Korn: Classic Or Dud?

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i thought they were quite cool around ten years ago for assisting in the update of metal's image (along with groups like tool). if you look at some of the other metal coming out around that time (notably metallica's black album) korn is light years ahead. they had a fresh sound (that strayed from the wankery of metal's hard blues roots) and did much to update the tired dungeons and dragons/harley davidson image that metal had carved for itself in the previous twenty years.

fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Thursday, 19 December 2002 22:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

If you have to ask, and you did, it's dud. Like buy yourself a real bass sound, Fieldy.

hstencil, Thursday, 19 December 2002 22:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

I like the bass, it was the freshest part. If they'd played their cards a little differently they wouldn't be thought of as this big dumb metal band, I think, if you listen to it with the right ears, no wave/art-core pretensions wouldn't be far off. The disco song was good, too.

I always hated them, of course, but for lack of considering them more than anything else. I didn't have to consider them, because I was in middle school/high school. They're over now; I guess they were pretty good.

Adam A. (Keiko), Thursday, 19 December 2002 22:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

my right ears (and my left ones too) can't get over how trebly everything, including the bass, sounds.

hstencil, Thursday, 19 December 2002 22:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

You know, the absence of low end was something that fascinated me when I first heard a Sonic Youth album. Made it sound more tense, edgy.

sundar subramanian (sundar), Thursday, 19 December 2002 22:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'll acknowledge their little bits of sonic intrigue (especially the tasmanian devil beatbox part of "Freak On A Leash", which I worship) and that song and a few other singles had a melody. But they always seem like a neat car with a flat tire to me. The rhythms are turgid and Jonathan Davis is godawful as often as he's novel. Plus I don't get a sense that they're getting over their issues, ya know? They've been complaining about the same shit for a decade. Maybe they should go see a shrink.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 20 December 2002 00:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

They suck elephant poo. Through a straw.

, Friday, 20 December 2002 00:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

This is a band? What an absolutely horrible name! Who would call themselves that? Awful! Terrible! I can't even imagine what sort of ridiculous people would go around saying 'We're Korn' and then acting as if they were going to rock some place. It's flat, boring and disgusting at the same time. Korn. Ugh. Horrendous. Horrendous name.

Tom Millar (Millar), Friday, 20 December 2002 01:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sadly, the horrendousness doesn't end with their name.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 20 December 2002 01:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

It's funny cos around 2 or 3 years before they broke on the radio with their disco song my little brother, who must have been 12 or 13 or so, was obsessed with them. Of course, he doesn't listen to them now, but every so often one of their new videos will come on and he'll say something to the effect of them "still kicking ass".

Adam Bruneau, Friday, 20 December 2002 02:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sad case with Korn. I remember seeing them live like 6 or 7 years ago, and thinking, "hey, not a bad live show, 7-string guitars, pretty neat."

Then the second album came out and sounded just like the first, and then the 3rd, which sounded like the 1st & second, and the cycle continues.

The fact is, althought they came out as original, entertaining musicians, they never really evolved, which would be ok if there weren't so many blatent knock-offs. The surrounding sound-alike bands kinda diminished Korn's initial originality.

And then Feildy's Dreams came out and the shit hit the fan. Or was it that the fans bought that piece of shit? I dunno.

Helltime Producto (Pavlik), Friday, 20 December 2002 02:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Freak On A Leash" is the only worthwhile thing Korn has done.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 20 December 2002 05:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

I really wish Nu Metal bands didnt ruin 7 String guitars. There's so many possibilities, and now there's this stigma hanging over it. Same with using a turntable in rock; so much that could be done that wont ever because some hillbilly thought itd be sweet if they scratched a turntable during the chorus of their heavy metal song and never used it in any other way.

Korn: I really can't stand their stupid "I was an outcast... kindof... in highschool... which was like 10 years ago" lyrics. The "bobbing for apples" thing they do with their heads also annoys the crap out of me.

David Allen, Friday, 20 December 2002 06:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

Korn's an unexploded cluster bomb.

mal2478 (mal2478), Friday, 20 December 2002 13:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

>Korn. Ugh. Horrendous. Horrendous name.

If you think the name is bad, the story of why they chose that name is much, much worse.

fletrejet, Friday, 20 December 2002 14:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

Korn. The only thing I've ever enjoyed about them is looking at their singer's mic stand, which was designed by HR frickin Geiger.

