I freely admit that I loved the tracksuit metal band Korn in the 90's. I can't bring myself to be pretentious and act as if I haven't seen them five times, sung along lustily to their song "A.D.I.D.A.S. (All Day I Dream About Sex)" from their 1996 album "Life Is Peachy," and declared their self-titled 1994 debut album "an unsung classic" on numerous occasions. I adored their crunchy, faux-hardcore, seven-string guitar sound, their unabashed allegiance to their fans and unbridled hedonism in the sometimes hedonism-shy 90's.
All of this makes it very perplexing that two members of Korn have given in their Satan's Army ID cards and handed their lives over to the Prince of Peace, Jesus. And they both have written books about it. Slate Magazine has a very interesting (if notably Korn-negative) article about the fact that Korn bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu has just put out the book Got The Life last month on the tail of Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch's 2007 memoir, Save Me From Myself.
I have yet to read these potentially juicy memoirs, but they are on hold for me at the library, so a review will be coming soon in my new feature about 90's-oriented books, "Turn The Page."
I don't agree with Slate writer James Parker's assertion that Korn as a band and a sound were DOA from the release of their 1994 album. Though I understand many diehard rock, metal and hardcore fans' objection to the band (including corporate record label invention of the abysmal moniker "nu-metal" to describe their unusual riff-based guitar sound), I still really love the angry, painful yet ebullient rebelliousness of their music, especially their debut, "Korn."
Though I will probably end up doing a "I Can't Believe You Don't Own This F%#kin' Record" post on each of Korn's 90's records, I felt the Holy Spirit and it told me to play you guys a couple of songs off of their first album. Enjoy!
Korn - "Clown" from their 1994 record, "Korn"
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