Korn - Clown

What this video is

Released in 1996 as the fourth single from Korn's self-titled 1994 debut, 'Clown' arrived during nu metal's critical transition from SoCal underground circuit to MTV mainstream. The video's high school setting — locker rooms, gyms, cheerleaders, football players — literalizes the song's autobiographical lyrical conflict around social rejection and bullying, drawing directly from Jonathan Davis's personal…

Why it matters

One of the earliest nu metal music videos to receive significant MTV rotation, 'Clown' helped establish the genre's visual grammar — dark interiors, locker-room realism, outsider-versus-institution narrative tension — that would define the aesthetic of acts like Limp Bizkit, Deftones, and Slipknot…

The director

Born August 9, 1968 in Kalamazoo, Michigan; raised in Newport Beach, CA. Earned a B.A. in psychology from UC Irvine. Formed G Recordings and began producing for Sugar Ray before pivoting to music video direction. Directed 50+ videos including Sublime's…