27 thoughts on “Korn – Freak on a Leash”

1. I still like some of the Korn albums I have, and a few select Staind songs. I've stopped feeling shame about this.

   1. I think I'll always be comfortable with my love of the self-titled Slipknot album, Wisconsin Death Trip by Static-X and a few others from that era. I was surprised how decent that Significant Other by Limp Bizkit was when I listened to it seven or eight years ago, honestly.

      At least we never liked Insane Clown Posse, right guys?

      1. I love Wisconsin Death Trip as well. There's a list for Friday: Best nu-metal albums from 1994-2004.

         I tired of Bizkit while they were still popular, but at one point I owned both Three Dollar Bill and Significant Other.

2. 93X was (is?) a plague across the airwaves. Or as an old GF used to call it, Music for date rape.

   1. was 93X the station that played "it's the end of the world as we know it (and i feel fine)" for, like, 3 days straight when they got bought out?

      1. Down the rabbit hole I went:

         KQRS buys KXXR, flips it to "The Edge"
         Cap Cities/ABC, the owner of rival KQRS-FM, took control of 93X pending purchase (but not KMZZ, which was sold separately later) from Entercom on February 4, 1994. The selling price was $20 million, then a record for highest amount ever paid for a radio station in the market. Two days later, 93X began playing It's the End of the World as We Know It by R.E.M. and repeated it over and over throughout the weekend. Confused listeners flocked in droves to the KRXX studios in Eagan, Minnesota that Saturday to see what was going on. Some listeners thought the DJ's were being held hostage and reportedly, more than 50 calls regarding KRXX were logged to 911. Finally, that following Sunday at 8pm, 93.7 began simulcasting KQRS' weekly alternative rock show, "Over the Edge", leading the way for "93.7 The Edge", which billed itself as "Minnesota's New Music Alternative". The new KEGE-FM call letters were soon registered for the new station.

         The move to create The Edge was due to the growing popularity of modern rock format nationwide, and to thwart Cargill Communications pending plans to roll out the format on the new Rev 105. The Edge came on the air almost two years after KJJO switched to country music, and it did what KJ104 couldn't - it became a massive ratings success. At one point, KEGE had the highest overall Arbitron market ratings of any modern rock station in the country.
         A station-sponsored annual concert known as the EdgeFest (later 93XFest) debuted soon after, and took place annually in Somerset, Wisconsin. It was so popular that even rival Rev 105 gave away tickets for it (though not mentioning the "Edgefest" name). When KEGE went back to being 93X and the "Edge" name was retired in the Twin Cities, the festival briefly continued as "Edgefest" and was later renamed 93XFest. The annual festival in Somerset continued until 2004, when "93X Riverfest" replaced it.

         Following the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that relaxed ownership restrictions, ABC purchased KEGE's rival, "Rev 105" in March 1997 and immediately began broadcasting hard rock on that station as "X105". Later that year, the two stations did a format swap of sorts, and 93.7 returned to being known as 93X, with new call letters KXXR, with The Edge's format moving over to the 105 frequencies and renamed as "Zone 105". On the final day of broadcasting, The Edge played It's the End of the World as We Know It by R.E.M. on a continuous loop.
         ABC sold its non-Radio Disney and ESPN Radio stations, including KXXR, to Citadel Broadcasting in 2007. Citadel merged with Cumulus Media on September 16, 2011.

         Back to country as "Thunder 104.1"
         In the summer of 1992, KJJO (Rock 104) publicly announced a pending switch back to country music, which was becoming very popular around the time, amid a large outcry from KJ104's dedicated fans. At 6 AM on September 8, after signing off the modern rock format by playing "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" by R.E.M., "Thunder 104.1" debuted. As a country station, ratings went up slightly, but they could not compete with the established K102 and the soon-to-sign-on WBOB (BOB 100).

         -highlife4me

         1. heh, i actually listened to that all weekend because i was wondering what the hell was going on. when i was driving with my dad on sunday night, he finally lost it and said, "that's it, i can't take it anymore! i'm changing the station." he then changed it to KQ just as they started the simulcast, which began the last playing of "it's the end of the world as we know it (and i feel fine)."

            he let out a exasperated moan.

