Korn formed after the group L.A.P.D. folded, after their original singer, Rick Morrill, left the band to take care of his drug addictions. The musicians (Arvizu, Welch, Shaffer and Silveria) wanted to continue, and began the search for a new lead singer. One night in 1992, Welch and Shaffer were in a nightclub together, and were intending to stay for only a few minutes. That all changed once a band called Sexart took to the stage. They were intrigued by the singer, Jonathan Davis, who met up with the members after the gig was finished. At first Jonathan didn't want to accept the postiton of lead singer, but after consulting a psychic who told him he'd be stupid to not do it, he signed on. The group found they were highly cohesive early on and so, formed a brand-new band by the name of Korn in 1993 and Welch took the pseudonym "Head," Arvizu became "Fieldy" and Shaffer took the name "Munky".
In 1993, Korn began a working process with their friend and producer, Ross Robinson. With him, Korn began work on and released their first demo in 1993, Neidermeyer's Mind. It contained 4 songs: "Predictable," "Blind," "Daddy" and "Alive." "Blind" was originally written by Davis and sexArt, but was revised with new lyrics by Korn. The style changed as well: the original version was heavy metal-oriented; Korn's version, while still heavy-metal, contains hip-hop influences.
Korn had problems getting signed during their first year, mainly because of their unique style. They didn’t fit in with the current rock scene of the 90’s, which was Seattle grunge rock. Horrified record executives and producers turned the other way at the sound of Davis’ painful lyrics and the vicious musicality. But one night in 1994, Paul Pontius from Immortal/Epic Records heard the band in a nightclub. He was so impressed with the band that he signed them on the spot. With two producers, Robinson and Pontius, and a label, Korn produced their self-titled debut album in 1994, Korn.
Musically, its tracks mix both heavy metal and hip-hop, the latter of which in rhythms and beats. It also features scat-type vocals on the song "Ball Tongue," and bagpipes on the song “Shoots and Ladders.” “Daddy,” the closing track, is musically and emotionally heavy. “Blind” was the 1st single from the album; it was extremely well-liked by fan-bases and quickly became their most popular song to this day. Critics have agreed that Korn was the very 1st nu-metal album.
Korn toured incessantly to promote their first album. With no radio play or MTV, they relied solely on their intensive live shows which created a large cult following of dedicated fans. It was through the effort of this cult that gave Korn the #1 spot on the Billboard Heatseekers charts in 1995, with "Shoots And ladders" being their 1st nominee for Best Metal Performance and the Grammy Awards later that year.
On their first large tour, KoRn opened for Glenn Danzig, alongside Marilyn Manson. Other bands that Korn opened for in 1995 included Megadeth, 311, Fear Factory, Flotsam and Jetsam and KMFDM. However, the 1st tour that widely exposed the band was opening for Ozzy Osbourne alongside the Deftones. After opening for lesser-known bands such as Dimestore Hoods, Sugar Ray and Life of Agony, Korn returned to Immortal to record a 2nd album.
Korn teamed up with Ponits and Robinson once again for their 2nd album, Life Is Peachy, released in 1996. It features a much different sound than their debut, adding even more of a downtuned 7-string guitar sound. There were plenty of diverse songs on this record: "Porno Creep", the band's only instrumental, features a wah-drenched pseudo-funk sound, similar to many 1970s porn movies. They covered War's "Lowrider," with Davis' bagpipes and head on vocals.“Twist” was only 49 seconds long, and featured Davis’ scat vocals and extremely heavy guitars. A.D.I.D.A.S. was the 1st single, seemingly in reference to the popular clothing line. In actuality, the song title was an acronym for All Day I Dream About Sex, as apparent in the lyrics.
To help promote their new album, Korn accepted the once-in-a-lifetime chance at superstardom by opening for Metallica. Then, they turned to one of the newest resources available: the Internet. These strategies worked: Life Is Peachy sold more than 106,000 copies its first week on shelves and reached #3 on The Billboard 200 charts. The second single off the album, “No Place To Hide,” spawned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance.
Another key factor in raising the band’s popularity was co-headlining the Lollapalooza 1997 music festival with Tool. Ross Robinson parted ways with Korn in 1997, but his role in the music production industry was far from over. He went on to produce records for bands like Limp Bizkit, Machine Head, Slipknot, Glassjaw, Cold and Sepultura.
In late 1997, KoRn formed their own label, Elementree Records. The first band they signed was Orgy (featuring former members of Davis’ band SexArt), who gave Elementree its first Platinum album with Candyass. Over the next few years they signed acts like Videodrone, rapper Marz, and Deadsy.
