Nebraska. Where the N stands for Nowledge!

Me too. Hardware equipment have a particular je ne sais quoi about them.

It was the hands on aspect.

Likewise! It was big during my formative years listening to music and has just stuck with me.

The only thing I've really kept around from my earliest formative years is Queen. Then there's the metal I got into later and much of that has stuck around. I still like Megadeth, Metallica, Ozzy (was a huuuuuuuuge Ozzy fan many years ago) although none of them get much time in the stereo these days.
Nu metal was a very shortlived thing for me after I had already been into "real" metal for a while. I don't hate nu-metal as a kneejerk reaction, I just tend to find it somewhat boring. I find most music boring, so it's not a harsh criticism. I think the reason nu-metal is so widely hated is that it is seen as being 'fake' metal made by bro-dudes that don't appreciate the metal legacy... or some nonsense like that. Maybe I'm way off base.

Then there's the silly lyrics, but it's not like "real" metal don't have dumb lyrics. Maybe the difference is that nu-metal bands don't seem self aware, but death metal acts do? Black metal acts seem to often believe their ridiculous bull****, so I just shot my own theory down.

Cool. How about (hed) pe? They're definitely one of my favorites in those genres.

I like Springsteen and Nebraska, but my favorite Springsteen is the stuff with more elaborate arrangements ("Born to Run" is a well-known example) and the stuff with slight prog influences (longer tunes with a bunch of different parts etc.--again, "Born to Run" would work as an example) . . . which I'm mentioning just because it's worth thinking about different things attracting different people. Someone might want more elaborate arrangements etc. and in that case, Nebraska would be the worst Springsteen recommendation to make to them. For wise recommendations, you really need to know quite a bit about someone's tastes--what they like/dislike and why they like/dislike it.

Hellyeah! I love (hed) PE

You know they're repping juggalo **** now? Like, I saw ICP in concert and (hed) PE were the support act. They were wearing face paint and claiming to be juggalos and everything. It was pretty sad.

What's sad is that you saw ICP in concert.