It’s fair to assume that metal can’t translate to an acoustic style of music; how can it? Then, you should hear Korn and Amy Lee’s rendition of ‘Freak on a Leash.’ Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis shared with Metal Hammer that nobody thought they could pull off an acoustic, more laid-back version of that track. However, the two musicians proved everyone wrong with their performance.
“Nobody believed we could pull it off!” shared Davis about their ‘MTV Unplugged’ set in 2007 with Lee. “It was the most intricate thing we had ever done. We had all these extra musicians, strings, a glockenspiel player, and the glass harmonica player.”
He added, “‘Korn can’t do ‘Unplugged!” ‘Yeah? We f*cking can; watch this!’ We had to look at what Korn is really about, it’s about me purging my demons, but we did exactly what we wanted, and we wanted to come out of the left field. Many people hated it, but we really didn’t care!” The performance was a full production, and even though most people didn’t like their acoustic attempt at the track, he and Lee were thrilled with the outcome.
Korn’s path crossed with Lee’s when she covered their song ‘Thoughtless’ in 2004. Davis had loved Amy’s version of their track, so when the ‘MTV Unplugged’ set came about, they were happy to do another collaboration with the Evanescence vocalist. Now that you know the whole story behind this stripped-back version, it might be a good idea to listen to it with fresh ears. Who knows, you might actually like it a second time around!
