, it was directed by a guy who did porn. It was a porn director!".

I feel if Mike can trash the video, I can!

 

Feels weird to be losing a double Linkin Park but I guess it’s pretty much only them left, so that’s bound to happen ddd

So happy my 11 seems to be well liked here too and made it into the Top 10!! <3

 

So let's not have that.




#10








































Papa Roach | Last Resort | 8.366 (+0.010 average / +0.15 points)

Highest: 10x5 (@livefrommelbs, @iheartpoptarts, @If You Go, @unnameable, @Sprockrooster) 9.1x1 (@Untouchable Ace)

Lowest: 4x1 (@Ironheade) 7x2 (@soratami, @DominoDancing)

Album: Infest - 2000

Charting: 3 57

This song is about suicide. In an interview with Tobin Esperance of Papa Roach, he said that "Last Resort" was so popular because the meaning of the track struck a note with fans: "I think the lyrics had a lot to do with it. Because originally the song was about a friend of ours that we grew up with, and he was going through a rough time in his life. And there was that suicide element to it, just like growing up and the struggles of life and questioning whether or not you want to keep going on, and I think a lot of people connected with that. For the kids who had also gone through those kinds of feelings, those kinds of emotions, the lyrics really helped connect with that song."

This was the first major-label release for Papa Roach; they recorded for an independent label for five years before signing with Dreamworks. Esperance says the band did not expect "Last Resort" to be as big as it was: "No one ever thought it was going to be a huge, huge hit, but I guess you never expect anything, really, when you're first starting out."

In a 2015 interview, lead singer Jacoby Shaddix described this song as a "cry for help." It was written for a good friend of the band, but the song took on new meaning when Shaddix fell into despair in 2012; he began drinking heavily and separated from his wife, Kelly. Said Shaddix, "I found myself in that place, where I was like, 'I can't go on this way. I can't do it anymore.'" Jacoby was able to pull himself together and return to his family (he and Kelly have two sons). "Last Resort," a song that helped many people express their darkest thoughts and find a way to overcome their struggles, helped him as well. "That song is timeless and it connects with who we are today and what we do today in a major way," he said.

This is almost always the final song Papa Roach plays at live performances.

The main riff from this song is similar to the Iron Maiden song "Genghis Khan".

(Why am I expecting @Ironheade to mention this as well with his fist being shook skyward as he bemoans the fact.)

The video was directed by Marcos Siega, who had done "All the Small Thins" for Blink-182. It was shot at the Cal Expo in Sacramento and featured kids from their hometown of Vacaville, California. It was shot just before they headed out on their first national tour. The kids were real fans recruited online, and shot in their real bedrooms. That footage was then used to transition to scenes of them at the performance.

The music video was censored to appease MTV, omitting not only "fuck," but also the word "suicide" (in the line "I'm contemplating suicide") and all references to self harm, including "cut my arm, bleeding" and "if I took my life tonight." Most radio stations played an edit with "fuck" removed but the rest of the lyrics intact.

The song was so popular in part because it does openly discuss suicidal thoughts, but conventional wisdom was that just the mention of it could give kids the idea to try it (after two teens shot themselves in 1985 while listening to Judas Priest, the band was put on trial). It soon became clear that songs like "Last Resort" were more likely to prevent suicide because they give young people an outlet for their dark thoughts and let them know they're not alone. The next year, MTV played the System Of A Down video for "Chop Suey!", with the line "trust in my self-righteous suicide," unedited. That video was also directed by Marcos Siega.

Commentary

@DominoDancing - 7 - The guitar riff is quite cool and a nice finger exercise to this day.

I knew it was omnipresent when sometime around then I picked up some random college basketball video game on N64 and one of the songs the school band played in the game was this song's riff.

@berserkboi - 8 - WHAT at the hook not being as annoying as I recall and actually getting a high score ddd

And you're bump in the score didn't help it beat your 11. Everyone wins. (Though my 9 for this is higher than my score for your 11)

@Twitch Mo - 8 - I really like there new stuff more then there older stuff.

While I heard some later stuff and wasn't impressed. This is the only album of theirs I've ever played in full.