Prior to the release of the band's third album, Korn was featured once a week on their internet TV show, KornTV, which showed behind the scenes of the making of the record as well as special guests such as porn star Ron Jeremy, Limp Bizkit, 311 and many more. It also gave fans the chance to call in and ask the band questions. Korn was already ahead of the game by utilizing the internet to reach their fans. October 1998 saw Korn at their peak as they released their third album, Follow the Leader. It featured a number of guest vocalists such as Ice Cube, Tre Hardson from the Pharcyde, and Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit, as well as a rewritten version of the old club song Molested, re-written again and re-titled My Gift to You, a title insinuating the fact that the song was dedicated to his first wife, as well as the fans who had been there from the beginning and would know exactly what song this was. Korn launched a political campaign-style tour to promote the release of Follow the Leader. It took the group all over North America to spread the news of their "Family Values" platform to fans at special "fan conferences" that were organized at every stop along the tour route. Korn chartered a jet, which took them to record stores in such cities as Riverside (CA), Mt. View (CA), Sacramento, Seattle, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, Toronto, Atlanta, and Dallas. They talked to fans at every stop, answered questions during the special "fan conferences" and signed autographs. Jim Rose hosted the entire "Kampaign" tour. Celebrities at various stops included Ice Cube and Todd McFarlane. The album was a success, reaching No.1 on the U.S. and Canadian charts and spawning the singles "Got the Life" and "Freak on a Leash." "Freak on a Leash" is known as KoRn's most recognizable hit to this day. Follow The Leader debuted at the #1 slot in Canada, New Zealand and Australia; #4 in Finland; #5 in France, the UK and Norway; #8 in Japan; #10 in Holland; #12 in Germany; and it registered the highest debut on the Pan European "Music & Media," chart (at #6). The animated bullet segments in the video for "Freak on a Leash" were directed by Todd McFarlane (creator of the Spawn comic book and a former artist for Spider-Man comics). Greg Capullo, long-time Spawn penciler, drew the cover art for the album. The live action in the video, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, used innovative techniques which featured 'the magic bullet' that the camera followed through various scenes as well as a performance of the band in a Twilight Zone like room. "Freak on a Leash" won a Grammy for Best Video (Short Form), earned 9 MTV Awards nominations, for: Video of the Year, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Viewer's Choice. Eventually it won 2, for: Best Rock Video, and Best Editing. Follow the Leader is the band's most commercially successful album, being certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA and having sold almost 10 million copies worldwide.
The same year Follow the Leader was released, Korn started their own annual tour called the Family Values Tour. That year they headlined the tour along with Incubus, Orgy, Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube and Rammstein. It was a highly successful tour, there was a live CD and DVD from Family Values Tour'98 which earned gold and platinum status, respectively. In 1999, Limp Bizkit headlined, along with Primus, Staind, The Crystal Method, Method Man & Redman, and Filter. System of a Down was kicked off the tour by Fred Durst after he failed to sign the band Taproot. Korn were not featured on the bill and instead only made surprise appearances at a few of the tour's stops to perform their first single off of their next album, "Falling Away from Me." The tour took a break in 2000.
In 1999 Korn performed at Woodstock '99 on 23 July. Other memorable moments include a feud with Ben Folds during which Folds released his Rocking the Suburbs music video with a "Korn Sucks" protest frame in the middle of it.
The band's fourth album, Issues, produced by Brendan O'Brien, featuring cover art designed by Alfredo Carlos who won a contest held for the fans to design Korn's new album artwork, was released in November 1999. The album was released during a week of many new highly anticipated records. It debuted at #1 on The Billboard 200, keeping Dr.Dre's long awaited album "2001" and Celine Dion's "Greatest Hits" from hitting #1. and was certified 4x Platinum by the RIAA, following up the success of Follow the Leader. It featured a broader range of styles compared to previous albums, since the band's decision to no longer incorporate hip hop into their sound. Davis said in an interview "I like hip hop, I am a fan of it, but I don't want to be associated with it anymore." To celebrate the album's release, the band performed the record in its entirety in front of a live audience at New York's historic Apollo Theater and broadcast the concert simultaneously across many radio stations. This performance made Korn the first rock band,[6] and only the second white musical group (with the exception of Fieldy) to ever perform at The Apollo after the legendary Buddy Holly in the late 1950s. This special event featured the NYPD marching drum and bagpipe band conducted by Richard Gibbs as well as a group of back-up singers to enhance the more melodic choruses and backing vocals Jonathan Davis used on the album. Earlier that year, Korn had appeared on an episode of South Park, titled Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery, in which the first single from Issues, "Falling Away from Me" was premiered. In the episode, the band helped the boys solve a Scooby-Doo style mystery. Korn released two more singles off of Issues, "Make Me Bad" and "Somebody Someone", both of which fared well on US charts. Videos were also shot for all three singles, with longtime friend, Durst directing "Falling Away from Me", and Udo Kier and Brigitte Nielsen starring in a concept video for "Make Me Bad." The video for "Somebody Someone" was a simple performance with some CGI effects. All the videos were staple of MTV Total Request Live. "Issues" is considered by some critics to be less metal-influenced and closer to alternative metal then nu metal,[7] however there is still the same signature aggression of other Korn albums present.
