Deftones and their complicated relationship with the term nu metal

Chino Moreno, the guitarist and singer for the Deftones, first heard the word “baddiecore” from Metal Hammer, as reported from theprp. Craig Reynolds, the drummer for Stray From The Path, coined the term to characterize a new generation of metalcore bands, such as Sleep Token and Bad Omens, that contain romantic or sexual themes in their songs. In a way, Deftones have unintentionally become the godfathers of baddiecore, much like Faith No More was to nu metal. “I have not, but there’s another genre we have to escape at some point, right?” Moreno said in response to a question on whether he was familiar with the term from the aforementioned journal. Moreno continued by considering how romance, lust, and love have frequently influenced his lyrical content and that of baddiecore musicians.

It’s part of growing up, those feelings, and it’s not something that just dissipates as you get older. Hopefully everybody still has desires as they grow old, you know what I mean? And I think connect with it. I grew up loving a lot of romanticised music. Obviously Depeche Mode, I’ve always claimed my love for them, and that was something that was always present in the songs, and I’ve always connected with. So I think, maybe in a roundabout way, some of that has seeped into our music.

Around 2000, the band made a deliberate decision to break with nu metal in order to forge their own identity with “White Pony.” However, that choice had repercussions, straining their relationships with Korn and other bands, as Deftones also sought to break away from touring with similar acts. As fate has it, his band has been in the similar situation again in recent years due to the popularity of this genre among younger people. Moreno had this response when asked about his thoughts on that comeback, which has also directly benefited his own band.

It’s so funny, because we tried hard not to be lumped in with nu metal when nu metal was big, and then we kind of had to do it again with the nu metal resurgence – like, hoping that we weren’t going to get lumped in once again. I think we do at times, but we didn’t want to be dated back then, and the musical choices we made were not going to pigeonhole us into that space and time.