Korn guitarist Brian ‘Head’ Welch can rightly call himself one of the architects of nu metal, a man whose band have inspired countless acts that followed? But which bands influenced him? In 2014, he talked Metal Hammer through the records that shaped his life – and the one that should be thrown in the trash.
Queen – The Game (1980)
“The funny thing is, there’s a song on there where the drummer does this roll and after hearing that I was like, ‘I wanna play drums.’ I told my dad I wanted a drumkit and he said, ‘Do you like to carry a lot of things? ’Cause you’d have to carry drums everywhere.’”
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Dokken – Under Lock And Key (1985)
“When we were about 16, [fellow Korn guitarist] Munky and his girlfriend came over to my house. I put on this Dokken record and was playing it. He was like, ‘How are you playing this? If I get an electric guitar, can I sound like that?’ I actually ended up selling him my guitar because I wanted a new one!”
Faith No More – The Real Thing (1989)
“The Real Thing by Faith No More is a good one because I hate working out. There’s so much stuff going on with Mike Patton’s voice and the guitars on that record – and it’s kinda metal but it’s kinda not – it makes you want to listen really closely and you can forget about the fact that working out sucks.”
Faith No More – From Out Of Nowhere (Official Music Video) – YouTube
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Owl City – Ocean City (2009)
“Dude, I’m ashamed. What can I say? It’s just bubblegum music, dumb, silly pop. In my defence, it’s really for my daughter, she likes it. But then I kinda started liking it, too…”
Metallica – Master Of Puppets (1986)
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“Master Of Puppets is just the ultimate metal album to me. As far as ‘heavy ‘ and ‘really catchy’ goes, it’s definitely the best. It’s also got those great, long songs that take you on a big journey, super in-your-face but they’re super-melodic, too. Master Of Puppets has got massive hooks but it also hits you super-hard.”
Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast (1982)
“I used to stare at that album cover and the back for hours while I was listening to that record. It’s just far out! Then I heard that Eddie came out onstage at an Iron Maiden concert and I was like, ‘What? Eddie’s real?’”
Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast (Official Video) – YouTube
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Poison – Open Up And Say… Ahh!
“It’s gotta be Poison. To my shame, I did have big hair when I was a teenager – the full Mötley Crüe – but I could never get with Poison. It felt like anybody could play what they were playing.”
AC/DC – Back In Black (1980)
“When that came out I was just like, ‘I want to be in a rock band, I want to play guitar, I want to bang my head like that, I want to be Angus Young.’ Queen got me wanting to be a musician but AC/DC got me wanting to properly play and get good.”
AC/DC – Hells Bells (Official 4K Video) – YouTube
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Journey – Greatest Hits (1988)
“Instead of going super-dark and metal I reckon I’d go for Journey’s Greatest Hits or something. It would be amazing; everyone would be all ‘Hey, just ’cause he’s dead, Don’t Stop Believin’!’ That would be pretty funny.”
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Korn – The Paradigm Shift (2013)
“I’d say The Paradigm Shift because we had gone through so much, splitting up and coming back together, and I really never saw that record coming. I know it’s not the most popular of ours or whatever but it means so much to me. It holds a special place in my heart.”
Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 259 (2014)