It's a little frustrating to me as a vocalist who is very influenced by rap music that they are often referred to as "rap/rock" even when I don't recall they've ever actually rapped in any of their songs. Like calling Talking Heads a 'metal' band or something. Eh, I'll get over it.

And yes, the story of their name is one of the most disgusting stories in the history of modern music. It might possibly trump the Charlie Parker whiskey/fried chicken/hooker story.

nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 20 December 2002 14:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

I couldn't dig up the story. Please post

Jonathan Williams (ex machina), Friday, 20 December 2002 14:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

from some dudes site: " THEY WENT OUT TO A BAR DRINKING. WHILE THEY WERE AT THE BAR, THEY HEARD A GAY GUY TELLING A STORY ABOUT A TIME WITH HIS PARTNER. HE WAS EATING OUT OF HIS PARTNERS ASSHOLE WHEN HE HAD DIARRHEA. WHEN HE LOOKED UP, THERE WAS A CORN KERNEL ON HIS TONGUE. THIS GROSSED OUT THE BAND, AND EVERYBODY ELSE AROUND. SO AFTER THAT NIGHT, JON WOULD GO AROUND PEOPLE THAT WERE THERE, AND HE WOULD SAY CORN. IT

WOULD MAKE THEM SICK. FINALLY THEY DECIDED IT WOULD BE A GREAT BAND NAME! HE WROTE IT LIKE A CHILD WOULD. IT STUCK, AND NOW THEY ARE BIG."


Great...

Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 20 December 2002 14:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

Their music sounds silly to me. It makes Pat Boone's metal covers redundant. They are also the most homely band to come along in a while. They should put on masks like Gwar.

Eugene Record, Friday, 20 December 2002 16:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

Clodhopping sludge, the like of which is dredged from the coastline near to Sellafield only much less interesting on account of the lack of glowing crabs and three-eyed halibut, nonetheless Korn peddle insubstantive, clumsy, sweating, dull balderdash with no redeeming quality that I recall; balderdash produced with a maximum of pseudo-righteous effort, like an ageing ape suffering chronic constipation who upon straining for four hours, the veins on its neck protruding, holds up the resultant stool towards the sky, a proud expression etched across its face, before proceeding to beat itself about the head with said stagnant club. Worthless.

Roger Fascist (Roger Fascist), Friday, 20 December 2002 16:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

Saw Jonathan Davis interviewed by the dee-lightful Charlotte Roche on German tv -- the conversation was friendly and polite, with Charlotte typically and graciously trying to make Davis sound smarter than he is, but what was especially lovely was the body language. He was obviously way into her, while I have never before seen a television interviewer keep such a friendly face while her body screamed "VERPISS DICH, DU EKEL!!"

Colin Meeder (Mert), Friday, 20 December 2002 16:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

I forgot about their South Park appearance (which is the best thing they've done to date).

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 20 December 2002 19:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

Korn is bad enough (and yes, i've heard before the story about how they got their name). But what makes them especially dud is what they've expired (to wit: if you want someone to blame for Fred Durst and Linkin Park ...)

Tad (llamasfur), Friday, 20 December 2002 19:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

Korn expired? Oh happy day.

Eugene Record, Friday, 20 December 2002 20:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

Best Freudian slip EVER.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 20 December 2002 21:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

sundar: thanks for mentioning that thread! it IS great!

m, Friday, 20 December 2002 23:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

Korn, and solely Korn, i hold wholly responsible for the frustratin' fact that the favourite band of my son's girlfriend is fkn ...Korn

t\'\'t (t''t), Saturday, 21 December 2002 04:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

They've had a few good singles ("Got the Life" especially, it's nearly disco!) but they've hit a rut. Nothing since "Falling Away From Me" has done anything for me.

Vinnie (vprabhu), Saturday, 21 December 2002 04:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

I Love "Got the Life." It's the only song of theirs that makes their whole "original sound" deal actually seem worth it.

My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Saturday, 21 December 2002 07:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

My ex-girlfriend was a big KoRn fan. So, if I ever went out in my Hole tee-shirt and she was in a KoRn hoddy, I had to stand to her left. Think about it.

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 21 December 2002 10:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

ten months pass...
That song "Blind" was hot. It wasn't grunge or metal and it was pretty refreshing for hard radio rock at the time. But that was 1994, and they haven't changed, and that sound is completely worn out because so many bands copied it.

