Grain (tape)
| KoЯn | |
|---|---|
 Korn in 2013: Reginald Arvizu, Ray Luzier, Jonathan Davis, James Shaffer and Brian Welch (from left to right) |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Bakersfield , California , United States |
| Genre (s) | Alternative metal , nu metal |
| founding | 1993 |
| Website | kornofficial.com |
| Current occupation | |
| Jonathan Davis | |
| James "Munky" Shaffer | |
Electric guitar |
Brian "Head" Welch (1993-2005, since 2013) |
| Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu | |
Drums, percussion
|
Ray Luzier (since 2007) |
| former members | |
| David Silveria (until 2006) | |
Korn (mostly written KoЯn ) is a metal band founded in 1993 . She has her roots in Bakersfield , California ( United States ) and is considered a co-founder of Nu Metal .
history
The beginnings (1993–1995)
Korn have their origins in the friendship between Reginald Arvizu and Brian Welch , who shared a common hobby, namely playing guitar , from an early age . Both decided to start their own band and then persuaded James Shaffer to join in , as they found his long hair suitable as a teenager.
David Silveria , a then 13 year old boy who tried his hand at drums and was able to convince the rest of the members with his outstanding ability for his age, completed the first musical line-up that was named " LAPD " and in the field of the punk is to settle.
In 1993 Shaffer and Welch paid a visit to their hometown Bakersfield and met Jonathan Davis , who was then a coroner and who was also a singer in the local band Sexart , in a bar . He was impressed by the offer to act on a trial basis in the existing Shaffer and Welch band. Since everyone involved found the result more than satisfactory, Davis quickly became a permanent member of the later Korn cast.
There are various, sometimes hair-raising rumors about the origins of this band name. In the home video Who Then Now? Davis explained unspectacularly that the band name came to him out of the blue. To do this, he decided to write the title in a childlike font, twisting the incorrectly capitalized "R" to a "Я". He also wrote the word Corn (German: Mais) with K instead of C - the lettering KoЯn was born.
Together, the band members moved to Los Angeles , where they figured they had better chances for a successful future. They finally managed to get real attention from record labels with countless appearances and in 1994 they signed with the Epic sub-label Immortal Records .
In the same year, the debut of the same name Korn appeared , which caused quite a stir in the scene. In retrospect, it can be said that with this album the band could have succeeded in inventing an entire music subgenre (lack of successors in the next decade raise doubts), which the music industry shortly thereafter named Nu Metal . Years later, songs like Shoots and Ladders or Blind , which combines all the characteristics of the early Korn, guarantee full dance floors in alternative rock discos .
Promotion (1996-1999)
On various tours as the opening act for Danzig , House of Pain , Megadeth , KMFDM , Biohazard , Marilyn Manson and Ozzy Osbourne , the band won live support from open fans of various musical backgrounds from hip-hop to thrash metal .
Spurred on by positive reviews in music magazines around the world and considered the "next big thing", Korn quickly added a second album in 1996, Life Is Peachy , which is even darker and more disturbing and which had a real shocker with the first track "Twist". which underpinned the so often proclaimed "psycho-factor". Within a few weeks, Korn climbed to third place on the US Billboard charts amid the general hype . With the Ice Cube cover Wicked , the close connection between the band and the Deftones is recorded for the first time : their singer, Chino Moreno, sings the part of Ice Cube, while Davis takes over the part from Don Jaguar.
Despite the success and the initially exuberant reactions from the press , a view of things soon emerges that Korn would maneuver himself into a dead end: The morbid atmosphere and twisted song structures left hardly any space for comprehensible melodies .
In 1998, the third work Follow the Leader appeared , on which they made a slight style adjustment, but without foregoing the typical sound of the band. The guest list includes e.g. B. Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit , but also musicians from outside the genre such as Ice Cube . Overall, the third album makes no secret of the hip-hop roots of individual band members, and the newly gained mass compatibility also directly brings the big commercial breakthrough. The high-budget music videos for Got the Life and Freak on a Leash were on heavy rotation on MTV .
Grain itself call in the Deuce - DVD retrospect the album as their "party plate" whose recording with alcohol went hand in hand and constant celebrations with musician friends.
In the same year Korn headlined the highly successful “ Family Values Tour ” across the United States with Limp Bizkit (with their new member DJ Lethal [ex-House of Pain]), Orgy , Rammstein and Ice Cube (for the last four Concerts replaced by Incubus ). The tour entourage leads through 40 stations with a total of 243,000 fans, revenues in the millions are the result.
