So Jonathan Davis From Korn is Working on Some Country Project
Sorry syntax Nazis, I couldn’t figure out how to turn my R’s backwards, but I am definitely talking about the 90’s era “nu metal” rap rock noise band Korn, and principally their frontman, vocalist, and bagpipe player Jonathan Davis who is apparently working on a country “project” if you are to believe the brief, but unfortunately real missive he released through his Instagram account a few days ago. Davis was on the photo sharing program boasting about reviving the “Bakersfield” sound while in the studio with Big & Rich. Yes ladies and gentlemen, please contain your excitement.
Yeah, so 2015’s class of “gone country” rock & roll washouts, including Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Poison’s Bret Michaels has gone there. You know, all due respect to Korn and frontmen who love to die their hair black and cut thumb holes in the ends of their long sleeves to prove how emo they are, but excuse me if I’m not over-the-moon with this idea. Frankly, I hadn’t given much thought to Jonathan Davis or Korn since they were laying waste to 40 years of progress in the mainstream rock genre with Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park in the 90’s. Is Jonathan Davis going country an omen for mainstream country? Or at least rich symbolism? Perhaps, we’ll see.
But in a race to compose click bait articles off of a pretty succinct and ambiguously-worded Instagram post, I feel the need to caution that we still don’t know the extent of Davis’ country exploits at this point. Though many outlets are running with the idea that were on the eve of getting an entire country album from the Korn frontman, it could be that he’s just in the studio to collaborate on an upcoming Big & Rich song, and that’s the alpha and omega of his intended country music involvement. “Working with Big and Rich on a country music project #Bakersfieldsound“ is all he said, with a pretty crappy picture of inside a studio.
After all, Big & Rich are known for their one-off collaborations, especially with outside influences. It could be a tribute project, or a Record Store Day release. Just a couple of weeks ago Big & Rich were in the studio with Clint Black, though it was apparently working on one of Clint’s songs, and not vice versa. Boy there’s another name I’ve barely pondered since the 90’s, but I digress…
Look, there’s worse music than Korn, and worse people making it than Jonathan Davis. But if, (and it’s a big ‘if’ at this point) Davis is making a country record, then it just proves that country music is in need of gatekeepers and scene control amidst the absolute vacuum of leadership in the genre coming from artists, labels, or the media. It’s open season. But you know, with how bad country music is today, who’s to say a country album from the Korn frontman won’t be improvement?
After all, he is from Bakersfield.
(cough)
May 31, 2015 @ 7:09 pm
Davis’ dad or maybe grandad was a country musician with ties to Buck Owens. Seriously – not making that up.
May 31, 2015 @ 7:14 pm
Don’t know much about Korn or Limp Bizkit, but what exactly was wrong with Linkin Park? Here are the lyrics from their most famous song “In the End”:
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/linkinpark/intheend.html
That first verse is pretty solid.
June 1, 2015 @ 6:31 am
maybe the guys from Linkin Park should write poetry books instead of setting their words to shitty music.
June 1, 2015 @ 1:00 pm
Their music was in tune with the times. Rap was already more popular than melodic rock by 2000.
June 1, 2015 @ 7:54 am
You can’t possibly be serious about stinkin parks lyrics. That’s what kills the band is the lyrics. They try WAY to hard to be “deep” its such a pathetic joke.
June 1, 2015 @ 10:00 am
If the critics love you, you are “deep.”
If the critics hate you, you are “shallow.”
Years of English classes have taught me that.
May 31, 2015 @ 7:18 pm
Speaking of Clint Black, I decided to buy Clint Black’s “Killin Time” album recently, based on the strongly positive opinions I had read in multiple country music websites. All I can say is wow, what a great vocalist and songwriter! Every single song on that album is either good or great, and even in the rare cases where the lyrics are mundane, the vocals more than carry the song.
Perhaps this would be a good album to write on if you decide to start doing retro reviews.
June 1, 2015 @ 5:50 am
His first four are pretty golden all around: the aforementioned Killin’ Time, as well as Put Yourself in My Shoes, The Hard Way and No Time to Kill. The three latter albums can be had for pennies on the dollar (they were all at or below $5.00 when I personally got them last year) and they’re worth it. After that his albums become a tad inconsistent, but those first few are classic.
