“Freak on a Leash” is a unique song released at a unique point in the history of pop culture. How can you explain an aggressive rock and hip-hop hybrid that lays bare the tortured psyche of the singer, becoming a global hit in our current era? Public expectations may have been different, but this was also a highly innovative song and one of the greatest songs of the 1990s.
But what’s it all about? And just how did Korn manage to create such a striking blend of sounds? Today, I am trying to uncover the lyrical meaning of “Freak on Leash,” looking at how the song came to be and discussing Korn’s enduring influence.
Journey to Making “Freak on a Leash”
Love the band, or hate it, the truth is that for a while, there was no single band in the world like Korn. The irony, of course, is that not long after the release of the band’s debut album, nearly every nu metal band resembled Korn. If anything finally killed grunge and made most post-grunge bands feel passe, it was Jonathan David and his Adidas-wearing bandmates.
No, Korn wasn’t the first group to combine heavy metal and rap, although the approach still seemed fresh in 1994. It was everything else that the group blended together that earned them a loyal following.
At the forefront of the aggressively delivered songs were eerie confessions from singer Jonathan David. These were hardly the kind of material promoted by the macho-inspired metal groups of the time.
Then there was the guitar sound. The dual attack of James “Munky” Shaffer and Brian “Head” Welch’s 7-string detuned Ibanez guitars was a novel way of using the instrument.
The rhythm section, comprised of bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu on bass guitar and David Silveria on drums, competently brought in elements of funk, dance music and hip-hop.
Besides all of this, nobody looked like Korn. They were heavy metal musicians dressed in Adidas tracksuits and sporting dreadlocks. On stage, they looked like ravers joining a rock band.
The 1994 debut album made the group a sensation with songs like “Blind” and their characteristic sound. “Life is Peachy,” the follow-up, established Korn as unexpected late-era kinks of MTV. And, “Follow the Leader,” released in 1998, turned Korn, arguably, into the most successful rock band of the era.
It was “Freak on a Leash” that properly opened the floodgates and became the group’s signature song. What’s it all about, though?
The Meaning of the Lyrics to “Freak on a Leash”
“Freak on a Leash” can be interpreted in a variety of ways. That’s the beauty of great songs, sure.
The lyrics also feel like a conclusion to all of Jonathan David’s dark confessions shared throughout the band’s first two records. Naturally, this fact alone has been enough to launch numerous conspiracy theories. Some fans believe that the song is about drugs, while others think that it’s about kinky sex. Perhaps.
But the man who wrote it claims that the inspiration for the song was the music industry, in which he and his bandmates had become just one more component. Kor had achieved fame quickly, but not without personal sacrifice.
Besides, while the band had sold many albums, little of those profits, claims David, had trickled down. He saw groups like Korn as dogs being walked by the record label owner on a leash.
David also sees the corporate involvement as manipulative. You could hardly walk down a street in any major city of the world in the late 1990s and not see a kid wearing Korn merchandise. Most of these kids identified with David’s stories. In his lyrics, he had openly talked about his difficult childhood.
The lyrics to “Freak on a Leash” are about how the record labels ended up making money by profiting off of Korn’s innovations and art, themselves a product of pain and sacrifices.
Is that a valid point? “Follow the Leader” alone has sold more than 5.7 million copies worldwide. But do you imagine that David and his bandmates made the most money off of this success?
Composition
“Fieldy” Arvizu always points to “Freak on a Leash” as the definitive Korn song. This is, he explains, because it manages to condense all of the band’s diverse influences into just five minutes of music.
All of the band members are listed as co-writers of the tune. It was born out of band jams and played throughout the 1998 Family Values Tour.
The song’s notable for its break, which uses David’s beatboxing vocals and a transition toward a Biohazard and Sepultura-inspired part.
The version that was finally released as the third single off the “Follow the Leader” album was trimmed down and condensed to just under four minutes.
The Music Video for “Freak on a Leash”
“Freak on a Leash” benefited from one of the most striking videos ever to be shown on MTV. It is, arguably, one of the last truly great music videos produced by a rock band in an era where labels were willing to invest in this marketing strategy.
Todd McFarlane directed the music video in collaboration with Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. A mix of performance shots and animation, the music video tapped into the anxiety-ridden world of Korn’s music.
The music video opens with a shot of a child playing hopscotch on the edge of a cliff while a bullet, accidentally shot by a police guard, flies towards her. It’s a direct reference to the album’s artwork.
The bullet then travels all the way through a bedroom, launches itself into a Korn poster, before entering the space where the band is performing.
The shot is coordinated to coincide with David shouting “Go!” before the bullet makes its round trip. The child catches the bullet in her hands and calmly gives it back to the security guard.
The last shot of the video was used for the band’s next music video, “Falling Away from Me,” promoting the lead single from the album “Issues.”
The music video for “Freak on a Leash” itself won numerous awards, including Best Rock and Best Editing at the 1999 MTV VMAs. It’s one of the most easily recognisable music videos of the late 1990s.
The Legacy of “Freak on a Leash” and Korn
Ironically, Korn did achieve even higher success on the back of the strength of a song that dealt with how the music industry exploited them.
“Freak on a Leash” is arguably the band’s most famous song. Their commercial run lasted for a while longer, with follow-ups “Issues” and “Untouchables” continuing to sell. The group’s creative run, arguably, never ended. Feel free to check Alt77’s worst to best ranking of Korn’s albums.
“Follow the Leader” also helped to make the nu metal movement that Korn was spearheading into the most popular genre in rock. In fact, arguably, there was no bigger style in the whole of pop music at the end of the century.
And while nu metal bands like Limp Bizkit or Deftones have made a comeback in recent years, that’s not the case for Korn. The quintet continue to have a loyal fanbase and has weathered all of the trends that the group helped to inspire.
