Follow the Leader (Korn album)
Template:Redirect Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox album Follow the Leader (stylized as FOLLOW the LEADEЯ) is the third studio album by American nu metal band Korn. It was released on August 18, 1998, through both Immortal and Epic Records. This was their first album not produced by Ross Robinson. Instead, it was produced by Steve Thompson and Toby Wright.
The album peaked at number one on four national charts, including the US Billboard 200 with 268,000 units sold in its first week of release.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Follow the Leader is the band's most commercially–successful album, being certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA. Its singles, "Got the Life" and "Freak on a Leash", both charted on more than three charts, and their music videos are considered to be the first music videos retired from MTV, most notably the MTV show Total Request Live.<ref name="fieldy 118">Template:Harvnb</ref> The album generally received positive reviews by critics; AllMusic saying the album is "an effective follow-up to [Korn's] first two alt-metal landmarks."<ref name="allmusic" />
The Family Values Tour promoted the album, along with its five singles. The song "Freak on a Leash" was nominated for nine MTV Video Music Awards, and won for the Best Rock Video award, as well as Best Editing.<ref name="fieldy 118" /> The music video for "Freak on a Leash" won Best Short Form Music Video at the 2000 Grammy Awards.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Recording and production
By January 1998,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Korn returned to the studio to record Follow the Leader. Even though Korn was impressed by the work Ross Robinson had done on their previous albums, they decided to work with producer Steve Thompson and engineer Toby Wright. Robinson did, however, work with singer Jonathan Davis as a vocal coach for the album.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite magazine</ref> According to Wright, Robinson went to extreme lengths to agitate Davis in the vocal booth, including punching him in the back repeatedly.<ref name="Arvizu 2009 112">Template:Harvnb</ref> Korn implemented a live streaming department on their website in March 1998, called Korn TV, which aired the After-School Special series. Using RealMedia software, fans could access it every Thursday from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm Eastern time.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Sfn Korn's After-School Special featured guest appearances such as Sugar Ray, Limp Bizkit, Deftones, Steve Vai, 311, and the Pharcyde.Template:Sfn The band was shown making the record on Korn TV. Korn exposed themselves making the album to let their fans see what they were doing in the studio and behind the scenes.<ref name="Arvizu 2009 112"/> Follow the Leader features numerous guest vocalists, including Ice Cube on "Children of the Korn", Tre Hardson of the Pharcyde on "Cameltosis" and Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst on "All in the Family".<ref name="credits">"Follow the Leader credits" Template:Webarchive. AllMusic. Retrieved March 13, 2010</ref><ref name="Fieldy 113">Template:Harvnb</ref> The songs for the album were written and copyrighted in 1997, with the exception of "Children of the Korn", "All in the Family" and "Cameltosis", which are copyrighted from 1998.<ref>"All songs copyright 1997 except tracks 17, 20 and 24 copyright 1998" (Liner notes for Follow the Leader)</ref> Mid-way through the album's production, Korn fired Thompson and Wright became the album's producer.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> "We weren't seeing eye-to-eye on things and bumped heads a lot. He's an awesome producer, but we thought it'd be better if he went", Davis told Kerrang!.<ref name=":0" /> Thompson's firing delayed the album's production as all of its vocal tracks had to be re-recorded.<ref name=":0" /> By June 1998, the band were mixing the album.<ref name=":0" />
In a 2013 interview, the band revealed that they partied heavily during the production of Follow the Leader, with massive amounts of alcohol, drugs, and women in the studio. Davis explained further, saying that while recording the vocals for "It's On", there were "people getting blowjobs right behind me, there was girls banging each other in front of me, people getting boned in the closet right behind me, it was the craziest shit I've ever seen in my life and I sang that song." According to Davis, he only agreed to begin tracking vocals when producer Toby Wright met his demands for an eight-ball (a one-eighth ounce of cocaine).<ref name="Scuzz">Template:Cite web</ref>