In 2000 Jonathan Davis commissioned Swiss surreal artist H.R. Giger to create a special mic stand. The idea was suggested to him by one of his friends who knew that Jonathan was a fan of his artwork. He started doing some sketches of plantlike snakes and vertebrae mixed with technical elements. Jonathan called him from his dressing room and told him that he had complete freedom to design the microphone stand as he wanted and his only concern was that it had be totally functional and as movable as possible, as well as biomechanical and erotic. The band visited his museum and met him in July of 2000 when they were touring in Europe. The bio-mechanical mic-stand was finished in 2001.[8] It was introduced to fans one year later during Korn's Untouchables Tour.
In June 2002, after a year and a half of hard work and a long creative process, Korn re-emerged into the media spotlight with their 5th album, Untouchables. The release of this album was preceded by the show at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York on 10th June 2002, one day prior to the album's release, broadcasted digitally through the theaters in U.S. The album had a very dark and gothic feel while featuring synths, strings and various effects the band had never used in an album before. The overall feel was drastically different from previous efforts particularly tracks like "Alone I Break," "Hating," and the haunting "Hollow Life," which singer Jonathan Davis claims is his favorite Korn song to this day. Untouchables had disappointing sales. The band has blamed Internet piracy for the drop in sales, as an unmixed version of the album had leaked a whole five months prior to its official release date.
The album's first single "Here to Stay" earned a Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Untouchables has since been certified Platinum by the RIAA. The first 2 videos from Untouchables were directed by the Hughes Brothers (best known for their films, Menace II Society and From Hell). The first video, "Here to Stay," has the band playing inside a TV on a static background along with controversial news stories and world issues being presented. The video was nominated to Mtv Video Music Award for Best Rock Video and won MuchMusic Video Award for Best International Video (Group). The second video, "Thoughtless," was a nod back to Jonathan's childhood as the character in the video is picked on and constantly beaten. The character ultimately gains revenge in a rather grotesque but deserving way (puking jets of bile onto the bullies). Although "Thoughtless" would be one of the more popular tracks on the album, it did not appear on Greatest Hits Vol. 1. The third video for Untouchables, "Alone I Break," was directed by Sean Dack who won the honor of directing Korn's video through an MTV contest. The video kept with the darkness of Korn, showing Jonathan Davis killing off the members of the band after a supposed mistake made by Munky when they were performing. The band admitted it would have been more fun to do the video had the director been a true Korn fan
Prior to their next album, Korn released the single "Did My Time," which was featured on the soundtrack to the film, Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life in early 2003. Angelina Jolie appeared in the video for "Did My Time."
Korn's sixth album, Take a Look in the Mirror was released in November 2003. Korn produced this record themselves. The album featured the singles "Right Now," "Did My Time" "Everything I've Known," and "Y'All Want a Single." "Right Now" and "Everything I've Known" were animated videos while, "Y'All Want a Single" and "Did My Time" were performance video, which "Y'all Want a Single" featured Korn and a large group of fans destroying a record store. The album peaked at No. 9 on The Billboard 200. The album is obviously a change back into the "nu metal" sound of Korn's first album.
During February of 2004, Guitar World released a list of the world's "100 greatest metal guitarists of all time" ranking Head and Munky at #26.[9]
In October of 2004, Korn released their greatest hits album, Greatest Hits, Volume 1. It featured two cover songs and a compilation of the band's hits from the past 10 years. The first single was a cover of the song "Word Up!", which was originally made popular by the group Cameo. The album also featured a medley of all three parts of Pink Floyd 's "Another Brick in the Wall", and a remix of their hit single "Freak on a Leash". Special editions of the album includes a DVD titled Korn: Live At CBGB that features Korn playing live at CBGB in New York city.
