I know they can do better than this. In case no one has seen it yet, this is Korn’s video for Spike in My Veins. Honestly, I’m thoroughly disappointed in it. I’ve seen better ideas for videos from 11 year olds… This is a symptom of the truth: Korn is done.
What is it I hate about this video? How about the constant shots of Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber? Are these 2 shitbags even relevant anymore? But even then, it feels as though they’re jumping on the bandwagon that’s already been rolling for the past 6 months: the news isn’t reporting news. Holy shit, we get it. We already know Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus aren’t news. We already know the media and news channels are bullshit. We already know… We’ve been complaining about it for quite some time now.
Korn touts this video around like it’s the most clever thing they’ve ever done. It isn’t… it’s an idea that everyone already has. Not only that, but they don’t even make much of an attempt at trying to express this idea in any new or creative way, like say displaying other news that isn’t news, or giving some sort of side-by-side comparison to actual news. Nope, we’ll just keep showing the popular figures over and over again to continually drive in the same point that you got in the first 5 seconds of watching this damn video.
It just feels patronizing… as though they’re trying to capitalize on popular internet culture, and it’s just sad. They did the same thing in their evolution video when they showed George Bush juxtaposed with a chimp. Whoa! We totally haven’t seen that before!”
Bottom line: if you’re going to make some kind of political statement, do your homework. And while we’re on the subject of politics: stop it. You’ve never been a political band, and only in recent years do you think it’s suddenly a cool idea to write songs about human behavior from a socio-political perspective. It’s not. You went from having passion and energy as you described fighting and struggles and now you’re copping out with the bandwagon on whatever’s popular. The illuminati, de-evolution, dubstep fusion (which you’re not even doing right), and now this piss-poor attempt at looking edgy and hip. It’s like you’re trying really hard to be liked by a younger audience and a newer generation, and it’s just sickening to watch.
And yes, I said Korn’s not doing dubstep fusion correctly. Don’t get me wrong, their Path of Totality album was fun, but The Paradigm Shift’s move towards electronics just felt completely superfluous and lacking in anything substantial. If you’re going to fuse electronics into your music, how about giving Klayton(Celldweller) or Bret Autrey(Blue Stahli) a ring? Skrillex is done. He made one or 2 great hits, and everything else was a popularized sensation that any idiot picked up on. Almost all of his best tracks were tracks worked on by his good friend Bare Noize, who did all the heavy lifting into what made the tracks great.
Korn’s been pissing me off lately with what they’re doing, and I think I’m the only fan who’s actually pointing out realistic problems… and I think they can all be explained in 2 words: Jonathan Davis. His vocals were absolute shit in Korn 3, he’s losing his energy and drive for what made him do music in the first place, his lyrics are worse than 12-year-old screamo artists, and every time he gets up on the mic he’s a disappointment. He’s lost his edge completely. This is fine… go do solo projects… get out of Korn and do something entirely different if that’s what you want to do. JDevil, sure, whatever, hang out with teenagers and mix music like some uber-wizard *coughmidlifecrisiscough*. As much as I absolutely hate to admit it, Korn’s sound has died because Jonathan Davis has nothing to offer anymore. The songs range from horrible to par/mediocre, and I’m sick of it. I think I’m the only person who wishes he’d get back on the drugs so his life would be fucked up again… At least then he’d have something to draw influence from
One reviewer once referred to Jonathan as “the center of the storm from which Korn’s music rages like a wild maelstrom” or something. Yeah, well when that eye of the storm dies, so does the rest of the damn storm. Find your passion, or find a new band.