Photography and illustration
The artwork for Follow the Leader was done by Todd McFarlane Entertainment, with McFarlane and fellow Image Comics artists Greg Capullo (penciller) and Brian Haberlin (colorist) doing the album cover, and designer Brent Ashe handling the graphics work.<ref name="credits"/><ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref> According to drummer David Silveria, the band got interested in McFarlane after hearing that "Todd had actually referred to us as 'the Doors of the 90'sTemplate:' ", leading to them recording a song for Spawn, a film based on a comic book by McFarlane, and eventually approaching the artist to make an album cover for them.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> The cover art depicts a child hopscotching toward the edge of a cliff and a gathering of kids waiting to follow, a concept that began with bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu and sketched by a friend of Davis before being submitted to McFarlane. It marked the third straight Korn cover featuring children in a disturbing context, which Davis explained by saying that "Children are always scared when they're all happy and stuff. They're the most beautiful thing in the world, but when you see it in our artwork, the way we've placed it, it's just kinda fuckin' weird."<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref><ref name="t shirt" /> The "Freak on a Leash" music video features animated segments by McFarlane featuring this cover art.<ref>(99-02-04) "Korn 'Freak' Video To Debut On Friday" MTV. Retrieved March 20, 2010</ref>
Release and promotion
Korn embarked on a promotional tour for the upcoming album across North America, which began on August 17, 1998, at Tower Records in Los Angeles and ended in early September. Named Korn Kampaign, it was inspired by the styles of political campaigns and press conferences, but instead, these were aimed at fans.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Follow the Leader was released on August 18, 1998, through Immortal/Epic.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Follow the Leader is recognized as Korn's mainstream breakthrough, and the album that launched nu metal into the mainstream.<ref name=WiederhornLoudwire>Template:Cite web</ref>
In the fall of 1998, Korn started the Family Values Tour. According to Arvizu, the tour name was due to "so many of their friends who were like family to us played in bands".<ref name="fieldy 119" /> The Family Values Tour featured the unveiling of a steel cage to the rear of the stage called the Korn Kage,<ref name="Louder2019-02-21">Template:Cite news</ref> holding radio contest winners.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> The idea of the Korn Kage came originally from Arvizu.<ref name="Louder2019-02-21"/> The tour started on September 22, 1998, ending on October 31, 1998.<ref name="fieldy 119" /> The tour grossed $6.5 million (6,500,000 in 1999), with an average gross of $240,000 per show and an average attendance per show at 9,000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Korn maintained a generally low ticket price, usually no more than thirty dollars. Korn toured with the band Limp Bizkit, as well as Ice Cube, Orgy, Incubus, and Rammstein.<ref name="fieldy 119">Template:Harvnb</ref> The tour was considered to be a major success, and promoted Follow the Leader to sales that were considered to have "skyrocketed".<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> However, unlike all their other tours, they opted not to play in Europe for this cycle.<ref name="Paquet2002">Template:Cite book</ref>
The album was also promoted through Concrete Marketing's Concrete Corner program with Jim Rose of Jim Rose Circus as the pitchman. The promotion saw 100,000 copies of a compilation CD featuring tracks of breakthrough artists approved by Korn, as well as a previously unreleased Korn track, being shrink-wrapped to the album at participating stores and given away for free with each purchase of the album. Band artists (at the time) featured on this CD included Kid Rock, Orgy, Powerman 5000 and Limp Bizkit.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The album had five singles issued: "All in the Family", "Got the Life", "Freak on a Leash", "Children of the Korn", and "B.B.K."<ref>"Follow the Leader Discography" Template:Webarchive The Reeper.com. Retrieved April 5, 2010</ref>