May 31, 2015 @ 7:22 pm
Gatekeepers are not necessary when there is nothing on either side of the gate. Just walk in from anywhere except the gate.
May 31, 2015 @ 7:32 pm
Linkin Park doesn’t deserved to be lumped in together with bands like Limp Bizkit and Korn
May 31, 2015 @ 7:42 pm
Commenter Eric above believes that Linkin Park is the one that doesn’t deserve the lumping.
Not really wanting to give commentary on the quality of any of these bands beyond pointing out that they were the ones that were big in mainstream rock right before it imploded as a legitimate mainstream radio format. Not even necessarily saying it is all their fault, but the Korn/Limp Bizkit/Linkin Park/ era has been pointed out as a potential symbolic precursor to the implosion of country in the way the genre went so far out of its traditional bounds, it basically began to not exist.
May 31, 2015 @ 8:50 pm
The implosion of rock on the radio began very early in the 90s, and Linkin Park attained popularity in 2000, when rock was already mostly dead as the supreme genre of American popular music.
The biggest shift in the genre in its history was probably the rise of grunge and alternative rock. There is a lot of alternative rock that I love, but the sonic style was drastically different from anything from the beginning of rock n roll all the way up through the 80s. Just like jazz got too sophisticated and upscale for its own good in the 50s, so did rock in the 90s.
June 3, 2015 @ 12:03 pm
Jazz was fine until it went “smoothe”!
June 1, 2015 @ 1:26 am
I’ve never been a Linkin Park fan, but I will admit I’ve never viewed them as bad as the vast majority of their multi-platinum peers including Limp Bizkit, Staind, Papa Roach and Disturbed from the turn of the century on through the mid-00s (when nu-metal determinedly collapsed as a viable sub-genre to the mainstream).
I think the two main reasons I’ve been more willing to pardon Linkin Park from the brunt of the guillotine all this time is that 1) even if the end result of much of their studio recordings was still interchangeable and relied on familiar progressions and histrionics, they at least attempted to incorporate bigger ideas and concepts into their work and at least aim for shades of complexity, and 2) for better or worse, you have to give them credit for at least daring to try something new and not confiding themselves to the “Hybrid Theory” modus operandi.
Heck, I know most Linkin Park purists will flat out disagree with me on thus, but I actually consider “A Thousand Suns” their most interesting and engaging album to date. Yes, it’s also by far their messiest and least cohesive album as well, and there were moments that did nothing for me…………….but it has stood up remarkably well over time to my ears, perhaps for much the same reason U2’s “Pop” has (another album that was met with derision by both countless fans and critics at the time, but many have since warmed up to and are now re-evaluating it and concluding they were too dismissive the first time around).: it is quite adventurous and inveigling.
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All in all, I just wasn’t a fan of Active Radio whatsoever since the turn of the century, and still am not.
The only Active Rock-centric acts that still haven’t let me down are the Deftones, Fair To Midland (not that they get a whole lot of airplay anyway) and the up-and-coming Crobot to name several. Volbeat have also impressed me a great deal thus far. And while their formula has gotten kind of stale in more recent years, I still respect the Foo Fighters and Muse and don’t mind hearing either of them while channel-surfing.
June 1, 2015 @ 5:56 am
Is Staind really that “bad,” though? We can sit and nitpick artists all day, but I don’t personally feel that they’re awful myself. It’s important to note that thus far, they’re the only artist whom I’ve collected the discography of and still wouldn’t rate any of their albums above a 3.0/5.0. However, listening to their catalog wasn’t painful, just a tad bit too dark and unsavory for my tastes. Their 1996 debut Tormented is one of the most uncomfortable albums I’ve ever listened to, and it’s obvious it was done that way on purpose.
June 1, 2015 @ 1:46 pm
Staind has never done anything for me.
I won’t doubt Aaron Lewis’ sincerity that his earlier life was wrought with estrangement from family (particularly his father) and other heartaches, and I’m certainly not opposed to venting on choice topics. And it isn’t like everything he sings about is dark and depressing either. “Zoe Jane”, after all, is a song about his daughter, and “So Far Away” was a big hit about turning the page to a more hopeful light.
But here’s the biggest problem I’ve always had with Staind: the music is sooooooooooooo painfully banausic. It ties right back to my point about how the lion’s share of Active Rock acts since the late 90’s lack levity and nuance in their material. It’s all set to a hushed verse, loud chorus dynamic………..to the extent where even if I think the anger and despair is coming from a real place, it still feels forced and contrived when it’s repeatedly channeled in the same template.
