Korn

This article is about the band. For other uses, see Korn (disambiguation).

Korn

Korn is a band from Bakersfield, California, and are credited with creating and popularizing the nu metal genre. Along with other bands at the time, they have also inspired many nu metal and alternative metal bands throughout the mid 1990s and early 2000s.

The band's catalogue consists of nine consecutive debuts in the top 10 of the Billboard 200, including a compilation album, Greatest Hits Vol.1, and an acoustic/live album, MTV Unplugged: Korn. To date, Korn has sold over 16 million albums in the United States, along with earning six Grammy nominations, two of which they have won.

The band released their untitled eighth album on July 31, 2007 through EMI/Virgin. The album debuted at #2 on Billboard, selling 123,000 copies in its first week.

History

Formation, Neidermeyer's Mind demo, Korn (1993-1995)

Korn formed after the group L.A.P.D. folded, due to singer Richard Morrill's drug addiction. Musicians Reginald Arvizu, James Shaffer, and David Silveria wanted to continue, and so recruited the guitarist Brian Welch and then began the search for a new lead singer. One night in 1993, Welch and Shaffer were in a nightclub together, and were intending to stay for only a few minutes. This changed once a band called Sexart took to the stage. They were intrigued by the singer, Jonathan Davis, and approached him after the gig was finished. At first, Davis didn't want the position of their lead singer, but after consulting a psychic who told him he would be stupid not to do it, he signed on. The group found they were quite cohesive early on, thus forming a new band by the name of Korn. Welch then took the pseudonym "Head", Arvizu became "Fieldy", and Shaffer became "Munky".

Later in 1993, Korn began a working process with friend and producer Ross Robinson. Neidermeyer's Mind was released that same year, containing 4 songs: "Predictable," "Blind", "Daddy", and "Alive". "Blind" was originally written by Davis and Sexart, but was revised with new lyrics. Korn had problems getting signed during its first year, due to the 1990s rock scene, which was primarily grunge. After many attempts at a record deal, Paul Pontius from Immortal/Epic Records heard the band in a nightclub. He was so impressed with the band that he signed them on the spot. With a producer and a label, Korn started work on their self-titled debut album.

Musically, its tracks mix both heavy metal and hip hop/funk, the latter of which in rhythms and beats. It also features scat vocals on the song "Ball Tongue", and bagpipes on the song "Shoots and Ladders". These two elements would later become a vital representation of Korn's trademark sound. "Blind" was the first single from the album; it was extremely well-liked by fanbases, and became their most popular song to this day.

Once Korn saw a release on October 11, 1994, the band toured incessantly with no support from radio or video stations. They relied solely on their intensive live shows, which created a large cultlike following of dedicated fans. It was through the effort of this fanbase that helped push Korn onto the Billboard 200, eventually peaking at #72 in 1996, with "Shoots and Ladders" being their first Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance.

On their first large tour, Korn opened for Danzig alongside Marilyn Manson. Other bands for which Korn opened in 1995 included Megadeth, 311, Fear Factory, Flotsam and Jetsam, and KMFDM. However, the first tour that widely exposed the band was opening for Ozzy Osbourne alongside the Deftones. After opening for lesser-known bands such as Dimestore Hoods, Sugar Ray (at the time), and Life of Agony, Korn returned to the studio to record a second album.

Life Is Peachy (1996-1997)

Korn teamed up with Robinson once again for their second album, Life Is Peachy, released on October 15, 1996. It features a much grittier, stripped-down sound than its predecessor, possibly due to time constraints. There were plenty of diverse songs on this record: "Porno Creep" features a wah-drenched pseudo-funk sound, similar to many 1970s porn movies. Life Is Peachy also featured two cover songs: War's "Low Rider", with Davis' bagpipes and Head on vocals, and Ice Cube's "Wicked" with guest vocalist Chino Moreno of Deftones.

To help promote their new album, Korn opened for Metallica, along with utilizing one of the newest resources available—the Internet. Such strategies worked: Life Is Peachy sold more than 106,000 copies in its first week and reached #3 on the Billboard 200. The first single, "No Place to Hide", spawned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance. "A.D.I.D.A.S." was the second single and only music video, seemingly in reference to the popular clothing line. In actuality, the song title was an acronym for "All Day I Dream About Sex", as apparent in the lyrics.

