Follow the leader

Follow the leader
Studio album by
Publication (s)	August 18, 1998
admission	March-May 1998
Label (s)	Immortal Records , Epic Records
Genre (s)	Nu metal , alternative metal
Title (number)	13 +12 leading blanks
running time	70:08
occupation	Jonathan Davis - vocals Brian Welch - guitar James Shaffer - guitar Reginald Arvizu - bass David Silveria - drums
production	Steve Thompson , Toby Wright
Studio (s)	NRG Recording Studios, North Hollywood , California
chronology Life Is Peachy (1996) Follow the leader Issues (1999)

Follow the Leader (English for. " Follow the Leader ") is the third studio album by American nu-metal band Korn . It was released on August 18, 1998 and was the first Korn album that was not produced by Ross Robinson . It reached five times platinum in the USA and is the band's most successful album to date, with over 14 million copies sold worldwide. It topped the Billboard 200 , as well as the Australian , New Zealand and Canadian charts. In Germany it reached number twelve, in Austria number seven of the respective hit lists. The successful album was promoted with the Family Values ​​Tour . The song Freak on a Leash was nominated for nine MTV Video Music Awards .

Emergence

The second album, Life Is Peachy , was rushed to follow up, which in retrospect was seen as a mistake that they did not want to repeat with the third work. For this reason, the preparation took several labor-intensive months. After Korn guitarist James Shaffer survived meningitis in the summer of 1997 , which prevented the band from playing their headlining appearance at the Lollapalooza Festival, they went back to the studio in spring 1998 to record Follow the Leader . The recording process was documented in a show called KornTV . Jonathan Davis later admitted suffering from panic attacks , which he tried to muffle with a bottle of whiskey a day, only to find that the alcohol tended to favor the panic state. Although the group had been satisfied with Ross Robinson's work, they decided on a new team of producers who, according to critics, produced the record a little more focused than the previous album, although little changed in the overall sound of the band. Except for the reinforced hip-hop elements like in Children of the Korn , where Ice Cube , still covered on Life Is Peachy , was now involved himself. Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit made a guest contribution to All in the Family , which is also the first single. The album title mocks those bands who, in Korn's opinion, have aped their successful style, especially Sepultura and Coal Chamber .

layout

The cartoon-like cover art designed by Greg Capullo and Todd McFarlane, who also Ten Thousand Fists by Disturbed designed. It shows a girl who is jumping over a knoll box on a ledge and has reached the very end of it, followed by other children.

Track list

The album begins with twelve five-second blank pieces, so that the first piece of music has track number 13. The blank titles result in a minute's silence, which was added out of respect for a deceased fan.

1. Untitled 01 - 0:05
2. Untitled 02 - 0:05
3. Untitled 03 - 0:05
4. Untitled 04 - 0:05
5. Untitled 05 - 0:05
6. Untitled 06 - 0:05
7. Untitled 07 - 0:05
8. Untitled 08 - 0:05
9. Untitled 09 - 0:05
10. Untitled 10 - 0:05
11. Untitled 11 - 0:05
12. Untitled 12 - 0:05
13. It's on! - 4:28
14. Freak on a Leash - 4:15
15. Got the Life - 3:45
16. Dead Bodies Everywhere - 4:44
17. Children of the KoЯn - 3:52 feat. Ice Cube
18. BBK - 3:56
19. Pretty - 4:12
20. All in the Family - 4:48 feat. Fred Durst
21. Reclaim My Place - 4:32
22. Justin - 4:17
23. Seed - 5:54
24. Cameltosis - 4:38 feat. Tre Hardson
25. My Gift to You - 15:40 incl. Earache My Eye ( Hidden Track ) - 4:49

style

The industry magazine MusikWoche wrote that Korn was "again combining brute industrial rhythms with cutting guitar and bass sounds as well as calm and relaxed passages." There are also "gripping grooves". The lyrics are gloomy. In Metal Hammer there was talk of "terribly morbid lyrics", but they were based on personal experiences. The song Pretty is about a one-year-old baby whose father broke his legs so he could rape her. Davis was confronted with such cases during his time as a pathology assistant, i.e. coroner in forensic medicine. Justin refers to a terminally ill 14-year-old boy who had wanted (and had) a meeting with Korn.

reception

While Korn was treated a bit more skeptically in the German music press than elsewhere, there has now been a slight change in Rock Hard . Michael Rensen sometimes called the vocals "really annoying" and criticized the sometimes "chaotic" song structures, but he called the record "much better" than Korn's reputation. Most of the songs turned out to be "absolutely understandable after two or three runs at the latest, convey a lot of emotions and have many weird and beautiful sound experiments at the start that guarantee a high degree of variety". However, Rensen was seriously mistaken in his assessment that the record did not contain a single hit. The rating was 6.5 out of ten points. For the Melody Maker it was immediately clear that it was a “wonderful masterpiece”. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic again pointed out Korn's sound as crucial for the band. The record is not as “fresh” as the band's debut. He awarded four out of five stars. The album was also listed in Robert Dimery's reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die .

Awards for music sales

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Australia (ARIA)	3 × platinum	210,000
France (SNEP)	gold	100,000
Canada (MC)	3 × platinum	300,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	platinum	15,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	gold	50,000
United States (RIAA)	5 × platinum	5,000,000
United Kingdom (BPI)	gold	100,000
All in all	3 × gold 12 × platinum	5,775,000

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Matthias Mineur: At the crossroads. Grain . In: Metal Hammer . December 2004, p. 46 f .
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Claudia Nitsche: K (l) ein Helden, Grosse Musik . In: Metal Hammer . September 1998, p. 60 ff .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Neil Kulkarni: Cereal Killers. Grain . In: Melody Maker . September 5, 1998, p. 16 .
4. ↑ ^{a b} Claudia Nitsche: Leader! Show-off! Freak show !? Grain . In: Metal Hammer . December 1999, p. 24 ff .
5. ↑ allmusic.com: biography Korn by Jason Ankeny
6. ↑ ^{a b} Wolf Kohl: Voices in the head. Grain . In: Metal Hammer . January 2000, p. 80 f .
7. ↑ ^{a b} allmusic.com: Review Follow the Leader by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
8. ↑ A sound hurricane with soft tones. Grain. Follow the leader . In: MusikWoche . The news magazine for the music industry. No. 34/1998 , August 17, 1998, news, p. 28 .
9. ↑ Michael Rensen: rockhard.de: Review Follow the Leader
10. ↑ Award in Australia
11. ^ Award in France
12. ↑ Award in Canada
13. ↑ Award in New Zealand
14. ↑ in the Netherlands  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
15. ↑ Distinction in the United States
16. ↑ Award in the United Kingdom

Web links

• Follow the Leader at Allmusic (English)