Issues

Issues ( Russ. Problems ) - the fourth studio album of the American nu metal band Korn , released November 16, 1999 . Sold a total circulation of more than 13 million copies worldwide, including 3 million copies of the disc in the United States ^[11] . The album has four different covers, each of which was developed by the fans of the group as part of the MTV contest (the main cover of the album was created by Alfredo Carlos, the other cover for the special edition of the album was a drawn semi-cartoon image of the group).

Issues
Studio album Korn
Date of issue	November 16, 1999
Recorded by	July - September 1999; A & M studio ( West Hollywood , California and Atlanta , GA )
Genres	Nu Metal [1] alternative metal [2]
Duration	53:16
Producer	Brendan O'Brien
A country	USA
Language of songs	English
Labels	Epic / Immortal
Professional reviews
Allmusic [2] Billboard favorably [3] Robert Christgau [four] Entertainment Weekly C [5] New York Daily News favorably [6] The New York Times mixed [7] NME [eight] Popmatters [9] Rolling stone [ten]
Korn chronology
Follow The Leader (1998) Issues (1999) Untouchables (2002)
Singles with Issues " Falling Away from Me " Released: December 6, 1999 " Make Me Bad " Released: February 2000 "Somebody Someone" Released: July 3, 2000

The first single from the album, Falling Away from Me, was first presented in the popular television series South Park in the episode "The Great Korn Mystery of the Pirate Ghost " on October 27, 1999 . The musicians of the group appeared in a cartoon in the form of researchers of mystical incidents in the spirit of Scooby Doo .

Despite the rather mixed reviews of critics about the album, today Issues is considered to be fans of one of the best albums of the group. The album debuted on the first line of sales with the result of 575,000 copies sold for the first week in the USA, and received the status of a three-time platinum disc a month after the release ^[12] .

Issues marked the change in the style of the band from new metal to alternative metal . As stated in the booklet to the album the greatest hits vol. 1 , they did not want to remain part of the popular trend and decided to go their own way. In this regard, the album is not influenced by hip-hop and new metal ^[13] . The band also acknowledged that Brendan O'Brien, who worked on the album with them, helped them focus on recordings and not play the fool, as a result of which the musicians consumed less alcohol, with the exception of Davis, who quit drinking a year earlier.

The release of Issues was preceded by an unusual show at the famous New York Theater Apollo , and the broadcast of the concert on many radio stations the day before the album's release. The performance in Apollo made Korn the second, after the legendary Buddy Holly, a “white” band and the first rock band ever to perform in this theater. The band performed all the songs from the new album, as well as a few old songs. The concert was held with the support of the New York Police Department Drum and Volyn Orchestra, under the direction of Jonathan Davis ' conductor, composer and friend Richard Gibbs .

A special edition of the album came out with a bonus EP titled All Mixed Up , which is available as a separate CD on FYE and Best Buy .

The impressions of the album were very controversial: on the one hand, it turned out to be very melodic and beautiful, more professionally done than their first works, and on the other hand, fans waited for the reincarnation of Life Is Peachy after the third album, promoted to impossibility. Here they were disappointed. Aggressive guitars, mutters and shaman spells are not here. There is also no that terrible whisper and those turbulent emotions that were on the first albums of the group. Another interesting difference was in the drums - if before the drummer played mostly on cymbals and volumes, and the Slap bass guitar played the role of snare and bass barrels, now these drums are audible, they are even sounded to the fore.

“Issues” is a very sad album, it was written after the divorce of Davis with his wife. The lyrics are constantly dominated by the theme of madness and suicide. The most common word is “away” (away), it is absolutely in every song. There is no longer that sexually unsatisfied aggression, only sadness and pain.