Maps of Music

Life Is Peachy (1996)

Where the lyrics of Life Is Peachy take you, and where it was really made.

The studio where this album was recorded, Indigo Ranch in Malibu, is the same place where the band made its debut album.

Key places

Where the album was recorded (1996)

Recording site Bob Dylan's garage studio (Malibu) — Korn and Robinson reunited to produce and begin recording at Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu, California. The studio was also where the debut album had been recorded. The album was mixed there too. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Where the album was mastered (1996)

Recording site TRS Studios — Life Is Peachy was mixed at Indigo Ranch Studios and mastered by Eddy Schreyer at Oasis Mastering in Studio City. Mastering was done at this studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Second studio album by American nu metal band Korn
• Released 15 October 1996 through Immortal Records and Epic Records
• Fourteen tracks, excluding the hidden track after "Kill You"
• Themes include drugs, social encounters, sex, betrayal, and revenge
• Cover photo by Martin Riedl; title credited to bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu
• Cost $150,000 to make

Background

• Followed the 1994 self-titled debut, after roughly fourteen months of touring to promote it
• Korn had played 200 to 250 shows in the year after the debut's release
• The debut reached the top half of the Billboard 200 in October 1995, an uncommon result for a non-mainstream band
• Members were heavily drinking and using drugs during this period
• Ross Robinson returned as producer
• Life Is Peachy was the band's first significant breakthrough

Recording

• Recording began in April 1996 at Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu, California, where the debut was also recorded
• Richard Kaplan, owner of Indigo Ranch, returned as engineer
• Most songs were written in the studio, as the band was less inspired on the road
• Arvizu used an Ibanez SR1305 Soundgear five-string bass for the whole album
• Drums were finished in five days
• Sixty to seventy percent of Davis' vocals were captured on the first take
• Kaplan mixed the album himself; Robinson mixed "K@#Ø%!"
• Mastered by Eddy Schreyer at Oasis Mastering in Studio City

Cover

• Black and white photo of a young boy straightening his tie in a gilt mirror, taken by Martin Riedl
• Design and concept by Scott Leberecht
• The title came from Arvizu's Pee Chee folder doodles

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

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

• Kerrang! called "Good God" brutal and said the songs sounded like nothing that had gone before
• Entertainment Weekly's David Grad described the sound as a fusion of heavy riffs and tight hip-hop beats
• The New York Times' Jon Pareles wrote that the band applies hip-hop's noise aesthetics to a hard-rock lineup
• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine said the band added enough alternative rock song structure to make the music accessible
• Entertainment Weekly gave the album a C−
• The A.V. Club's Stephen Thompson panned the album
• Reviews were mainly mixed, though songwriting and sound quality were praised

Reappraisal

• Ashley Bird of Kerrang! called it a difficult, angular, sinister record in a 2002 reappraisal, and named "Good God" the pinnacle of the album
• Bob Gulla of The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History described Davis as a virulent singer
• Metal Hammer's 2021 retrospective called the album occasionally wacky but far more experimental than the debut

Records

• Debuted and peaked at number three on the Billboard 200
• Peaked at number one on the New Zealand Top 40 Album chart
• Peaked at number 32 on the UK Albums Chart
• Sold 106,000 copies in the US in its opening week
• RIAA gold certification on 8 January 1997, platinum on 9 December 1997, double platinum on 10 November 1999
• Sold almost three million copies worldwide by 2009

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Korn had first recorded its debut at Indigo Ranch Studios, and returned there for this album because that debut had been a success.
• Arvizu came up with the title from his Pee Chee folder doodles; Korn offered $20,000 to use the folder image on the cover, but the company refused.
• The album carries no printed lyrics in its booklet, which the band said was meant to let listeners find their own meaning.
• A preview of the album on Sony's website crashed under heavy traffic just before release.
• "A.D.I.D.A.S." video was directed by Joseph Kahn in Los Angeles in January 1997, and the band lay on cold metal slabs for hours during filming.
• Korn's Life Is Peachy Tour ended abruptly on 18 July 1997 after guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer was diagnosed with viral meningitis.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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