Munky: It's difficult to put Korn in a category

Korn's Munky
Korn's Munky (Image credit: Getty)

Korn’s Munky says it’s difficult to put the band into a category.

The band have been heavily associated with the nu-metal label since the 90s. Though the guitarist says he’d have said he hated being pigeonholed a decade ago, he now says he’s “grateful” as it helped propel them to success.

Munky tells Full Metal Jackie: “I think it’s difficult to put us in a category, and I think, in the beginning, that’s why somebody, whoever it was – some European journalist – said, ‘We don’t know what to call these guys, so we’re gonna call it ‘nu metal.’ I think that’s where that term came from.

“There’s so many elements that influence us, and we’ve tried to incorporate different melodies and different structures and rhythmic elements, and that all comes from just each of our personalities.

“I think to the general public, you just hear screaming and heavy metal guitars, and I think that’s where people kind of get lost. You have to be at least a rock fan to know what you’re listening to or in general. But I don’t care.”

He continues: “10 years ago, if you had asked me that, I would have said I hated being put in that category. But now, I guess because we’ve endured such trying times and came out the other side, I feel really grateful that we are where we are.”

Munky says “a lot of great things” came from the nu-metal movement, but that a lot of bands fizzled out as they didn’t progress with their sound.

He adds: “They didn’t really use the inspiration or the art inspiring art to kind of use it, the way we did. We did the same thing with bands like Rage Against The Machine, Sepultura and Faith No More and on and on. We just used those influences and created something that fit us and our personalities.”

Korn will return to the UK with Limp Bizkit next week.

Korn tour dates 2016⁄2017

Dec 12: Manchester Arena, UK
Dec 14: Glasgow SSE Hydro, UK
Dec 15: Birmingham Barclaycard Arena, UK
Dec 16: London Wembley SSE Arena, UK
Dec 18: Cardiff Motorpoint Arena, UK
Dec 19: Nottingham Motorpoint Arena, UK
Mar 11: Zurich Event Park, Switzerland
Mar 12: Milan Alcatraz, Italy
Mar 15: Lisbon Campo Pequeno, Portugal
Mar 17: Madrid Barclaycard Center, Spain
Mar 18: Barcelona Sant Jordi Club, Spain
Mar 20: Paris Le Zenith, France
Mar 21: Antwerp Lotto Arena, Belgium
Mar 22: Tilburg 013 Poppodium, Netherlands
Mar 24: Stuttgart Hanns Martin Schleyer Halle, Germany
Mar 25: Dusseldorf Mitsuhbishi Electric Halle, Germany
Mar 27: Hamburg Alsterdorfer Sporthalle, Germany
Mar 28: Berlin Velodrom, Germany
Mar 30: Prague Forum Karlin, Czech Republic
Mar 31: Warsaw Torwar Hall, Poland
Apr 02: Munich Zenith, Germany
Apr 02: Vienna Gasometer, Austria

The Korn Lyrics Quiz: can you identify the song from the lines?

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.