Another key factor in raising the band's popularity was co-headlining the Lollapalooza music festival in 1997 with Tool. However, Korn were forced to drop off the bill after Munky was diagnosed with viral meningitis. Also that year, Korn augmented their growing crossover appeal by collaborating with Los Angeles-based production and remix duo the Dust Brothers on the track "Kick the P.A.". This track appeared on the motion picture soundtrack of the film Spawn.

In late 1997, Korn formed their own record label, Elementree Records. The first band they signed was Orgy (featuring former members of Davis' band Sexart), who gave Elementree its first Platinum-certified album with Candyass. Over the next few years, they signed acts like Videodrone, rapper Marz, and Deadsy.

Follow the Leader, mainstream success (1998-1999)

Prior to the release of the band's third album, Korn produced a weekly online TV show, KornTV, which documented the making of the record and featured special guests such as porn star Ron Jeremy, Limp Bizkit, and 311. The project also gave fans the chance to call in and ask the band questions—an approach that represented one of the first times a band utilized the Internet in such a way. Korn released their third album, Follow the Leader, on August 18, 1998, which featured a number of guest vocalists such as Ice Cube, Tre Hardson from the Pharcyde, Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit and actor Cheech Marin on the hidden track "Earache My Eye" (written by Marin himself).

Korn launched a political campaign-style tour to promote the release of Follow the Leader. The tour took the group, on a chartered jet, all over North America to spread the news of Follow the Leader. They talked to fans and answered questions during special "fan conferences", which were organized at every stop along the tour route, and signed autographs. Jim Rose hosted the entire "Kampaign" tour.

The album was a complete success, debuting at #1 on Billboard with 268,000 copies sold, and spawning the singles "Got the Life" and "Freak on a Leash". They both exposed Korn to a wider, mainstream audience, with the music videos being mainstays on MTV's Total Request Live. "Got the Life" was the show's very first "retired" video, with "Freak on a Leash" reaching that same success months later. These songs also fared well on Billboard, with "Freak on a Leash" peaking in the top 10 of both Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock, the latter of which it spent 27 weeks on—more than any other Korn single to date.

Greg Capullo, long-time Spawn penciler, drew the cover art for Follow the Leader. The animated bullet segments in the video for "Freak on a Leash" were directed by Todd McFarlane (creator of the Spawn comic book and a former artist for Spider-Man comics). The live action in the video, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, used innovative techniques which allowed the camera to follow a bullet in flight through various scenes.

"Freak on a Leash" won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form, and received a nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance. The video also earned nine MTV Video Music Awards nominations for Video of the Year, Best Rock Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Viewer's Choice. It eventually won two, for Best Rock Video and Best Editing. Follow the Leader is the band's most commercially-successful album, being certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA and having sold almost ten million copies worldwide.

The same year Follow the Leader was released, Korn started their own annual tour called the Family Values Tour. Korn headlined the highly-successful tour along with Incubus, Orgy, Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, and Rammstein. A live CD and DVD were released and earned Gold and Platinum certifications, respectively. In 1999, Limp Bizkit headlined, along with Primus, Staind, The Crystal Method, Method Man & Redman, and Filter. Korn were not featured on the bill and instead only made surprise appearances at a few of the stops to perform their first single off of their next album. The tour took a break in 2000.

Issues (1999-2001)

The band's fourth album, Issues, produced by Brendan O'Brien, was released on November 16, 1999, featuring cover art designed by Alfredo Carlos, who won a contest held for the fans by MTV. Issues was released during a week of many highly-anticipated records. It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 with more than 573,000 copies sold, keeping Dr. Dre's long-awaited album 2001 and Celine Dion's greatest hits album from hitting #1.

To celebrate the album's release, the band performed the record in its entirety in front of a live audience at New York's historic Apollo Theater and broadcast the concert simultaneously across many radio stations. This performance made Korn the first rock band, and only the second predominantly white musical group, to ever perform at The Apollo, after the legendary Buddy Holly in the late 1950s. This special event featured the NYPD marching drum and bagpipe band conducted by Richard Gibbs as well as a group of back-up singers to enhance the more melodic choruses Davis used on the album.

Earlier that year, Korn had appeared on an episode of South Park, titled Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery, in which the first single from Issues, "Falling Away from Me", was premiered. Korn released two more singles off of Issues, "Make Me Bad" and "Somebody Someone", both of which fared well on Billboard. Videos were shot for all three singles, with longtime friend Fred Durst directing "Falling Away from Me", and Martin Weisz directing a concept video for "Make Me Bad", as well as a performance video for "Somebody Someone", which featured CGI effects. Every video was a staple on Total Request Live, two of which made it to retirement. Issues is considered by some critics to be less hip hop-influenced and closer to alternative metal than nu metal. It was certified 3x Platinum, following up the success of Follow the Leader.

