asp's classic albums # 71: korn - s/t
 

KoRn "KoRn"
Interscope, 1994

Holy fuck does this album rule. Can't believe such a genuinely weird band ever got popular. Really weird guitar noises, bizarre super-low slap bass that doesn't go with anything, an amazing drummer, and a singer who goes from crying in the middle of a track to scat singing in other tracks. Bagpipes and about one thousand guitar overdubs round out the bizarre, highly produced, yet somehow dark and raw production by Ross Robinson. A truely one of a kind, remarkable album. "Predictable" and "Clown" are two of my all time favorite tracks.

Here's Clown, for your enjoyment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRNbT...eature=channel

Yeah this one's cool, prefer Life Is Peachy though.

Well, Life is Peachy has my favorite songs on it, like Good God, but this one is just so much more consistent.

Great band. One of those weird things where people would probably think a lot more of them now if they weren't so popular. First Slipknot album as well. I constantly hear people go on about, say, Botch or Refused, but there's not that many people go on about Korn.

Also - best dual guitar band since SY?

Yeah, SlipKnot's "s/t" is definitely similarly amazing, I'll have to cover that another time.

I think the guitarists in this band are definitely two of the most unique and interesting guitarists in popular music history, as far as just doing totally weird and new things that no one else had ever done before. I mean, the guitar noises in Ball Tongue are insane -- sounds like a baby crying or something, constantly, from speaker to speaker, and then out of nowhere they rip into a Morbid Angel riff. Really insane and good stuff. Liked it when I was 13 but I hear it now in a totally different way -- not even a nostalgic way, I probably appreciate it more than I did 10 years ago. It's so good!

I'm sure if someone like Helmet became as big as KoRn then they would definitely get the shit KoRn get.

Not that I'm defending KoRn past 1998... have you heard the last two ones they've done? Terrible!

True. And I definitely hear a Helmet-ish sound in some of KoRn's heavier riffs, but KoRn were on a completely different level and were just, generally, kinda... odd.... I dunno, something really magical about them. I think KoRn had a really good career up to and including Untouchables.. I didn't bother with anything past TAKE A LOOK IN THE MIRROR, which still had a few okay songs on it.

Fair enough, the first 3 were good listens. I can not stand Issues however.

Untouchables DID have some great stuff on it... how the hell do they get that guitar sound on 'Here to Stay'? Heavy as fuck.

Selftiteld and life are classic's in my book. I remeber listening to them as 11 year old and till still remaining some of the slugiest rock I ever heard.

That riff in Good God is actually really, really difficult to play. It doesn't seem like it would be, as it's just two notes (1 on the lowest string, 20 on the highest string) but to do it precisely is actually a real bitch. Great stuff.

fuck korn.

The first few Korn albums are really cool records - I remember enjoying them a lot as a teen. They're still good records today, but I couldn't bring myself to listen to them. I think too many bands were spawned from such albums that just ruined it all. That 'nu-metal' sound, dare I say it, grosses me out. There's elements in the music that are still cool, even in some of the bands that are still flogging that sound today, but that 'nu-metal' element just ruins it all.

after listening to some songs off this record I feel pretty guilty for hating on korn. but the stuff they've released in the past decade has been sooooo bad

Yeah, Korn has (had?) some awesome guitar riffs but their versus-chorus-versus sound was pretty monotonous. I also hated their bass.

Seconded. I just can't get into it because of the lyrics and the whole vibe.

But it brings me back to when I was in 6th grade. KoRn was the next natural step from Nirvana being in the midwest. It was angrier, right for the age.

Musically they are doing some neat shit and nostalgia is kicking in.

But I just am not that 6th grader anymore so...

Fuck Korn.

fuck the haters korn were a great band

Yes, they WERE, when we WERE young. Before the rest of my brain matured and they started making rock rap albums...

yes yes to each their own

too drunk to speak sensibly sorry

then don't speak, skat.

mmmbop eee mmmbebop mmmmbop eeee uuga wooga

mmmmbop screeaaaam umga wunga

mmnop bop eeeehhhhhh YEWANGA GO!

*numetal breakdown*

I think I like them more now than ever.

Coming soon:
classic album posts on slipknot's s/t and soad's s/t.

Korn is still around?

their career was like they got to the top of the mountain and then someone pushed them over and they disappeared faster than showed up. Sorry I was too old to ever enjoy this band.

Too old to enjoy the drum rolls in "Ball Tongue"?

Sad.

Korn were fine until they got all "gangsta"...

I want the creepy, claustrophobic, dissonant KoRn of old back, not the "let's get fucked up and party" KoRn we're stuck with now...

No they made a song about the greenhouse effect on their latest album....

Yay, if you're going to review Korn, how about this one!

Korn is the most godawful drivel I've ever heard. Melodramatic plastic bullshit. I hated this band for the following reasons:

1. I hated the way the guitarists would pose while playing. Like bodies at 90 degree angles.
2. I hated the obviously corporate constructed loose nut persona that that hillbilly lead singer was given. And I hated his eyebrow ring.
3. I hated the fact that whenever they were interviewed that they would talk about how rich they were.
4. I hated that they were friends with the Limp Buzzcuts.
5. I hated the sounds that every instrument made and the fact that they did not go together whatsoever.
6. I hated, fucking hated, that guy's voice and the fact that millions of teenagers were in their room pretending to be him at any given moment.

