Korn released their second studio album, Life Is Peachy, on October 15, 1996, through Immortal and Epic Records. The follow-up to their 1994 debut reunited the band with producer Ross Robinson at Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu. Songs including “A.D.I.D.A.S.” and “No Place to Hide” took shape as Korn faced the pressure of making another record after an extended stretch on the road.
The band had spent years developing its first album. The next one came with a much tighter deadline. In a 2021 appearance on the Do You Know Jack? podcast, guitarist Brian “Head” Welch recalled being warned about a disappointing second album while also being asked to have new music ready within weeks. Korn had not yet written the material when those conversations began.
The songs developed through collective rehearsals. In Jon Wiederhorn’s reporting for Loudwire, bassist Fieldy described a process in which one musician’s riff, rhythm or drum part became something the others could build around. Jonathan Davis added vocals as those arrangements developed. The singer told Wiederhorn in 1998 that he initially had neither completed songs nor a clear idea of what he wanted to sing about, but the band’s momentum pushed them into working.
Robinson challenged their musical choices and worked with individual members on the feelings behind their performances. Keeping the sessions moving could be difficult. Wiederhorn’s account describes drinking, drugs and arguments interrupting rehearsals while the producer tried to keep the musicians focused. Recording began in April 1996, with final overdubs completed that July.
“Twist” gave the band an opening statement. Welch recalled being startled by Davis’s vocal performance and immediately wanting it at the front of the record. Along with “A.D.I.D.A.S.” and “No Place to Hide,” it helped reassure him that Korn had material they were excited to play live. The strange vocal sounds were something the musicians themselves had to stop and take in before imagining an audience’s reaction.
Davis connected that approach to his love of hip-hop and beatboxing. “I was beatboxing because I love to beatbox,” he told The FADER in its 2018 oral history of “Freak on a Leash,” tracing the technique back to “Twist” and citing Doug E. Fresh as an influence. Fieldy pointed to Davis’s experience as a DJ and drummer as part of the explanation for his rhythmic singing.
The emotional demands of performing were just as important to Davis. Speaking with Metal Hammer in 1996, after Life Is Peachy had been released, he described singing his autobiographical material as difficult but relieving. The response from the audience helped, but he also felt a personal need to keep performing those songs. Recording them had not ended his relationship with the experiences behind them.
Life Is Peachy reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and “No Place to Hide” received a Best Metal Performance Grammy nomination in 1998. Davis nevertheless felt the band had left room for improvement. In a 1998 Metal Hammer interview, he acknowledged good songs on the record while criticizing how quickly it had been made. That experience informed Korn’s determination to spend more time and pursue greater variety on Follow the Leader, where the percussive singing heard on “Twist” became a central part of “Freak on a Leash.”
