Around the 48-second mark of album opener “Blind” Jonathan Davis screams “Are you ready?” Looking back at 30 years of history and an ever-shifting heavy music landscape, holy shit, Davis could not have realized how impactful of a statement that would become.
We’re looking back at Korn’s self-titled debut album (Epic Records) which was released off the strength of the Neidermayer’s Mind demo and a string of gigs in California. Yes, the album that launched, and or popularized Nu-Metal and inspired dozens if not hundreds of other bands was from an act that had only formed a year prior and had severely limited studio experience. Try to process that as a metal fan in 2024 and please take a seat and several deep breaths as your brain may feel like it’s short-circuiting. Feeling better? Okay, now we can continue. What the younger reader must understand is that this was a post-Nirvana world, and major labels were actively looking for the next Alternative act to set popular culture ablaze. Hair Metal made way for this this new era by becoming sloppier than ever with a nearly endless series of drunks and junkies attempting to keep the party going. Generation X told the Sunset Strip set to politely fuck off and were ready to embrace exciting sounds from acts like Helmet, Primus, Rage Against the Machine, Tool, and Faith No More.
And that fresh batch of bands were the ones to lay out a blueprint for the still-gestating nu-metal movement. Revisiting Korn’s debut, it’s obvious that the work of Les Claypool, Page Hamilton, Tom Morello, Mike Patton, and others played a huge role in the Bakersfield collection’s DNA. And that I must stress is not a bad thing. What was Metallica and Thrash, in general, if not for Diamond Head seen through a lens? Early 2000s Metalcore? Well take two parts Gothenburg Death Metal, top it off with plenty of Hatebreed, and shake vigorously with ice.
But how does this self-titled effort hold up in the cold light of 2024? With the exception of “Daddy” and the incredibly pointless hidden track – kids ask your parents about the magic of hidden tracks – this thing still rages. Maybe it has something to do with young artists like Poppy, Tetrarch, and Tallah citing or reclaiming the nu-metal brand, but Korn still rings potent. Lyrically songs like “Faget” and “Shoots and Ladders” border on edgelord territory, but musically between Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu’s rubbery bass and Brian Welch, and James Shaffer’s down-tuned torrent these numbers come alive. The closing moments of the latter would constitute a praiseworthy breakdown in today’s Hardcore scene. “Clown” keeps things strictly mid-tempo, but again Welch and Shaffer are always driving forwards with that signature seven-string Ibanez attack. “Helmet in the Bush” goes deep with atmospherics and hints that Godflesh was also part of Korn’s intake all the while serving as a display for Jonathan Davis’ unorthodox whispers, shrieks, and growls.
But as this write-up is winding down, we must address the question of nu-metal as a whole. Was nu metal an important chapter in the history of rock or the punch line many viewed it as in the mid-aughts? Did Korn, Coal Chamber, and the like hurt the industry? Well, strictly speaking financially, nu metal was very good for the bottom line. We’re talking plenty of MTV coverage, dozens of multi-platinum albums, and sold-out arenas as far as the eye could see. Then the apex moment being Linkin Park’s own debut album Hybrid Theory selling in excess of 30 million units worldwide.
Naturally with that kind of exposure and success floods of imitators and uninspired dreck follows. Sure, we had Deftones and Slipknot doing the work, but we also had to put up with nonsense like Crazy Town, Cold, Mushroomhead, Motograter, and latter-day Limp Bizkit. Look up the Ozzfest second-stage lineups from the late nineties and early 2000s Ozzfests and notice how they basically read like a band obituary. But then again blaming Korn for those missteps seems akin to criticizing Alice in Chains for Creed or Godsmack. Musicians and labels alike are just going to follow the money.
At the end of the day, Korn and the nu-metal explosion that followed marked a boom period for loud rock music. It was the gateway drug for kids to start exploring metal and its labyrinth of subgenres and styles. I know it was for me. Without White Pony, Hybrid Theory, Iowa, and Korn I don’t eventually venture into Reign in Blood, Paranoid, Master of Puppets, and Altars of Madness. Without some of those records, I don’t know if I’d still be around today.
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HANS LOPEZ
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