Could you imagine hearing something like Korn for the first time when that album came out in 1994? I mean, the 80's had metal but nothing that sounded quite like this.
Korn definitely transformed music after it came out. I was more into punk (green day, mxpx) & some underground hard-core (focal point, living sacrifice) back in middle school. I was on the school bus heading to a football game the first time I heard Korn.
I kinda graduated from punk after that and listened to more of the mid level rock like sevendust, taproot, trust company, trapt, submersed, staind, deftones, p.o.d.
It wasn't until I heard killswitch engage- as daylight dies that I headed back to metal.