Korn (stylized as KoRn) is an American nu-metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993, widely credited as the band that pioneered and brought nu-metal into the mainstream — a genre that fused heavy metal guitar tuned to extreme low registers, hip-hop rhythm and groove, and raw lyrical content about childhood trauma, abuse, addiction, and inner torment. Three of the founding members — guitarist James Munky Shaffer, bassist Reginald Fieldy Arvizu, and drummer David Silveria — had played together in the Bakersfield funk metal band L.A.P.D. When that band dissolved, they recruited vocalist Jonathan Davis, a former mortuary science student whose wailing, scatting, bagpipe-playing frontman persona was unlike anything in heavy music, and guitarist Brian Head Welch to complete the lineup. The band recorded a demo tape, Neidermayer's Mind, in 1993 and distributed it freely to record labels and the public before signing with Immortal/Epic Records.
Their self-titled debut album (1994), produced by Ross Robinson, built an underground following on the strength of its visceral intensity and lyrical rawness — Davis addressing childhood molestation, bullying, and psychological damage with no softening. Life Is Peachy (1996) reached number three on the Billboard 200 and pushed them into mainstream visibility, featuring A.D.I.D.A.S. and a cover of Ice Cube's Wicked with Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno. Follow the Leader (1998) was the commercial explosion that brought nu-metal into the center of popular culture. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, sold 268,000 copies in its first week, and went on to five-times platinum certification. Its singles Got the Life and Freak on a Leash — the latter featuring one of the most visually inventive music videos of the era, directed by Todd McFarlane — conquered MTV's Total Request Live, with both videos ultimately being retired from the show due to the volume of votes. Freak on a Leash won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. That same year Korn founded the Family Values Tour, a package tour concept that brought together Limp Bizkit, Rammstein, Ice Cube, Orgy, and Incubus under one roof and defined the sound of a generation. Issues (1999) also debuted at number one and confirmed Korn as one of the biggest rock bands in America.
The band's influence on the late 1990s and early 2000s heavy music landscape is categorical. Limp Bizkit, Papa Roach, Disturbed, Staind, and dozens of other acts cite Korn as the direct template for the genre that dominated TRL, Ozzfest, and alternative radio during that era. Twelve of their official releases have peaked in the top ten of the Billboard 200. Guitarist Brian Welch departed in 2005 after converting to Christianity, releasing a memoir about addiction and faith, and returned to the band in 2012. Drummer Silveria was replaced by Ray Luzier in 2007. The band has earned two Grammy Awards from eight nominations and sold over 40 million albums worldwide across fourteen studio albums.
Wayne Dennon photographed Korn as part of an archive that documents heavy music at its most emotionally raw. Korn did not invent heavy guitar music, but they invented the language that an entire generation used to say what they needed to say about growing up in pain, and the force of that contribution is still reverberating in heavy music today.
