Korn’s 1994 Debut LP: The Oral History of the Most Important Metal Record of the Last 20 Years
Though it never charted above No. 72, Korn‘s self-titled 1994 debut has had unparalleled influence over the last two decades of American heavy music: the rise of nu-metal’s whomping pain-stomp, the road to platinum genre-smashers like Linkin Park and Slipknot, the popularity of the 7-string guitar, the emergence of superstar producer Ross Robinson and his method-acting-style techniques and even the mosh-centric rhythms of stadium dubstep artists like avowed Korn fan Skrillex.
While aging metalheads were trying to walk confidently through alternative nation, Korn lurched into the world like hip-hop zombies rocking Adidas tracksuits, baggy jeans and untamed dreadlocks. Their eclecticism was a pre-iTunes shuffle jumble: the whinnies and whines of Cypress Hill, the goth bravado of the Cure, the thwapping double-kicks of Primus, the 808 hit of a Rick Rubin brick-breaker, meth-fueled Boredoms-style scatting, and bass strings that sounded like a bask of crocodiles tangled in industrial-sized rubber bands. While Pantera’s Phil Anselmo grumbled chest-puffing lines like “I fucked your girlfriend last night,” Korn’s frail Jonathan Davis screamed, “I’m a faggot.” Pearl Jam and Tool couched their torment in poetry and anonymity; but Korn put everything on the line, especially with “Daddy,” a harrowing song about Davis being molested as a child that ends with nearly four minutes of the singer sobbing in the vocal booth.
Guitarist James “Munky” Shaffer, Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu and drummer David Silveria had been playing together since 1989 in funk-metal goofs L.A.P.D., a band that relocated from Bakersfield to Los Angeles. Their friend Brian “Head” Welch carried their gear and says he “waited years for them to get through their stupid funk phase.” Ultimately, the four men united as Creep and, with a new lead singer, recorded a demo with their friend Ross Robinson. But after the band’s guitarists went back to Bakersfield to visit some family, they caught sight of a spindly singer who would change their trajectory forever. Two weeks after Jonathan Davis’ audition the band had a new name, cut a four-song demo that would ultimately get the group a record deal and began one of heavy music’s biggest paradigm shifts.
Twenty years later, Korn have released 11 records, seven of them platinum, and will be playing their landmark first full-length in its entirety on select 2015 tour dates. Silveria, who left the group in 2006, won’t be rejoining the band for the occasion, but is currently working on getting a wider release for Echoes and Traces, the debut from his alt-metal project Infinika. We caught up with all the players to learn about the making of this monumental LP. Are you ready?
Brian “Head” Welch, guitar: We were into everything, from Pantera to Ice Cube. We liked the samples on the Cypress Hill stuff. The first record was about mimicking some of the hip-hop stuff that was going on in that day.
James “Munky” Shaffer, guitar: We were trying to sound like a DJ had remixed our guitars, y’know, and cutting them up and scratching. That’s kind of how that sound was born.
Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu, bass: When I would want to slap my bass, I wanted it to sound like it was being slapped. I didn’t want it to sound like a bass; I wanted it to sound like if you slapped a string. I don’t even like bass, to tell you the truth – it makes me nauseous.
Jonathan Davis, vocals: Dude, I never felt I was a metal dude to begin with. I grew up…my favorite band was Duran Duran. I was a child of the Eighties, and I loved more of the gothic and romantic kinda shit.
Ross Robinson, producer: Basically, he was a goth kid with kind of this funky, dry hair, wearing Monkey Boots, and he was wearing Robert Smith makeup. The band wasn’t dark yet; it had, like, killer grooves and good riffs, but there was some happy edge to it. And when he walked into the room, it went dark and goth. Basically, during the first song, to audition in the rehearsal room, he started freaking the hell out [laughs]. You couldn’t hear his voice, but you felt chills all over your body, and it was instantly like, “Oh my God, yeah – he’s the one.”
Head: When we had this scarecrow, depressed-sounding singer, and we’re doing all these noises, it just kind of went together and it made it sound even weirder.
Davis: After two weeks, we were doing a demo. Fucking crazy-ass Ross. I remember sleeping in a garage with him when he was living in a garage. I had to fucking quit my job where I was making great money as a mortician, had my own house, to fucking having nothing, working at a pizza place as a shift manager living under some stairs.
Robinson: We spent $14,000 on that first album – that was our budget. The reason I picked [Indigo Ranch Studio] was because Neil Young was there, Neil Diamond, all these really killer old-schoolers. I think Lenny Kravitz recorded there, Nick Cave. I knew that recording raw and vintage, the album wouldn’t sound dated ever. So we didn’t have any of the Eighties reverbs.
Davis: Walking in there and seeing all the crazy, old-school analog gear… I knew what this shit was because my dad had a recording studio. The shit that was in that studio, my dad dreamed about, and I just saw in pictures. I’m sitting there looking at it, going, “Oh my God, that’s an API Console!”
Robinson: Richard [Kaplan, Indigo Ranch Studio owner] had a big ol’ box of Seventies guitar pedals. That first Korn album was the first metal album to really use guitar pedals. I’m such a fan of that feeling you get when you hear [Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s] “Blinded by the Light,” when that phaser kicks in — Indigo had that exact phaser. I really believe that is the first metal album to start the pedal trend, for sure. We didn’t walk in there like that; it was ready and waiting for us.