Korn (album)
Korn | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 11, 1994 | |||
Recorded | May–June 1994 | |||
Studio | Indigo Ranch Studios (Malibu, California) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 65:45 | |||
Label | ||||
Producer | Ross Robinson | |||
Korn chronology | ||||
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Singles from Korn | ||||
Korn (printed and stylized as KoЯn) is the first album by the American nu metal band Korn. It was released on October 11, 1994, through Immortal and Epic Records. Before recording the album, the band was approached by Immortal/Epic Records after a performance at Huntington Beach, California. The band signed to their label because they did not want to "sign away all of their creative freedom".[3] The band would record at Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu, California, with producer Ross Robinson, who also produced their 1993 demo Neidermayer's Mind. The recording took place from May to June 1994. After the recordings, Korn toured with Biohazard and House of Pain.
The album's themes include
The album's first single, "
Korn toured with many bands to promote the album. Initially, Korn joined the Sick of It All Tour. Following the Sick of It All Tour, Korn joined the Danzig 4 Tour. Korn also toured with Megadeth, Fear Factory, and Flotsam and Jetsam.
Background
Before Korn developed a name, they had moved into a small house together in Huntington Beach, California, south of Los Angeles, where they began working on songs.[4] Soon after moving, they rented Underground Chicken Sounds, a recording studio, from Jeff Creath, who had previously allowed lead singer Jonathan Davis to live in his garage. While they were recording at the studio, they attracted a crowd of people when performing the prelude to "Clown".[4] The band's bass guitarist, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, said that the crowd gathered because the band's style sounded so "different".[5]
Korn was formed in 1993.
Recording and production
"Once we started playing, there was a complete sense of concentration among all of us. It was truly the only time we were all focused. I think that the synchronicity comes through in the sound. Once we were ready to record, we'd go into the studio where [James Shaffer] and [Brian Welch] would come up with a heavy guitar riff while I'd lay down a bass line over it, and before we knew it, a song would start."
While Korn was looking for a place to record their debut album, they asked producer Ross Robinson to produce their album. After accepting the offer, Robinson suggested they record at Indigo Ranch, Malibu, California. The band would record the majority of the album there, while additional recording took place at Bakersfield's Fat Tracks.[3][9]
Korn recorded most of the album with all members playing simultaneously, as opposed to recording instruments separately. In addition, Indigo Ranch was located on a hill rather than in the city, allowing them to record outside, resulting in the "distinctive" sound and quality of music given off by their instruments.[10][9]
The banging sound near the ending of "Ball Tongue" was created via a guitar cord striking a music stand.[11]
The bagpipes on "Shoots and Ladders" are often thought to have been recorded on a mountain-top. However, they were actually recorded with a microphone set up at the back door of the studio while Jonathan Davis walked past outside playing. As he walked further from the microphone, this led to the sound naturally fading quieter.[10] Davis said that "Daddy" features him singing the song alone in the dark without knowing that his vocals were being recorded.[12]
Korn finished recording the album by the end of June 1994.[5]
Since Robinson produced the album, his career was launched by its success, as it "taught Robinson how to produce." In an interview with the heavy metal magazine Metal Hammer, Davis touted Robinson's behavior, saying: "Ross is a very pure and clean-spirited person, and you feel it when you're with him. He's the kind of person that can draw that out of you. I felt very safe with Ross."[3]
The album was released on October 11, 1994, through Immortal and Epic Records.[13] During the recording of Korn, there were four outtakes: "Christmas Song", "Sean Olson", "Layla", and "This Broken Soul". "Sean Olson" was put on the single release of "Shoots and Ladders", and featured on The Crow: City of Angels soundtrack.[citation needed]
In 2015, Davis ranked the 1994 debut album as his favorite Korn album.[14]
Composition and lyrics
Korn begins with "Blind", starting with the dueling riffs of
"
"Faget"'s lyrical themes are about lead vocalist Jonathan Davis' time in high school where he was relentlessly bullied primarily by jocks for wearing eyeliner, listening to new wave and enjoying arts. He was constantly called names like "fag" or "faggot".[18][19][20][21] Davis talked about the song in an interview saying,
