“Freak on a Leash” by Korn featuring Amy Lee

"Freak on a Leash" is the snarling centerpiece of Korn's 1998 album Follow the Leader, and once it went out as a single in 1999 it never really went away: it has been reissued more than ten times. All five members share the writing credit, Jonathan Davis, Fieldy, Head, Munky and David Silveria, and the band produced it with Steve Thompson and Toby Wright, who also recorded it, while Brendan O'Brien handled the mix.

This is nu metal at its most unhinged. The guitars grind, bend and wail through a thicket of effects and dissonance, the distortion is thick enough to chew, and the whole thing lurches from hushed menace to a full-throated roar and back again, heavy and aggressive but oddly catchy all the same.

It reached number six on the Alternative Songs chart, 10 on Mainstream Rock and 24 in the UK. The video, released on February 5, 1999, was directed by Todd McFarlane in Los Angeles and mixes animation with live performance footage; it won seven awards and was eventually retired from Total Request Live.

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