{"id":537010,"date":"2026-03-21T16:15:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T16:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/537010\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T16:15:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T16:15:13","slug":"the-albums-that-changed-korn-guitarist-heads-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/537010\/","title":{"rendered":"The albums that changed Korn guitarist Head\u2019s life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Korn<\/a> guitarist Brian \u2018Head\u2019 Welch<\/a> can rightly call himself one of the architects of nu metal<\/a>, 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 \u2013 and the one that should be thrown in the trash.<\/p>\n

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\"Classic\n<\/p>\n

The First Album I Bought<\/p>\n

Queen \u2013 The Game (1980)<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe funny thing is, there\u2019s a song on there where the drummer does this roll and after hearing that I was like, \u2018I wanna play drums.\u2019 I told my dad I wanted a drumkit and he said, \u2018Do you like to carry a lot of things? \u2019Cause you\u2019d have to carry drums everywhere.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Article continues below <\/p>\n

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The Album That Reminds Me Of School<\/p>\n

Dokken \u2013 Under Lock And Key (1985)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were about 16, [fellow Korn guitarist] Munky and his girlfriend came over to my house. I put on this Dokken<\/a> record and was playing it. He was like, \u2018How are you playing this? If I get an electric guitar, can I sound like that?\u2019 I actually ended up selling him my guitar because I wanted a new one!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Album I Work Out To<\/p>\n

Faith No More \u2013 The Real Thing (1989) <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Real Thing by Faith No More<\/a> is a good one because I hate working out. There\u2019s so much stuff going on with Mike Patton\u2019s voice and the guitars on that record \u2013 and it\u2019s kinda metal but it\u2019s kinda not \u2013 it makes you want to listen really closely and you can forget about the fact that working out sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Faith No More – From Out Of Nowhere (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Faith<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\nThe Album No One Will Believe I Own A Copy Of<\/p>\n

Owl City \u2013 Ocean City (2009)<\/p>\n

\u201cDude, I\u2019m ashamed. What can I say? It\u2019s just bubblegum music, dumb, silly pop. In my defence, it\u2019s really for my daughter, she likes it. But then I kinda started liking it, too\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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Metallica \u2013 Master Of Puppets (1986)<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

\u201cMaster Of Puppets<\/a> is just the ultimate metal album to me. As far as \u2018heavy \u2018 and \u2018really catchy\u2019 goes, it\u2019s definitely the best. It\u2019s also got those great, long songs that take you on a big journey, super in-your-face but they\u2019re super-melodic, too. Master Of Puppets has got massive hooks but it also hits you super-hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Best Album Artwork<\/p>\n

Iron Maiden \u2013 The Number Of The Beast (1982)<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to stare at that album cover and the back for hours while I was listening to that record. It\u2019s just far out! Then I heard that Eddie<\/a> came out onstage at an Iron Maiden concert and I was like, \u2018What? Eddie\u2019s real?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast (Official Video) – YouTube
\n\"Iron<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\nThe Album That Should Not Be<\/p>\n

Poison \u2013 Open Up And Say\u2026 Ahh!<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gotta be Poison<\/a>. To my shame, I did have big hair when I was a teenager \u2013 the full M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce \u2013 but I could never get with Poison. It felt like anybody could play what they were playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Album Is Wish I\u2019d Made<\/p>\n

AC\/DC \u2013 Back In Black (1980) <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen that came out I was just like, \u2018I 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.\u2019 Queen got me wanting to be a musician but AC\/DC<\/a> got me wanting to properly play and get good.\u201d<\/p>\n

AC\/DC – Hells Bells (Official 4K Video) – YouTube
\n\"AC\/DC<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\nThe Album I Want Played At My Funeral<\/p>\n

Journey \u2013 Greatest Hits (1988)<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of going super-dark and metal I reckon I\u2019d go for Journey<\/a>\u2019s Greatest Hits or something. It would be amazing; everyone would be all \u2018Hey, just \u2019cause he\u2019s dead, Don\u2019t Stop Believin\u2019!\u2019 That would be pretty funny.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Album I Want To Be Remembered For<\/p>\n

Korn \u2013 The Paradigm Shift (2013) <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say The Paradigm Shift<\/a> because we had gone through so much, splitting up and coming back together, and I really never saw that record coming. I know it\u2019s not the most popular of ours or whatever but it means so much to me. It holds a special place in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 259 (2014)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Korn guitarist Brian \u2018Head\u2019 Welch can rightly call himself one of the architects of nu metal, a man…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":["post-537010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}