"There's a big rumor about me being a homosexual. Does it really matter? I have lots of gay friends. It shouldn't matter. I was in the New Romantic scene [in high school] with Duran Duran [as his favorite band], wearing makeup. I got called a fag by the jocks. Couldn't walk through the halls without hearing that or being picked on."[22]
"Daddy", the album's longest track, saw Jonathan Davis "descending very real tears." Davis said that the song's concept deals with his childhood, saying "People think 'Daddy' was written because my father abused me, but that's not what the song's about. When I was a kid, I was being abused by someone else. I don't really like to talk about that song."[23] Though the song ends at 9:32, a hidden track which depicts an argument between a man and his wife over a Dodge Dart carburetor can be heard at 14:05 after about 4.5 minutes of silence.[24]
According to Jonathan Davis and Brian Welch, current Metallica and then-Suicidal Tendencies bassist Robert Trujillo helped them write the song "Divine."[25]
Marketing and promotion
Stephen Stickler acted as the band's photographer, and Jay Papke and Dante Ariola directed the album's cover art and booklet. The cover depicts Paul Pontius' niece in a blue school uniform with a matching bow in her blonde hair, bringing her swing to a stop to squint in the sun at the man standing before her. The man is only seen as a dark shadow on the ground, and is holding what appears to be a
After Korn finished recording the album, they began touring with
Despite this, Korn resumed touring in the
Korn began touring in Europe during September 1995. One of the band's first concert dates was in Nottingham. After the performance, there was a conflict between Arvizu and the drum technician, resulting in the airport prohibiting them from boarding the plane.[35] Korn made their London debut on October 27, 1995, performing at LA2 with Paw as the opening act.[6] At the end of that same month, the band also made their Paris debut playing in a small club, L'Araphao.[36] Korn received positive praise from the European press because of their "ravaging" live performances.[37] By October 1995, Korn had played 200–250 dates in support of their first album.[38] From 1995 to 1996, Korn toured with Sugar Ray, Cradle of Thorns, Life of Agony, and others.[39] Korn and Deftones opened for Ozzy Osbourne in early 1996.[40][41]
Critical reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Kerrang! | [42] |
Los Angeles Times | [43] |
Rock Hard | 7/10[44] |
The Village Voice | C−[45] |
Vox | 6/10[46] |
Mike Boem of Los Angeles Times found that if one accepts the style of "thrashing, metallic, incessantly wrathful rock...the debut is a smashing success." while finding that the music may be cathartic for listeners who can identify with Davis's lyrics, the music itself had "no sensible measure of its artistic merit."[47] Boem compared some of the musical tracks as containing elements of scarping jagged guitars similar to that of the Nine Inch Nails album The Downward Spiral but concluded that "as the album goes on, Korn's blasting and hammering becomes more head-on, the results less distinctive."[43] In his 1995 review, Jason Arnopp of Kerrang! wrote that Davis' "voice overflows with cracked, frustrated emotion, often lapsing into uncontrollable screams like a mental ward". He described how Korn have "injected their own special insanity into the music, crafting a horribly sleazy sound that matches their bleak outlook on life". He noted that the "general aggression" of the album could delight fans of Prong, Pantera, and Rage Against the Machine. Arnopp rated Korn 4 out of 5 and mentioned the "band's cult stature" a year after the album's release.[42] In 1996, music journalist Manuel Rabasse described Korn as "an almost dadaist record – little or no melody, structures cut out in spite of common sense, guitars deliberately out of tune – with, to top it all off, a hysterical vocalist playing the bagpipes" and said Korn was "a group of crazies". Rabasse found the album "marks the awakening of a metal-hardcore a little too primal".[12]
Retrospective
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [48] |
Blender | [49] |
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 8/10[50] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [51] |
Kerrang! | [52] |
The Great Rock Discography | 9/10[53] |
MusicHound Rock | [54] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [55] |
Sputnikmusic | [56] |
