Korn Flakes - Another Unofficial Korn Site
What is Korn?
corn, korn, corny, korny, horny, horn, maize, maise, flakes, flaky, silly, lo-fi, fi-lo, fi-do
LIFE BEGINS (AND ENDS) IN BAKERSFIELD
Korn began life in Bakersfield, just west of Death Valley in California. One would expect the town's remoteness and isolation to be detrimental to any growing band's development, and to an extent this is true (check David's bad drum stick tegnique, for example), but at the same time you could say the lack of outside influences sparked that flame so many musicians miss: self-revelation.
Korn is Jon HIV Davis, James Munky Shaffer, David Noname Silveria, Reggy Fieldy Arvizu and Brian Head Welch.
WHY IS THEIR NAME "KORN"?
Sure, you'll find a number of possible explanations, but basically the only reason why "Korn" is spelt the way it is (with the "K" and the inverse "R") is because the first album was about Jonathan Davis' childhood, and he wanted it to look like a child's handwriting.
On the other hand, they do seem to have a love for misspellings (such as k-unt instead of c-unt, or p-eachy instead of b-itchy, and let's not forget munky). Perhaps they think it's cool (or kewl).
In an interview with Jon he let slip that Korn was born after he went to see a psychiatrist, who told him he'd be crazy if he didn't join the soon to be named band. Perhaps "Korn" is short for "corny" in the sense of crazy.
INITIALLY
Initially the band consisted of just Fieldy, Munky, David and Head, although Jonathan soon left his death defying job to join them. They soon left Baketown and headed for Los Angeles to drum up some influence and support. The former they got, but the latter was not forth coming.
In fact, it took them two years of playing before they were signed by a record company. And their music was so weird that no-one wanted to play their music on air. But once their music hit the American teens street, nothing could stop them. When nobody wanted to play their records, they decided to play it themselves... and on tour they went.
Their second album, Life is Peachy, reached platinum sales. And although the reviews were less than flattering, it must be said that Korn's second record was something the rock scene was never seen before. It was one of the first American band releases to combine bagpipes with trashy metal. And instead of adding swear words and vulgarity into all of their songs, they simply put them all together into a single dictionary-like song called K-unt.
The third album, Follow the Leader, started out at number 1 on the hit parade Billboard's Top 200. They also charted two singles, and joined forces temporarily with guest rapper Ice Cube and guest singer Fred Durst.
TIMES FOR CHANGE
One incident in the life of Korn was when a 14-year-old boy suffering from cancer requested to meet the band for a few minutes through the Make-A-Wish foundation. The minutes became hours, and the hours became a few days... and finally a song emerged, called Justin.
Another incident in the interesting life of the band Korn was the cease-and-desist charge they brought against a school that expelled a pupil for wearing a Korn t-shirt, and won.
Meanwhile many other bands were mimmicking Korn's style, and soon Korn was in danger of seeming "played out" in the very genre they spearheaded. Korn knew that their next album would have to be different, again, to make the same impact as the first. So they decided to move ahead into new territories, and the result was Issues. They wanted to make a personal album, so they invited fans to submit entries for the album's cover. The record was an instant success.
When you first put your copy of Issues on your stereo you may be surprised at the difference between this album and the previous three albums. Issues is a journey through the life of Korn from early beginnings to the present day dealing with issues such as Jonathan's struggle with alcohol, the bands overnight success and the disputes between members on the Family Values 98 tour.
UNTOUCHABLE, THAT'S WHAT THEY ARE
Their latest album, Untouchables, does it again. The new album uses 24-bit sampling (twice the highest rate normally used for recording) which creates a rich sonic panorama which is unfathomably heavy, uncompromisingly introspective, and startlingly unique.
Dramatis personae: (1) Leuce, webmaster of this site (knows next to nothing about Korn, and has a life). (2) Wortle, assistant webmaster of this site (still trying to outgrow Korn and getting a life (this comment was written by Leuce... you can tell, can't you?)). (3) Geocities, our kind host (until they discover us, no doubt). (4) Korn, without whom this site would have been a lot more boring and a lot less corny.