Oh, hell. It was awful. Gotta be one of the worst covers ever.
Think Bee Gees covering that song.
Stop the H8. Korn rules the day. “Nu Metal”?? What the hell is that. Metal has been around for years. Just because it doesn’t appear on most peoples radar or radio station doesn’t mean it’s new anything. Korn was around circa 91ish. They just didn’t hit it big until 95ish. I saw their first 2 shows here in Minnesota. They opened, yes they OPENED for Sick of It All and Marilyn Manson at First Avenue.
And being lumped together with these other copy cat bands is a disgrace. Coal Chamer being enemy noomba 1. They are just total ripoffs of Korn. Korn evovled metal and everyone jumped in on it. Suddenly you have kids all accross America and beyong tuning down their brand new 7 stringers.
They’re “Nu” as opposed to original metal bands like Judas Priest or Metallica, whom they are younger than and don’t sound much like. Stop h8ing on the l8bel. 
Mr. Burrido - Before it was called Nu Metal in about 1985/1986 that exact genre of music was called crossover (metal & hardcore punk) with bands like DRI & COC, I lump Korn and it’s associated sound in the post-crossover nu-metal genre - because unlike metal before (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest) - it had a hardcore sound and beat rather than a classic metal sound.
An aside: When Kill Em’ All by Metalicca came out - none of the metal fans at my school bought it - it was the punk scene who was picking up on that sound. The metal fans of the time were still into the Ozzy/AC DC/ and Sabbath or into hair metal.
It can’t be as bad as the Cindy Lauper version.
-lv
I haven’t heard this one, but IMO, Korn is at their best when they stick to their originals. Nu metal will finally get some respect in ten years, when all the crap bands are forgotten and only the ones who actually did something interesting remain.
Boooo. Kill Em’ All not considered Metal when they first came out and then fast forward a couple years then it was? Korn not considered Metal, fast forward a couple years and it will. I see shifting of definitions.
Burrido - you had to be there to understand - metal of the early 1980’s was defined by what came before it, and some people being intolerant of anything new - they were unwilling to expand thier definations of what was called metal to including Metallica - ask any 35 to 45 year old metal fan about what he or she was listening to in high school and university - you’ll hear a lot about Black Sabbath, and Ozzy, and maybe about Motley Crue, and some other hair metal bands - but as a former punk rocker I remember guys wearing hair spray and make up ala Motley Crue saying that Metallica were gay.
Watch old Metallica videos and see how they catered to the punk fans - Metallica wore Sex Pistols and Ramones shirts - they did not wear Ozzy shirts which were on the back of every metal fan from 1980 to 1987.
Definitions change especially in music. Rock music is no longer just what Buddy Holly and Elvis played, Punk music is no longer just the Sex Pistols and the Ramones, and Metal is no longer just Ozzy & Sabbath. Korn is not quite considered metal - and called nu-metal because those who are in the establishment of the music industry or are older fans do not call it metal yet.
I hear people call GWAR metal, I hear people call Rage against the Machine metal, I hear people call DRI metal, yet because when I was listening to all these bands, they were called punk bands, I consider them all to be punk - because I am an older fan and that is the root of these bands fan base. These bands who’s sound crossed over between punk and metal had punk as fans when they started out, the metal fans scorned them back in the day, and Korn will be considered a crossover band by many old punk or metal fans - because they do not fit into the old minds as belonging in our definitions of metal or punk.
Doesn’t really sound like anything’s changed–I’ll expand more after lunch.
From wiki’s definition of Hardcore Punk
As well as an homage to the old punk fans there were a few old punk tunes on Garageland. Sure some metal fans have heard of the Misfits, but until Garageland - I had never heard of a metal fan having any clue who Anti-Nowhere League in North America.
That’s the thing.
I don’t really have anything againt Korn, but this cover just shows no originality. It’s just someone told them to play it and engineered it to sound heavy. Reminiscent of the dullll. . .dullll. . .dulllll cover of “Boys of Summer” that some jokers did recently.
Korn left off or glossed over the details that make the original version memorable. . .I’m not saying that Korn had to replicate the acoustic strumming, but Korn’s version just drones. There’s just no change in the volume, or the mix, to let you in. There’s nothing that this (seemingly) talented band did to really nail it at all.
And the solo. . .he just played what Gilmour played note for note, but it’s worse because not only could he not capture that unique Gilmour tone. . .he didn’t capture any tone. A computer could have played that solo.
That’s a very disappointing cover.
In other news. . .
Personally, I liked Shinedown’s cover of “Simple Man” this year. That was a guy who really got the “spirit” but did his own thing musically with it.
Gotta disagree with you. Maybe it was regional, but I fit your definition to a T, and all my friends agreed that Metallica was Metal. We just didn’t like it. Too droning. And by that time, Ozzy had sold out to pop music, and Dio had left Sabbath so there wasn’t a large following for either. Now once Mustaine was on his own with Megadeth… that was good Metal again.
But then, I never accepted that the hair and makeup bands were real metal either, so maybe I’m in a minority.
I also find it odd that Metallica was considered punk. I just don’t see it. Punk is fast music with fast vocals. Speed metal was fast guitar work but almost always very slow vocals that rode over the top of the guitars without following their speed.
