Life Is Peachy
| Life Is Peachy | ||||
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| Studio album by Korn | ||||
| Released | October 15, 1996 | |||
| Recorded | April–June 1996 at Indigo Ranch Studios, Malibu, California[1] | |||
| Genre | Nu metal | |||
| Length | 48:14 | |||
| Label | Immortal/Epic | |||
| Producer | Ross Robinson | |||
| Korn chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Life Is Peachy | ||||
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Life Is Peachy is the 2nd studio album by the American Metal band Korn, released on October 15, 1996 through Immortal/Epic Records. Following the success of their 1994 self-titled debut, Korn created a second double platinum in the United States, certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album charted number 3 on the Billboard 200 and peaked number one on the New Zealand charts.
The album has 15 tracks including the hidden track after "Kill You". Korn released 3 singles from the album & each charted on the UK chart. For the first time, Korn released covers of the songs "Lowrider" by War & "Wicked" by Ice Cube. The album features such themes as social encounters & revenge. The album cover was designed by Martin Riedl & it's name is credited to Korn's bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu. It generally received mixed reviews from critics.
Contents |
Production & recordings
After playing at a few gigs with Deftones in California, United States, Korn went back to the studio to start recording Life Is Peachy in April 1996. Korn asked Ross Robinson to produce, and wanted to begin recording at Indigo Ranch,[1] mostly because their first album had been recorded there & was a success.[2][3] Korn's bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu said, "We wanted that same energy and inspiration we found up in the Malibu Hills."[2] The album has been released 3 separate times, all under different record labels. The 1st was released under Immortal/Epic on October 15, 1996; the 2nd was released in 2001 under Sony Music Entertainment, and the third was released 2004 through Divine Records & was in LP/vinyl format.[4] To many band members, the making of Life Is Peachy went quickly. As a result of making the recordings so quickly, the band said they were all "fired up"; their debut album sold more than 1 million copies and went platinum.[5]
Touring & promotion
After Korn finished recording Life Is Peachy, they began touring in the Sick of it All Tour, Beginning in January 1995, to March 1995.[6] Korn released a promtional disc called Life Is Peachy Tour Sampler, with Incubus & The Urge. The album featured 3 tracks, "Chi" (live) by Korn, "All Washed Up" (live) by The Urge & "Hilikus" (live) by Incubus. The promo was released after Life Is Peachy & lasts for 12 minutes & 17 seconds.[7] Following the Sick of it All Tour, Korn joined the Danzig 4 Tour, including Danzig & Marilyn Manson. The tour lasted 3 months[6] & was preceding with the group touring with Megadeth, where they played 3500 to 5,000 venue.[8] They toured with Megadeth, Fear Factory & Flotsam & Jetsam. All of this happened in the summer of 1995. Lead vocalist Jonathan Davis introduced the bagpipes while performing live (however many people there did not like this).[8]
Korn began touring in Europe during September 1995, One of Korn's first concert date was in Nottingham. After the performance, there was conflict between Korn's bassist Fieldy & someone from "tech," resulting in the airport prohibited them from boarding the plane.[9] From 1995 to 1997, Korn toured with Ozzy Osbourne, Sugar Ray, Cradle of Thorns, Incubus, Life of Agony, Metallica & others.[10] In 1997, Korn toured solo & headlined at often sold out shows.[10] Limp Bizkit also toured with Korn to promote Life Is Peachy.[11] In 1997, Korn toured in the Lollapalooza summer tour. They toured with Tool & Snoop Dogg & Jane's Addiction & Prodigy & others.[12]
Aside form touring, Korn also released 3 promotional singles following the album's release. "No Place to Hide" was the album's first promotional single. The single features the song "Proud" a song that was previously unreleased.[13] Other versions include both original remixed versions of songs featured on their 1994 debut album.[14] The song "A.D.I.D.A.S." was released as a single on March 4, 1997.[15] The song's music video was directed by Joseph Kahn.[5] Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu said that "It was one of the hardest videos we ever made because we all had to lie still on cold metal slabs for hours, pretending to be dead. We wore dirty blue contacts in our eyes that made us partially blind while they were in."[5]
Musical & lyrical themes
The album spans several genres, including nu metal,[16] rap metal,[17] & alternative metal.[17] Sputnikmusic said that the band takes "take the sound they established on their self titled debut & push it in a darker & on occasion, more humorous direction." Tower Records said that the album was "full of shrilly, distorted guitar squeals, bass-heavy darkness & laryngitis-inducing growls," while considering the album to mix the genres thrash metal, hip-hop, punk rock, funk & humor.