And even when Lewis tries to sing about more positive emotions, he still sounds just as depressed as when he’s actually singing about depressing subject matter. “Zoe Jane” sounds more like a dirge even if it’s anything but that on paper, and “So Far Away” on paper may sound like better days are ahead on him, but you’re not convinced if you’re hearing him sing those same lyrics and that he’s just in denial. Heck, I said before when he released “Endless Summer” on his full-length solo album that he sure made even the most happy-go-lucky summer day with his three daughters sound depressing! 😉
Aaron Lewis doesn’t necessarily have a bad voice, by any means. There’s a certain weathered timbre to his vocals that actually worked on parts of “The Road”. The problem is, his vocals lack any sort of levity or emotional range. And when Staind is, in itself, a pretty unremarkable band in my opinion (I did give their most recent self-titled album a listen following its release, and while I admire them for trying to return to a heavy-hitting sound at a much older age that at least sounds technically solid, the songs themselves just didn’t do anything for me and struck me as lyrical regression with an utter lack of imagination much like Jonathan Davis’ more recent fodder, especially embarrassments like “Wannabe” (basically to Lewis what “Hater” is to Korn), “Paper Wings” and “Throw It All Away”.
I didn’t even like Staind in their earlier years, but I can at least acknowledge “Outside” and “It’s Been Awhile” had some specificities in the lyrics that made them feel like they came from a genuine place, even if their production and delivery was flat and uninspired to my ears. Staind’s newer material strikes me more as empty “Get off my lawn!” posturings to unnamed “haters” and the like. It is all style and technicality, no substance.
I’m inclined to agree “Tormented” is probably their best album, mostly because of how raw it is. I wouldn’t rate anything past “Dysfunction” above a 2.5 out of 5.0, however. “Break The Cycle” was probably a 2.5, and everything after that was worse (“14 Shades of Gray” their nadir).
June 1, 2015 @ 8:18 am
Volbeat is awesome. I love how they sound kind of like Elvis in a metal band. They have occasional country elements as well.
And I agree, Staind is actually pretty decent but they mostly do one style of song. I think Aaron Lewis is a great singer and sometimes a pretty good writer as well. I don’t like when Staind get lumped together with Nickelback and the like.
May 31, 2015 @ 7:51 pm
I will say this…the ole guy from Staind and his acoustics sets are pretty top notch…his cover of what hurts the most is way better than rascal flatts! So maybe there is a small chance something can come out of this subpar.
May 31, 2015 @ 8:58 pm
Aaron Lewis can really be great sometimes. The instrumentals in this song, for example, are both amazingly good and country to the core:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVi7ANBH7Js
May 31, 2015 @ 8:59 pm
There’s a drastic difference between Aaron Lewis and Jonathan Davis–Aaron Lewis can actually sing, and when you pair that with his voice’s ability to transcend genres, this really isn’t even close.
May 31, 2015 @ 8:25 pm
I was a fairly avid Korn fan in the 90’s, and this is coming from a guy who likes Hank Snow and Patsy Cline. That being said, Jonathan Davis doing a country project is roughly the equivalent of Willie Nelson trying his hand at Nu-Metal. His voice is not even remotely suited for country music. Sometimes all you can do is laugh, so let’s try not to take things too seriously and just be amused by whatever garbage results from this.
May 31, 2015 @ 8:41 pm
Thank you.
Look, I’m really not in a position to give some in-depth critical observation on the contributions of Korn. But the simple fact is an established artist like Jonathan Davis can use an already-established fan base to cut in line in front of thousands of country artists who’ve been working at learning the in’s and out’s of the genre their entire lives simply on a lark. If/when this country “project” comes to light, I think I have proven that I will judge it on its own merit (see Steven Tyler’s first single), but that still doesn’t make it a very bad idea. You can like Korn, and hate this idea.
May 31, 2015 @ 8:57 pm
What a bad idea.
Apparently any artist that performs in ANY genre feels that they can take a run at doing country these days.
May 31, 2015 @ 8:59 pm
Album is titled Korny Kuntry Musik and features a duet with Gretchen Wilso. That’s what I read in Has Been Weekly anyway.