In January 1999, Korn participated in the Australian tour of the Big Day Out festival.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> To continue promoting Follow the Leader, Korn launched a co-headlining US tour with Rob Zombie and Videodrone as the opening act that began on February 26, 1999, through mid-April.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Kaufman1998">Template:Cite news</ref> The tour was decided between Korn and Zombie as a reconciliation after a dispute due to the latter's non-participation in the Family Values Tour 1998.<ref name="Paquet2002"/><ref name="Kaufman1998"/> The tour was named Rock Is Dead and converged with the dates of Marilyn Manson's tour of the same name. In addition, a larger Korn Kage was included onstage, and the tour featured Davis beginning to wear a kilt in live performances. During this tour, Korn's members switched places to perform "Earache My Eye"; guitarists James "Munky" Shaffer and Brian "Head" Welch swapped sides while Davis played the drums and Silveria the bass, and Arvizu took the microphone to sing. Korn and Zombie's Rock Is Dead Tour was a commercial and critical success.<ref name="Paquet2002"/>
Composition
Follow the Leader is seventy minutes and eight seconds long. AllMusic said, "They write songs, but those wind up not being nearly as memorable as their lurching metallic hip-hop grind."<ref name="allmusic" /> Entertainment Weekly commented that Follow the Leader was Korn's "gimmick", while saying the album had "steely riffs" and "stomping beats".<ref name="entertainment weekly" /> Tower Records said the album "combines streamlined metal with ominous industrial touches and an undercurrent of hip-hop rhythm," and also said it was an "urban nightmare".<ref name="tower records" /> The album is considered to be nu metal, but also spans other genres such as alternative metal<ref name="allmusic" /> and rap rock.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Listen
The album features 25 tracks, 12 of which last five seconds of silence, making the first 1 minute of the album all silent. The concept of the song "Justin" was about a boy with the same name dying of intestinal cancer. His last wish was to meet the members of Korn.<ref name="tower records" /> Winston-Salem Journal writer Ed Bumgardner described Korn's work as having "shaped rap, metal, and punk into a sonic maelstrom that is brutal, aggressive - and reasonably musical".<ref>Ed Bumgardner (August 28, 1998). "Korn's Follow the Leader rides the maelstrom", Winston-Salem Journal, p. 4.</ref> The Daily News said that "the band shovels chunky beats into an already complex sound..."<ref name="dancing shoes">(98-11-02) "Korn puts on dancing shoes in new album" Daily News. Retrieved March 20, 2010</ref> Michael Mehle of Rocky Mountain News said, "For the uninitiated, the classic Korn sound comes rumbling out of the speakers on the first cut: It's On! grinds fuzzy guitars, thunderous beats, and shouts of gut-wrenching rage into an anthem for the alienated", and gave other positive remarks.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Charlotte Observer said the album was dark, but humble.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A Zeeland high school assistant principal said in an interview for a Michigan newspaper that the music is "indecent, vulgar, obscene, and intends to be insulting". She said this after giving a student a one-day suspension for wearing a Korn shirt.<ref name="t shirt">Template:Cite web</ref>
Critical reception
Template:Music ratings Follow the Leader received generally positive reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called it "an effective follow-up to their first two alt-metal landmarks."<ref name="allmusic" /> David Fricke of Rolling Stone wrote that Korn "have an ideal record for those long, black days when all you can do is say 'What the Fuck! What the Fuck! What the Fuck!' at bloody murder volume".<ref name="rolling stone" /> Yahoo! Music critic Janiss Garza described the album as "intensely tortured and savage as ever", while noting that "in spite of all this distress and suffering, Korn does loosen up".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Entertainment Weekly reviewer Jim Farber called it "a big load of dumb fun" and "also incredibly perverse, going to almost laughable lengths to mess with metal cliché", concluding that if "hardly innovative enough to rival the classics of metal, at least Korn's LP gives this once-stagnant style kernels of something new".<ref name="entertainment weekly" /> Jon Pareles from The New York Times said the album was "choppy", describing Davis as "wrestling with self-hatred, violent impulses, parental execration, and a confused sexual identity..."<ref name="ny times">"Follow the Leader - NY Times.com". The New York Times. Retrieved April 13, 2010</ref> In a negative review, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice said that, although Korn "deny they're metal", they "nevertheless demonstrate that the essence of metal ... is self-obliterating volume and self-aggrandizing display."<ref name="robert" /> The album is featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Accolades
