Korn: Jonathan Davis Reveals the Album of Which He’s Most Proud and the Album That Was “the Biggest Mistake We Made as a Band”
In a new interview with Independent, Jonathan Davis reveals the Korn albums of which he’s most and least proud. I’ll hold my jokes about how he shouldn’t be proud of any of them and just cut to the part you Korn fans care about:
“The record I’m most proud of is ‘Untouchables.’ I still think it sounds like the heavy metal Asia*. The production on it is of the same calibre in terms of sonic quality. We spent a lot of money making that record and it took us two years to make; I remember we spent a month just getting drum sounds. [Michael] Beinhorn is my favourite producer ever, he’s just got a great ear and he’s not afraid to tell you if you suck. I’d do vocal takes and think they were the best and then he’d tell me to go home because he thought my voice wasn’t right. I’d get so mad at him, but I love him. It was so much work; if I can find the footage, I’m going to put a little documentary together about that record because it’s a one of a kind that will never be made again.”
And on the other end of the spectrum, Davis thinks Korn III: Remember Who You Are is the band’s weakest album:
“I think it would have been a much better album if [producer Ross Robinson] hadn’t been so fucking hard and let us have a bit of fun. There was a song that I wrote about my wife [penultimate track ‘Are You Ready to Live?’] when she was having problems with a pill addiction. And Ross called her without me knowing and asked her to show up to the studio and I had to sing that part to her! He pushes your buttons on purpose to get those kind of performances out of you and he wants to get you to the point where you’re so fucking mad, the emotions just come pouring out. I get it but I don’t necessarily want to be a part of it now that I’ve been there and done that. I love him and I respect him and I think he’s amazing, one of the last great producers, but that record sounds forced to me and it took me to a very dark place that I didn’t want to go back to. I think going backwards rather than forwards might have been the biggest mistake we made as a band.”
I can’t weigh in on Davis’ opinions because I’m not familiar with either album… but I can only imagine how horrible Korn III must be if even Davis thinks it sucks.
Korn fans: agree? Disagree? debate amongst yourselves in the comments section.
*Asia the band, not Asia the continent… which, kind of hilariously, is incorrectly identified by Independent as a country.
[via The PRP]