May 31, 2015 @ 9:02 pm
I know Rock fell off hard, but I must say a few things. Grunge, Nu Metal, and Post-Grunge may be acquired tastes, but they were so necessary when one considers how shitty 80s rock was, when showing off was more important than writing great riffs and hooks. Grunge re-directed the songwriting process, and even though Grunge and Post Grunge in particular are moody, dark, and depressing, I’ll take that over the musical masturbation that those genres eradicated.
May 31, 2015 @ 9:08 pm
I completely disagree that 80s rock was shitty. If you take a look at the hard rock songs that actually attained significant popularity, i.e. the power ballads, they featured some of the most soaring melodies and greatest instrumental combinations of all time.
May 31, 2015 @ 10:40 pm
My opinion on 80s rock. Early 80s saw some incredible efforts but by the latter part of the decade they were really just phoning it in. It was entirely too commercialized by that point, each band sounded alike. Nirvana didn’t kill all these bands, it was suicide. They killed themselves. I see a correlation with today’s (radio) country music. No heart, no soul, no reason to listen to it. Maybe Sturgil or Leon Bowers will have the disruptive influence that Nirvana did back then.
May 31, 2015 @ 10:55 pm
On the other hand, late 80s soft rock contained one great song after another. Just look at the Billboard Hot 100 charts from 1989:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1989
So many timeless classics in just the top 30, including three of the greatest hair metal power ballads: Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”, Warrant’s “Heaven”, and Bon Jovi’s “I’ll Be There for You”.
June 1, 2015 @ 12:51 pm
The only really good hard music from the 80s was NWOBHM and Thrash. Hair/GlamMetal was, and always will be, a corporate joke!!! Both the American (Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax) and German (Sodom, Kreator, Tankard, Destruction) Big Fours of Thrash were freaking awesome!! \\m//
There is also some awesome thrash coming out of South America now. Check out the group Violator from Brazil.
June 1, 2015 @ 12:59 pm
Another great Bon Jovi song, telling a story about how regular people live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDK9QqIzhwk
June 7, 2015 @ 9:10 am
Correct. People remember 80s metal all wrong. By 1987 or so the major labels had co-opted the entire (up to that point vibrant) scene in their rush to cash in. The result was an endless parade of crappy hair metal and dippy “power ballads”, all of which sounded the same. Bands were cultivating a “look” as opposed to a sound. By 1990 the labels had drained the life from the scene and it died. “Grunge” rose to fill the void. Then the pattern simply repeated itself once more.
June 2, 2015 @ 10:09 am
Folks, I never said that there wasn’t great music released in the eighties. There’s great music from every era. Nevertheless, I find so much of the 80s rock focused on showmanship over songwriting whereas Grunge and the genres that followed were more about the way songs actually worked, and while Nirvana was an overrated shit band, the other 3 from that Big 4 in AiC, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam completely wipe the floor with a lot of eighties artists. Hell, AiC is still releasing great music to this day even without Layne Staley. And as for early mainstream grunge, I would place Pearl Jam’s “Ten” up against most 80s albums and prefer it. Let’s also not forget Machine Head’s first two albums, which were definitely a step forward for mainstream metal. While I too love Metallica’s early material and a lot of music from that decade, Grunge and alternative rock were very necessary.
June 1, 2015 @ 8:03 am
Grunge, Nu Metal, and Post-Grunge may be acquired tastes, but they were so necessary when one considers how shitty 80s rock was, when showing off was more important than writing great riffs and hooks.
No offense, but I’ve always had a very big problem with this opinion, best summarized by this comment I saw at Engine 145 a few years ago:
”¦to say grunge was more “authentic” or “culturally relevant” (as the author of the grunge Wikipedia entry did ”” ed.) is crap. It was just as much about fashion and image as “hair-metal” had been: it was just a different fashion and image. I never had a beef with grunge itself, just the way it was hyped up at the expense of pretty much everything that had come before in the preceding ten years or so (remember all that “decade of credibility” BS trumpeted by the MTV/Rolling Stone/Spin crowd? Chris Cornell insisting that Soundgarden “were not influenced by heavy metal in any way, shape or form?”) A ton of great music was released in the years ”™87-”™91-ish, but all anybody remembers are the cheesy video like “Cherry Pie” or “Seventeen.”
