Korn

[tony.parente]

Please elaborate. Genuinely curious.

It's hard to explain.
Jon isn't really a good vocalist
Fieldy isn't really that outstanding as a bass player
There's nothing special about the guitars
The drums are just...drums

The rap rock thing is lame and dated.

They're a terrible band.

But FUCK if they have a ton of good records.

[wight rabbit]

It's hard to explain.
Jon isn't really a good vocalist
Fieldy isn't really that outstanding as a bass player
There's nothing special about the guitars
The drums are just...drums

The rap rock thing is lame and dated.

They're a terrible band.

But FUCK if they have a ton of good records.

I've gotta disagree about the drums, or at least the earlier ones. David Silveria was probably the most talented member of the band. His beats were a nice fusion of hip-hop and heavy rock. I would say he is almost on par with Abe Cunningham of Deftones.

[Archive_Reports]

It's hard to explain.
Jon isn't really a good vocalist
Fieldy isn't really that outstanding as a bass player
There's nothing special about the guitars
The drums are just...drums

The rap rock thing is lame and dated.

They're a terrible band.

But FUCK if they have a ton of good records.

Difficult to disagree with much of that. They were (mostly) purveyors of the genre and hit at just the right time. For the last however many albums they've stuck to a pretty basic songwriting formula that seems to work.

[AndItKeepsRepeating]

It's hard to explain.
Jon isn't really a good vocalist
Fieldy isn't really that outstanding as a bass player
There's nothing special about the guitars
The drums are just...drums

The rap rock thing is lame and dated.

They're a terrible band.

But FUCK if they have a ton of good records.

I couldnt agree more, they are as a whole greater than the sum of their parts. They're one of the most unique bands who ever existed

I was having this debate recently with a long time friend. Both of us were big Korn fans back in the late 90s/early 00s as teenagers, and the into our 20s moved on. Recently in our early mid 30s (probably not coincidentally around the time Head came back) we heard a few newer Korn songs and we're actually kinda shocked by how much we enjoyed them.

And it hit me - Korn has always been Korn. They're one of the few artists that have always just been themselves. They've never been afraid to try what they wanted to, or afraid to suck/have people not like them. They're fucking genuine, unique, and it's incredibly refreshing today and has always been what made them appealing to their fans I think, even if we're not always aware of it.

It's also impressive they've managed stay relevant, and not really lose what made them them at their peak after they've all gotten sober. If you listen to those early albums (especially Issues, which I think is easily their masterpiece in terms of sound and concept) it's no surprise they were all on a lot of meth among other things. I mean where else would those kind of hi-pitched haunted guitar parts come from?

[Space Suicide]

I couldnt agree more, they are as a whole greater than the sum of their parts. They're one of the most unique bands who ever existed

I was having this debate recently with a long time friend. Both of us were big Korn fans back in the late 90s/early 00s as teenagers, and the into our 20s moved on. Recently in our early mid 30s (probably not coincidentally around the time Head came back) we heard a few newer Korn songs and we're actually kinda shocked by how much we enjoyed them.

And it hit me - Korn has always been Korn. They're one of the few artists that have always just been themselves. They've never been afraid to try what they wanted to, or afraid to suck/have people not like them. They're fucking genuine, unique, and it's incredibly refreshing today and has always been what made them appealing to their fans I think, even if we're not always aware of it.

It's also impressive they've managed stay relevant, and not really lose what made them them at their peak after they've all gotten sober. If you listen to those early albums (especially Issues, which I think is easily their masterpiece in terms of sound and concept) it's no surprise they were all on a lot of meth among other things. I mean where else would those kind of hi-pitched haunted guitar parts come from?

One thing I always enjoyed about this band (I'm kind of a passer by fan these days. Not super into them but not a hater.) is how those early albums had a very unsettling feeling to them when you listened. Korn, Life Is Peachy and Issues (Minus the hits, fuck Follow the Leader) have a distinct sound and atmosphere they never recaptured to me. I know a lot of JD's lyrics deal with abuse and his childhood but the imagery conjured up in the vocals, the delivery of the lyrics and how the music just morphed around them is just...dirty. They have good production but the records always sounded dirtier and more disturbing than it would normally make you think.

Or maybe I'm making shit up?

I don't know.

[HWB]

One thing I always enjoyed about this band (I'm kind of a passer by fan these days. Not super into them but not a hater.) is how those early albums had a very unsettling feeling to them when you listened. Korn, Life Is Peachy and Issues (Minus the hits, fuck Follow the Leader) have a distinct sound and atmosphere they never recaptured to me. I know a lot of JD's lyrics deal with abuse and his childhood but the imagery conjured up in the vocals, the delivery of the lyrics and how the music just morphed around them is just...dirty. They have good production but the records always sounded dirtier and more disturbing than it would normally make you think.

Or maybe I'm making shit up?

I don't know.

Nah, you are right on money, to some extend I think this dirty sound is still present within them, it is kind of what they are known for. I think one of the things that seperates them the most from others and what creates this disturbing sound is the fact they have bass guitar being in the center rather than in the background a lot of the times, I feel like the bass guitar is a huge trademark of their sound, even though the bass guitar doesn't know music theory and doesn't apparently like playing it, his style is a huge part of their sound which gives it this unpleasant dark feeling to it. And as some who loves bass guitar I really love that.

There are other stuff that compliment it, it's everything, really, but the bass guitar is the thing that always stood out to me.

[ManBurning]

And it hit me - Korn has always been Korn. They're one of the few artists that have always just been themselves.

I always joke that KoRn is the new AC/DC.
You know exactly what you're getting going into a KoRn record, and they pump them out so fast (They're on 13 records, which is more than some bands who have been releasing music well before them...)
They have a very distinctive sound.

You can easily recognize a KoRn song a million miles away from the baseline alone.

I haven't listened to them in 10 years. I look at them like an ex girlfriend. I moved on.

But sometimes it's nice to reminisce about said ex and think about, maybe... all that could have been?

We all have that 1 ex that "we let get away" lol.

It isn't Korn's fault really that douchebags got attracted to their music

Kinda like TOOL fans? lol.
I feel like the music/message is going over a lot of TOOL fans' heads.
It seems like over the years TOOL's audience has changed, for the worse.