@Sprockrooster - 10 - I love their collab with Black Eyed Peas: Anxiety, but this is their opus. Such a massive earworm.

@livefrommelbs - 10 - Okay, so when I was 18 and started going out I would frequent rock/punk clubs or club nights as much as I would the gay clubs for all my fave pop bops. There was Hot Damn and Trash in Sydney (on Thursdays and Saturdays respectively, so you could go to both if you were feeling up for it!). Then when I got to Melbourne in 2014, it was all about Bang - the punk/emo/rock/metal club I lived across the road from and frequented almost every Saturday night for nigh-on 3 years (until I moved in 2017). This trip down memory lane is all to say that I'm 99% certain I heard Last Resort at every single one of those clubs, every single time I went. It is a goddamn CLASSIC and well-deserving of a 10.

Another song that really didn't have borders as far as who loved it, which is why it's considered a generational anthem and how it managed this Top 10 placement.

Songs

Always my favorite from the album. It made my Ultimate 2000s long list in fact. The message hits home for me more than Last Resort, because of my early childhood.

The collab mentioned by @Sprockrooster.

Next: We crown the Sampler winner, by eliminating one of the last two.

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I see daddy Shinoda is dominating the Top10! Deserved x

 

That domination continues as we axe the last two 'Nu Metal Sampler' songs and crown the first winner.

This is sure to spark some controversy!




#9 and #8 (Sampler #2 and #1)






















































































Incubus | Drive | 8.391 (+0.025 average / +0.40 points)

Highest: 11x1 (@soratami) 10.5x1 (@Untouchable Ace) 10x3 (@livefrommelbs, @WowWowWowWow, @DominoDancing)

Lowest: 3x1 (@Ana Raquel) 5x1 (@Sprockrooster)

"Drive" finished 2.35 points behind "Du Hast", so I'm sure the Drivers will be looking at these two.

Album: Make Yourself - 1999

Charting: 40 9

Lead singer Brandon Boyd: "The lyric is basically about fear, about being driven all your life by it and making decisions from fear. It's about imagining what life would be like if you didn't live it that way."
​

Boyd and drummer Jose Pasillas drew all the artwork for the video. It took them more than 50 hours to do it. Directed by Phil Harder and based on M.C. Escher's Drawing Hands, the music video features a simple musical session intercut with a rotoscoped animation of Boyd drawing himself. It was nominated for Best group Video at the MTV Video Music Awards, but lost to *NSYNC.​

Commentary

@Ana Raquel - 3 - I was never a fan of the song myself to begin with but the fact that it reminds me of the horrendous VITOR KLEY O SOL doesn't help it at all can we stop vitor kley it's 2021.

Forgive me, I have no idea what this is referring to. A song, an artist, something else I should know in pop culture.

@Maki - 6.75 - Very nice, though a bit too MOR, especially when compared to most of the songs in this rate. I feel like I've heard that chorus before.

Yeah, this is why I wasn't sure it fit in the rate, but I also knew people love it. However, it ends up being a victim of polarization, probably due to it's minimalist nature in a rate that is much louder.

@unnameable – 7.5 – very mainstream rock of the time

@berserkboi - 9 - @londonrain 11 and a thirst trap classic!

@soratami wished they had recruited london for a double-11. I might have pushed "Drive" to the winning position.

@livefrommelbs - 10 - Brandon's vocals on this are just... *chef kissy fingers*. Such a classic. Gave performing this a crack when I used to take singing lessons, but I did not really have the range.

Me too, but I was often times in my car, driving dd. I always took the lyrics to heart as some kind of 'choosing not to partake in peer pressures', mainly while everyone else wanted to party, drink and get high, I never got into that scene.

@DominoDancing - 10 - Basically a Red Hot Chili Peppers mid-tempo with some light hip-hop beats over-laid, but I really cannot find much fault in this. Super catchy chorus and acoustic guitars that manage not to descend into basic open chord strumming. Pretty cool.

I guessed it worked for this song and not "Butterfly". Poor it.