In 2000, Jonathan Davis commissioned Swiss surreal artist H. R. Giger to create a special microphone stand. The idea was suggested to him by one of his friends who knew that Davis was a fan of his artwork. He started doing some sketches of plantlike snakes and vertebrae mixed with technical elements. Davis called him from his dressing room and told him that he had complete freedom to design the microphone stand as he wanted and his only concern was that it had be totally functional and as movable as possible, as well as bio-mechanical and erotic. The band visited his museum and met him in July of 2000 while they were touring in Europe. The bio-mechanical microphone stand was finished in 2001. It was introduced to fans one year later during Korn's Untouchables tour.

Untouchables (2002-2003)

On June 11, 2002, after a year and a half of hard work and a long creative process, Korn re-emerged into the media spotlight with their fifth album, Untouchables. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 with 434,000 in sales. Sales were disappointing in comparison to the first four albums, as Untouchables only reached Platinum status. The band has blamed Internet piracy for the drop in sales, as an unmastered version of the album had leaked three months prior to its official release date.

The release of this album was preceded by a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, a day prior to the album's release, broadcast digitally throughout U.S. movie theatres. Untouchables featured electronic beats, strings and various effects the band had never used in an album before. The overall feel was drastically different from previous efforts, particularly tracks like "Alone I Break", "Hating", and "Hollow Life", which singer Jonathan Davis claims is one of his favorite Korn songs to this day.

The first two videos from Untouchables were directed by the Hughes Brothers (best known for their films, Menace II Society and From Hell). The first video, "Here to Stay", has the band playing inside a TV with a static background along with controversial news stories and world issues being presented. The song itself earned Korn a Grammy for Best Metal Performance, and would become their highest-peaking single on Billboard's Modern Rock chart. The second video, "Thoughtless", was a nod back to Davis' childhood as the character in the video is picked on and constantly beaten. The character ultimately gains revenge in a rather grotesque but deserving way. Although "Thoughtless" would be one of the more popular tracks on the album, it did not appear on Greatest Hits Vol.1. The third video for Untouchables, "Alone I Break," was directed by Sean Dack, who won the honor of directing the video through an MTV contest. The video kept with the darkness of Korn, showing Davis killing off the members of the band after a supposed mistake made by Munky while they were performing. The band admitted it would have been more fun to do the video had the director been an actual Korn fan.

Prior to their next album, Korn released the single "Did My Time" on July 22, 2003, which was used to promote the film Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life. Angelina Jolie appeared in the Dave Meyers-directed video. Due to scheduling conflicts, however, the band and Jolie recorded their parts separately. "Did My Time" also gave Korn yet another Grammy nomination in the Best Metal Performance category.

Take a Look in the Mirror, Greatest Hits, Head's departure (2003-2005)

Korn's sixth album, Take a Look in the Mirror, was released on November 21, 2003, four days earlier than originally planned. Korn produced the album themselves, and released "Right Now", "Y'All Want a Single", and "Everything I've Known" as singles. "Right Now" and "Everything I've Known" had animated music videos, whereas "Y'All Want a Single" featured Korn and a large group of fans destroying a record store. The album peaked at #9 on Billboard, selling over 179,000 copies in its first full week.

Korn released their greatest hits album, Greatest Hits Vol.1, on October 5, 2004. The album debuted at #4 on Billboard, selling more than 129,000 copies. It featured two cover songs as singles, and a compilation of the band's hits from the past 10 years. The first single was a cover of the song "Word Up!", which was originally made popular by the group Cameo. The second single was a medley of all three parts of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall". A remix of their hit single "Freak on a Leash" was also included as a bonus track. Special editions of the album included a DVD titled Korn: Live at CBGB featuring seven select songs from their November 24, 2003 show at CBGB.

Prior to Korn starting work on their next album, Brian "Head" Welch announced that he had "...chosen the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior, and will be dedicating his musical pursuits to that end", and was formally leaving Korn. Initial speculations that this was a hoax or practical joke were proven wrong; he has turned highly spiritual, even being baptized in the Jordan River and speaking openly about his faith and conversion, especially on his website Head to Christ. This was the band's first line-up change in their history.

