Korn

iTunes Review

Jonathan Davis gets straight to the point at the start of Korn's pitch-dark, down-tuned debut, asking anyone within earshot, "Arrrre youuuuuu read-dddddy?" The only problem? No one was 'read-dddddy' for the Bakersfield band in 1994. That includes record execs, modern rock radio stations, and flannel-flaunting Nirvana fans, all of which were unable to accept the last gasps of grunge and its flawed antihero Kurt Cobain. At least at first; as unsettling and ugly as Korn's music seemed, it was also a magnet for millions of teenage wasteland tenants who thought Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were tame in comparison. This dichotomy is clearest in "Daddy," a chilling, autobiographical tale of child abuse that begins with an apology (Davis asking his mother to forgive the song's painfully honest lyrics) and ends in genuine, throat-clogging sobs. While it's not the kind of song you'd want to listen to while working out — bestow that honor on "Blind," "Clown" and "Ball Tongue"— it's arguably one of nü-metal's most brutal moments. Not musically so much as emotionally, as it epitomizes the genre's tendency to air dirty laundry and draw outsiders in like a deadly serious Revenge of the Nerds.