Q Magazine said that the album was both harsh & hard & Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said that the album's rhythms were "straight out of underground black metal," while also noting that it "enhanced their metallic influences." With the same band-line up as their previous 1st album, Korn, the band created an album cosidered to be darker than their debut album. Entertainment Weekly considered the album to be of interest to "mental-health professionals." John Pareles stated that the album's themes characterize Korn being "Mad at Everybody, Including Themselves" & considered his feelings for Korn were mutual. Allmusic also said Life Is Peachy was "a barrage of throttling, detuned guitar aggression that erupts from the bottom like molten lava."
Front cover & booklet
Korn's bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu came up with the title Life Is Peachy. The name came from Fieldy's Pee Chee folder. Fieldy often put "Life Is" in front of the brand name, which would humor him.[5] Fieldy said, "I used to doodle all over it [the file folder]. I drew long hair on the character & put guitars in their hands. I used to sketch stuff all the time. I eventually knew my scribbles might someday pay off. I thought that visual would make a really cool album cover."[5] Korn contacted the Pee Chee file folder company & asked for permission to use the file folder's image for an album cover. Offering twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), resulting in the company turning the offer down. The name Life Is Peachy was agreed by band members to be a "great" name for the album & kept the name but didn't add Fieldy's file folder cover.[5]
The front cover of Life Is Peachy depicts a boy looking in the mirror, seeing a much larger person behind him. The photo was taken by Martin Riedl. The design & concept were by Scott Leberacht. Other pictures in the booklet were taken by Stephen Stickler.[18] The booklet has a card, as well as credits. The card consists of questions for the consumer, including their name, address, age, sex, favorite songs from the album, how the listener heard of Korn & several related personnel questions. On the front of the card, it states where to mail (Fans UV Korn). All credits & track listings throughout the booklet and covers are printed in a font which represents handwriting. The only text not printed in this font is the section that gives information about Compact discs.
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [17] |
| Billboard | (favorable)[19] |
| Robert Christgau |  [20] |
| Entertainment Weekly | (C-)[21] |
| Metal Storm |  [22] |
| The New York Times | (favorable)[23] |
| Q | (03/01/2002, p.137) |
Life Is Peachy received mixed reviews from critics. The album debuted on number 3 spot on the "Billboard" 200. Q magazine said the album is "Harsher & harder than their groundbreaking debut."[1] Allmusic said "Korn add enough elements of alternative rock song structure to make the music accessible to the masses & their songwriting has continued to improve."[17] iTunes commented that "Regardless of the musical textures, Life Is Peachy is unified in it's focus."[24] Entertainment Weekly said that the album left the "impression that frontman Jonathan Davis is turning his well-publicized childhood traumas into a cheap marketing device". They gave it a C- & said that it "may be of interest to mental-health professionals."[21]
In 1998 "No Place to Hide" earned the band a 2nd Grammy nomination in Best Metal Performance category. The single peaked number 26 on the UK Singles Chart. The albums 2nd single, A.D.I.D.A.S. peaked number 22 on the UK Singles chart & also appeared on American Billboard Hot 200, as well as the ARIA Charts. "God", the albums 3rd & final single, peaked at number 20 on UK Singles chart, as well as making it onto the ARIA Charts. The whole album peaked number 1 on the New Zealand charts. The album also peaked number 3 on the "Billboard" 200 & number 32 on the UK Albums Chart. Herzebeth from Metal Storm Webzine said that Life Is Peachy is Korn's best album.[22]
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Korn unless otherwise noted.