Songs

Ransom band time. I don't think anyone outside of 'nu metal stans' ever took Slaves on Dope that seriously. If you listen to their first "breakthrough" album Inches From the Mainline (2000) you might think "these guys are insane, what are they on?" and downplay their artistry because of it. It's true, their choice of words are often in-your-face with their aggressiveness, but the end product was always far better than they'll ever get credit for. Their next album Metafour (2003) was a bit more laid back in its approach and still delivered timeless nu metal classic after classic. Today, years removed from when this genre was in its hay-day, if you ask the people they lived the era, most of them will tell you that Slaves on Dope is one of the best kept secrets. Here's your taste with their most well known song, fasten your seatbelts.

So, of course that means the surprise? winner is Rammstein!






Rammstein | Du Hast | 8.538 (+0.147 average / +2.35 points)

Highest: 11x1 (@unnameable) 10x5 (@Ana Raquel, @berserkboi, @WowWowWowWow, @Sprockrooster, @DJHazey)

Lowest: 5x2 (@livefrommelbs, @DominoDancing) 6x1 (@soratami)

The way that some of the top and low scorers are flipped for the two songs.

Album: Sehnsucht - 1997

Charting: 186

Although the German phrase does not translate to English, "Du hast" can mean "you have," but it can also mean "you hate." Therefore the song has two meanings. One being sort of "You hate me but still want to marry me" (the song is about marriage) and the other being "You want to marry me but I don't want to."

There is another sort of double meaning here. If the line is read as "Tod der Scheide" it would be "until the death of the vagina" and not "until death, which would separate" ("Tod, der scheide"). The whole song is a play on German wedding vows (Wollen Sie einander lieben und achten und die Treue halten bis dass der Tod euch scheidet? - Do you want to love and respect each other and to remain faithful, until death separates you?). Instead of answering with "Ja," Till says "Nein," finally answering the question he said nothing to in the beginning.

"Du hast" peaked at number twenty on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart in the United States. It is the most successful German language song in the history of that chart.

Commentary

@DominoDancing - 5 - I guess. I could never muster up much pride over Rammstein being the German musical export of the 2000s, and always found the vocal stylings of Lindemann cringeworthy. At least they have a clearly defined musical identity.

Germany won and the Foreign Language clique won.

@Twitch Mo - 9 - The only Foreign/non English Band I can sing most of the songs in their language.

He played this album non. stop. If you played the album today, I'd definitely recognize every song, despite having not heard it in like 15-20 years.

@Ana Raquel - 10 - A sfw clip? By Rammstein?????? Another 10,5 contender here.

@berserkboi - 10 - FL rep after my own heart Monsieur Hazey <3! I don’t recall knowing this but a fittingly great discovery!

Why do I feel like in another universe where this was eligible for PJRetro, you'd still find a way to say this and then give it a 9.9 and no points. I will take it though!

@Sprockrooster -10 - Remind me why I did not advocate for more songs from them to be included?

@Maki did, but in the end I decided their only true Nu Metal song as far as being a part of the American Culture Craze, was this.

@unnameable – 11 – let’s hear it for The Matrix soundtrack introducing us to this and Rob D. Laibach’s younger, trendier brother bringing industrial-art-metal in the German language to the masses. Could your faves ever turn wedding vows into a stone-cold classic?

No they couldn't it. This riff is legendary, up there with Helmet's "Unsung" and a few others for my two cents.

Songs

The song @Maki wanted in the rate the most.

​

 

it's just one of the worst Brazilian artists to ever haunt our charts in these recent years

Be glad you don't know him

 

I heart you too. xx

 

#14 Alien Ant Farm // Movies 8.8 I remember that song, banging.
#13 System of a Down // Aerials 5 There is a nice melody.
#12 Linkin Park // My<Dsmbr 6.5
#11 Linkin Park // One Step Closer 8 Shut when I'm talking to you! So emo, so relatable.
#10 Papa Roach // Last Resort 8.5
#9 Incubus // Drive 10 Classic hit.
#8 Rammstein // Du Hast 6.8

 

#7


The anti-system crowd won.




