Korn's Brian 'Head' Welch: 10 albums that changed my life

Features
By ( Metal Hammer ) published

Korn co-founder and guitarist Head fills us in on the records that made him the man he is today

(Image credit: Will Ireland)

The first album I ever bought was…

Queen – The Game (1980)

“The funny thing is, there’s a song on there where the drummer does this roll and after hearing that I was like, ‘I wanna play drums.’ I told my dad I wanted a drumkit and he said, ‘Do you like to carry a lot of things? ’Cause you’d have to carry drums everywhere.’”

The album I wish I'd made is…

AC/DC – Back In Black (1980)

“When that came out I was just like, ‘I want to be in a rock band, I want to play guitar, I want to bang my head like that, I want to be Angus Young.’ Queen got me wanting to be a musician but AC/DC got me wanting to properly play and get good.”

The album that reminds me of school is…

Dokken – Under Lock And Key (1985)

“When we were about 16, Munky and his girlfriend came over to my house. I put on this Dokken record and was playing it. He was like, ‘How are you playing this? If I get an electric guitar, can I sound like that?’ I actually ended up selling him my guitar because I wanted a new one!”

The album I want played at my funeral is…

Journey – Greatest Hits (1988)

“Instead of going super-dark and metal I reckon I’d go for Journey’s Greatest Hits or something. It would be amazing; everyone would be all ‘Hey, just ’cause he’s dead, Don’t Stop Believin’!’ That would be pretty funny.”

A kid comes up to me and asks me what metal is, I hand him a copy of…

Metallica – Master Of Puppets (1986)

“I’d say Metallica’s Master Of Puppets because it is just the ultimate metal album to me. As far as ‘heavy’ and ‘really catchy’ goes, it’s definitely the best. It’s also got those great, long songs that take you on a big journey, super in-your-face but they’re super-melodic, too. Master Of Puppets has got massive hooks but it also hits you super-hard.”

No one will believe I own a copy of…

Owl City – Ocean Eyes (2009)

“Dude, I’m ashamed. What can I say? It’s just bubblegum music, dumb, silly pop. In my defence, it’s really for my daughter, she likes it. But then I kinda started liking it, too…”

The best album artwork is…

Iron Maiden – The Number Of The Beast (1982)

“I used to stare at that album cover and the back for hours while I was listening to that record. It’s just far out! Then I heard that Eddie came out onstage at an Iron Maiden concert and I was like, ‘What? Eddie’s real?’”

The album that should not be is…

Poison – Open Up And Say… Aah! (1988)

“It’s gotta be Poison. To my shame, I did have big hair when I was a teenager – the full Mötley Crüe – but I could never get with Poison. It felt like anybody could play what they were playing.”

The album I work out to is…

Faith No More –  The Real Thing (1989)

“The Real Thing is a good one because I hate working out. There’s so much stuff going on with Mike Patton’s voice and the guitars on that record – and it’s kinda metal but it’s kinda not – it makes you want to listen really closely and you can forget about the fact that working out sucks.”

The album that I want to be remembered for is…

Korn – The Paradigm Shift (2013)

“I’d say The Paradigm Shift because we had gone through so much, splitting up and coming back together, and I really never saw that record coming. I know it’s not the most popular of ours or whatever but it means so much to me. It holds a special place in my heart.”