What great music? Well, off the top of my head…
Guns ‘n’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction (1987)
The Cult, Electric (1987)
Metallica, …And Justice For All (1988)
Queensrÿche, Operation: Mindcrime (1988)
The Cult, Sonic Temple (1989)
Pantera, Cowboys from Hell (1990)
Judas Priest, Painkiller (1990)
Queensrÿche, Empire (1990)
Megadeth, Rust in Peace (1990)
Metallica, Metallica (1991)
Guns’n’Roses, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II (1991)
Ozzy Osbourne, No More Tears (1991)
And all that (with the exception of the Metallica self-titled album) is just from my iTunes library. I’m sure there are at least that many more. And, of course, we haven’t even gotten into all the great stuff that came out from, say, 1983 to 1987 from the likes of most of the above plus, say, Dio and Iron Maiden. Every era has its share of crap, but the good music from this era seemingly being forgotten (or at the least glossed over) by everyone but hard rock/metal aficionados ought to be a fucking crime. Maybe grunge did need to happen, but it certainly would have been nice if it hadn’t made people discount the good stuff. I really don’t know what was worse about the grunge movement, all of the above or the fact that mainstream rock never really progressed beyond it.
June 1, 2015 @ 8:31 am
This reminds me of an interview of Wynton Marsalis I saw on PBS in the early oughts. He was asked why “today’s music” was weak compared to the music in the past. He said something to the effect that there is always great music being made, but the problem was what was being sold to us. Then, as an example of great music being made, he brought up fiddle player Mark O’Connor.
June 1, 2015 @ 9:55 am
You just reminded me of a radio special featuring Def Leppard a few years back. I didn’t hear it myself but I read the transcript (or a summary of it):
Certain exceptions notwithstanding, that about sums it up, even for a lot of acts I like.
June 1, 2015 @ 5:36 pm
Yep. Grunge and alt-rock really changed the benchmark for “incredible” when it came to music, and not in a good way, IMO. What you heard on the Def Leppard radio special is a perfect illustration of that. Sure it was good, but once upon a time it was the rule, not the exception.
June 1, 2015 @ 10:06 am
I liked your comment but disagree about grunge being about fashion and image… It became that but hair metal always was about the look. Lost in the look, unfortunately was a lot of really talented musicians and some decent music. But AIC, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and TAD were so much better than most of the glam shit.
June 1, 2015 @ 10:45 am
AIC, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and TAD were so much better than most of the glam shit
I never said they weren’t. I didn’t like most of the glam metal myself. But glam metal getting put under was not worth the price of losing all the good traditional metal along with it, and I would think that even if mainstream rock had survived grunge and alt-rock.
June 1, 2015 @ 12:54 pm
You also forgot Exhorder and their tour de force, Get Rude.
June 1, 2015 @ 5:44 pm
Yup. Don’t mean to be forgetting anything, it’s just that I am still a bit of a noob.
June 1, 2015 @ 7:50 pm
the pistolero did a pretty good job of dispelling that myth, but here are three more to add to the list.
Cinderella – Heartbreak Station (1990)
Saraya – When The Blackbird Sings (1991) *Yeah, nobody has heard this record and that’s a shame. A very good hard rock record from start to finish. I would suggest checking it out.
Motley Crue – Dr. Feelgood (1989)
Great White – Once Bitten (1987), Twice Shy (1989)
Danzig – Danzig (1988)
Skid Row – Skid Row (1989), Slave to the Grind (1991)
Whitesnake – Whitesnake (1987), Slip of the Tongue (1989)
I could go on, but that would take doing some digging, this just off the top of my head.
I was going to leave this alone, but there was too much good music from that era and genre for it all to get thrown out because of what it became. And yes, I admit there was a lot of crap, especially at the end, but let’s not forget the good stuff.
May 31, 2015 @ 10:21 pm
Finally …a rocker trying to be a pseudo country star comes from a place with the right name..”.Korn ”
Please ….just beat me senseless with my banjo and ” bury me beneath the willow ” …. I believe I’ve seen enough .