And they're also one of these anger-based bands (Metallica, et al.)who are doomed to fail if they ever become successful. I mean, scream, bitch and whine about terror and tragedy, it hurts, i'm alone, blah blah blah... SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY! When you've got the cash money chart topping bling bling music videos, when you have fan clubs and your albums are featured in the K-mart circular, none of that shit is valid.

But I actually think Korn is pretty talented- the bassist and drummer are tight like spandex on sumo.

So the correct answer is neither classic nor dud.

Shaun (shaun), Thursday, 20 November 2003 16:29 (twenty years ago) link

Shaun is my new ILM friend! Haha!

Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Thursday, 20 November 2003 21:14 (twenty years ago) link

What's lame is that so many jaded and stuck up rock critic types such as ourselves get hung up on 'subgenres' (illusions to begin with) and miss out on good music because of knee jerk bias towards anything that isn't reverential to fucking Pavement's legacy or whatever. Korn (and to a far greater extent Rob Zombie and System of a Down) occasionally make music that is far better than the shit on Southern Lord, Hydra Head and Relapse that get the hipster nod of approval. I don't own any Korn albums and I don't plan on buying any, but is anyone going to tell me they'd rather hear fucking "Maps" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs than "Freak on a Leash" after a long, hard day of work? If the answer is yes, I don't wanna know you.

roger adultery, Thursday, 27 November 2003 00:30 (twenty years ago) link

hahaha the Yeah Yeah Yeahs don't have a bass player with a penchant for trebly, un-bass-like sounds!

hstencil, Thursday, 27 November 2003 00:37 (twenty years ago) link

Korn/Bizkit = Sab/Priest?

dave q, Thursday, 27 November 2003 00:44 (twenty years ago) link

Clearly and undisputedly dud.

Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 27 November 2003 00:57 (twenty years ago) link

I once read a review that said Korn were 'the Joy Division of nu-metal'. I don't know what that makes Limp Bizkit... well...

It is too bad that Korn made more than two albums though.

Schwingung (Damian), Thursday, 27 November 2003 03:34 (twenty years ago) link

The new one is decent.


If Korn are the Joy Division of Nu Metal, I guess that'd make Limp Bizkit....INTERPOL!!


or, you know, Crime and the City Solution, maybe. Whatev, Bev.

roger adultery, Thursday, 27 November 2003 03:39 (twenty years ago) link

"Korn/Bizkit = Sab/Priest?"

Oh damn, I hope not.

Rob Zombie/White Zombie have had a couple of singles that kill anything I have heard from Korn or Gimp Trisket. "More Human Than Human" is great. Of course, Rob Zombie is old as dirt and didn't make it until later and probably played in bands that covered Judas Priest.

System of a Down seems pretty respectable to me in comparison to the Korn/Bizquick axis.

earlnash, Thursday, 27 November 2003 04:20 (twenty years ago) link

I once read a review that said Korn were 'the Joy Division of nu-metal'.

whoever wrote that review must be hunted down and sterilized in the most unsanitary manner possible, while being forced to watch a cageful of hungry minks eat their just-severed genitalia.

Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 27 November 2003 07:05 (twenty years ago) link

Korn/Bizkit = JD/Cure?

dave q, Thursday, 27 November 2003 08:20 (twenty years ago) link

(Bauhaus?)

dave q, Thursday, 27 November 2003 08:20 (twenty years ago) link

My friend was complaining about a movie with the shitty soundtrack being the worst part- distracting anti-cinematic noise, the kind of thing where the music is jammed in as a commercial to sell records rather than because it fits the story. It was Korn. "Soundtrack? They have more than one song?"

sucka (sucka), Thursday, 27 November 2003 08:43 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...
The lead singer and his pron star wife named their son PIRATE. so says PageSix...

Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Thursday, 24 March 2005 19:51 (nineteen years ago) link

"This is my son, Cool."

AaronHz (AaronHz), Thursday, 24 March 2005 19:54 (nineteen years ago) link

I'd like to think he was inspired the Scooby Doo-esque episode of South Park that KoRn guest-starred on. "p-p-p-pirate ghosts!?"