         2. Tying things together:
            I have a Korn/Rev 105 t-shirt.
            Korn played First Ave in late 1996, Rev105 bus was there giving out shirts.
            Dark Blue with metallic stripe across the front and back. The front has an oval with the Korn logo in it.
            The back had the Rev105 logo, larger, in silver.

            My HS friends that got me into Korn really enjoyed the opener that night, Limp Bizkit. I never got into them and Wes Borland scared the crap out of me and of all the ironic covers in the world, their cover of George Michael's "Faith" was the most obvious ever.

            As for Korn, they played Edgefest that summer and I thought they seemed cool so I bought their first record. I thought it was really good, if a bit undercooked. I don't remember everything but there were some good songs on it, like "Faget" about being the subject of the bullying.

            Album 2 sounded better but didn't really have any songs that grabbed me the same way, some sounded very similar to songs off the first album.

            I went to another show, at Roy Wilkins, with Limp opening again, and there were decorated blow-up dolls all over as decor and I just couldn't get the disconnect between the lyrics about being an abused little boy with all the casually violent objectification of women.

            Album 3 sounded great, a good leap forward, fully realized. But I think Jon Davis ran out of things to say after the first album, or realized he didn't want to keep mining those bad places for more lyrical content. But I was in college and trending other ways (Panasonic! DJ Spooky! Invisibl Skratch Piklz!) and somehow Korn became TRL #1 between Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. I got a bit creeped out by the phenomenon, and liking Korn signified something that it hadn't before.

            I think I bought Monster Magnet's Powertrip the same day as Korn's third. I've listened to the Monster Magnet at least a hundred more times. I haven't listened to any Korn in at least a decade (other than on Youtube just to hear their Dubstep diversion), and I have no idea what I'd think of Album 1 now.

      2. 

         1. we're the same way with the Big Bang Theory theme -- "WE BUILT THE PYRAMIDS!!"

         2. How long after Tommy Boy did that strip come out? They did the same joke.

            1. I'm guessing ten years

   2. Yeah, that Nu Metal crap...I didn't figure it would stick around for so long. At my store in Yakima, there were really only a few of us who were there at 7am, and the guy who got their first always played his loop of 93X-style music because he had to be there earlier and we had to endure it. We heard the same twenty songs blaring every morning.

      Music for date rape is a fantastic term.

      1. the "nu-metal" train completely passed me by, with the possible exception of having (and enjoying, i suppose) the first marilyn manson album.

         wait, was MM "nu-metal"?

         1. I don't consider Manson (or NIN) nu-metal. No down-tuned guitars or DJs. But then, I'm no expert.

            1. I'm using that term lazily and perhaps incorrectly. I'm thinking of bands like Saving Abel, Buckcherry and their ilk. Rather than "Nu Metal crap" I should have said "The crap played on 93X around the last I was forced to hear it."

               1. Ugh. You literally just named my two least favorite bands of all time (albeit in reverse order).

                  1. A girl I worked with on a short horror film a couple of years ago was constantly talking about the awesomeness of Saving Abel, because her sister (or cousin?) was (is?) engaged to one of the members. It became increasingly difficult to act impressed when that insipid "I'm not in love, but the sex is good" song came out and ruled the airwaves.

                     1. I have no idea who save Abel was, but ugh, Buckcherry was definitely the worst. If this other band is linked in, then they must have been awful as well.

                  2. He literally named two bands I have never heard of

                     1. Bands? Hell, I haven't even heard of the genre.

                  3. Unrelated note: It's too bad that no one has named their group "_______ and their Ilk".

3. I had (well... have - what can I say? It's comfy and makes my wife roll her eyes) a "93X Rocks" T-shirt. That represents a couple of years of extremely questionable music choices....but I can still listen to some of it. I never actually owned a Korn CD, but I can still listen to this song in moderation and enjoy myself.

   Like Brooks says, I've stopped feeling shame about this.

   1. I don't get feeling shame in one's choices of music, unless you realized you used to like something incredibly offensive. That'd be like being ashamed you liked Big League Chew as a kid but hate it now.

      1. As long as none of us ever listened to Prussian Blue, all can be forgiven.

         I went through stages of White Lion and The Fat Boys. There, I said it.

      2. It's less shame about the music itself as it is the reasons for listening to it, which, looking back, was more of an image thing than a "hey, i really like " thing. It was all superficial.

4. every time I hear the name Korn I think of this guy:
   

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