Through their pioneering role for “new” bands of the Nu-Metal movement - clearly recorded in the record title Follow the Leader - they help groups such as Deftones , Coal Chamber or Kid Rock to achieve their breakthrough on a broad basis. On the label Elementree , which they founded themselves , Korn release albums by bands that they consider to be trend- setting , with Orgy making the start.
Issues , published in late 1999, is a concept album "about Davis' alcoholism, anxiety, depression and problems associated with the band" ( Visions ). It appears with four different cover artwork, all of which were sent in by fans of the band as part of an MTV competition. The star writes about Korn as the “favorite band of the frustrated white kids who see no chance and no meaning for their lives in a country whose possibilities are supposed to be so unlimited. The band plays a similar role in the attitude towards life of this generation as Kurt Cobain's Nirvana did in the early 1990s. "
Criticism and Problems (2000-2004)
Since around 2001, Korn has often been accused of being just a shadow of themselves, despite the independent sound. There was no real development, and the lyrics have always revolved around the same topics since the band's first work.
The following world tour could not bring drummer Silveria to an end, because the years of constant stress on his joints thwarted his plans . Mike Bordin ( Faith No More ) helped out at short notice until he recovered from a necessary operation .
In the first slightly longer waiting time until the album Untouchables 2002, front man Davis made a name for himself with his alcoholism and depression , which he tried to get under control with large amounts of Prozac . He devoted himself more and more unusual hobbies like collecting mass murderer - memorabilia or his private porn - video library so that Arvizu the unused time for importing and publishing of his hip-hop-influenced "Fieldy's Dreams" project used. The album, called Rock'n'Roll Gangster , flopped in both critics and fans.
Although both Issues and Untouchables are regarded by the majority of critics and fans from the very beginning as just too polished average goods, they were both further commercial successes. Issues reached number ninth in the German album charts and sold just under 600,000 units in the first week in the USA, Untouchables even reached the first No. 1 position in Germany . In early 2003, the band received the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance for “Here to Stay” .
Korn released their sixth album, Take a Look in the Mirror , at the end of 2003: The songs included form an intersection of the impetuous early works known from their debut and the more melodic and manageable works of recent years, as well as a collaboration with rapper Nas ( Play Me ). The video for the first single Did My Time , in which Angelina Jolie can be seen, attracted particular attention . The song made it to number 12 in the German single charts.
In 2004, Greatest Hits Vol. 1 was the first retrospective on ten years of band history. The album starts with the most recent compositions and goes back to the roots of the success story. After a hidden track on the last album Take a Look in the Mirror , which turned out to be a cover version of Metallicas One (live on MTV Icon Metallica ), the best-of compilation features two more covers: Word Up from the 80s band Cameo and a restructured version of Another Brick-in-the-Wall - trilogy of Pink Floyd .
Upheavals (2005-2006)
After this album Korn and Epic Records parted ways . The seventh album should initially be released through its own music label because the band was no longer satisfied with the promotion in recent years. In September 2005, however, Korn surprisingly signed a contract with Virgin , and the first pre-release single was Twisted Transistor on October 6th .
Brian Welch left the band in the middle of the recording process for the next album because he was no longer satisfied with the band's music direction and, according to his own statement , wanted to dedicate himself to his “Savior Jesus Christ ” in the future . In a "letter of resignation" he gave a number of reasons and described his gradual estrangement from the rest of the band over the past two years.
Korn then caused astonishment with the decision that Rob Patterson should initially represent the retired guitarist in live concerts, but that he would not be seen on stage. According to Davis, the band is not ready for the permanent inclusion of a new guitarist at the moment. During the European tour in late summer 2005, however, Korn reacted to pressure from fans and occasionally allowed Patterson to appear on stage. Patterson should still not become a permanent member, on the contrary, Shaffer and Davis confirmed that Korn would only act in a four-man formation in the future. A replacement is being sought for each concert.