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave Korn a positive review, calling the album "a powerful sound and one that actually builds on the funk-metal innovations of the late '80s/early '90s instead of merely replicating them".[48] In a 2002 critical reappraisal, Catherine Yates of Kerrang! gave the album 5 out of 5 rating. She compared it against "the continuing glut of interchangeable metal drones who have appropriated their blueprint for quick sell, lowest common denominator, and it still stands as a monument – unchallenged and unequaled – to the authentic ideals that spawned it".[57] In 2022, Metal Hammer writers wrote that they considered the album to be Korn's best, writing, "this is a record that remains as integral to modern metal as the first Black Sabbath album or Metallica's Master of Puppets".[58] Sputnikmusic thought that although Davis isn't the best lyricist, he is able to paint very disturbing visual images in the head of the listener, especially on the song "Daddy". Sputnikmusic also thought that Davis's voice was what made Korn unique, and that it made every song on the album interesting. They praised each of the members' skill on their respective instrument, and summed it up as "a bass heavy, angst ridden vessel of catharsis". They considered "Blind", "Ball Tongue", "Need To", "Faget", "Helmet in the Bush" and "Daddy" to be the best songs from the album.[56] Arnopp stated that the group "positively encouraged America's formerly introverted, apathetic misfits to thrust a livid middle finger in the face of high–school jocks who would traditionally bundle them into a locker and brand them 'faggots' for sporting hair longer than any Army buzz-cut."[23]
Commercial performance
On January 29, 1996, Korn went gold in the United States,
Legacy and influence
Korn's debut album is said to have established nu metal. As said by Joel McIver, Korn "was almost solely responsible for the tidal wave of change that subsequently swept the metal scene."[67] Bands like Coal Chamber and Limp Bizkit were inspired by the album's "churning rage, emphasising similar grooves and song structures", and "the sound's hip-hop elements".[23] Slipknot, Machine Head, and Sepultura were also inspired by the album.[23] The album launched the career of record producer Ross Robinson,[68] who later produced albums such as Sepultura's 1996 album Roots, Limp Bizkit's 1997 debut album Three Dollar Bill, Y'all, and Slipknot's first two albums (their 1999 self-titled debut and 2001's Iowa).[69][70][71][72]
In 2014,
Catherine Yates of Kerrang! compared the album's impact to that of Nirvana, stating that Nirvana "provided the soundtrack to the trials of disaffected youth", while Korn's debut album "was the manifestation of disaffected youth itself", summarizing that "Korn itself was the forebear of a musical movement".[57] Metal Hammer highlighted Korn's influence as having spawned "A parade of copycats and bandwagon-hoppers who took the album's sound and remodelled it without an ounce of innovation that Korn possessed".[58]
Track listing
All tracks written by Korn, except "Daddy" and "Blind", written by Korn, Dennis Shinn, and Ryan Shuck.[48]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | " Shoots and Ladders" | 5:22 |
8. | "Predictable" | 4:32 |
9. | "Fake" | 4:51 |
10. | "Lies" | 3:22 |
11. | "Helmet in the Bush" | 4:02 |
12. | "Daddy"
| 17:31 |
Total length: | 65:45 |
Note
- "Daddy" ends at 9:32. A hidden track, "Michael & Geri", starts at 14:05, after four minutes and 33 seconds of silence.[24] (however, on some versions of the album "Michael & Geri" is a separate track from "Daddy" and lasts 3:26).
Personnel
Korn
- Jonathan Davis – vocals, bagpipes
- Head – guitar, background vocals
- Munky – guitar
- Fieldy – bass
- David Silveria – drums
Additional personnel
- Judith Kiener – vocals on the lullaby at the end of "Daddy"
- Richard Kaplan – engineer
- Chuck Johnson – engineer, mixing
- Ross Robinson – producer, engineer, mixing
- Eddy Schreyer – mastering
- Stephen Stickler – photography
- Jay Papke/Dante Ariola – art direction and design
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Singles
|
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA)[89] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ)[90] | Platinum | 15,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[91] | Gold | 100,000* |
United States (RIAA)[92] | 2× Platinum | 2,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
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They have yet to exhaust that sound, and that's why their third album, Follow the Leader, is an effective follow-up to their first two alt-metal landmarks.
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Sources
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Bibliography
- Arvizu, Reginald (2009). Got the Life: My Journey of Addiction, Faith, Recovery, and Korn. William Marrow. ISBN 978-0-06-166249-2.
- Furman, Leah (May 5, 2000). Korn: Life in the Pit. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-25396-6.
- ISBN 978-0-313-32981-4.
- Paquet, Sebastien (May 1, 2002). Korn de A à Z [Korn from A to Z]. MusicBook guides (in French) (1st ed.). Paris: Prélude et Fugue. ISBN 978-2-843-43101-2.
- Small, Doug (1998). The Story of Korn. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-8256-1688-3.