Essential Korn Songs
I'd likely put "Thoughtless" into my Top 10 Korn songs, or at least close to it, but watching the music video sealed the deal. The lyrics are fairly typical of Korn, the song rattles your noggin just like any Korn song, but its video features an early acting appearance by Aaron Paul. He'd later reach greater success as "Jesse Pinkman" on Breaking Bad a few years later. The visuals of the music video seem to borrow heavily from horror movies like Carrie and Nightmare on Elm Street, making it one of the more bizarre videos I can recall seeing.
Looking back, the dub-step Korn album doesn't seem too far out of left field after revisting this song. It's like some freaky dance floor satanic ritual jam. Just throw this on at the club, scare away all the fancy-dressed jerks, and hail Satan while busting a move.
8. "Liar" (See You On The Other Side)
In the early 2000's MTV revived Headbangers' Ball, which featured the newer wave of heavy bands like Korn, Disturbed, also foreign bands like Opeth and Soilwork. I came across a 2 CD Headbangers' Ball compilation through the radio station and really dug this Korn song. One of the few that isn't a single from the band that I liked just as much as their hits.
7. "Evolution" (Untitled)
After really liking much of See You On The Other Side and the added emphasis on electronics, I was really looking forward to what they did next. It was like the band took elements of what influenced them and fused it into this 'heavy metal new wave'; or perhaps they just tried to become more like Nine Inch Nails. Either way, it was a bit refreshing at the time. The follow-up wasn't as good, or perhaps my expectations were just too high, because I really only latched onto this song. It's still pretty good today.
6. "Love Song" (See You On The Other Side; MTV UNplugged)
The thought of Korn releasing an unplugged album did not just sound like it wouldn't be good, it sounded like an all around terrible idea. I felt like singer Jonathan Davis actually didn't have that good of a singing voice and would be exposed when it wasn't surrounded by chugging riffs and booming drums. Well... I can always admit when I'm wrong. I actually gave it a listen and I was more than surprised, I was blown away. The band had done what other great artists have done when performing an MTV UNplugged concert- they rearranged portions of their songs to feature new instruments and backing/guest vocalists. Amy Lee from Evanescene joined them for one song, as well as Robert Smith from The Cure, which was actually the selling point for trying it out in the first place. "Love Song" is not the The Cure's song though. It's their own song taken from See You On The Other Side.
Korn may have lost their way, or maybe they wanted to experiment further with their sound, I'm not sure, but they tried dub-step on an entire album in 2011 with The Path To Totality. It wasn't good. Yet, Korn rebounded big time with the follow-up album called The Paradigm Shift as their old guitarist Head rejoined the band, and the album did feature a "shift" in their sound. It felt like blending their early albums from the 1990's with their electronic direction from the 2000's. I even saw them on this tour and noticed they had a touring keyboard/synth guy on stage with the band.
4. "Did My Time" (Take A Look In The Mirror)
This was actually the first Korn album I bought, yet I still didn't like every single track. I feel like that's my problem with Korn- the singles are really good but the rest just don't grab me. I've tried the rest of their albums released since this one in 2003, and 13 years later it still stands as having the best ratio of songs I like/songs I don't.
3. "Y'All Wanna Single" (Take A Look In The Mirror)
At the time it was released in 2003, I thought this was the stupidest rock song I'd heard on the radio. Years later, while it's still kinda dumb, it's hardly the worst thing ever. It seems more relevant now because of how watered down and over-produced pop music has become these days... F@CK these singles on the radio.
Likely the closest Korn ever came to writing a ballad. It's got a heavy synth-sounding beat throughout that gives off a 1980's Tears for Fears vibe, which seems to hint at the direction their albums would take in the later portion of the decade. While this actually is my favorite Korn song, the video just isn't that cool or memorable, which knocks it down a spot.
1. "Freak On A Leash" (Follow The Leader)
This is another song by Korn that achieves higher placement to due its music video. While I wasn't a Korn fan during my high school years, they were arguably the top dog in the hard rock world during that period in the late 90's/early 2000's, and this song and video were everywhere. It was inescapable! The music video with the bullet whizzing around also inspired an Mountain Dew commercial with a can moving at similar high speeds.
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