I was listening to Rage Against the Machine the other day, and it got me thinking about their unique style which combines rap,metal, funk and more. I decided to investigate some bands that have combined different musical styles and share them with you all.
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine formed in the early 90s and found early success with their self titled album. Their music has a great combination of rap, rock and metal. Whether they believe so or not, I think Rage Against the Machine have had a huge influence on the forming of the Nu Metal era - made famous by bands such as Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, System of a Down and Korn. Rage Against the Machine released 4 studio albums, with the latest being 2000s Renegades. Rage Against the Machines members have gone on to form other successful groups, including Audioslave, Street Sweeper Social Club and The Prophets of Rage
Here is the brilliant song ‘Bombtrack’ from the first album:
Shining (NOR)
Shining (NOR) (not to be confused with Shining, the black metal band) are a band from Norway which combines metal and heavy rock with Jazz - they even have an album called BlackJazz. The use of synthesisers and a saxaphone combined with guitar, bass and drums gives them a truly unique sound. A song that really highlights their unique sound is Healter Skelter from their Blackjazz album:
Apocalyptica
Apocalyptica is a band comprised of four cello players, combining classical music with heavy metal! They are probably best known for their debut album ‘Plays Metallica by Four Cellos’ - as you can guess this album is all Metallica covers played by the four cellos - and is brilliant. Apocalyptica have collaborated with many rock/metal musicians over the years - here is a the song ‘I'm not Jesus’ featuring Corey Taylor (Slipknot/Stonesour) on vocals:
Pendulum ft In Flames
Pendulum are predominantly an electronic and Drum n Bass but are known to experiment with rock and metal. Their album Immersion released in 2010 is one of my favorite albums, and features the track Self vs Self and features vocals from Death Metal band In Flames. I grew up with metal (as I'm sure you can tell), and this was one of the tracks that got me into electronic and drum n bass - it is such a great merging of two completely separate types of music. I found a really cool video of this song with live drums overdubbed:
Korn Featuring Skrillex
Korn has been a successful and popular nu metal band dating back to their self titled album in 1994. However it was their tenth studio album ‘The Path of Totality’ which was the most polarizing, and had its fair share of critics. This album was a fusion of Korns nu metal sound with electronic and dubstep, featuring popular electronic and dubstep artists such as Skrillex, Datsik and Kill The Noise. I really enjoyed the album, and liked that they decided to take a risk and try something completely new. Here is the lead single from The Path of Totality - Narcissistic Cannibal (produced by Skrillex and Kill The Noise):
Parov Stelar
And now for something completely different let me introduce Parov Stelar - the pioneer of electro swing music. Electro swing combines swing and jazz (often sampling swing songs from the 50s) with electronic and pop music. Parov Stelar have grown to be one of my favorite bands - the music is so upbeat and original - and I love their music videos too. The music has evolved over the years, with the latest release ‘The Burning Spider’ taking on more of a blues sound (we saw them on the current tour, and it was one of the best live shows I have ever been to - the energy was unreal!). Here is the song Demon Dance:
Run D.M.C
Thought I would finish with one that most of you will know - Walk This Way. The song Walk This Way was originally released by hard rock band Aerosmith in 1975. In 1986 rappers Run DMC covered this song, adding to it their unique style of rap, and becoming highly influential in the creation of the sub genre raprock:
I hope you enjoyed my selection and always welcome any thoughts or feedback!
