Korn Life Is Peachy Songs

[Rosita Westhouse]

LifeIs Peachy is the second studio album by American nu metal band Korn. It was released on October 15, 1996, through both Immortal Records and Epic Records. After the release of Korn's 1994 self-titled debut album, the band reunited with Ross Robinson to produce and went back to Indigo Ranch Studios to record. Life Is Peachy features such themes as drugs, social encounters, sex, betrayal, and revenge. The album has fourteen tracks, excluding the hidden track after "Kill You". Martin Riedl photographed its cover art, and its title is credited to Korn's bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu. Life Is Peachy was Korn's first significant breakthrough, which came from constant touring after the debut album's release and building a fan base, thus fueling great expectations.

Critical reception for the album was mainly mixed, but its songwriting and sound quality were praised. Authors and music journalists deemed Life Is Peachy innovative, and some lauded Jonathan Davis for his vocal techniques and embodied singing. His vocal performance on "Good God" was viewed as encapsulating the album's essence, becoming one of the decisive elements in the development of what would later be called nu metal, which Korn pioneered. During its promotional period, newspapers and magazines defined it sonically as a metal album with hip-hop beats, presenting a unique sound.

Life Is Peachy debuted and peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and peaked at number one in New Zealand. The album sold 106,000 copies in the US in its first week of release. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in January 1997 and platinum in December of that same year. Life Is Peachy was RIAA-certified double platinum in the US in November 1999. By 2009, the album had sold almost three million copies worldwide.[3]

Korn released three singles from Life Is Peachy: "No Place to Hide", "A.D.I.D.A.S.", and "Good God". All three singles went on the UK Singles Chart. Shortly before the album's release, Korn launched the Life Is Peachy Tour in the US with Limp Bizkit as the opening act. After its release, the band toured in support of Metallica in the US. Korn then embarked on its headlining tour throughout the UK, Europe, North America, and Australia, with often sold-out shows. The band also took part in the 1997 Lollapalooza summer tour, where the Life Is Peachy Tour ended abruptly due to guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer being diagnosed with viral meningitis. Life Is Peachy earned Korn a 1997 Kerrang! Awards for Best Album. "No Place to Hide" received a nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards.

Korn had played between 200 and 250 shows in the year following the release of their 1994 self-titled debut album.[4] As a result, Korn topped the Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart in the week ending September 30, 1995.[4][5] In early October 1995, it began moving up on the Billboard 200 chart[6] and reached sales of 154,000 units. Both chart performances were uncommon successes at that time as Korn was one of the first new non-mainstream bands to enter the top half of the Billboard 200 over the prior two years. Korn was also the only debut album displaying such aggressiveness to have achieved this distinction on the Billboard 200 during that timeline.[4]

Korn's debut album's weekly sales stood at 17,000 and 27,000 in the first half of January 1996, as the band's recognition increased.[7] The album was certified gold by the RIAA for 500,000 copies sold on January 29, 1996.[8][9] In February 1996, Korn and Deftones were the opening acts for Ozzy Osbourne's US arena tour.[10][11]

After fourteen months of touring to promote the debut album,[12] Korn took a month off and began writing material for the next studio effort, Life Is Peachy.[13] At this point, Korn's members had difficulty projecting themselves into the future because they had spent their last few years under the influence of drugs and alcohol, being only sober when performing.[14] As they had to begin writing new songs, the musicians were in "a serious state of disarray" but would not stop their partying habits.[14] Meanwhile, "the buzz" on Korn "was huge".[15]

Lead singer Jonathan Davis said regarding the writing of the second album, "Right after we got done touring with Ozzy Osbourne, Ross [Robinson] hooked up with us. We went into a rehearsal studio and started writing." Knowing that they had tight deadlines to meet, the pattern that followed would be "faster and thrashier".[16] However, Davis had begun writing part of the song "Mr. Rogers" while on tour in the fall of 1995.[17] Guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer described the writing process as, "We didn't write nothin' for two years then we had creativity build up, like blue balls of creativity."[18]