May 31, 2015 @ 10:27 pm
Now now, Albert, I would recommend that you go back to the Jamie Wilson review, click on the Amazon link, and listen to the previews (and then maybe buy the album as well). Let the songs cool you down and give you a sense of optimism about country music 😉
June 1, 2015 @ 8:36 am
so Korn may know where Albert’s sleeping, and perhaps they’ll weep… or maybe Albert’s referring to the Krauss/Paisley duet… and when we buried him beneath the willow, Limp Bizkit sang a Whiskey Lullaby…
May 31, 2015 @ 10:50 pm
Completely unrelated, but hilarious…
http://www.samjimenez.com/edm.jpg
Funniest ad I’ve gotten here yet! 😀
May 31, 2015 @ 11:06 pm
Aren’t these ads tailored to each user? Maybe these are your people, Sam!
June 1, 2015 @ 12:51 am
They’re supposed to be, but I get some pretty weird shit sometimes. Google thinks I’m really into marrying an EDM listening robotic Asian woman…apparently… 😀
June 2, 2015 @ 5:50 am
I sure as fuck hope not. I get ads for Ashley Madison and singles sites, and I have absolutely no interest in such. Said interest is so low it’s in the negative numbers.
June 1, 2015 @ 12:39 am
Hey, did I not predict (albeit tongue-in-cheek) months ago? 😉
In light of constant “Country music MUST evolve!” apologizing, I joshed as far back as late 2013 along the lines of: “So I suppose if the Insane Clown Posse, Korn and Limp Bizkit came to Nashville and successfully fit in and changed nothing aside from incorporating a token banjo in fleeting spots of their tracks and being a little more modest with profanity in their songs, you’ll be saying the exact same thing, right?”
Well, guess what? Looks like that’s EXACTLY what might be happening! O__O
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While you’re right that there’s worse music than Korn out there, the vibe I’ve gotten from Jonathan Davis’ more recent interviews is that he seems to be, somehow, growing even more childish as he gets older.
I couldn’t help but chuckle when I read an interview shortly after releasing the song “Hater” to Active Rock radio, where he said explaining the song:
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http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6121587/korn-new-tracks-live-material-expanded-paradigm-shift-release
“It’s really, like, the first empowering song I’ve ever written. The lyrics are: ‘You can’t bring me down/I’ve already had my life turned upside down/I ride a downward spiral round and round/But I keep flying, I keep fighting/Don’t ever bring me down.’ That’s like the most positive shit I’ve ever written. And everyone who’s heard it loves it, and I think it’s going to give people who get down on people picking on them and hating them, like, ‘Fuck this! I don’t give a fuck what you think. I don’t give a fuck what you say. You just fuckin’ are a hater.’ I think people will relate with that.”
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Jonathan Davis is 44!
Can you imagine Tim McGraw (48) or Keith Urban (47) saying that? Heck, I can’t even envision John Rich or Brantley Gilbert speaking quite like that!
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Frankly, I’ve not once ever been a fan of Korn, or many fellow Active Rock staple acts (mind you I’m not lumping the following together with Korn because I view them as all the same style, but because they were all staple acts during the time nu-metal emerged) of their time like Disturbed, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Staind and Papa Roach, among others)……………because while I can acknowledge there’s a place for a more visceral breed of emotional release in music and tapping into your most primal instincts, the rage of those aforementioned sorts of acts were primarily all power and no purpose to my ears. It all seemed so contrived and disposable. And when they were hopelessly self-serious and demanded to be taken seriously, that’s what made them even more insufferable. There was no room for levity. It was a constant conveyor belt of banality and predictable power chords…………………of which the greatest casualty, in result of this atrocity of a trend, was that authentic metal was getting lumped together with these charlatans to the extent that metal, despite its resilience and clout as a diverse, independent community, still hasn’t gotten any fair shake to genuinely expand into the mainstream and make Active Rock radio better again.
So, as you can clearly see, I can’t begin to envision Jonathan Davis pulling off the country boy card convincingly without breaking off into chuckles.
Heck, at least he has proven he has a sense of humor with his JDevil EDM side project! 😉
June 1, 2015 @ 6:02 am
You just inadvertently explained my whole take on grunge. And by grunge, I mean grunge. The so-called and often erroneously labeled “post-grunge” bands mostly get an unfair rap.
June 1, 2015 @ 10:07 am
I’m plain tired of the haters gonna hate mantra floating around music.