Hi Boring Dad - I agree with you regarding Metallica - in most punk’s opinions were metal - but a new and interesting form of metal. But in those early 80’s, stuff that was not old metal was not accepted by head bangers. Hair bands were more pop in most people’s opinion. Back in the day of roller rinks, tight jeans and big hair, metal fans were called headbangers, it didn’t seem that the head bangers were any more accepting of the new speed metal and thrash music than the pop fans were of U2 and REM - which were still underground rock at the time.
From my perspecitive - punks were quite accepting of any and all music which was new at the time. and although we’d never consider either Metallica or REM punk, at the time they were interesting new music. It seemed to me that other social circles weren’t as experimental as the punk scene when it came to musical tastes. As an example of the melding of the scene I have gig posters on my site that have one speed metal, one punk band, and a band that would be called goth nowadays & I’ve talked with guys from early speed metal bands who could thanks to punk promoters get on a punk ticket because the headbanger bars didn’t like the new metal - and wouldn’t book them. From guys I’ve talked with from the scene & bands from every where from Vancouver BC, Canada to Toronto ON Canada, to San Fransisco CA to Austin TX, to St. Paul MN - it seemed that punk gigs were the only ticket a thrash, speed metal or underground band who was just starting out could get booked in the early to mid 80’s - so many punks take ownership of those styles because we saw them first.
As well from my perspective - headbangers seemed a closed minded group both musically, and socially - although I had a few headbanger friends who were quite cool and very open minded socially. There was a large portion of the headbangers who were not at all open minded and thought it fun to go punk bashing (good thing most of the time punks travelled in groups). But even my open-minded headbanger friends were not musically open minded. Bands like Metallica, and even Megadeath later on were not listened to by the headbanger crowd until these bands had been around for about 3 or 4 years.
On a musical level, I always saw it as Metallica was paying homage to the punk roots of the speed and style of the music they played, especially in what t-shirts they wore. Metallica was almost always decked out in punk band t’s - even once their fan base became head bangers in the later 80’s.
Hmm. I guess it depends on what you are looking to do with the words. Headbangers “not accepting” of Metallica? Well, they didn’t like early Metallica, so they didn’t play it. Seems kind of different to me than some vague “acceptance.” I mean, they didn’t reject it because the players wore the wrong clothes or looked funny or anything, just didn’t like the music. Saying Mettalica was not accepted is kind of a derogatory statement against Metalheads as if they were discriminating against Metallica. I mean, your typical Maiden fan was also not going to listen to Kenny Rogers, but I wouldn’t say that it was because he didn’t “accept” Kenny Rogers.
Well, that’s not suprising. After they had been around for 3-4 years, their music had matured and they played better music. I still don’t like “For whom the bell tolls”, but “Master of Puppets” is not bad. So, from my perspective they didn’t become accepted… they became better.
Wow… I find it interesting to see discussions like this, because to my mind Metallica is the godfather of metal. Black Sabbath is going even further back. I get the impression I’m a lot younger than some of you, and perhaps that’s why I’m not as attached to some of the older bands. For me, Metallica and Megadeth are great bands that I feel no nostalgia for, because I was in diapers when they were in their prime. I didn’t come up in that era, and in my mind, the metal of my generation is KoRn, Rage Against the Machine, etc.
That’s what I’ll be nostalgic for in 20+ some odd years. I can see it now! Me lecturing young metalheads about their crappy taste in music, wagging my finger in their faces: “In my day, we listened to real metal! Like KoRn, and Slipknot. This stuff you whippersnappers enjoy now is nothing but noise and grunting.” 
Finally heard this one today, and I have to agree that it’s not all that great. Part of it is the source material–Pink Floyd did some good stuff, but “Another Brick In The Wall” really isn’t that far up there. And part of it is Korn’s style, which doesn’t suit the song very well, although I do like John Davis’ vocals here.
With respect to my earlier comment, things really are the same as far as metal and punk these days. The new bands–DEP, Mastodon, Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, etc.–have a much more hardcore approach to the music and are more likely to be found in the punk section of your local Tower than the metal. Give it a few years, and things’ll change.
Mississippienne, you’re only four years younger than me, so that’s not entirely the explanation.
In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that the Korn song is growing on me. I certainly don’t turn it off when it comes on.
Contrary to what Ultrafilter said, I think part of that reason is that I think the source material is good. The song is still somewhat of a drone, but kind of a hypnotic, start bobbing my head, get-into-it, good drone. I think they could have done more with the solo, but still, the source is good and they basically just mimic it.
Further, I’ve finally heard the Scissor Sisters cover of “Comfortably Numb” and I think it’s great. As a matter of fact, while listening to it, I found it so natural and euphoric (in a drug-induced sort of way) that I was thinking, “wow, this is how this song was intended to be.”
I got that ‘SS’ album. I’d never heard “Take Your Mama Out” which is a good romp. “Mary” is classic sounding in it’s own way. That album starts to sag in the middle and you’d almost like to write them off as jolly hacks who got lucky with a couple catchy ditties, but then they hit you with that song, “It Can’t Come Quickly Enough” which is downright beautiful.
Not a solid album coast to coast, but not bad, either. A lot of different tempos and feels. Maybe they turn out to be the next Village People, but they do seem to have a little more talent than that.