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Twist" | 0:49 | |
| 2. | "Chi" | 3:54 | |
| 3. | "Lost" | 2:55 | |
| 4. | "Swallow" | 3:38 | |
| 5. | "Porno Creep" | 2:01 | |
| 6. | "Good God" | 3:20 | |
| 7. | "Mr. Rogers" | 5:10 | |
| 8. | "K@#Ø%! (Kunts!)" | 3:02 | |
| 9. | "No Place To Hide" | 3:31 | |
| 10. | "Wicked" (ft. Chino Moreno; Ice Cube Cover) | 4:00 | |
| 11. | "A.D.I.D.A.S." | 2:32 | |
| 12. | "Lowrider" (War cover) | 0:58 | |
| 13. | "Ass Itch" | 3:39 | |
| 14. | "Kill You" | 8:37 | |
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Total length:
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48:14 | ||
| Tour Sampler | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Music | Album | Length | |||||
| 1. | "Chi" (live) | Korn | Life Is Peachy | 4:31 | |||||
| 2. | "All Washed Up" (live) | The Urge | Receiving the Gift of Flavor | 4:31 | |||||
| 3. | "Hilikus" (live) | Incubus | Fungus Amongus | 3:55 | |||||
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Total length:
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12:17 | ||||||||
Chart positions
- Life Is Peachy
| Chart | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Billboard 200 | 3[25] |
| ARIA Charts | 26[26] |
| Austria | 21[27] |
| Canadian Albums Chart | 32[28] |
| Finland | 43[29] |
| Media Control Charts | 85[30] |
| Mega Album Top 100 | 87[31] |
| VG-lista | 24[32] |
| RIANZ | 1[33] |
| UK Albums Chart | 32[34] |
- Singles
| Year | Single | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US[25][A] | AUS[35] | UK[34] | ||
| 1996 | "No Place to Hide" | — | — | 26 |
| 1997 | "A.D.I.D.A.S." | 113 | 45 | 22 |
| "Good God" | — | 81 | 25 |
Personnel
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See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Music: Life Is Peachy (CD) by Korn (Artist) Tower Records. Retrieved 2010-04-12
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Arvizu 2009 p. 78
- ↑ Music: Korn (CD) by Korn (Artist) Tower Records. Retrieved 2010-04-12
- ↑ Life Is Peachy Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-02-20
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Arvizu 2009, p. 79-80
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Arvizu 2009, p. 81
- ↑ Various - Korn: Life Is Peachy Tour Sampler Discogs. Retrieved 2010-03-14
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Arvizu 2009 pp. 84-85
- ↑ Arvizu 2009 p. 89
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Arvizu 2009 p. 92
- ↑ Arvizu 2009 p. 97
- ↑ Arvizu 2009 p. 105
- ↑ No Place To Hide Amazon. Retrieved 2010-02-20
- ↑ Korn [Audio CD, Explicit Lyrics] Amazon. Retrieved 2010-02-20
- ↑ A.D.I.D.A.S.: Korn music Amazon.com Retrieved 2010-03-13
- ↑ "Discographie, filmographie, photographies metal". (In German). Cairn.com. Retrieved 2010-07-20
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Allmusic Review
- ↑ allmusic (((Life Is Peachy > Credits))) Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-04-12
- ↑ Billboard Review March 2010
- ↑ Robert Christgau Review
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Entertainment Weekly Review
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Metal Storm Review
- ↑ The New York Times Review
- ↑ Life Is Peachy by Korn iTunes. Retrieved 2010-02-20
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 "American chart". Billboard charts. http://www.billboard.com/#/artist/korn/chart-history/121196. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ↑ "Australian albums chart". australian-charts.com. http://australian-charts.com/search.asp?search=Korn&cat=a. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ↑ "Austrian albums chart". austriancharts.at. http://austriancharts.at/search.asp?search=Korn&cat=a. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ↑ Canadian albums chart Retrieved: 2010-01-19
- ↑ "French albums chart". lescharts.com. http://lescharts.com/search.asp?search=Korn&cat=a. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ↑ "German albums chart". musicline.de. http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/Korn/?type=longplay. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ↑ "Dutch albums chart". dutchcharts.nl. http://dutchcharts.nl/search.asp?search=Korn&cat=a. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ↑ "Norwegian albums chart". norwegiancharts.com. http://norwegiancharts.com/search.asp?search=Korn&cat=a. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ↑ "Swedish albums chart". swedishcharts.com. http://swedishcharts.com/search.asp?search=Korn&cat=a. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ↑ 34.0 34.1 "British chart". Zobbel.de. http://www.zobbel.de/cluk/CLUK_K.HTM. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ↑ "Australian singles chart". australian-charts.com. http://australian-charts.com/search.asp?search=Korn&cat=s. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
Literature
- Arvizu, Reginald (2009), Got The Life, William Marrow, ISBN 0061662496
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