Is “nu metal” even a real genre label… or just an era/scene label?

I’ve been thinking about how people debate what is and isn’t “nu metal”… and honestly, I think the label becomes a slippery slope once you try to treat it like a strict genre.

First thing: I don’t even remember people using the term “nu metal” much back then. Not at school, not with friends, not on MTV/TRL. I remember the day Freak on a Leash aired on TRL — the Todd McFarlane animated video — and nobody was calling it nu metal. You liked bands, you went to shows.

And that’s kind of the point: early nu metal wasn’t about clean classification. It was about a movement built around genre blending — metal, hardcore, industrial, hip hop influence, experimental stuff — all bleeding together.

I went to shows constantly (Birch Hill in Old Bridge, Club Krome, Starland Ballroom, etc.), and most lineups were mixed genre by default. The crowd treated it like one extended family, not a set of sub-genre borders.

That’s why the label gets messy:

• Bands like Coal Chamber were just accepted as nu metal without debate.

• Groups like Beastie Boys were obviously rap, but had enough punk/rock DNA that they were still embraced by the community.

• Industrial / experimental bands like MSI, plus others around that orbit, also blurred lines depending on the era/song/show.

• Rammstein isn’t “nu metal,” but they lived in that same late-90s/early-2000s heavy limelight and got filed in the same mental category by a lot of fans.

And here’s a weird nuance people forget: it wasn’t even a two-way street. Nu metal crowds embraced hip hop influence — but straight hip hop artists weren’t really labeled “nu metal” even if they toured in the same ecosystem. So the simplistic definition “rap + metal” doesn’t really capture how the culture actually worked.

If you want a true “poster child” nu metal band with basically no debate (IMO): 40 Below Summer. Sound, scene, touring history, community — they fit the entire movement end-to-end.

So I’m genuinely curious how other people see this: Do you think “nu metal” is a strict genre label…

or is it more accurate to treat it as an era/scene label (with a wide spectrum of bands inside it)?