Got the Life

This song finds lead singer Jon Davis questioning whether he really wants all this fame. This was a common theme for his songwriting at the time, as Korn had released two successful albums and was under increasing pressure from their record company. The band delivered a #1 album with Follow The Leader thanks in large part to this song, which was one of just two singles released from it (the other was "Freak on a Leash").

The entire band contributes to Korn's songwriting, and they share the composer credits equally. In our interview with their guitarist Brian "Head" Welch, he explained that this track materialized quickly, but its disco leanings were a serious concern. "I was stoked, because I lived in Redondo Beach at the time. The studio where we wrote was about 15 minutes from my house," he said. "We were going in there for like eight hours a day. We wouldn't take that many breaks, we were just going at it. And I remember when 'Got the Life' happened, he [drummer David Silveria] did that disco beat. All of us looked at each other. It's a haunting guitar line and melody, but the drums were a little happier than metal. And so we were like, 'Is this good or is this kind of cheesy?' Because it's kind of like a disco beat. So we were kind of scared of it. We were like, 'I don't know if our fans would like this.' It was so unique, and the more we sat with it and added to the song, we were like, 'Wow, this is crazy different. Let's go with this.' It ended up being one of the biggest hits. You've got to be open to try new things in music is what that proved."

Korn bassist Reginald Arvizu came up with the concept for the music video. "I would give my car to a bum. I thought Tre from Pharcyde could play the bum. I wanted to blow up cars and other fancy material things in the video as a way to show that we didn't care about those things. We could end the video with a shot of a big backyard party with all of [their] friends. In addition, I wanted to put two lowrider bikes in the scene and make it look like we were all down in Mexico, partying and having a good time." When the band brought the idea to Joseph Kahn, who directed their "A.D.I.D.A.S.." clip, the director told them "That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard." Korn then sought McG, the man behind the four videos from their debut album. The future filmmaker (Charlie's Angels) embraced Arvizu's idea and created the most requested video on MTV's Total Request Live until the clip was retired in January 1999.