June 1, 2015 @ 4:54 am
Funny. Whenever I thought of Korn I thought KORN radio on Hee Haw
June 1, 2015 @ 6:15 am
Of course, the ONE article where Big & Rich are actually relevant almost turned into one I was going to ignore for seeming to be self-explanatory 😛 . Regardless, I hate to shoot anyone’s hopes down, but as far as this B&R fanboy knows, the duo is still promoting their well-received indie debut from last year, Gravity. They also made mention of having shot a “quadrilogy” of music videos for the album, of which only the second single has thus far been released (and one assumes at least one more, if not both, are planned for the future). Not that it should surprise anyone, but this is looking like a full-fledged product from Jonathan Davis to me. Should we be thankful it’s just the KoЯn frontman instead of the entire band?
Also appreciate the mention of that Facebook post I linked for you with B&R and Clint Black, Trigger. That’ll certainly be interesting to hear. Though they have a dubious reputation with country music purists, I think Big & Rich have shown themselves to be quite capable duet partners on traditional country. I always love to point out that they’re the single non-Legend name on Mary Sarah’s duets album Bridges, as well as singing with Billy Joe Shaver on a re-recording of his fantastic song “Live Forever” (which, also worth noting, was at the height of their popularity in 2006 when they could have easily worked with anyone else for more $$$). I have trouble believing they’d set aside time for these types of projects if they didn’t truly love country music, even if they come across as perfectly fine with what’s happening to the genre currently. Hell, some country fans might even be surprised that they know who Shaver is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeJ4kp1AwY4
June 1, 2015 @ 2:23 pm
The hashtag in his Instagram post seemed to insinuate the title of this forthcoming project is “Bakersfield Sound”, and that Big & Rich probably only play a small part in the broader scheme of it.
Look, I’ll still give the end result a fair listen like I do anything (yes, EVEN Chris Brown and Kevin Federline! 😉 ). Still, I honestly can’t help but chuckle envisioning such a limited vocalist like Jonathan Davis, regardless of any project he has assisted whether it be Korn, Killbot, JDevil or so forth, singing country music.
Jonathan Davis has always struck me as more of a Dada/surrealist noir radio narrator kind of vocalist. I’ve never been a Marilyn Manson fan either, but he certainly has always done better with that anyway, especially since he’s not afraid to inject humor into his style on and off.
June 1, 2015 @ 6:20 am
Trigg,
I have only been coming to this site for a few months (I love it BTW). I am curious about your opinion of another rock front man, Aaron Lewis, turned country. I think his last album was pretty country. Sidenote, I can’t stand Korn. I never liked their music. Jonathan Davis putting out a country record or track is unnecessary.
June 1, 2015 @ 6:43 am
I hated his first couple of singles, was surprised at the quality of his album though. I’ve written about him pretty extensively if you want to read more:
https://savingcountrymusic.com/?s=aaron+lewis+
June 1, 2015 @ 6:52 am
Just do a search. There is no shortage of write-ups about Aaron Lewis on SCM. And If my opinion means anything to you…I think Aaron Lewis is the most inconsistent artist i have ever had the pleasure/displeasure of hearing. He can sound incredibly genuine at one point, then like a self indulgent dbag begging for the world to think he is country. If all i had ever heard was his cover of “What Hurts the Most”, and hear the most genuine sounding pain coming from his lips, and was unable to preview any of his other music, i would buy every song he released. In that scenario I would end up a very disappointed man, with a tragic case of buyers remorse.
June 1, 2015 @ 7:49 am
I doubt Davis will have anything to offer country music since he hasn’t had much to offer the rock world in the past 15 years… Also wanted to say how weak and shitty Linkin Park is to combat all the positive things said about them here. They are unbearable even at their best. And Staind went to shit when they kept going to the well with depressing ballads but a lot of their early stuff, ballads included, is exceptional. This is why I think there might be hope for Lewis in the genre though I haven’t heard anything from him that grabbed me yet. What I would like to see at some point is a band featuring James Hetfield, Jerry Cantrell, Pepper Keenan, and Zakk Wylde. I think this combination would lead to a southern rock/ country masterpiece.
June 1, 2015 @ 7:56 am
I expect down-tuned electric fiddles run through about thirty different effects pedals, a badly-rapped duet with Fred Durst about how their respective dads didn’t love them, bagpipes, and some crying.
June 1, 2015 @ 12:59 pm
Wouldn’t you like to hear Glen Benton and Deicide try their hand at country? Or possibly Gaahl from Gorgoroth???
