While many believe that Faith No More and Korn are two very different bands, there seem to be more similarities than there are differences according to famous Korn vocalist, Jonathan Davis.
Jonathan was cited in a 2015 interview stating about Faith No More: “My favorite Faith No More record is ‘The Real Thing’. That’s when [singer] Mike Patton took over. That’s the one. [Although] I do like ‘We Care A Lot’. We got a lot of our influences from ‘The Real Thing’. It showed everybody you could do heavy music and not be ‘metal.’ It was something completely different.”
Not only has Jonathan Davis been very vocal about the influence that Faith No More have had on not only Korn, but music in general; guitarist of Korn, Brian Welch had a lot to say about the band in a January 1997 interview with Guitar World. The impact that Faith No More had on Welch was not lost as he listed “The Real Thing” as an album that changed his life.
Brian Welch started the interview by saying: “I was about 17 when I first heard it, and [at the time I was] listening to a lot of Metallica, 24-7 Spyz, Living Colour and Fishbone. I dug them all, but Faith No More moved me in a different way, a way more than anything else. It totally changed my direction.”
At this point in time, metal fans were very hardcore about their stance on their favorite musical genre. Before Faith No More took the scene by storm, the ties between rap and metal music were bleak.
Brian Welch commented on the above by stating: “I remember seeing them open up for Metallica, and everyone started booing them going, ‘Rap sucks.’ I was so bummed. I felt like screaming at everyone, ‘Quit f**king booing them and listen.’ They all just heard the rap beat and didn’t give them a chance. Then, six months later, they were all over MTV and the same f***ers who were booing were probably lining up to see them.”
Since these comments were made by members of Korn in the past, bassist of Faith No More Bill Gould has made comments about the comparisons in present day as he looks back on thirty years of the album ‘Angel Dust’.
Gould stated: “I just don’t see us compared to nu metal. I mean, you can compare us to The Stranglers maybe; maybe you can compare us to Roxy Music, but not really — just in a very superficial way. And I think that we’re just kind of our own thing, really.”