After a few postponements, the seventh studio album See You on the Other Side was released on December 2, 2005 . It showed a stylistically strongly changed band, which placed emphasis on industrial rock borrowings, electronic nuances and a dominant drumming. In search of this new identity, the band had previously worked with various producers such as The Matrix (including Britney Spears , Avril Lavigne ), Linda Perry ( 4 Non Blondes ), Glenn Ballard ( Alanis Morissette ), Dallas Austin ( TLC , Mariah Carey ) and Atticus Ross ( Nine Inch Nails ). For the first time, Davis' personal problems were no longer in the foreground. Some similar topics were discussed, such as B. Addressed abuse and domestic violence, which will now be generalized. New topics such as current US politics and booming patriotism were also treated critically.
In 2006 the album Live & Rare was released. This album mainly contains live songs and the two songs Earache my Eye and Proud . At Earache my Eye , Davis was on the drums for a change, Arvizu sang, Silveria took over the bass guitar and Welch and Shaffer swapped their guitar parts.
On December 9, 2006, “ MTV Unplugged: Korn ” was recorded in New York . The set list included fourteen songs. In Make Me Bad and the cover of 'In Between Days' played grain together with musicians from The Cure , the song Freak On A Leash supported Amy Lee of Evanescence . The concert was broadcast worldwide on MTV on March 3, 2007 . The accompanying CD was released on March 2, 2007.
In late 2005, Davis announced on the official website that Silveria was taking time out because he was feeling drained. Terry Bozzio subsequently supported the band as a replacement while working on the next album as well as on tour. After the end of his collaboration with Bozzio and a short interlude with Brooks Wackerman from Bad Religion , which was announced in early April 2007, Joey Jordison from Slipknot Korn helped out as a drummer during a five-month tour.
Untitled , Korn III: Remember Who You Are and The Path of Totality (2007-2011)
On July 27, 2007 the album Untitled was released, which has no name. As it was said, this should avoid a limitation and give every fan the opportunity to call it what they want. This should also be the last album produced together with Virgin Records.
With Ray Luzier (formerly Army of Anyone , David Lee Roth ) a new drummer joined the band in the course of 2007, who was initially only supposed to be a temporary replacement for Silveria, but then became a full member. On April 22, 2008, the download single Haze was released as the soundtrack for the computer game Haze .
After a year-long break from the band, Davis named Luzier in March 2009 as a permanent fourth member of the band. A second guitarist and a keyboard player supported Korn at concerts. On July 13, 2010, the four released their ninth album Korn III - Remember Who You Are on Roadrunner Records. Together with Ross Robinson, who already produced the first two albums, they said they went "back to the roots" again.
After a long tour, a sample from Get Up! . A short time later the complete track was available for free download. At Get Up! is a collaboration with dubstep artist Skrillex . The first official single from The Path of Totality album , Narcissistic Cannibal , released on December 2, 2011 , was heard on the radio from October 12, 2011.
The return of Brian "Head" Welch (since 2012)
.jpg)
After the former guitarist Brian Welch was brought on stage as a guest for a concert in 2012 and performed the song Blind with the band , Korn announced that they would play full concerts with Welch as live support. During the planned European tour, the band visited the German festivals Rock am Ring and Rock im Park , as well as the British download festival . On May 2, 2013 it was announced that the group was working with Welch on a reunion album, which should be released that same year. It was the first album with Welch on guitar since Take a Look in the Mirror (2003). The album is called The Paradigm Shift and was released on October 8, 2013. Two singles ( Never Never and Love & Meth ) were released in advance.
On July 22, 2016, the band released a new song and music video, Rotting in Vain, as a precursor to their twelfth studio album, The Serenity of Suffering , which was released on October 21, 2016.
When Reginald Arvizu , the band's bassist, paused for a few gigs in the spring of 2017 for personal reasons, he was replaced at short notice by Tye Trujillo, the son of Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo, who was 12 years old at the time.
The Serenity of Suffering and The Nothing (2016-2019)
In October 2016 the band released their 12th album called " The Serenity of Suffering " on the Roadrunner Records label . The album received mostly positive reviews and reached number 3 in the German charts.
The album " The Nothing " was released on September 13, 2019 , again via Roadrunner Records. The recordings took a little longer than planned, the wife of the singer Jonathan Davis died in August 2018 at the age of 39 from a drug overdose. Davis' grief coping is an integral part of the album lyrics. The online fanzine krachfink.de describes the album as follows: "Despite all the heaviness, The Nothing has a liberating effect and is like the last step on the way out."