Al (sitcom), Thursday, 24 March 2005 19:56 (nineteen years ago) link

The lead singer and his pron star wife named their son PIRATE. so says PageSix...
-- Je4nne ƒury (jeanneƒur...), March 24th, 2005.

haha "kron star marries pron star"

Al (sitcom), Thursday, 24 March 2005 19:56 (nineteen years ago) link

or maybe he's just trying to out-WTF Head's ode to 50 Cent.

Al (sitcom), Thursday, 24 March 2005 19:58 (nineteen years ago) link

Early Korn had some shit. I like "Blind" and "Good God" ok.
Steve Vai is a huge fan! He goes on and on about them in guitar mag interviews, they're like his favorite current band.

AaronHz (AaronHz), Thursday, 24 March 2005 20:06 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah there seem to be a lot of trad 80's metal/hard rock heads and famous dudes who loooove Korn. like, I think Sammy Hagar looooves Korn.

Al (sitcom), Thursday, 24 March 2005 20:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Look, it's a feeling. Can't you chill and let me be free?

Evan, Wednesday, 13 March 2019 19:48 (five years ago) link

the s/t def holds up in some kind of way, relentless juvenilia of the lyrics aside. "need to" is a jam

jolene club remix (BradNelson), Wednesday, 13 March 2019 20:07 (five years ago) link

the other korn album i still think is pretty good is issues, mostly bc i think they were right to abandon rap and they were writing their best hooks

jolene club remix (BradNelson), Wednesday, 13 March 2019 20:10 (five years ago) link

apparently all i do in this thread is talk about how much i like issues

jolene club remix (BradNelson), Wednesday, 13 March 2019 20:12 (five years ago) link

I remember recording the video to 'Falling Away from Me' on a VHS tape. I still think it's a good song.

pomenitul, Wednesday, 13 March 2019 20:17 (five years ago) link

I've not listened to the self-titled in *years*. I'd forgotten how awful the bass sounds. Faget is vile but still has a bleeding rawness about it.

If nothing else, it's made me want to listen to Acid Bath.

Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Thursday, 14 March 2019 12:39 (five years ago) link

I remember recording the video to 'Falling Away from Me' on a VHS tape. I still think it's a good song.

― pomenitul, Wednesday, March 13, 2019 8:17 PM(yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I really love that ominous opening riff. I can hear the post-punk/new wave influences more in Korn's sound now than I could at the time.

Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Thursday, 14 March 2019 13:31 (five years ago) link

WAKE THE FUCK UPPPP!
WAKE THE FUCK UPPPP!

Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Thursday, 14 March 2019 16:55 (five years ago) link

three months pass...

the new single is... excellent?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3v5yMF1hTs

american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 26 June 2019 19:40 (four years ago) link

sounds like a cut from the issues/untouchables era

american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 26 June 2019 19:42 (four years ago) link

also sounds way more like deftones than they ever have before

american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 26 June 2019 19:43 (four years ago) link

two weeks pass...

listened to follow the leader today for the first time in a few years. something about the duets feels really perfunctory and unfleshed out, i don't think i ever liked "children of the korn" or "cameltosis' when i was a kid, and "all in the family" is a complete abomination. but the rest of the record is p great! especially this v cool song buried in the second half

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RX_ZzbptoU

american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 July 2019 01:01 (four years ago) link

now i'm onto issues and this record is so obv their best, every song from "hey daddy" on is my favorite korn song

american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 July 2019 01:02 (four years ago) link

I was off the Korn train w/ Follow

space invaders are smokin penises!!!! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Thursday, 11 July 2019 01:02 (four years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujEph5vFwmc

still slaps

american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 July 2019 01:03 (four years ago) link

I was off the Korn train w/ Follow

― space invaders are smokin penises!!!! (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, July 10, 2019 6:02 PM (forty-two seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

this makes sense to me but... the hooks!!!!

american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 July 2019 01:03 (four years ago) link

"somebody someone" is an AMAZING song

american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 July 2019 01:09 (four years ago) link

What I remember most about this amazingly repugnant band is how effectively they utilized MTV (before they dropped the "Music") for publicizing them.
They had an incredible contest for allowing a rando to direct one of their videos (the guy chosen professed to hating them and loving Radiohead, to the
chagrin of their Tony Clifton look-alike scumbag manager) and they were also the subject of a True Life episode, where Fieldy (the one who assaulted a Spin
photographer for making him pose in a "gay" way with his bandmates) did dougnuts and defaced the front lawn of their Bakersfield high school.

beamish13, Thursday, 11 July 2019 01:36 (four years ago) link

three weeks pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBQNIP4zFP4

this album might be... good?

american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 2 August 2019 12:21 (four years ago) link

one month passes...

