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Background

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Before Korn had even developed a name, they moved into a small house together in Huntington Beach, California, south of Los Angeles, where they began working on songs.[1] Later, they rented a studio from Jeff Creath, the same person that let lead singer Jonathan Davis live in his garage. The studio was called "Underground Chicken Sound." While they were recording at Underground Chicken Sound, a group of people had been loitering around outside the studio.[1] The band began playing an prelude to "Clown"[2] When they began playing the song's riffs, a larger crowd gathered. The band's bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, said it was because it sounded so "different."[3]

Korn began playing gigs in the summer of 1993. While performing at Huntington Beach, the band was spotted by Immortal/Epic A&R Paul Pontius. The record label approached the band asking if they wanted to produce an album through their company. Although the group had several offers from several other labels, Korn went with Immortal/Epic because they didn't want to "sign away all of their creative freedom."[4]

Recording and production

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"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 sunchronicity 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."

Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu[5]

While Korn was looking for a place to record their debut album, they asked producer Ross Robinson to produce there album. Robinson told Korn about the Indigo Ranch, Malibu, California, where they would record the majority of the album, while additional recording took place at Bakersfield's Fat Tracks.[6][7] While at the studio, Korn recorded most of the album with all members playing at the same time. The equipment Korn used is what gave the music its it "distinctive" sound and quality.[7] The recording of the introduction of "Shoots and Ladders" took place on a mountain–top, where Davis is heard playing the bagpipes. This resulted in acoustics that sounded more "natural" as described by Arvizu.[8] Korn finished recording their self-titled album by the end of June 1994.[7]

Record producer Ross Robinson produced the album, who's career would be launched by the album's success, as the album "taught Robinson how to produce." In an interview with the heavy metal magazine 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."[6] The album was released on October 11, 1994 through Immortal and Epic Records.[9]

Marketing and promotion

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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 a little girl in a purple dress with a matching bow in her blonde hair, bringing her swing to a stop in the background 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 horse shoe. The band's logo, a childlike drawing of the band's name created by lead singer Jonathan Davis,[6] is seen on the sandy ground by dark shadow. Music critic Robert Christgau said that the album's cover art depicted a "hook-handed" rapist, and said that the band "love this image, exploit it in every trade ad as Sony flogs their death-industrial into its second year. " The interior artwork features scattered pornography magazines, with the faces of the cover girls blanked out with the labels "Liar", "Whore", and "Bitch".[10]

After Korn finished recording the album, they began touring with Biohazard and House of Pain at free gigs. Korn would personally pass out flyers at their performances. Their record company gave them enough money for their own tour bus. Korn's first gig was in Atlanta, Georgia.[11][6] About half way through the tour, the tour bus that their record company gave them stopped working, forcing the band to find a new one.[12] This first tour proved very unsuccessful in promoting the album.[13] Aside from them touring, Korn released four singles. "Blind" was the lead single, released in 1994,[14] followed by "Need To",[15] "Shoots and Ladders",[16] and "Clown".[17]

Composition

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Korn begins with "Blind", starting with the dueling riffs of James Shaffer and Brian Welch. Lead vocalist Jonathan Davis's first line is "Are You Ready?", which is now one of thee band's trade marks.[10] Davis told Metal Hammer that on the album's second track, "Ball Tongue", he "didn't sing a goddamn word in that song. I couldn't describe what I wanted to do, so that's how it came out. It's a really heavy sound."[10]

"Shoots and Ladders" is about Davis' disgust with the society. The song uncovers the hidden messages and concept of nursery rhymes. Davis relates: "Shoots and ladders uncovers the hidden messages in nursery rhymes, the first songs many of us ever hear. "Shoots and Ladders", to set the record straight, calls out nursery rhymes for what they really are. I choose each rhyme for a different reason--"Baa Baa Black Sheep" has racist overtones. "London Bridge" talks of all the people of London dying [from the Black Plague] , as does "Rig Around the Roses". Then there's "Little Red Riding Hood"--one story tells of the wolf raping Red Riding Hood and killing her."[18] On "Shoots and Ladders", Davis introduces the bagpipes to heavy metal music.[8]

"Clown"'s concept deals with an incident that happened in San Diego, California. A skinhead that told Davis to "Go Back to Bakersfield." THe skinhead attempted to hit Davis but he dodged and Korn's road manager knocked the skinhead out.[18] "Helmet in the Bush" was about Davis' drug use, and the fear that gripped him at his height of his drug problem. He pleads for a divine intervention to deliver him form his nightmare, as if he cannot help himself. Davis explained: "I'd wake up in the morning and do a line to get out of bed.. Speed in the morning, I'd have it all lined up for breakfast so when I'd lay down and go to sleep, I'd wake up and just snort and it's like 'Yeah, okay, I'm up.' IT was bad. It's like, you do one line and stay up all night, but then you have shit to do the next day so you have to do another line to be able keep staying up to get that shit done. Eventually you start spinning-out from sleep deprivation. You get hallucinations and shit like that."[18]

"Daddy", the album's longest track saw Jonathon 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."[19] Some 14 minutes into "Daddy"—well after the song has ended—a tape that producer Ross Robinson found in an abandoned house begins to play. The tape depicts an argument between a man and his wife over a Dodge Dart exhaust manifold. It features such lines as "You're a hard, hard woman to live with. Oh, you motherfucker, you asshole, you stupid son of a bitch!"[10]

