For Korn's Jonathan Davis, introspection put the band on the path back to its roots
By Chris Nixon
September 2, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune
Originators transcend labels. Metallica knew this. Nirvana knew this. And Korn knows this now.
While Metallica dealt with thrash metal imitators flooding the market in the 1980s and the media saddled Nirvana with the "grunge" moniker in the 1990s, the Bakersfield-bred quintet spawned a whole generation of rap-rock clowns miming the band's fierce music.
DATEBOOK
Projekt Revolution with Korn, Linkin Park, Snoop Dogg and the Used
Doors open 1:30 p.m., tomorrow; Coors Amphitheatre, 2050 Entertainment Circle, Chula Vista; $38-$53.50; (619) 220-TIXS
"We're not 'rap rock,' we're not 'nu-metal,' " says Korn lead singer Jonathan Davis from his Los Angeles home. "We might have invented a new genre of heavy music or rock, but I believe the term 'nu-metal' was made up for all the bands that followed us. Those guys to me are nu-metal. And we're just Korn.
"When Metallica came out, you couldn't call them a thrash band," elaborates Davis. "They were just Metallica. Tons of bands came out after them that sounded just like them. But they are still Metallica. And it's the same with Nirvana and the whole grunge thing. Along with Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, they created a whole movement. They always come up with a word for it, but for me it's to label all the followers."
Bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit forged a new sound in the late 1990s, melding aspects of heavy metal, turntable scratching and rhythmic hip-hop-influenced vocals and grunge's introspective lyricism. Limp Bizkit came off as whiny; Korn was simply scary. With wild-eyed creepiness and bombastic guitar riffs, Davis and his compadres scored a huge hit in their 1994 double-platinum self-titled album.
Korn
Hometown: Bakersfield
Discography:
"Take a Look in the Mirror" (2003)
"Untouchables" (2002)
"Issues" (1999)
"Follow the Leader" (1998)
"Life Is Peachy" (1996)
"Korn" (1994)
The lineup:
Jonathan Davis (vocals, bagpipes)
Reginald "Fieldy Snuts" Arvizu (bass)
David Silveria (drums, percussion)
James "Munky" Shaffer (guitars)
Brian "Head" Welch (guitars)
– CHRIS NIXON
Despite the glut of rich suburban kids with backward baseball caps shouting about their pained existences, Korn continued to sidestep the posers with 1996's "Life Is Peachy" (double platinum), 1998's "Follow the Leader" (quintuple platinum) and 1999's "Issues" (triple platinum).
After selling almost 20 million albums in its first seven years, Korn decided to create a more textured, finely crafted album in 2002's "Untouchables." The album still went platinum, but fell short of sales expectations. With the rap-rock movement waning and more mainstream singer-songwriters such as Norah Jones, Dave Matthews and John Mayer retaking the airwaves, Korn's once-soaring popularity seemed on the decline.
With the band's most recent studio release "Take a Look in the Mirror," Davis and the band decided to circle the wagons and return to Korn's original raw sound. The album also marked the group's first self-produced effort.
"It was a total return to our roots, back to basics," says Davis. "We did 'Untouchables' and it went over everybody's head. So we went back to our roots. We said, 'Let's go back to what we did back in the day.' "
Give my regards
to Broadway
Growing up in Bakersfield, Jonathan Davis' first exposure to music came from the bright lights of Broadway: "The first thing that got me into music was probably Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Jesus Christ Superstar.' The music was amazing, so I loved it to death. Then it went from Andrew Lloyd Webber to Christian death metal, Skinny Puppy, Duran Duran and Depeche Mode."
Hip-hop, hooray
"From there I got into hip-hop, like in '81 when it first came out. In the early '80s I was into hip-hop for a while. It was pretty easy for me to get the early hip-hop albums, 'cause I was a DJ. I would spin and do dances at schools. I was really into it. I was listening to N.W.A., Rob Base, Eric B. and Rakim, L.L. Cool J and all of that old-school stuff. That's what I loved."
Confessions of a shock rocker
"I really didn't get into rock and heavy metal until just before I got into the band. I listened to Slayer a bit when I was a kid. Slayer and Pantera were the two bands that blew me away. Just recently, I've been listening to a lot of death metal, Cannibal Corpse and bands like that."
– CHRIS NIXON
Rampant illegal downloading of Korn's last two albums has also hurt sales. Though many artists encourage trading their music online, Davis' views have changed on the subject over the past few years.
"I'm not in favor of downloading," states Davis. "At first I was, because we don't make any money off of it. But now we're doing our own thing and we're working so hard on it. No one knows how hard it is to make a record. It's long grueling hours away from my family. I love doing it. Don't get me wrong; it's my passion in life. But when you work so hard and somebody just comes along and steals it? That's not cool."
With the music industry going through some tough times, 2004 finds Korn taking steps to reverse the trend. First the band is joining with Linkin Park, Snoop Dogg and the Used for the Projekt Revolution tour, which stops at Chula Vista's Coors Amphitheatre tomorrow. They are also breaking away from Epic Records, to self-release all future albums.
"Everything's changed. The music industry is dead now. There is a lot of (crappy) music coming out now. Downloading is kind of killing it too. (Record labels) are only trying to sign bands that are going to be one-hit wonders. The bands have a hit, sell a million records and then they can't deliver on the next one. They (record companies) stopped developing artists by signing a band, putting them on the road, putting the money into them and watching them grow. That's exactly what Epic Records did back when Richard Griffiths was president there. They believed in us and put us out there, and we ended up being one of the biggest rock bands in the world.
"We're putting out our greatest hits record, which is our last album for Epic," adds Davis about the planned Oct. 19 Epic release. "So we're getting off our label and we're going to put out our own albums now. It's going to be self-published, no label. So it's exciting times for us. Exciting and scary."
Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.
