With their self-titled debut, Korn didn't just usher in a genre in 1994 — they cultivated an entire culture. In honor of the album's 30th anniversary, revisit its impact, from relatable, raw lyrics to boundary-pushing sounds.
"Article published in Grammy.com. Author: Jon O'Brien."
"It's pretty cool to say we helped invent some kind of movement, that's pretty insane," Korn frontman Jonathan Davis told Kerrang! in 2019 about the group's instrumental role in nu-metal. "The last big movement was us. Other bands helped along the way, but we spearheaded that whole thing."
It may have taken a while — they'd spent years trying to distance themselves from the tag — but Bakersfield's finest are now proud to have originated the subgenre renowned for its punishing distorted riffs, emphatic rap-rock rhythms, and lyrics drowning in aggression, abandonment and abject nihilism.
Korn — whose original lineup also featured guitarists James 'Munky' Shaffer and Brian 'Head' Welch, bassist Reginald 'Fieldy' Arvizu, and drummer David Silveria — first showcased their revolutionary approach to metal on 1993 demo Neidermayer's Mind. But it was on 1994's eponymous LP where they truly started to upset rock's status quo.
Recorded in California's middle-of-nowhere Indigo Ranch Studios for the sum of just $14,000, Korn initially garnered a mixed response, with the Los Angeles Times summarizing its relentlessly bleak themes as "a failure, or at least a crippling narrowness, of vision" and Rock Extreme describing it as "almost dadaist" in its rejection of tunefulness and melodies. But over time, its 12 speaker-blasting tracks have become more appreciated: the general consensus now is that it's a metal game-changer in the vein of Black Sabbath's debut and Metallica's Master of Puppets.
Thirty years after its release, here's a look at the various ways in which Korn birthed a whole new sound — and then made it stratospheric.
It Addressed Angst Head-On
Unlike the grunge movement that had dominated '90s rock prior to their arrival, Korn preferred to address their deep-rooted angst in a far more direct manner. Indeed, fans didn't need to spend hours poring over their debut's lyrics booklet to determine exactly what Davis was singing (well, more like screaming) about.
"My life is rippin' your heart out and destroyin' my pain!," he roars on "Fake." "You're too afraid to really be/ Someone who isn't false and doesn't care to be," goes the similarly vengeful "Lies." Meanwhile, "Predictable," a riposte to the crushing mundanity of everyday life, finds him wondering out loud whether to simply end it all.
Korn might not have been the most literate of records, but it did inspire a generation of bands — particularly those within the emo movement — to explicitly bare their souls.
It Wore Its Outsider Status On Its Sleeve
The nu-metal scene prided itself on providing an outlet for those who felt rejected by mainstream society, particularly during those turbulent high school years. And few albums fought harder against jock culture than Korn's eponymous debut.
"Clown" was inspired by an onstage encounter with an aggressive heckler put in his place by the band's towering road manager. Most notably, "Faget" saw Davis attempt to reclaim the slur constantly hurled at him for daring to wear makeup and listen to Duran Duran. "Couldn't walk through the halls without hearing that or being picked on," the frontman later remarked to the Los Angeles Times.
Meanwhile, "Daddy," the harrowing closing track detailing the childhood abuse Davis suffered at the hands of his babysitter, further broke down barriers in a predominantly macho world. "In metal, it's all about being a tough, badass dude," he told MI College of Contemporary Music in 2018. "I wasn't ashamed to say I was sensitive."
It Introduced The Scene's Greatest Producer
From Slipknot and Soulfly's self-titled debuts to Machine Head's Burning Red and Limp Bizkit's Three Dollar Bill Y'All, producer Ross Robinson oversaw many of the nu-metal scene's most pivotal records. And it was Korn's eponymous first LP that helped the man routinely hailed as its Godfather come to prominence.
Robinson modestly claims that he had little idea what he was doing when he took to the studio with five hellraising rockers in tow. But his ability to assault the senses and draw out the rawest of emotions undoubtedly laid the blueprint for the genre. In fact, Brazilian metalers Sepultura were reportedly so impressed with what they heard, they specifically hired the Texan to replicate its sound on their 1996 breakthrough sixth LP Roots. Despite the glut of bands Robinson has worked with since, however, Davis still believes he's the producer's favorite.
It Popularized The Seven-String Guitar
Inspired by the experimentalism of legendary axeman Steve Vai ("I loved how he took the instrument to the extreme and made the guitar talk," he told Reverb in 2020), Korn's Munky brought the seven-string guitar kicking and screaming into the mid-1990s, using the additional lower note to further bolster the oppressive nature of Korn's debut. Limp Bizkit's Wes Borland, Incubus' Mike Einziger, and Deftones' Stephen Carpenter would all follow suit, turning the adapted instrument — specifically, the Ibanez Universe 777 — into nu-metal's must-have.