Several weeks following his departure, Welch had mentioned a solo album was in the works, although there was no release date given, nor had he signed on with a record label. He has since signed with Fortitude Music. However, his album has failed to meet two release dates, including as recently as July 7, 2007. It was revealed in a July 6 interview that the album is still in the mixing process.

See You on the Other Side, EMI/Virgin (2005-2006)

Upon completing their record deal with Sony, Korn partnered with EMI and signed to Virgin Records. As part of this innovative arrangement, EMI paid Korn $25 million upfront in exchange for a share in the profits of their next two studio albums, including tours and merchandising. EMI also received a 30 percent stake in the band's licensing, ticket sales and other revenue sources.

The band's first album for Virgin, See You on the Other Side, was released on December 6, 2005, and debuted on #3 on the Billboard 200, scanning close to 221,000 copies. The album managed to stay in the top 100 of the Billboard 200 for 34 consecutive weeks. The first single off of the album, "Twisted Transistor", was accompanied by a comedic video directed by Dave Meyers in which rap stars Xzibit, Lil' Jon, Snoop Dogg, and David Banner portray Korn. The single itself peaked at #3 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks, Korn's highest entry thus far, and #9 on Modern Rock. The second single, "Coming Undone", had its performance-based video directed by Little X, who previously helmed only hip hop and R&B videos. See You on the Other Side is certified Platinum, and has sold over two million copies worldwide.

Korn held a press conference at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on January 13, 2006, announcing the See You on the Other Side tour. 10 Years and Mudvayne were selected to open all dates of the trek, which kicked off in their hometown of Bakersfield, on what Mayor Harvey Hall officially declared as "Korn Day", February 26, 2006. The resurrection of their Family Values Tour was announced on April 18, 2006, which featured co-headliners Deftones, Stone Sour, Flyleaf, and Dir en grey on the main stage. Korn and Evanescence co-headlined the 2007 edition, with Atreyu, 2006 alumni Flyleaf, Hellyeah, and Trivium rounding out the main stage.

While promoting See You on the Other Side in Europe, Jonathan Davis was diagnosed with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, a blood platelet disorder that hospitalized him for the weekend and prevented him from performing at the renowned Download Festival. The band still performed, with guest singers including Corey Taylor of Slipknot/Stone Sour fame, Skindred's Benji Webbe, and Avenged Sevenfold's M. Shadows. This led to Korn canceling the rest of their European bill for 2006, including the Hellfest Summer Open Air. It was originally unknown to the public what his ailment was, but the singer revealed in a letter to fans that he was "dangerously low on blood platelets and at a high risk of death from a hemorrhage if the problem was not treated". His illness did not affect the 2006 Family Values Tour.

Untitled album, MTV Unplugged, David Silveria's departure (2007-2008)

Korn performed at the MTV studios in Times Square on December 9, 2006, for the MTV Unplugged series, which was broadcast on February 23, 2007, through MTV.com and on March 2, 2007, across North American, South American, European and Asian MTV stations. In front of a crowd of approximately 50 people, Korn played a 14-song acoustic set complete with guest appearances by The Cure and Amy Lee of Evanescence. The performance was eventually cut down to 11 songs for the album, two of which did not air on MTV. Sales of nearly 51,000 brought MTV Unplugged: Korn to #9 in its first week out. The disc has yet to receive a Gold or Platinum certification.

Korn's untitled eighth album was released on July 31, 2007, debuting at #2 with 123,000 copies in its first week. The album has been certified Gold for shipments in excess of 500,000 copies. It also concludes Korn's unique deal with Virgin Records, and features touring keyboardist Zac Baird, giving the tracks a deeper, atmospheric sound. Drumming duties were left up to Terry Bozzio, Jonathan Davis, and Bad Religion's Brooks Wackerman, as David Silveria went on a hiatus for the untitled album and its touring cycle. So far, "Evolution" and "Hold On" have been released as singles, the former charting at #4 and #20 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks, respectively.

Ubisoft reported in October that "Korn has written and recorded an original song inspired by Ubisoft's upcoming Haze video game", simply entitled "Haze", due for release on November 27. As a first in the video game industry, "Haze" will be released and promoted as a full-fledged single and music video, not just as an exclusive download with the video game.

