Maps of Music

Follow the Leader (1998)

Where the lyrics of Follow the Leader take you, and where it was really made.

Korn's third album was the first one the band made without Ross Robinson, and it is often credited with pushing nu metal into the mainstream.

Key places

Recorded at NRG Studios (1998)

Recording site NRG Recording Studios (Hollywood) — The album was recorded at NRG Studios in North Hollywood, California. The point marks the studio at the level of the candidate location. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Follow the Leader: third studio album by American nu metal band Korn
• Stylized as FOLLOW the LEADEЯ
• Released August 18, 1998 through Immortal and Epic Records
• First Korn album not produced by Ross Robinson
• Produced by Steve Thompson and Toby Wright
• Runs seventy minutes and eight seconds
• Often regarded as the album that launched nu metal into mainstream ubiquity

Background

• Korn had worked with Ross Robinson on their previous albums and was impressed by his work
• The band still chose to work with Steve Thompson and engineer Toby Wright
• Robinson worked with singer Jonathan Davis as vocal coach for this album
• Korn TV, a live streaming department on the band's website, started in March 1998
• Most songs were written and copyrighted in 1997; three tracks were copyrighted in 1998
• Korn's fans could watch the making of the album through Korn TV

Recording

• Work began by January 1998
• Mid-way through production Korn fired Thompson and Wright became producer
• Thompson's firing delayed the album because all vocal tracks had to be re-recorded
• By June 1998 the band was mixing the album
• Ice Cube, Tre Hardson of the Pharcyde and Fred Durst appear as guest vocalists
• Recording credits list NRG Studios, mixing at Southern Tracks, mastering at Precision Mastering

Cover

• Artwork by Todd McFarlane Entertainment
• McFarlane, Greg Capullo and Brian Haberlin made the album cover
• The cover shows a child hopscotching toward a cliff edge with other kids following
• The concept started with bassist Reginald Fieldy Arvizu
• It was the third straight Korn cover to feature children in a disturbing context

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · fr.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993 by James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and David Silveria, former members of L.A.P.D.
• Name styled KoЯn; the backwards R was borrowed from the Toys R Us logo.
• Demo Neidermayer's Mind (1993) pioneered the nu metal sound.

Members

• Current: Jonathan Davis (vocals), James "Munky" Shaffer (guitar), Brian "Head" Welch (guitar, returned 2013), Ray Luzier (drums, since 2008).
• Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu (bass) departed in 2021; Silveria left in 2006.

Career

• Debut album Korn (1994); Life Is Peachy (1996) brought commercial breakthrough.
• Follow the Leader (1998) and Issues (1999) both debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
• Over 40 million records sold worldwide as of 2021; two Grammy Awards from eight nominations.
• Fourteen official releases reached the Billboard 200 top ten; the band is credited as the originators of nu metal.

Reception

At release

• Critics gave the album generally positive reviews
• AllMusic called it an effective follow-up to Korn's first two alt-metal landmarks
• Rolling Stone's David Fricke called it an ideal record for long black days
• Entertainment Weekly's Jim Farber called it a big load of dumb fun
• The New York Times' Jon Pareles called the album choppy
• Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave a negative review, saying Korn deny they are metal yet show the essence of metal is self-obliterating volume
• AllMusic said the songs were not nearly as memorable as the band's metallic hip-hop grind

Reappraisal

• Often regarded as the album that launched nu metal into mainstream ubiquity
• Readers of Revolver voted it the third-greatest nu metal album of all time in 2018
• Loudwire's Rae Lemeshow-Barooshian ranked it eighth in her 2025 list of the top 50 nu-metal albums
• Included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die

Records

• Peaked at number one on four national charts, including the US Billboard 200
• Sold 268,000 units in its first week of release in the US
• Peaked at number five in the United Kingdom
• Certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA in the US
• Triple Platinum in Australia and Canada
• Gold in the Netherlands
• Got the Life peaked at number 15 on the Mainstream Rock Songs chart
• Freak on a Leash peaked at number six on Alternative Songs and number six on Bubbling Under Hot 100
• Freak on a Leash was nominated for nine MTV Video Music Awards and won Best Rock Video and Best Editing
• Freak on a Leash's music video won Best Short Form Music Video at the 2000 Grammy Awards

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · pt.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album has 25 tracks, and the first 12 are five-second silences, so the first minute is completely silent.
• The track Justin is about a boy who died of intestinal cancer and whose last wish was to meet the band members.
• Korn's Fred Durst and other guests add extra writing credits, while Cheech Marin appears on the hidden track Earache My Eye.
• The Disturbed album Ten Thousand Fists in 2005 used this album's cover art as its base.
• Freak on a Leash appeared in an episode of The Simpsons in 2007 and in the video game Guitar Hero World Tour in 2008.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com · es.wikipedia.org

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