Widely mistaken for nu metal, Mallcore is an unofficial term given by most metalheads to pseudo metal bands that emerged during the early 90s or post-glam rock era. The name was derived from two root words, which are: mall -- pertaining to the outlet wherein most of these bands albums could be purchased, and the other one being core -- because of the huge influence of punk/hardcore elements on their music mainly the total absence or lack of lead guitars, aggressive to mildly mellow vocals or better known as the clean to scream formula, and subject matters relating to personal problems which most of the time are aimed at teenagers or high school students who are led to believe that listening to this form of music gives them a sense of guidance or therapy that someone feels the pain they receive from the abusive collection of jocks and bullies at school.
The very first mallcore band to pioneer the sound and lifestyle was Korn back in 1993, who later became famous during the late stages of 1994 after releasing their debut album under the guidance of mega producer Ross Robinson, who later produced albums that carried the mallcore sound... in turn, making it trendy and opening doors for hundreds of clones to copy and butcher the sound for their own selves.
The following years saw the arrival of numerous mallcore acts, some finishing what Faith No More started back in the early 80s by fusing distortion-based guitars with hip-hop -- most notably Limp Bizkit in 1997. Limp Bizkit's rising popularity caught the eye of record labels and began posting notices that they are in need of bands that replicate the same music style. Pretty soon, the likes of Crazy Town, Pressure 4-5, Factory 81, Linkin Park, Lost Prophets and others, started piggy-backing on the mallcore trend and cashing in on the gullible public that waste their money on whatever the media sells to them and deems the current flavor of the month.