Podcast "The Nothing"
The band announced a fictionalized podcast series called "The Nothing" in September 2019. It tells the story of journalist Matt Singer, who travels to the small town of Wellden, Kansas , to solve the mystery of the disappearance of a girl. When he gets there, he quickly realizes that nothing is what it seems. The podcast series was produced by Adam Mason, with Keir O'Donnell (Wedding Crashers, Fargo , Legion), Darri Ingolfsson ( Dexter , Black Antenna) and Mikayla S. Campbell speaking the leading roles.
style
The relatively harsh sound of Korn is characterized by squeaky and distorted guitar riffs that are whipped by a dense rhythm. The unusually lower tuned seven-string guitars , the five-string bass and the slap bass playing by Arvizu are striking . Korn's figurehead is singer Davis, who comes from the classical music scene and covers a wide vocal spectrum from affected choirboys to bizarre vocal experiments to emotionally charged barking, whining and roaring. The occasional use of a bagpipe is also noticeable .
Dark, cynical and unambiguous lyrics allowed the identification of countless young people who felt neglected, especially those from the middle class . Not infrequently, Davis openly denounces his little sheltered childhood in the songs, emphasizing the resulting therapeutic effect in interviews. The Zillo magazine wrote this, the singer representing "modern underdog, a labile little soul that comes from broken social conditions, abused by her father, beaten by her step-mother and ignored by her classmates - traumatic experiences that the central hub of the Korn Universe ”.
In Daddy - also from the band's debut - Davis takes up the sexual abuse mentioned, for example . However, these are often incorrectly interpreted lines of text. He sings “And fucked your own child”, but by that he means the inactivity of his parents after he was abused by a neighbor for years. In an interview, the singer said: “When I was a child, someone abused me and I went to my parents to tell them. They thought I was lying and laughing about it, they never did anything about it. They never believed that something like this had happened to their son. "
Extract from Daddy :
- Little child, looking so pretty. Come out and play, I'll be your daddy.
- Innocent child, looking so sweet. Rape your mind, and now your flesh I reap.
- You raped. I feel dirty. It hurts. As a child. Tied down. "That's a good boy."
- And fucked. Your own child. I scream. No one hears me. It hurts.
Towards the end of the song, Davis can be heard crying and sobbing for several minutes, then a female voice, presumably supposed to represent his mother, begins to sing until the recording is stopped. This haunting emotional roller coaster ride in a previously unheard of sound garb was recorded under the direction of Ross Robinson , who thus became one of the most sought-after and most respected producers in modern metal . Today it is also considered a building block in the founding of Nu Metal .
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1994 | KoЯn | - | - | - |
UK-  |
US72 1  × 2
(64 weeks)US |
First published: October 11, 1994
Sales: + 2,170,000 |
| 1996 | Life is peachy |
DE85 (1 week) DE |
AT21 (5 weeks) AT |
- |
UK32 (3 weeks)UK |
US3 × 2
(50 weeks)US |
First published: October 15, 1996
Sales: + 2,227,500 |
| 1998 | Follow the leader |
DE12 (20 weeks) DE |
AT7 (7 weeks) AT |
- |
UK5 (5 weeks)UK |
US1 × 5
(89 weeks)US |
First published: August 18, 1998
Sales: + 5,775,000 |
| 1999 | Issues |
DE9 (26 weeks)DE |
AT13 (12 weeks) AT |
CH86 (2 weeks) CH |
UK37 (3 weeks)UK |
US1 × 3
(47 weeks)US |
First published: November 16, 1999
Sales: + 3,805,000 |
| 2002 | Untouchables |
DE1 (17 weeks) DE |
AT2 (20 weeks) AT |
CH5 (17 weeks) CH |
UK4th (15 weeks)UK |
US2 (34 weeks)US |
First published: June 10, 2002
Sales: +1,177,500 |
| 2003 | Take a look in the mirror |
DE8th (11 weeks)DE |
AT2 (10 weeks) AT |
CH14 (8 weeks) CH |
UK53  (1 week)UK |
US9 (26 weeks)US |
First published: November 24, 2003
Sales: + 1,195,000 |
| 2005 | See You on the Other Side |
DE12 (25 weeks)DE |
AT7 (20 weeks) AT |