| Publication | List | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Digitaldreamdoor | 100 Greatest Albums of 1998 | Template:Center |
| Loudersound | 50 Best Nu-Metal Albums of all Time | Template:Center |
| Loudwire | 10 Best Hard Rock Albums from 1998 | Template:Center |
| Loudwire | 50 Greatest Nu-Metal Albums of all Time | Template:Center |
| Loudwire | The Best Hard Rock Album of Each Year Since 1970 | Template:Center |
| NME | 100 greatest heavy metal albums of all Time | Template:Center |
| Revolver | 20 Great Albums from 1998 | Template:Center |
| Rocksound | Albums of the Year (1998) | Template:Center |
| Rolling Stone (United States) | 100 Best Albums of 1998 | Template:Center |
| Discover Music | The 67 Best Albums of 1998 | Template:Center |
Commercial performance
Follow the Leader peaked at number one on four U.S. charts, including the Billboard 200,<ref name="Billboard">Template:Cite magazine</ref> and peaked at number five in the United Kingdom.<ref name="Zobbel">Template:Cite web</ref> The album received a 5× platinum certification in the United States,<ref name="RIAA"/> as well as a triple platinum in Australia and Canada.<ref name="aria">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="cria">Template:Cite web</ref> Follow the Leader also received a gold certification in the Netherlands<ref name="nvpi">Template:Cite web</ref> and was awarded multi-platinum certification for shipments in excess of five million copies, by the RIAA on March 15, 2002.<ref name="RIAA"/>
The album's first charting single, "Got the Life", released on July 24, 1998, peaked at number 15 on the Mainstream Rock Songs chart,<ref name="Allmusic singles">Template:Cite web</ref> and received a gold certification in Australia.<ref name="aria-2">Template:Cite web</ref> The album's next charting single, "Freak on a Leash", released in February 1999, peaked at number six on the Alternative Songs chart, as well as number six on the Bubbling Under Hot 100,<ref name="Billboard" /> and like "Got the Life", received a gold certification in Australia.<ref name="aria-2" /> "Freak on a Leash" was nominated for nine MTV Video Music Awards, and won for the Best Rock Video award, as well as Best Editing.<ref name="fieldy 118" />
Track listing
All songs written by Korn except "Earache My Eye" written by Tommy Chong, Gaye Delorme and Richard Marin. All guest appearances feature an extra writing credit by the guest.
- Notes
Personnel
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- Korn
- Jonathan Davis – vocals, bagpipes
- Head – guitar
- Munky – guitar, talk box on "Freak on a Leash" and "Dead Bodies Everywhere"<ref>Template:Cite video</ref>
- Fieldy – bass, vocals on "Earache My Eye"
- David Silveria – drums
- Additional vocalists
- Fred Durst – on "All in the Family"
- Tre Hardson – on "Cameltosis"
- Ice Cube – on "Children of the Korn"
- Cheech Marin – on "Earache My Eye"
- Production staff
- Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo – artwork
- Brian Haberlin – artwork (coloring)
- Joseph Cultice – photography
- Tommy D. Daugherty – programming
- John Ewing Jr. – engineer, assistant engineer
- Ross Robinson – vocal coaching
- Stephen Marcussen – mastering
- Brendan O'Brien – mixing
- Steve Thompson – producer
- Don C. Tyler – digital editing
- Justin Z. Walden – additional drums, programming
- Toby Wright – producer, engineer
Charts
Weekly charts
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Template:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chartTemplate:Album chart| Chart (1998) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Estonia Top CD Albums (Eesti Top 10)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 7 |
| European Albums (European Top 100 Albums)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 6 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)<ref name="Japan">Template:Cite web</ref> | 27 |
| Chart (2022-2024) | Peak position |
|---|
Year-end charts
| Chart (1998) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 49 |
| Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 64 |
| US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 77 |
| Chart (1999) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> | 14 |
| US Billboard 200<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> | 32 |
Certifications
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