The band is currently on a two-month break before the start of the second leg of the Bitch We Have a Problem Tour in Europe. Jonathan Davis is touring solo for the first time throughout November and December, on his Alone, I Play Tour. Due to a family emergency, guitarist Clint Lowery left the Bitch We Have a Problem Tour early and was replaced with Shane Gibson, who is also on board for Jonathan's solo tour. The Alone I Play CD/DVD package, which is being sold at every show, will be commercially distributed, as noted in a post by Richard Gibbs.

The band will depart to Europe in January for the second leg of the Bitch We Have a Problem Tour with drummer Ray Luzier of David Lee Roth and Army of Anyone fame. Korn will take a four-month break once the tour is finished, before deciding whether to begin a ninth album, or headline another Family Values Tour.

Band members

Current members

• Jonathan Davis - vocals, bagpipes
• James "Munky" Shaffer - guitar
• Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu - bass

Previous members

• Brian "Head" Welch - guitar, backing vocals (1993-2005; left the band for religious reasons as well as reasons pertaining to his daughter and his drug addictions)
• David Silveria - drums (1993-2006; Left the band to manage his buisness.)

Backup band

Main article: Korn's backup band

The backing band only plays live shows with Korn. None of the members of the backing band are considered official members of Korn. For most of 2005, they wore animal masks based on the See You on the Other Side artwork to help better distinguish them as the backbup band. Since the beginning of 2007, the members have performed unmasked but occasionally have their faces painted black and white with unique designs.

This is current line up of the backup band:

• Michael Jochum - percussion
• Zac Baird - keyboards
• Kalen Chase - backing vocals, percussion, guitar
• Ray Luzier - drums
• Shane Gibson - guitar

Discography

Main article: Korn discography

Date of release	Title	Record label
October 11, 1994	Korn	Immortal/Epic
October 15, 1996	Life Is Peachy	Immortal/Epic
August 18, 1998	Follow the Leader	Immortal/Epic
November 16, 1999	Issues	Immortal/Epic
June 11, 2002	Untouchables	Immortal/Epic
November 21, 2003	Take a Look in the Mirror	Immortal/Epic
December 6, 2005	See You on the Other Side	Virgin/EMI
July 31, 2007	Untitled album	Virgin/EMI

Genre

Korn can be credited for creating the nu metal genre, though the group has often said they don't like to be put in that category themselves.

People have often dubbed you as the first "nu-metal" band. What do you think about that?

We've spawned a lot of clones, but let me explain… Well, I hate the nu-metal term. We have always just been a band that rocks. We didn't like when people called us a metal band, we are just Korn. People just use these terms when they cannot describe something, but nu-metal… when so many bands started making music that sounded like us, that is when nu-metal was born. We don't have anything to do with it for real, I feel. I wouldn't wanna call Red Hot Chili Peppers a funk band, and we are not metal or nu-metal, we are Korn. That is just a term that doesn't mean anything. - Jonathan Davis

Influence on other artists

Creating an "inventive fusion of death metal, hip hop, goth and electronica" (described as such by a Kerrang! interviewer), over the years Korn has influenced a number of artists, including:

• Limp Bizkit - Vocalist Fred Durst has cited lead singer Jonathan Davis as a major inspiration.
• Evanescence - Vocalist Amy Lee cited Untouchables as one of her all-time favorite albums. Evanescence played a cover of "Thoughtless" during their live performances through 2004. The cover is featured on Evanescence's 2004 live CD/DVD Anywhere But Home. Lee joined Korn and sang duet with Jonathan Davis in an unplugged rendition of "Freak on a Leash", which is featured on MTV Unplugged: Korn.
• Slipknot - Guitarists Mick Thompson and Jim Root play down-tuned guitars directly influenced by Munky and Head. Slipknot members have stated that their debut album, Slipknot, was directly influenced by Korn. Joey Jordison stated that he created the Slipknot logo based on Korn's..
• Staind - Frontman Aaron Lewis cited the band's eponymous album and Jonathan Davis' emotional attitude as one of his biggest influences.
• Static-X, Disturbed, and Coal Chamber have all thanked Korn on their album liner notes. Chino Moreno of Deftones thanked Korn as well.
• Mushroomhead - Jonathan Davis is mentioned in their album notes, specifically on XIII.
• Linkin Park thank Korn in the liner notes of Hybrid Theory, Reanimation and Meteora.
• P.O.D. thank Korn in the liner notes of Satellite.

External links

• Official website
• Official street team
• Official MySpace
• Korn - Most played songs - full discography and sound clips