System of a Down | Chop Suey! | 8.550 (+0.012 average / +0.2 points)

Highest: 11x1 (@DominoDancing) 10x4 (@CorgiCorgiCorgi, @Ironheade, @Maki, @DJHazey)

Lowest: 5x1 (@soratami) 6x1 (@berserkboi)

^ basically these two won ^

Album: Toxicity - 2001

Charting: 17 76

Guitarist Daron Malakian, who wrote it with lead singer Serj Tankian, explained: "The song is about how when people die, they will be regarded differently depending on the way they pass. Like, if I were to die from a drug overdose, everyone would say I deserved it because I abused drugs, hence the line 'Angels deserve to die.'"

The original name of the song was "Suicide," but Columbia Records made them change it to make it radio friendly. In the beginning of the song, you hear lead singer Serj Tankian say "we're rolling suicide." The title is a bit of a play on words - "Suey-cide."

It was climbing the charts when silenced by the events of September 11, 2001. Just about every radio station pulled it from their playlists in an effort to be as sensitive as possible after the tragedy. Even though the song had nothing to do with terrorism, it was considered far too aggressive. The line "I cry when angels deserve to die" was a little too heavy for most program directors and listeners at that moment. When things settled down, the song returned to the airwaves pretty much where it left off, since there weren't many songs released in the weeks after 9/11.

The video was directed by Marcos Siega, who has also worked with Blink-182 and the aforementioned Papa Roach (Last Resort). It was shot in the parking lot of a cheap hotel near where the band grew up in Los Angeles. Before the shoot, they posted a note on their website inviting fans to come down and participate. Since they were not well known, they thought they would get about 500, but instead 1500 fans showed up. The fans (mostly kids) were instructed to swarm the stage so they could help capture the energy of their live shows.

Rick Rubin, who had worked with Slayer, Beastie Boys and LL Cool J, produced the Toxicity album. Speaking with Rolling Stone about "Chop Suey," he said: "It's an unusual song because the verse is so frantic. The style is so broken up and unusual. It's both difficult to sing and arguably difficult to listen to, but then the chorus is this big, soaring, emotional, surging, beautiful thing. And then it's got this incredible bridge:

Father, father, father, do you commend my spirit
Father, why have you forsaken me?

It's just real heavy, biblical and grand. It's so unusual that it goes between these crazy rhythmic explosive verses into this emotional, anthemic ending."


Commentary

@berserkboi - 6 - I don’t actually hate this - I’d just never decide to listen to it! Ddd

For you, those are 8's at least!

@livefrommelbs - 7 - I've never been a SOAD fan, but I can respect that this is a classic in the genre. It's just a bit too all-over-the-place for me. I know other voters will give it props!

The original Chinese recipe for Chop Suey (a soup) was described as being thrown together with alot of ingredients, so it makes sense the song matches that.

@Ana Raquel - 9 - The fast paced part is still one the most iconic parts in metal history.

The chorus and other melodic parts are great but far from my favorite, it's all about wondering why the keys were left on the table and every other insane part of the verses. No one could or has done anything like this band did.

@unnameable - 9.5 – amazing track. Is there a more gothic word that “Forsaken”?

No, because Disturbed uses the word a lot and their one of the more 'gothic styled nu metal bands. Got to be fact /s

@CorgiCorgiCorgi - 10 - This is the nu metal equivalent of Girls Aloud's Biology. It's hook after hook frankensteined together, and on paper it shouldn't work, but it totally does. It also brought us one of Neil Cicierega's best:

Biology is a great comparison! Or a modern-day micro-version of "Bohemian Rhapsody"

@DominoDancing - 11 - This song is pretty much showing up 90% of the other bands in the rate. Heavy and melodic, emotional lyrics which are not completely obvious, quite some musical complexity in your music without taking themselves too seriously. This is a song for the ages.

Yes and it should've broke into the Top 5, but we always knew this would be a Linkin Park-dominated rate which is why they were the #1 headliners.

Song

Here's a cool random nu metal song, from the 'rap metal' side of things. Hailing from the 'Land of Björk' as well. This was their biggest hit from their North American breakthrough album Jinx (2002) and if you like it, be sure to check out the song "Mr. Jinx".