Korn entered pre-production and wrote the first songs of the album, "No Place to Hide"[19] and "A.D.I.D.A.S.", at their rehearsal space, Underground Chicken Sound in Huntington Beach.[16][20][a] Drummer David Silveria said, "somebody will start playing something and the rest of us will work around it and see where it goes", mentioning the songs "Twist" and "Good God" whose beats came first.[13] In this location, they developed an approach to songwriting whereby they would elaborate on the elements that had previously established them, such as Davis when he was "freaking out"; thus, the song "Twist" emerged. This contrasted with the production process of Korn, as some songs and guitar riffs had been prepared years before they actually began. Furthermore, the steady touring and the crowd's responses generated the band's punk rock "feel and attitude", resulting in dissonant guitar playing on Life Is Peachy; "We wanted to create a really angry album", said Shaffer.[16] Davis then added his vocals to the jams.[14] While working on the album, they consumed "mass quantities" of alcoholic beverages and were often so "high" that most nights, one of the band members passed out and therefore could not play his instrument, especially guitarist Brian "Head" Welch.[14] Korn's productive sessions were often interrupted due to their debaucherous lifestyle, and Robinson struggled to get them to stop drinking to focus instead on songwriting and rehearsing.[14] The band members mixed alcohol and drugs and also fought frequently.[14][22] Davis recalled engaging in aggressive behaviors toward his bandmates, often biting them, due to alcohol abuse.[14]

After playing at a few gigs with Deftones in California,[23] Korn returned to the studio to start tracking Life Is Peachy in April 1996. Korn and Robinson reunited to produce and begin recording at Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu, California.[14] It was mainly because their first album had been recorded there and was a success.[23] Bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu said, "We wanted that same energy and inspiration we found up in the Malibu Hills."[23] Davis said working with Robinson was essential as he was connected to the band since his involvement on the first album; he also knew how to capture their live energy and motivate them to focus in the recording studio. "Fortunately, he's here to kick our asses. Otherwise, we wouldn't be very... motivated!", said Davis.[24] After engineering Korn's debut album, Richard Kaplan, co-founder and owner of Indigo Ranch Studios, returned to work on Life Is Peachy.[25] Initially, Kaplan's assistant, Chuck Johnson, was hired by Robinson to be his "house engineer".[25] The album was primarily written in the studio as the band was less inspired on the road, although work had begun when returning to rehearsals.[13] Back at Indigo Ranch Studios, Korn used methamphetamine as they did when recording their 1994 debut album.[26] The band launched their first-ever internet webcast, called Korn Mangling the Web, through a partnership with QuickTime, allowing viewers to watch Life Is Peachy's development at Indigo Ranch Studios.[27]

For the recording, Arvizu had set up one of his Mesa/Boogie "heads" (separate bass amplifiers) along with a single 4x10" bass speaker cabinet with the "horn miked". The bass sound heard on Life Is Peachy was "my miked amp", said Arvizu, adding that the "direct signal was all the way off".[29] Arvizu used an Ibanez SR1305 Soundgear 5-string bass to record the entire album, as on 1994's Korn.[32] An experienced slap bass player, he used tones and mastered various techniques, such as pulling up on four strings, unlike most bassists, to make his bass stand out.[33] Arvizu invariably preferred to play his bass while looking through the isolation booth's glass facing his fellow musicians.[29] Silveria achieved the high-pitched sound by using a 20" kick drum and a 3 1/2" piccolo snare. He finished tracking drums in five days.[13] Davis' vocals were recorded in a slightly different configuration than on the debut album; thus, he was never alone, or the other band members were facing him.[24] To achieve an unequivocal result when recording vocals in the isolation booth, Robinson urged Davis to put himself back in the context that inspired his lyrics or used physical force.[34] Sixty to seventy percent of Davis' vocals on the album were captured on the first take.[19] Welch recalled the spontaneity of Davis: "Once [Jonathan] did 'Twist,' it was, like, 'What in the hell was that?' ... And we were like, 'Let's open the record with that. And people will be like, 'What? What is this?' No one ever has done that.' ... We looked at [Jonathan after he had recorded his vocals]. We were like, 'Who are you?'"[22] Welch got to sing on "Lowrider" as a birthday present.[35]

Kaplan said he mixed the album himself as Johnson never showed up but would eventually reappear at the end of the sessions.[25][b] Robinson mixed the song "K@#%!".[12] Life Is Peachy was mixed at Indigo Ranch Studios and mastered by Eddy Schreyer at Oasis Mastering in Studio City.[36] In the end, a fifteenth song, "Proud", would not appear on the final tracklist that would make up the album.[37] It was completed in July 1996.[14] The album cost $150,000 to make.[12][38] Small insisted Life Is Peachy was rushed when it was put together but praised its "unique" sound.[18]

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