Korn & Todd McFarlane (1999)
A music video for “Freak on a Leash” was released on February 5, 1999, and debuted on Total Request Live. It was directed by Todd McFarlane who was assisted by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The music video contains a mixture of animation and live performance footage.
The video won awards for Best Editing and Best Rock Video at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards and later received the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 2000. It became the ninth video that was retired from Total Request Live on May 11, 1999. The music video was also featured on Deuce.
Jonathan Davis:Â [I wrote âFreak On A Leashâ about] the music industry, entertainment in general â how the machine worked. The label, management, publishers, everything that it involved. Looking back on it, âSomething takes a part of meâ was [about how] they were taking the fun [out] of making music and making it a business.
You can ask anyone in my band, I hate the fucking music [industry] â I don’t give a fuck. I love singing and I love fucking making music and I donât care about shit I donât care about. I know itâs stupid, but this is how I roll. It was me lashing out, because when [we] started getting bigger after Life is Peachy and got a bigger budget, I [was] watching it become more of a business â gotta do this, gotta do that.
Thatâs what that song is about â I just felt like everyone was using and abusing me. Then that record just made it ten times worse. Thatâs how it goes, but itâs all good. Looking back, I think itâs amazing I get to do what I love for a living. Itâs not work.