June 1, 2015 @ 1:36 pm
That would, of course, be terrible, but it would at least be terrible in a funny way.
June 1, 2015 @ 5:09 pm
Shoot…At least they do have some remotely country backgrounds. Benton and his bandmates grew up in the freaking swamps of southwest Florida. And Gaahl spent his youth in a boondocks area of Norway, and he nearly killed a few guys on occasion/
June 1, 2015 @ 7:57 am
I’m to the point where I’ll welcome anything and anyone to country radio.
After all, I don’t listen to it…
He can’t be any LESS country than Sam Hunt and couldn’t be any worse than Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Tyler Farr, Florida Georgia Line, Eric Paslay, Brantley Gilbert, and whoever else is festering the airwaves with diarrhea. What a sad thought.
June 1, 2015 @ 12:46 pm
I shall be releasing my new country single “I Stabbed A Man In Oslo (Just To Watch Him Die)” soon.
I like the song “Burning It Down” by Jason Aldean. The phrase alone has a special meaning for me.
June 1, 2015 @ 12:57 pm
Hey, also remember that Hank III toured with Seth Putnam and An-l C–t back in the late 90s….During the famous tour bus incident where Putnam punked out Chris Barnes (Which was one of the events that got him kicked out of Cannibal Corpse.)
June 1, 2015 @ 3:22 pm
When I think of rock guys that could make a cool country record, Jonathan Davis isn’t it. A guy like Jerry Cantrell or even James Hatfield could probably make something interesting.
June 1, 2015 @ 6:26 pm
Exactly. Don’t Follow is basically a country song, and their collaboration on Tuesday’s Gone cover was outstanding. Cantrell has done a lot with the “cowboy chords”.
June 1, 2015 @ 4:44 pm
While I kind of get Jonathan Davis personally dipping his finger in country (I did know he was from Bakersfield from an interview I’ve seen), nu-metal fans are one of those demographics I would think would instantly dismiss country music as a format. It just doesn’t remotely seem to be their thing; same for pop-punk fans or a lot of EDM fans.
June 1, 2015 @ 10:14 pm
http://loudwire.com/korn-munky-faith-no-more-debut-album-more/
It might interest you to know that a mere day before Davis announced his collaboration with Big & Rich on Instagram, Korn’s guitarist Munky said that Korn have “gone in every direction except for country and I don”™t think that”™s going to happen for Korn.”
So there you have it! At least some of the rest of Korn are perhaps being dismisive of country music too, and I can envision Jonathan Davis responding: “F*** you! I’ll show you! Come, Big & Rich, let’s f***** show them what country music’s all about!”
June 1, 2015 @ 5:28 pm
Who would have thought that being referred to by Blake as an ” old fart ” would almost be a term of endearment alongside what most of these wannabes are called by this site and other music critics ? I hope Ray Price is taking some consolation in that fact wherever he’s jammin now .
June 2, 2015 @ 4:03 am
There is only one thing worse than this. If the day ever comes where Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit tries to do country, that is the day I will commit seppoku!!!
June 2, 2015 @ 4:31 am
Dis is Skwissgar Skwigelf from ze bands Dethklok. Ve are goings to release a country albums soon toos. Its vill be calleds “Kountryklok.” Is promises all ofs you, it vill be brutals!!!!!!!
June 2, 2015 @ 2:31 pm
If it’s, “Y’all Want a Single say Fuck That (for country music),” then this might be worth it.
June 4, 2015 @ 3:12 pm
I think he should follow this up with a jazz album.
maybe sing the solos from “a love supreme”
June 7, 2015 @ 9:21 am
“Radio” country is completely corporate-controlled. The record label’s goal is to find a formula that sells, then milk the ever-loving hell out of it until there’s nothing original left. It happened to metal at the end of the 80s, then it happened to “grunge” in the mid-90s, it even happened with (ugh) “nu” and “rap” metal after that. Everything will be flogged to death as soon as it sells, like it is with so-called “bro-country” right now. “Beer, trucks, swimming holes, sugar-shakers”…that’s the formula now. Cheap anthems that ear-worm their way into listener’s heads, the perfect soundtrack for summer mega-concert events.
The upside is that this approach will spawn a vibrant underground scene which will eventually usurp whatever the current sales model is now. Country fans tend to skew a little older, thus it might take a little more time, but I guarantee it will happen.