CH11 (13 weeks) CH |
UK71 (2 weeks)UK |
US3 (49 weeks)US |
First published: December 6, 2005
Sales: + 1,260,000 |
| 2007 | Untitled |
DE3 (10 weeks) DE |
AT3 (9 weeks) AT |
CH9 (8 weeks) CH |
UK15 (4 weeks) UK |
US2 (20 weeks)US |
First published: July 27, 2007
Sales: + 500,000 |
| 2010 | Korn III - Remember Who You Are |
DE4 (9 weeks) DE |
AT3 (9 weeks) AT |
CH8 (7 weeks) CH |
UK23 (2 weeks) UK |
US2 (9 weeks) US |
First published: July 13, 2010
|
| 2011 | The Path of Totality |
DE28 (8 weeks) DE |
AT24 (6 weeks) AT |
CH32 (3 weeks) CH |
UK68 (1 week) UK |
US10 (21 weeks) US |
First published: December 2, 2011
|
| 2013 | The Paradigm Shift |
DE7 (5 weeks) DE |
AT7 (3 weeks) AT |
CH16 (4 weeks) CH |
UK16 (2 weeks)UK |
US8 (7 weeks) US |
First published: October 8, 2013
|
| 2016 | The Serenity of Suffering |
DE3 (5 weeks) DE |
AT6 (5 weeks) AT |
CH6 (3 weeks) CH |
UK9 (2 weeks) UK |
US4 (6 weeks) US |
First published: October 21, 2016
|
| 2019 | The Nothing |
DE6 (6 weeks) DE |
AT7 (4 weeks) AT |
CH4 (4 weeks) CH |
UK9 (2 weeks) UK |
US8 (... weeks) US |
First published: September 13, 2019
|
Appearances in other media
Both the band as a whole and some of its members had several appearances in other media, including television series, cartoons and movies. For example, in the third season of the animated series South Park , the band is dedicated to the episode " Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery" , in which they use their Corn Powers against evil and the whole Perform the song Falling Away from Me from the album Issues . The plot is loosely based on the movie Kiss - Chased by Phantoms and the cartoon series Scooby-Doo . In the crime series Monk they played in the episode “Mr. Monk is stuck in traffic ” (Mr. Monk gets stuck in traffic) when they get stuck in traffic with their tour bus.
The band members also appeared in other forms, for example singer Jonathan Davis played a few smaller fictional roles in individual films, such as in the romantic comedy Seeing Other People , where he played Ricky, or in the vampire film Queen of the Damned from 2002, where he plays a nameless speculator. But the band members also played in documentaries and reality TV formats such as the tattoo documentary Miami Ink - Tattoos for Life . For example, bassist Reginald Arvizu from Darren Brass had the signatures of all four band members tattooed in episode 45 of Miami Ink .
But not only certain songs by the band were used for the soundtrack, but the band was also hired to compose music. For the film Queen of the Damned , the singer composed with Richard Gibbs a. a. the entire film music, some of which was recorded by the band Korn.
Filmography (selection)
- 1999: South Park (TV series, season 3, episode 10: Korn's really weird ghost story)
- 2002: Queen of the Damned (Queen of the Damned) (soundtrack performance by Jonathan Davis)
- 2005: Monk (TV series, season 3, episode 13: Mr. Monk is stuck in a traffic jam)
Web links
- Official website
- Korn on MusicBrainz (English)
- Korn at laut.de
- Grain in the Internet Movie Database (English)
swell
- ↑ The Classic Albums: Korn (accessed March 16, 2010)
- ↑ laut.de: "Joey Jordison goes on tour with Korn", April 20, 2007
- ^ EMP magazine, autumn 2007 edition
- ^ Rizal Johan: "The order of Korn", March 13, 2009
- ↑ KORN ENTER STUDIO WITH BRIAN 'HEAD' WELCH TO RECORD 2013 ALBUM
- ↑ Korn announce full tracklisting for new album 'The Paradigm Shift' . Retrieved August 23, 2013.
- ^ Tyler Sharp: Alternative Press : Korn announce new album, release heavy throwback single — listen
- ↑ SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg Germany: Temporary gig: son of the Metallica bassist, 12, goes on tour - SPIEGEL ONLINE - culture. Retrieved June 20, 2017 .
- ↑ Deven Davis: Cause of death of Jonathan Davis' wife has been determined. October 11, 2018, accessed on September 12, 2019 (German).
- ^ Korn - The Nothing - Review. In: krachfink. September 10, 2019, accessed on September 12, 2019 (German).
- ↑ Korn: Korn release new song "Can You Hear Me" and announce podcast series. September 6, 2019, accessed September 12, 2019 .