Korn is heavy metal. No, Korn is phat funk. No, Korn is speed/slash/punk-metal hip-hop.
On its new album, Follow the Leader, the southern California rock band creates a sonic assault that is more or less equal parts of all of the above. It is scary and disturbing and disgusting and delirious.
And that's just the music.
Don't even touch the lyrics, which are sung/screamed by Jonathan Davis. Don't even go near them. They're the verbal equivalent of that sonic assault, only the damage done, in their case, is inflicted on the psyche. After all, would you expect anything less from a lyricist who seems to derive much of his inspiration from the good old days when he was a coroner's assistant?
There is a song about an infant who has been sexually abused and murdered by her father. There are the disturbed teens screaming for attention and affection. There is the upstanding fellow whose sexual inclinations run to strangling his girlfriend while making love to her.
Now add the group's penchant for thumbing its nose, rather visibly, with such stunts as putting together a touring festival of like-minded acts (Ice Cube, Rammstein, Limp Bizkit and Orgy) and calling it the "Family Values Tour." Or a group that comes up with a PR exercise, dubbed the "Korn Kampaign," in which it hops about the U.S. in a private jet, stopping in for surprise visits to record stores, etc. Anyway, you get the idea.
Korn doesn't do anything half-assed. They're full-assed in everything they do, including their, ah, kontroversies.
Several months back, an 18-year-old Korn fan was kicked out of school in Michigan for wearing a T-shirt with the group's name emblazoned on it. School officials called it "obscene," although it had nothing more than "Korn" scrawled on it. Was Korn upset?
Class, repeat the words "cease and desist."
Korn slapped just such a court order on school officials, then printed up hundreds of that same Korn T-shirt (with a copy of the First Amendment printed on the back). They shipped them off to -- you guessed it -- Michigan, where local cops, fearing a riot, were forced to hand them out to Korn (and, presumably First Amendment) fans.
Is this band over-the-top? Or simply media-savvy? Angst kings, or PR queens? Or, like their music, all of the above?
You make the call. Here's a Korn scrapbook to help you in your deliberations.
FEATURES
Korn '98: The New Sound Of Korn
Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis and bassist Reg "Fieldy" Arvizu take a break from rehearsals for the upcoming Family Values tour to talk to ATN/SonicNet reporter Teri vanHorn about their new album, Follow the Leader, stirring up trouble on the Internet, and the possibility of becoming "Wu-Tang Korn."
Korn bassist Reg "Fieldy" Arvizu is speed-testing his new boat. The red-and-white '98 Sea-doo Speedster is rocketing through the channel off the coast of Long Beach, Calif. Korn leader and vocalist Jonathan Davis sits -- or, perhaps more accurately, holds on for dear life -- next to the bassist/captain. Davis' multicolored ponytail flaps crazily in the wind as the singer stares straight ahead and clutches the safety rail in front of him.
NEWS
Korn Develop Their Ear For Rap On Latest LP (1998)
As the follow-up to the Southern California quintet's sophomore album, Life Is Peachy, Follow the Leader finds the group expanding its aggravated, funk-inspired thrash-rock with pronounced hip-hop textures, elaborate arrangements and some of Davis' most explicit lyrics yet.
Korn's Family Values Tour Ready To Roll This Fall (1998)
As most summer festival tours are winding down, thrash-metal band Korn have announced the first 10 dates of their fall traveling hard-rock show, known as the Family Values Tour.
Funky thrash-rockers Korn announced Thursday that they'll be flying around the country in a chartered jet and hitting various record stores starting in mid-August to promote their new album, Follow the Leader. Designed like a political campaign tour, "Korn Kampaign '98" will find the band members turning up for in-store appearances in 15 cities, spreading from San Francisco to New York.
Korn's Sweet And Sour LP Offers Biting Lyrics (1998)
Korn pull no punches on their upcoming third album, Follow the Leader. Instead, they push the limits in every way -- with their music and then, more violently, in their lyrics.
Korn, Limp Bizkit Hop On Family Values Tour Bandwagon (1998)
A pack of modern metal bands -- including Korn, Limp Bizkit and newcomers Orgy -- with a sense of the absurd have grabbed Dan Quayle's "family values" sound bite and re-appropriated it as the title of their fall tour. This "Family Values" promises to give the former Republican vice president something to really be horrified by.