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Basically the reason I didn't give it a 10. I'm still trying to use my meow girl English skills to decipher the verses to this day, and the keys on the table were the first part I could understand. fff

 

Combination of craziness at work before a long weekend, not feeling particularly well (more tiredness fatigue than anything virus related), and putting finishing touches on my Ultimate List...I will crack into the final 6 Linkin Park songs on Tuesday.

Crawling
In the End
Somewhere I Belong
Faint
Breaking the Habit
Numb

How does everyone think/want them to be ranked?

 

Faint in 6th place and any order for the rest is fine with me!

 

'Breaking the Habit' is the best and boppiest obvs.

 

I think it will go:

6. Faint
5. Crawling
4. Breaking The Habit
3. Somewhere I Belong
2. In The End
1. Numb

 

Wonder if this is the first time a single act occupies the whole top 5 (or, well, 6) in a versus rate.

 

It is least renowned of the Top 6, isn't it? Which is saying a lot considering the fact that "Faint" is still pretty renowned in its own right.




#6



Linkin Park | Faint | 8.556 (+0.006 average / 0.1 points)

*with #5 only 0.2 points away from Faint, we were this close to having System of a Down break into the Top 5!*

Highest: 10x4 (@livefrommelbs, @Ana Raquel, @CorgiCorgiCorgi, @If You Go) 9.5x1 (@DJHazey)

Lowest: 6x2 (@soratami, @DominoDancing) 7.5x1 (@Twitch Mo)

Album: Meteora - 2003

Charting: 15 48

Guitarist Brad Delson came into the studio bus where vocalist Mike Shinoda was working with the idea for this. Brad recorded scratch guitar tracks for "Faint" over a click track (no drums, no music), expecting the tempo to be about 70 BPM (Beats-per-minute). He returned to the bus a couple of days later, and Mike had put together the beat at 135 BPM - almost twice as fast. After careful deliberation, Brad and Mike decided the faster beat was more fun.

The video was shot in Los Angeles where members of the fan club LP Underground participated in the shoot. The band was touring during the video and had a different director from the usual Mr. Hahn. For most of the video, the angle was shot from behind the band creating a silhouette type image.​

The strings on the track were recorded live and arranged by Mike Shinoda and Dave Campbell.​

Mike Shinoda said on Shoutweb: "'Faint' was just a working title that we wanted to keep. I don't know what the actual title would have been but it wasn't that. That word doesn't even appear in the song."​

The song would later be featured on the group's mashup EP with Jay-Z, Collision Course, where it was mashed up with lyrics of the song "Jigga What" from Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life.​

It is one of Linkin Parks' most covered songs, which includes covers by Metlcore bands I the Breather, Memphis May Fire, and Crossfaith.

The success of this single, and the success of Linkin Park's "Numb/Encore" mashup with Jay-Z, led MTV to produce a mashup of "Faint" with Britney's "Toxic".

Commentary

@DominoDancing - 6 - Endlessly annoying instrumental hook, basic guitar riffs. My least favourite single of the album.

Tell us how you really feel!

@berserkboi - 8 - Love the production here!

Best described as bouncy.

@Maki - 8 - Not a big standout, except for the string instruments incorporated as a sample. The outro is properly great and makes me bump the score a bit.

Yes, berserky might have been referring to that production, either way it's a nice groove.

@livefrommelbs - 10 - I feel like this is such a great example of the little flourishes LP added to their sound to keep things fresh, while still feeling quintessentially them. The strings! The rapid fire rap! Excellence abounds.

While that's true, keeping in time with @Ironheade's Hybrid Theory/Meteora matching tracklist theory, this would fit perfectly on either album, so nothing feels out of place. However, yes they were always growing.

Songs

The Toxic/Faint mashup.

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I always thought they were saying "I can't faint the way I did before" in the chorus, which didn't make much sense, but I just assumed they had to say faint sometime in the song! Replaying it now it's obviously feel!

 

This entire paragraph is Poptartjustice approved.