Freak on a Leash
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| "Freak on a Leash" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by KoЯn | ||
| from the album Follow the Leader | ||
| Released | April 13, 1999 | |
| Format | 7", CD"5 | |
| Recorded | 1998 | |
| Genre | Nu Metal | |
| Length | 4:17 | |
| Label | Epic Records | |
| Producer(s) | Korn, Steven Thompson, and Toby Wright | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| KoЯn singles chronology | ||
| "Got The Life" (1998) |
"Freak on a Leash" (1999) |
"Children of the Korn" (1999) |
"Freak on a Leash" is the most commercially successful Korn song. It was included on their 1998 album Follow the Leader as the second single and also featured on their Greatest Hits compilation in 2004. It received heavy airplay (despite failing to crack the Billboard Hot 100) on rock radio, MTV (who they had recently found major support with) and MuchMusic.
Lead singer Jonathan Davis has confirmed that the lyrics address forms of exploitation by the music industry (a common trait for the band also evident in their 2003 hit Y'All Want a Single). He said in an interview of Freak On a Leash; "they stole something from me, they stole my innocence and I'm not calm anymore. I worry constantly." [1]. The track features a number of scats towards the end of its playing time, which at the time was a fairly unique form of singing in rock music [citation needed]. The song is usually played during the encore set of the band's live show.
Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine turned this song into a swingin' Big band version on their 2006 album "The Sunny Side of the Moon: The Best of Richard Cheese".
Contents |
[edit] Video
The protesting video was created mostly in animation by Todd McFarlane (Follow the Leader's artwork is taken from these scenes), mixed with live shots of the band performing, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris.
The video is about a group of children tresspassing to a cliff to play, a security guard notices this and accidentally drops and fires his gun. Upon inspection, the bullet exits through the wall (it turns out the animated part of the video is in a poster) out of a poster and goes flying around unstoppably, ignoring friction and other forces to stop it, destroying everything it shoots through (yet does not hit or kill anyone, though it at times misses people by mere inches), entering a Korn poster, flies around the band and so on until it reenters the original poster. It ends with a little girl catching and returning the bullet to the guard.
The video for Falling Away From Me, from the band's follow-up album Issues picks up where it leaves off. The video had won a 2000 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video and two MTV Video Music Awards (nominated in 9 categories).
[edit] Awards
Over the years, the song has won numerous awards, both when it was released and recently. In 2000, it won the band their first Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video and also won two MTV Video Music Awards. In 2006, the song was voted by UK users into the number ten spot for the best 100 videos of all time, and it appeared on VH1's List of Top 40 Metal Songs Of All Time at number 23 [1]. It was also a huge hit in Australia where the single was certified gold with 35,000 units sold [2]
[edit] Jonathan Davis comments on meaning
"That's my song against the music industry. Like me feeling like I'm a fuckin' pimp, a prostitute. Like I'm paraded around. I'm this freak paraded around but I got corporate America fuckin' making all the money while it's taking a part of me. It's like they stole something from me, they stole my innocence and I'm not calm anymore. I worry constantly."
[edit] Track Listing (as of CD single 1999)
- Freak On A Leash (Album Version)
- Freak On A Leash (Dante Ross Mix)
- Freak On A Leash (Freakin' Bitch Mix) (aka Butch Vig Mix)
- Freak On A Leash (Josh A's Beast On A Leash Mix)
- Freak On A Leash (Lethal Freak Mix)
[edit] Notes
- ^ "VH1 40 Greatest Metal Songs", 1-4 May 2006, VH1 Channel, reported by VH1.com; last accessed September 10, 2006.
