“Freak on A Leash (Unplugged)” by Korn featuring Amy Lee

"Freak on a Leash" first turned up on Korn's 1998 album Follow the Leader and went out as a single in February 1999; this unplugged take brings in Amy Lee as a guest. The original is a nu metal pile-up of dissonance, distortion and assorted guitar effects, heavy and aggressive, so pulling the plug turns it into a different beast, one that has to survive on the song's bones rather than the band's sheer tonnage.

It's a song that refuses to stay put, reissued more than ten times since, and the original's video, directed by Todd McFarlane in Los Angeles, mixed animation with live performance, won seven awards and was eventually retired from Total Request Live. That first version reached number six on the Alternative Songs chart and 10 on Mainstream Rock.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.