Inspiration takes many forms. For the band Korn, those forms are often the myriad cruelties humans to themselves and others, leading to a discography that’s rife with exorcised personal demons. At the peak of the band’s popularity, its harrowing musical chronicles of child abuse, bullying, and all-day sex dreams resonated with alienated youth who needed something to cling onto after in those awkward, post-grunge years.
In 2016, however, Korn’s muse leads the band down a much sillier path. It’s a hopscotch court leading off a cliff and straight into “Take Me,” a single described via press release as follows:
“Take Me”—Korn’s newest track—is about beating addiction but from the point of view of the substance
Like a glass full of ice in the hand of a poorly tipped bartender, that synopsis dilutes the concept of “Take Me”; a quote on the song’s Genius page attributed to Korn frontman Jonathan Davis describes the ups and downs of the sobriety he’s maintained for 18 years. But at the risk of sounding glib, The A.V. Club—no stranger to inspiration’s siren song—felt stirred to creativity by “Take Me” lyrics like “You bumped into me / I was down and you took me up past the ceiling / You are the disease / I’m the remedy that numbs all your feelings.” As soon as we finished working the title of “Take Me” into the lyrics of a Nirvana favorite, we got right to work drafting up press-release copy for our own takes on the “Take Me” formula. For example:
“Quake Me” is the earth-shattering new single sung from the perspective of the San Andreas Fault.
“Slake Me” is a song about a really thirsty guy sung from the perspective of a glass of water.
Don’t forget “Wake Me,” detailing the struggles of an insomniac from the perspective of the dark, lonely night.
“Sake Me” is pronounced differently because it’s actually from the perspective of a sake bomb.