Orgy Debut On Korn Label (1998)
Candyass, the debut album from goth-rock quintet Orgy, the first band signed to Korn's Elementree Records label, will be released on Aug. 11.
New Korn Album On The Way (1998)
The third album from funk-thrashers Korn, Follow the Leader, hits stores Aug. 18. The set will feature 13 tracks, including "Children of the Korn" with rapper Ice Cube, "Cameltosis" with Tre (of Pharcyde), "All in the Family" with Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, and a bonus track
Korn Preview Upcoming Album On Website (1998)
California alt-metal quintet Korn are using their website (http://www.korn.com) to preview a few of the songs from their upcoming album, Follow the Leader, which is due in stores on Aug. 18.
Korn Album Guest-List Continues To Grow (1998)
The list of special guests scheduled to appear with alternative-metal band Korn on their forthcoming album, Follow the Leader, continues to grow.
Ice Cube Heats Up Next Korn Album (1998)
Rap giant Ice Cube contributed to a track on grunge-metal outfit Korn's upcoming album, Follow the Leader. The track, "Children of the Korn," was recorded last week in Los Angeles.
Korn T-Shirt Kontroversy Kontinued (1998)
The student government of Zeeland High School, the Michigan school where 18-year-old Eric VanHoven was suspended for a week for wearing a Korn T-shirt, met on Thursday for an hour to look into changing the school's controversial dress code.
Students Move To Resolve Korn T-Shirt Debate (1998)
After an hour of discussion and debate, students and administrators at Zeeland High School in Michigan have vowed to resolve the controversy over the recent suspension of students for wearing rock T-shirts without changes to the school dress code, according to a school spokesman.
School Board Debates Korn T-Shirt Suspension (1998)
Parents and students trade opinions on policy that suspends students for wearing rock 'n' roll garb to class. As parent Dan Taylor sees it, suspending students simply for wearing T-shirts of their favorite rock bands goes a long way to creating a whole new generation of Marilyn Mansons.
Asst. Principal Defends Korn T-Shirt Suspension (1998)
In response to a cease-and-desist order from the band Korn directing her to immediately refrain from defaming the band, a Michigan school official said her recent comments calling the band's T-shirts "obscene" had less to do with Korn than with school dress codes.
News Flash: Korn T-shirt Wearing Teen Suspended (1998)
An 18-year-old Michigan high school student was suspended from school last week for wearing a T-shirt bearing the name of the thrash-hop group Korn. The action came one day before a judge in Texas dismissed a case in which a man was arrested for wearing a Marilyn Manson T-shirt in a local grocery store.
Korn singer Jonathan Davis and his band have decided it's time to give a boost to the ever-expanding roster of summer festival tours.
Korn's 'Family Values' Tour Joins Summer Festivals (1998)
Maybe it was his experience on last year's struggling Lollapalooza tour or his deep love of arena-rock, but Korn singer Jonathan Davis and his band have decided it's time to give a boost to the ever-expanding roster of summer festival tours.
Korn Singer Says Starting A Label Was Elementary (1998)
Tired of giving it away for free when they could be making it work for them, singer Jonathan Davis and the rest of Huntington Beach, Calif.'s thrash-metal band Korn have begun a new venture into the other side of the music business.
Korn, Prodigy Camps Talk Of Collaboration (1997)
Korn guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer is probably kickin' himself even now. When Korn were forced to drop out of the Lollapalooza '97 lineup last month due to Shaffer's viral illness, the band missed out on a perfect chance for a collaboration with the Prodigy. Still, that doesn't mean the possibility of such a teaming is out of the question, say band members and management.
Korn Guitarist Out Of Hospital (1997)
Though his illness forced the band off the road with Lollapalooza '97, Korn guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer has now entered a very different kind of road: the one to recovery, according to Jeff Kwatinetz, the band's manager.
Illness Forces Lolla Headliners Korn Off Tour (1997)
One of Lollapalooza's biggest draws this summer, Korn, have dropped out
of the lineup less than halfway through the tour after guitarist James
"Munky" Shaffer was diagnosed with what doctors believe to be the brain
disease viral meningitis.
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