As someone who's never really cared about them: it is!!

Simon H., Wednesday, 4 September 2019 04:23 (four years ago) link

hell yeah

american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 4 September 2019 04:29 (four years ago) link

it's SO GOOD

american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 13 September 2019 00:53 (four years ago) link

Me, 1999: Hey, future me, what is the future like?

Me, 2019: The best rock albums are by Tool, Slipknot and Korn. The best movie is by Quentin Tarantino. And Wu-Tang Clan has two TV shows.

Me, 1999: Sick, is the Simpsons still on?

Me, 2019: Buddy, I have some good news and some bad news

Whiney G. Weingarten, Friday, 13 September 2019 00:53 (four years ago) link

i really appreciate how often it tries to remind me of issues while also often sounding way more like a meshuggah record

american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 13 September 2019 00:56 (four years ago) link

"h@rd3r" completely earns its title

american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 13 September 2019 02:55 (four years ago) link

ten months pass...

I was totally ready to lazily post this to rolling worst but.....tbh it's goofy and committed and it's for a good cause. and also it tickles me whenever a huge artist makes a bandcamp page

https://kornofficial.bandcamp.com/track/the-devil-went-down-to-georgia-cover-song

the quar on drugs (Simon H.), Wednesday, 29 July 2020 15:57 (three years ago) link

does he sing it in his nasal voice

XVI Pedicabo eam (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 29 July 2020 15:59 (three years ago) link

it's even goofier because yelawolf does most of the vox!

the quar on drugs (Simon H.), Wednesday, 29 July 2020 16:02 (three years ago) link

one year passes...

new album, requiem, in february. they've been on a roll so i'm stoked

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aupnj1KpjCg

STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 November 2021 16:51 (two years ago) link

oh wow that song is very good as well

STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Thursday, 11 November 2021 16:56 (two years ago) link

eleven months pass...

thinkin bout the drums on "porno creep"

flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 12 October 2022 15:06 (one year ago) link

then thinking about how david silveria’s drumming totally went to sleep when he was forced to play to a click on successive korn records

flamenco drop (BradNelson), Wednesday, 12 October 2022 15:22 (one year ago) link

Whoa

hi hole im dad (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 12 October 2022 15:23 (one year ago) link

two months pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTQP3nP5PUI

flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 29 December 2022 04:02 (one year ago) link

one month passes...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv7W3EFbVyk

all right i'm going to learn "porno creep"

flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 16:34 (one year ago) link

i was listening to some korn multi-track stems for a ...project and was really surprised at all the little details that i had never noticed-- particularly the harmonies on the 'falling away from me' bridge. props to the band and producers

diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 17:06 (one year ago) link

also crazy how terrible fieldy's bass is in isolation in comparison to how transcendent and iconic it becomes in context

diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 17:14 (one year ago) link

fieldy's flicka flicka sproing walked so that brr brr deng could run

flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 17:35 (one year ago) link

korn was one of the few major nu-metal bands that never had a dj so i personally think of fieldy as the dj, or at least as much a percussionist as a bassist

flamenco drop (BradNelson), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 17:36 (one year ago) link

That drummer oozing Chad Smith vibes.

How come all these nu metal bands have ringing ska band snares? Is it to pop above the rumbling of all the drop C guitars?

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 7 February 2023 17:57 (one year ago) link

I always have had a soft spot for these guys, feel a little bad for not keeping up from the late 00s onward

The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 20:05 (one year ago) link

the bass is fascinating and this band’s sound is addictive, I could seriously listen to them just jam out on one chord for 20+ minutes

not too strange just bad audio (brimstead), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 22:19 (one year ago) link

xxp the piccolo snare! always makes me think of 60s funk… and 311

not too strange just bad audio (brimstead), Tuesday, 7 February 2023 22:20 (one year ago) link

their last one was pretty solid. some of the vocal tics that made them hard to bear back when are less in evidence. they have a thing & it's pretty cool when it hits

J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, 8 February 2023 01:04 (one year ago) link

Korn should now be eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Think bout dat

DT, Friday, 10 February 2023 22:48 (one year ago) link


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