Korn still rules, but their early era will always hold a special place in our nu-nostalgic hearts.
In 1996, the band hadn’t yet taken over the world, but they had completely turned the world of heavy music on its head with the one-two punch of their self-titled debut followed by the impressive-as-hell sophomore follow-up, Life Is Peachy.
Speaking of Life Is Peachy, we want to take a second to give the record its due props. History doesn’t seem to look back as fondly on it as we think it deserves. Can you imagine the amount of pressure Korn must’ve felt when making the record?
It’s hard to make any sophomore album when your debut had a taste of success. But Korn’s self-titled didn’t have just a taste of success- it invented a whole damn new genre.
By our accounts, the record was the perfect follow-up and still holds up to this day. Even Jonathan Davis agrees, once reflecting to Vice:
“This [Life Is Peachy] is a great record. I love this record and it’s killer but it was very rushed. We just did the first Korn record and we went out and toured for 18 months, and we had to hurry up and do this record and get the fuck back out there to keep touring, so it’s really rushed.
There’s great songs on there, “A.D.I.D.A.S”. is on there, “Wicked” was good and it was the second record with Ross which was cool. But yeah, very rushed, very raw, it’s still a cool-ass record. I was so scared when it came out, for the sophomore jinx. But it came out killer.”
We concur. Anyways, the video below (sans annoying ’90’s video effects) is also pretty killer.
It’s a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into a band firing on all cylinders together in a tiny practice space, surrounded by close friends, ripping through what’s now essentially a greatest hits setlist. Timestamps below if you don’t have time to take the full half hour in:
1:08 Chi (quick take) 1:42 Good God (quick take) 2:02 Ass Itch 5:34 Kill You 9:31 A.D.I.D.A.S 11:59 Proud (drum quick take) 12:31 Fieldy Gangster Song 13:16 No Place To Hide 15:26 Blind 19:32 Ball Tongue/Lodi Dodi 24:17 Divine 27:20 Chi 31:33 Good God 32:18 Porno Creep 33:42 Fake