Ironically, the seven-string wasn't initially considered appropriate for Korn's brand of metal due to its highly technical nature. And yet, Munky and fellow convert Head constantly delivered riff after monstrous riff, creating a sound that would reverberate across the rock scene for the next decade. Luckily, Vaiapproved of the direction they took with pride and joy.
It Put Nu-Metal On MTV
Korn would go on to pick up nine MTV Video Music Award nominations — and, ultimately, two wins, as well as a GRAMMY for Best Short Form Music Video — for their 1999 career-defining single "Freak On A Leash." But the quintet first showed that their visuals could match the intensity of their sound five years previously.
Korn spawned a trio of videos which received heavy rotation in the mid-1990s. The stage performance treatments for "Shoots and Ladders" and "Blind" brilliantly recaptured the mosh pit chaos of their live shows. On the other hand, "Clown" drew upon Davis' real-life experiences of high school bullying for a more narrative-driven promo, which sees a head cheerleader realize she has more in common with the outcasts than the jocks she waves her pom-poms for. (Interestingly, all three were helmed by a young Joseph McGinty Nichol, the future Charlie's Angels, This Means War, and Terminator Salvation director better known as McG.)
It Advocated That Anything Goes
Nu-metal undoubtedly pushed the more conventional form of the genre outside of its comfort zone, embracing everything from turntablism and hip-hop beats to sampling and seven-string guitars. And Korn's debut undoubtedly opened the floodgates.
The distinctive banging heard toward the end of "Ball Tongue"? Well, that was created by Munky hitting a music stand with his guitar cord. The distant lullaby sung by a female voice on haunting closer "Daddy"? That's a random lady from Davis' mom's workshop. Then there's "Shoots and Ladders," which dissects the problematic nature of nursery rhymes while accompanied by the distinctly non-metal sound of bagpipes. Yes, bagpipes.
"The first time we heard him play we were like, 'Holy s—,'" remarked Munky about Davis' unlikely skills on the Scottish woodwind, a reaction which may well have been repeated by unsuspecting listeners, too.
It Defined Nu-Metal's Style
Korn are unarguably second only to Run-D.M.C. when it comes to Adidas-obsessed musicians: like the pioneering hip-hop trio, the Californians titled a song in the sportswear brand's honor (even if the acronym "A.D.I.D.A.S" stands for something else entirely) and also later launched their own range with the German giants. And by swapping the usual metal gear for tracksuits and trainers, Davis and co. ultimately changed the fashion game.
Whether Limp Bizkit's backward baseball caps or Deftones' skater chic, the nu-metal scene undoubtedly has Korn's debut — particularly its accompanying tour and music videos — to thank for steering metal into more athletic apparel. "It was about smashing down walls and embracing all kinds of different music styles and musical cultures," Davis told Kerrang! in 2021. "It was about going against everything that metal was supposed to be."
It Enjoyed Slow-Burning Success
Korn could never be described as an instant commercial smash. It took nearly 18 months to reach its peak position on the Billboard 200, and even that was a relatively lowly No. 72. But thanks to its sustained word-of-mouth and Korn's constant touring presence — alongside dozens of headline shows, they also supported Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, and Sick Of It All — the record eventually went on to sell 10 million copies worldwide, paving the way for 2000's commercial blockbusters Limp Bizkit's Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water and Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory.
The band, and the nu-metal scene itself, also had to wait a while to receive GRAMMY Awards attention. Their first (and only) nomination for Korn didn't come until 1997, when "Shoots and Ladders" was nominated in the Best Metal Performance category. Though Korn lost to Rage Against the Machine's "Tire Me" on that occasion, they've since won two golden gramophones (Best Short Form Music Video for "Freak on a Leash" in 2000 and Best Metal Performance for "Here To Stay" in 2003) and garnered eight GRAMMY nominations total.
It Inspired All The Nu-Metal Giants
"It was something I related to and had been waiting for," Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst once said of Korn's breakthrough. "I thought, 'Where have these guys been my whole life?'" It's a viewpoint echoed by practically every nu-metal outfit who emerged in Korn's wake.
Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda has cited Davis as a major inspiration on his songwriting approach, particularly for being an "open book putting all of his most f—ed-up stuff right out there in the lyrics." Slipknot's Corey Taylor described seeing them on the album's accompanying tour as "one of the best concerts I've ever seen."
Collaborations with hardcore favorites Suicide Silence and dubstep maestro Skrillex (the latter of whom helped produce the band's 2011 LP The Path of Totality) also prove that Korn's influence extends far beyond their wheelhouse. Meanwhile, newer fanboys such as Tallah and Tetrarch are showing that even three decades on, Korn is still teaching metalheads how to let it all out.
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