Korn

Korn
Korn also written as Ko?n is an American nu-metal band from Bakersfield, California. The band was the first to create and popularize the new genre of music known as nu metal. Their original music style has also inspired a number of other bands in nu metal, industrial metal, and alternative metal in the mid-1990s and early 2000s.

Korn released their self titled debut album in1994 and since then have sold has over 30 million records the world over. The band has sold 18 million records in the United States alone, making them one of the best-selling nu metal bands ever. The band's achievements include nine consecutive debuts in the top 10 Billboard 2000 charts including a compilation album, a Greatest Hits album and a live acoustic album for MTV Unplugged. Korn have won 2 Grammies and have been nominated for the award a total of 6 times. Their most recent album was released on July 31, 2007 through EMI/Virgin Records and is the band's eighth album to date. It debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Charts and sold 123,000 in its first week of release.

History
Korn was formed in 1993 by the remaining members of a band called L.A.P.D. after the lead singer, Rich Morrill, left the band to go into rehab for his drug problems. The remaining band members Arvizu, Welch, Shaffer, and Silveria decided to continue playing and soon discovered a new lead singer, Jonathon Davis, while he was performing at a club in a band called Sexart. Davis soon joined the band as lead singer and the group seemed to hit it off very well. Together they formed a new band called Korn in 1993 and the members took on nicknames - Welch as "Head", Arvizu as "Fieldy" and Shaffer as "Munky". The band started working on its first demo with the help of producer Ross Robinson and released the demo titled Neidermeyer's Mind in 1993. The music, heavy metal with a touch of hiphop, became known as nu metal and some of the songs like "Blind" were originally from Davis's old band Sexart but revised by Korn.

Korn had problems getting signed during their first year, mainly because of their unique and previously unheard of style. The band did not fit in with the rock scene of the 90s, which was primarily Seattle grunge rock. After being rejected by a number of record labels the band finally met with Paul Pontius from Immortal/Epic Records who heard the band during a club gig in 1994. Pontius immediately liked the band and signed them on the spot.

Albums
Some of the band's most notable work includes their self titled debut album Korn produced and released in 1994 and their second album titled Life Is Peachy released in 1996. Both albums had their own unique sound with the second one featuring more of a down tuned seven string guitar effect. Korn's fifth album, Untouchables was released in 2002 and was first promoted by a live show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York a day before the album's release. This album was again unlike anything Korn had previously done with a dark feel and other effects the band had not used before. The overall feel of the album was drastically different from previous efforts particularly tracks like "Alone I Break", "Hating", and the haunting "Hollow Life", which are also the personal favorites of singer Jonathan Davis. However, Untouchables was not a commercial success and the band blamed internet piracy for the lack of sales, as an unmixed version of the album had leaked on the net five months prior to its official release.

Recent News
In early August 2006 during the band's Family Values Tour one of the band members was involved in a violent scuffle at the Mosh Pit in Atlanta, Georgia resulting in the death of an audience member Andy Richardson aged 30. The victim's family took legal action against Korn and the concert promoters and a week after the incident, 24-year-old Michael Scott Axley was arrested and charged with Richardson's murder. Witnesses claimed that Axley had punched Richardson, causing his head to hit the concrete floor, a blow that proved to be fatal.

Korn was the first band to be featured in the return of MTV's hit series - MTV unplugged. The band performed nine songs at the TRL studios to a select number of fans who had won tickets to the show through various contests. The show, Korn's biggest production to date, received high ratings and was shown on MTV several times. The performance was Korn's first after the departure of founding band member David Silveria and featured sounds like backing guitars and vocals, double percussion, keys, cellos, upright basses, trombones, a musical saw, the glass harmonica, cimbassos, and Japanese taiko drums.

The band's 2007 Family Values Tour featured a number of bands in the line-up including OTEP, The Changing, The Vanished, Bloodsimple, Through You, Twin Method, Invitro, Five Finger Death Punch, Droid, Neurosonic, Trivium, Hellyeah, Atreyu, Flyleaf, Evanescence, and Korn. The tour kicked off in St. Louis on July 20th and ended in California on September 2nd.

According to British Metal Magazine, the band plans to go international in January 2008 with the Family Values Tour in Europe. The band has announced that their fleet of touring vehicles is powered by domestically produced biofuel and that they have plans to produce their own brand of biofuel by the name of Korntastic.