Papa Roach's Jacoby Shaddix: It's dope that nu metal is finally getting respect

Papa Roach
(Image credit: Press)

Papa Roach frontman Jacoby Shaddix says he's a fan of the current nu metal revival – not least because it's giving the genre some long overdue respect.

Nu metal was an easy target for sceptics, and even many of the bands who were at the centre of the movement were quick to distance themselves from it.

But Shaddix believes the sound, or at least elements of it, are coming back around – and he finds the whole thing pretty "dope".

He tells Loud TV: "Nostalgia is such a powerful thing, and it's so cool to see that that era is making its way back around. And part of it is because, you know, time.

"And the other part of it is this new generation of bands that were little kids that were listening to bands like Papa Roach or Korn or Deftones or Limp Bizkit or Linkin Park. Those were the bands that they were listening to, so this music kind of influenced them.

"And now bands like Of Mice and Men or Bring Me The Horizon – you can hear elements of nu metal in that music. And that's frickin' sick."

Papa Roach themselves were one of the bands that left the pure nu metal sound behind – a move Shaddix says was inevitable.

"It was necessary," he says. "It's always about evolution. And for a while I really despised the title of nu metal because everybody was trying to compare us to Limp Bizkit or compare us to Linkin Park, and we were, like, 'No, we're our own thing.'

"And we've proved that we are our own thing throughout the years. And now, as we look back, as older men, I look back proud on being part of that movement. It's just dope that it's finally kind of getting some respect in pop culture.

"I think that in the time, people just kind of looked down upon the genre. And now, as the years have gone on, there's some respect upon it, which is dope."

Earlier this year, Metal Hammer picked five essential nu metal albums as perfect introductions to the era. It came in the same month that new data showed nu metal was now more popular than it has been in the last 20 years.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.