The band has been said to "disdain the metal or nu metal label," and consider the album more like a "heavy groove".[20] According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Korn borrows elements from such acts as Pantera, Jane's Addiction, Rage Against the Machine, Helmet, Faith No More, Anthrax, Cypress Hill and N.W.A.[21] According to author Cheryl Lynette Keyes, Korn's sound originated from the acid rap style of Esham.[22]

Reception

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On January 10, 1996, Korn went Gold in the United States (US),[23] and on February 10, 1996, the album album charted at number 72.[24] The album spent 30 weeks on the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand charts, entering on June 23, 1996 and peaking at number 10. The album left the chart on May 18, 1997.[25] It went Platinum in the US on January 8, 1997,[23] and entered the ARIA Charts on March 28, 1999 at number 49. It maintained a position on the chart for five weeks, and peaked at number 46.[26] It peaked at number five on the Top Pop Catalog Albums chart on April 24, 1999.[24] On July 17, 1999, it entered the MegaCharts at it's peak position of 56. After three weeks, Korn left the chart.[27] On November 10, 1999, it was certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.[23] The album peaked at number 181 on the UK Albums Chart on February 10, 2001.[28] It has been certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association.[29]

Korn recieved generally positive reception from critcs. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, senior editor for allmusic, rewarded the album with four and a half out of five stars, writing "They're relentless, both in their musical attack and in lead singer Jonathan Davis' bleak, violent lyrics." Erlewine noted that the lyrical themes of abuse and alienation are often disturbing and/or offesive, but the music can have a "cathartic effect" on the listener, making up the lyric's vulgarity.[9] Music critic Robert Christgau gave the album a C-, writing: "if their name isn't short for kiddie porn, they should insist on a video where they get eaten by giant chickens."[30] It was included in Q's "Best Metal Albums of All Time", with the accompanying comment reading: "[Their] clinical power generated maximum moshpit activity, while singer Jonathan Davis' lyrics spoke directly to any teenager who'd ever been misunderstood, bullied or abused."[31]

Korn's debut album is said to have established the new wave of metal. As said by Joel McIver, Korn "was almost solely responsible for the tidal wave of change that subsequently swept the metal scene."[32] Jason Arnopp said that "Korn's influence on 90's rock is as vital and far–reaching as that of Metallica, Faith No More, or indeed Nirvana."[33] Arnopp also stated that the group "positivly 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."[33] 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."[33] Slipknot, Machine Head, and Sepultura were also were inspired by the album.[33] The album launched the career of record producer Ross Robinson,[32] who has since produced albums such as Three Dollar Bill, Yall$ by Limp Bizkit and Slipknot's Iowa.[34][35]

  1. ^ a b Arvizu 2009, p. 63
  2. ^ Korn - Korn at Discogs Discogs Retrieved 2010-03-16
  3. ^ Arvizu 2009, p. 64
  4. ^ Small, Doug (1998–10). Korn. Omnibus Press. pp. 16–26. ISBN 0825616883. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
  5. ^ Arvizu 2009, p. 64
  6. ^ a b c d Small 1998, p. 16
  7. ^ a b c Arvizu 2009, p. 69
  8. ^ a b Arvizu 2009, p. 70-71
  9. ^ a b allmusic ((( Korn > Overview ))) Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-03-19
  10. ^ a b c d Small 1998, p. 18
  11. ^ Arvizu 2009, p. 74
  12. ^ Arvizu 2009, p. 77
  13. ^ Arvizu 2009, p. 78
  14. ^ Furman 2000, p. 56
  15. ^ Need To (Media notes). Epic Records. 1995. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |albumlink= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |artist= ignored (|others= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ Strong, Martin (2004). The great rock discography (7th ed.). New York City: Canongate US. p. 853. ISBN 9781841956152. {{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ "Korn - Korn - Epic". CMJ New Music Monthly (17): 36. January 1995.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  18. ^ a b c Furman 2000, pp. 49–52
  19. ^ Arnopp, Jason (2001). Slipknot: Inside the Sickness, Behind the Mask. Ebury Press. p. 6. ISBN 0-091-87933-7.
  20. ^ "The Classic Albums: Korn". Ultimate Guitar Archive. February 21, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
  21. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Review of Korn". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
  22. ^ Keyes, Cheryl Lynette (2002), "Blending and Shaping Styles: Rap and Other Musical Voices", Rap Music and Street Consciousness, University of Illinois Press, p. 108, ISBN 0252072014, 9780252072017 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  23. ^ a b c "Gold & Platinum - February 21, 2011". RIAA. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
  24. ^ a b "Korn - Korn". Billboard. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
  25. ^ Steffen Hung. "Discography Korn". charts.org.nz. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
  26. ^ Steffen Hung. "Korn - Korn". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
  27. ^ Steffen Hung. "Korn - Korn". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
  28. ^ "Chart Log UK: Alex K - Kyuss". Zobbel.de. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
  29. ^ "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 1999 Albums". Aria.com.au. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
  30. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: korn". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved 2011-02-21.
  31. ^ "Best Metal Albums of All Time". Q: 127. August 2000.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  32. ^ a b McIver 2002, p. 23
  33. ^ a b c d Arnopp 2002, pp. 6–7
  34. ^ "allmusic ((( Three Dollar Bill Y'All > Credits )))". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-06-29
  35. ^ "allmusic ((( Iowa > Credits )))". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-06-29
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