The ‘Big 4’ of Nu-Metal, According to Dave Ellefson

Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson recently named his picks for the “Big 4” of nu-metal and recalled his first impressions of the burgeoning subgenre on an episode of The David Ellefson Show, which you can hear in full below.

“Nu-metal isn’t so much a genre. It was an era, right?” Ellefson asked co-host and former Primer 55 bassist Joshua Toomey. After Toomey pointed out that bands like Static-X and Limp Bizkit were both lumped under the nu-metal umbrella despite sounding vastly different, Ellefson reminisced on his time touring with some of the up-and-coming bands while he was in Megadeth.

“I remember taking Static-X out. I really liked them,” he said. “I thought they had a cool sound. I love the industrial thing that they had. Of course, I love Ministry.”

READ MORE: The ‘Big 4’ Bands of 27 Rock + Metal Subgenres

David Ellefson’s ‘Big 4’ of Nu-Metal

As a longtime member of one of thrash metal’s Big 4 bands — along with Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax — Ellefson is uniquely equipped to categorize bands of other genres accordingly. So who are his picks for nu-metal?

“Our genre, the Big 4 … I guess nu-metal is probably the other one that you could claim the founding fathers,” he said. “So again, I would say: Korn, Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Slipknot.”

Ellefson’s Thoughts on the Big 4 Nu-Metal Bands

Although Ellefson has come to appreciate all of those bands, he wasn’t immediately sold on each one.

Speaking about Korn, who opened for Megadeth in 1995, Ellefson said: “I remember getting that CD and going, ‘OK, this sounds very weird.’ And I remember it was a weird transition, because I don’t even remember what the other CDs were, but none of them were of a genre that we would pick [to tour with us], so to speak. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh yeah, this is a great rock band.’ They were all kind of a new flavor.”

READ MORE: What Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine REALLY Thinks of Nu-Metal

When Linkin Park burst onto the scene a few years later, Ellefson was also skeptical. “Linkin Park was a band that I understood why people liked them, but it wasn’t my thing,” he said. “I love them now, with the new singer, I think it’s super cool. I’m looking forward to seeing them.”

There was one band, though, that impressed Ellefson from the jump. “And of course, Slipknot, when they came out, they were pretty roaring out of the gate,” he said. “You know, really the leaders of the masked band movement. And I know there were other masked bands around — Mushroomhead — but Slipknot certainly took that.”

See how Ellefson’s picks for the Big 4 of nu-metal square against Loudwire’s by reading our list of Every ‘Big 4’ Nu-Metal Album, Ranked Worst to Best.

Hear David Ellefson’s ‘Big 4’ of Nu-Metal and Thoughts on the Genre