Korn Unveil "Issues" Live in New York : Rolling Stone

The stairway that leads to the balcony of Harlem's Apollo Theater is adorned with the images of R&B legends. Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and Dionne Warwick are but a few of the faces that hang there, and all have sung their sweet emotions on the Apollo stage.|

On Monday night, Korn filled the venue with a different sort of emotion: rage. Ripping at his clothes like the rag doll that appears on the cover of the band's new album, Issues (out today), Davis whirled and screamed his way through each song in sequence. Dressed in a kilt and knee socks, Davis appeared like a strange amalgam of Ozzy Osbourne and a Catholic school girl.

But the boys were all business. Despite cries of "Jonathan! Fieldy! David! Head!" and the occasional "Munky!" raining down on the stage from the radio station contest winners who filled the venue, Korn uttered not one word. Guitarists Head and Munky's wall of noise often buried the songs' textures -- and the choir that accompanied Korn onstage -- but the general idea certainly came across: These guys are mad as hell and they feel like shouting and shaking their heads about it.

When they struck the final notes of "Dirty," Issues' sixteenth and final song, Korn simply walked off the stage, not to be seen again.

During a Tuesday press conference, Davis, Head and bassist Fieldy (the others didn't show because of the "late night") talked about the new album. "It's the darkest album we've done, definitely," said Davis, "and the most emotional."

Despite the band's new video for "Falling Away From Me," which depicts children pumping their fists along to show support for an abused girl, Davis said that his band does not purport to be the voice of American youth. "I just think kids relate with what we're about ... They hear somebody else going through stuff and I guess it makes it better."

Korn will tour most of next year in support of Issues and will enable fans to choose the set list via an upcoming poll on their Website (www.korn.com).

BILL CRANDALL
(November 16, 1999)