Korn is the most godawful drivel I've ever heard. Melodramatic plastic bullshit. I hated this band for the following reasons:

1. I hated the way the guitarists would pose while playing. Like bodies at 90 degree angles.
2. I hated the obviously corporate constructed loose nut persona that that hillbilly lead singer was given. And I hated his eyebrow ring.
3. I hated the fact that whenever they were interviewed that they would talk about how rich they were.
4. I hated that they were friends with the Limp Buzzcuts.
5. I hated the sounds that every instrument made and the fact that they did not go together whatsoever.
6. I hated, fucking hated, that guy's voice and the fact that millions of teenagers were in their room pretending to be him at any given moment.

Korn is the most godawful drivel I've ever heard. Melodramatic plastic bullshit. I hated this band for the following reasons:

1. I hated the way the guitarists would pose while playing. Like bodies at 90 degree angles.
2. I hated the obviously corporate constructed loose nut persona that that hillbilly lead singer was given. And I hated his eyebrow ring.
3. I hated the fact that whenever they were interviewed that they would talk about how rich they were.
4. I hated that they were friends with the Limp Buzzcuts.
5. I hated the sounds that every instrument made and the fact that they did not go together whatsoever.
6. I hated, fucking hated, that guy's voice and the fact that millions of teenagers were in their room pretending to be him at any given moment.

Korn is the most godawful drivel I've ever heard. Melodramatic plastic bullshit. I hated this band for the following reasons:

1. I hated the way the guitarists would pose while playing. Like bodies at 90 degree angles.
2. I hated the obviously corporate constructed loose nut persona that that hillbilly lead singer was given. And I hated his eyebrow ring.
3. I hated the fact that whenever they were interviewed that they would talk about how rich they were.
4. I hated that they were friends with the Limp Buzzcuts.
5. I hated the sounds that every instrument made and the fact that they did not go together whatsoever.
6. I hated, fucking hated, that guy's voice and the fact that millions of teenagers were in their room pretending to be him at any given moment.

What Toxic Johnny says. Band for children.

90 degree angles, haha.

i never understood the nu-metal thing

It's kinda like Sonic Youth, alternate tunings and noise.

what REALLY pissed me off was what replaced nu-metal - FUCKING STROKES WUT FUCK OFF. shitty regressive indie guitar old fashioned no electronics regressive white hives strokes white stripes BULLSHIT. morrissey went from being a joke to being popular again. then you ended up with bands like the artic monkeys and franz ferdinand. it seemed like a brief mistaken detour towards garage rock and then it became this full blown corporate indie plague. my theory on this is that it was a regressive step that had a lot to do greater cultural anxiety relating to 9/11 iraq etc. - something seemed that seemed to call for a step backwards - no more angry music on the radio. i'm half way through a long blog post trying to elaborate on this connection, remember ratm being banned from certain radio stations due to 9/11? no more angry/modern music allowed in bushs america. at best you could get away with emo which stripped down the anger and replaced it with self pity and sadness (but still some sort of life), sadly it eventually morphed into this kinda mcr conservative angry at nothing type stuff.

look back on nu metal now - some of it is ridiculous but dammit was it headin in the right direction - there was elements of hip hop/electronica/metal/punk etc. all mixed together - but crucially it couldn't be said to belong to any of those genres and didn't try to self concioussly perfect a niche within them. it was music that wasn't afraid of the future and didn't try to take any steps back. and it seemed more open to expressing stuff beyond raw angst. i can remember being like 13 and seeing bands like the strokes and the white stripes start to get big and being like WHAT THE FUCK - it felt like everything was going in the wrong direction. remember when slipknot got to number 1? how could anything like that happen now.

This and Life Is Peachy (my personal favorite) don't really have that "nu-metal" sound to 'em. They're not fucking Coal Chamber for fuck's sake. They just sound like extremely interesting rock music to me. Almost tribal in a sense. I can easily picture Crono and Marle dancing to it...if ya'lls be hip enough to know what I mean.

Actually, n'ik, slipknot's "all hope is lost" was # 1, and that came out like 2 years ago. Spot on with everything else you said, though... The White Stripes in particular are one of the worst bands to ever exist.

Haha, Crono and Marle! I love that part of the game, dancing to the caveman music..

really? wow. what i meant was kinda the culutural zietgeist at the time - i'm sure a lot of it is my own bais because back then i was young and more immersed in a certain side of mainstream music. but at the same time there was definitely anger and certain attiudes in the nu metal of the time that you won't see in popular music now. anyway i need to research it more and work on the blog post.

Slipknot's "All Hope Is Gone" couldn't ring any truer, concerning my feelings towards the band.

That album was alright, better than Subliminal Verses at least.

S/T is a masterpiece.