I don't think nu metal was the target here. Think about it; what the hell happened to the 90s for metal? Everything that came about in the late 80s, disappeared. That's why Pantera is often called the revival of real heavy metal. When Cowboys came out, a truly stunning and popular metal album hadn't been seen in a long while. The trends leant towards grunge, and later sugar pop, and all the crap we saw in the mid 90s with the rebirth of sugar pop. Think about it; Nirvana, Britney Spears, all that crap, was the trend by the time Phil was writing this song. So I think hes really talking about how everybody was saying metal was "dead and gone" with the new trend of music; and when that all died, this was Phil's response to it all.
I don't think nu metal was the target here. Think about it; what the hell happened to the 90s for metal? Everything that came about in the late 80s, disappeared. That's why Pantera is often called the revival of real heavy metal. When Cowboys came out, a truly stunning and popular metal album hadn't been seen in a long while. The trends leant towards grunge, and later sugar pop, and all the crap we saw in the mid 90s with the rebirth of sugar pop. Think about it; Nirvana, Britney Spears, all that crap, was the trend by the time Phil was writing this song. So I think hes really talking about how everybody was saying metal was "dead and gone" with the new trend of music; and when that all died, this was Phil's response to it all.