In February 2005, Brian "Head" Welch announced that he had "...chosen the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior, and would be dedicating his musical pursuits to that end",[10] and was formally leaving Korn. Initial speculations that this was a hoax or practical joke were proven wrong; he has turned highly spiritual, even being baptized in the Jordan River and speaking openly about his faith and conversion, especially on his website [1]. Welch has also stated that his reason for leaving the band had to do with his daughter reciting obscene Korn lyrics and the fact that he was fighting an addiction to crystal meth. This was to be the band's first lineup change in their history. Brian's website was recently hacked and a post was made by someone posing as him saying he was going to come back to Korn but was confirmed by Jonathan as well as Brian as false. Brian has also said on his website (speaking about the guys in Korn) "I love those guys." A Korn reunion is unlikely even after such a statement.
Head has decided to continue making music. It will contain Christian lyrics, but isn't necessarily a Christian album. Due for a July 2007 release, the name of his solo debut is called It's Time to See Religion Die. Coincedentally, it is also the same month that Korn will release it's yet untitled eighth studio album.
Upon completing their record deal with Sony Records, Korn has since partnered with EMI and signed to Virgin Records. EMI has paid Korn $25 million upfront in exchange for a share in the profits of their next two LPs, including tours and merchandising. In exchange, EMI received a 30 percent stake in the band's licensing, ticket sales and other revenue sources.
The band's first release for Virgin Records, See You on the Other Side was released on December 6, 2005, and debuted on #3 on the Billboard 200, representing the band's 7th Top 10 debut. The first single off the album, "Twisted Transistor" was accompanied by a comic video directed by Dave Meyers in which rap stars Xzibit, Lil' Jon, Snoop Dogg, and David Banner portrayed Korn. The single itself peaked at #3 on Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart, and at #9 on Billboard Modern Rock chart. The second single, "Coming Undone" peaked at #4 on Mainstream Rock Chart, and at #14 on Modern Rock Chart, and the video directed by Little X also received considerable video play. Korn also, for the first time has brought two singles from one album to Hot 100 Chart. The album has sold over 2 million copies worldwide up to date, and went platinum in the U.S. on March 16. The album managed to stay in Top 100 of Billboard 200 chart for 34 straight weeks.
On January 13, 2006, Korn threw a giant party at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery announcing the See You on the Other Side World Tour. The first leg of tour, with 10 Years and Mudvayne, began on 24 February 2006 in their hometown Bakersfield and ended on 4th April in Toronto. The Australian part of the See You on the Other Side tour consisted of Korn, 10 Years, Hatebreed, and Disturbed. The bands performed in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne on the 24th, 27th and 29th of April 2006 respectively. This marked the first time Korn visited Australia since their Take a Look in the Mirror tour in February of 2004. It was a general belief by all the bands involved that it had been 'too long' since they had last visited Australia.
Korn had also announced the resurrection of their "Family Values Tour", which kicked off July 29, 2006 in Nashville, TN. The Family Values Tour featured Korn, Deftones, Stone Sour, Flyleaf, Dir en grey, 10 Years, Bury Your Dead, Deadsy, Bullets and Octane, and Walls of Jericho. This was also the first Family Values Tour to have a second stage and to be in outdoor pavilions.
In April, Jonathan Davis teamed up with the Atlanta crunk rap group Dem Franchize Boyz to record a mash-up of their latest hits Coming Undone and Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It, which occurred due to both the groups being signed to Virgin Records. Before recording with Dem Franchize Boyz, the group was featured on "Wake Up," a track from The Notorious B.I.G. album Duets: The Final Chapter.
In 2006, Korn's "Freak on a Leash" appeared on a countdown of VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs Of All Time at #23. They also charted on a user-based interactive list of the 100 Greatest Videos Of All Time in the UK magazine Kerrang! at number 10 with the same song. On May 6, Korn won a MTV Asia Video Music Award in the "Favourite Video" category for "Twisted Transistor", beating Green Day, Kanye West, My Chemical Romance, and Franz Ferdinand. The band also performed "Twisted Transistor" live in front of 5,000 people. Jonathan Davis also presented an award for favorite artist from China, Vicky Zhao.
On June 12, 2006, Davis was diagnosed with Immune thrombocytopenic purpura, a blood defect that hospitalized him for the weekend, preventing him from performing at the renowned Download Festival. The band still performed, with guest singers including Slipknot/ Stone Sour's Corey Taylor; Stone Sour playing earlier on the same day. This led to Korn cancelling the rest of their European bill, especially the Hellfest Summer Open Air. It was originally unknown to the public what his ailment was, but the singer revealed in a letter to fans that he was 'dangerously low on blood platelets and at a high risk of death from a hemorrhage if the problem was not treated. His illness did not affect the 2006 Family Values Tour.