Maps of Music

Issues (1999)

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

Issues reached number one on the Billboard 200 with 575,000 copies, which kept Dr. Dre's 2001 from reaching the top spot.

Key places

A&M Studios, Hollywood (1999)

Recording site The Music Grinder (Hollywood) — A&M Studios in Hollywood is listed as a recording location for Issues. The point uses city-center coordinates. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Southern Tracks, Atlanta (1999)

Recording site Southern Tracks Recording Studio — Southern Tracks in Atlanta is listed as a recording location for Issues. The point uses the building coordinates. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Apollo Theater opening show (1999)

Live show Apollo Theater — The promotional touring cycle for the album began with a performance at the Apollo Theater in Harlem on November 15, 1999. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Issues: fourth studio album by American nu metal band Korn
• Released November 16, 1999, through Immortal and Epic Records
• Promoted throughout 2000 by the Sick and Twisted Tour
• Band's highly successful tour cycle carried the album through the following year

Background

• Korn posted "Falling Away from Me" on their website as a free MP3 download in October 1999
• The download was offered against the advice of the band's attorneys
• Korn ran an online chain email asking fans to pass on the letter and sign a guestbook
• For each guestbook signer, Korn donated 25 cents to Childhelp USA and Children of the Night
• The campaign raised over $250,000
• The promotional touring cycle opened with a performance at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York, on November 15, 1999

Recording

• Drummer David Silveria said the music was more simplified and heavier than the band's recent records
• Brendan O'Brien produced and mixed the album
• Nick DiDia served as recording engineer
• Recording locations listed for the album include A&M Studios in Hollywood and Southern Tracks in Atlanta
• Drummer David Silveria suffered a wrist injury during the 2000 tour
• Mike Bordin stepped in to finish the touring cycle, playing nearly 100 shows with Korn

Cover

• The album featured four covers designed by Korn fans as part of an MTV contest
• The winning cover, submitted in a pizza box, was designed by Alfredo Carlos
• A fifth cover was selected for the limited tour edition

Sources: en.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

• The album received mixed reviews
• According to the band, they did not want to follow a popular trend and wanted to do their own thing
• The band admits they were more focused during recording because Brendan O'Brien did not let them just fool around and party

Reappraisal

• Metal Hammer named it one of the 20 best metal albums of 1999 in 2021
• Loudwire included the album in its list of the top 50 nu-metal albums of all time in 2025, ranking it fifteenth

Records

• Issues went to number 1 on the Billboard 200 selling 575,000 copies
• The album kept both Dr. Dre's 2001 and Celine Dion's All the Way... A Decade of Song from reaching number 1
• Certified 3× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 22, 1999
• As of 2003, Nielsen SoundScan showed it sold at least 3,200,000 copies in the United States
• On Billboard's year-end chart for 2000, it ranked number 19
• As of 2023, it has sold an estimated 13 million copies worldwide
• "Falling Away from Me" reached number 8 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart and number 7 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart
• "Make Me Bad" reached number 14 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Korn appeared as themselves in the South Park episode "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery" in October 1999, with "Falling Away From Me" played at the end of the episode
• The winning cover was submitted in a pizza box and designed by Alfredo Carlos
• Korn became one of the first major rock acts to play the Apollo Theater, a venue traditionally used by black soul and R&B musicians
• The free MP3 download and the online chain email were part of the band's effort to reach fans directly
• The album's promotional touring cycle included a 2000 Sick and Twisted Tour, with support from Staind, P.O.D., and Mindless Self Indulgence
• The MTV show Diary followed Korn on the Sick and Twisted Tour, filmed in February 2000 and aired the following month

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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