A.D.I.D.A.S. (Korn song)

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* Jonathan Davis
* James Shaffer
* David Silveria
 Producer(s) | * Ross Robinson

"**A.D.I.D.A.S.**" is a song written and recorded by American nu metal band Korn for their second studio album, *Life Is Peachy*. It was released as the album's second single in March 1997.

## Background

The title is an acronym for the statement "**A**ll **D**ay **I** **D**ream **A**bout **S**ex" and indirectly refers to the popular sportswear brand Adidas. The whimsical backronym from the brand name dates to the 1970s. "All Day I Dream About Sex" was a recurring joke in the sports shop where Jonathan Davis worked in the early days of Korn.

As Korn began to perform, the clothing style he used was an army green jumpsuit but he began to be questioned by the Adidas tracksuits. After examination, he drew a "Korn" logo on a tracksuit with a pen and presented it in live performances that included the bagpipes. Davis said about Adidas that "It was about breaking the mould, man ... it was about going against everything that metal was supposed to be".

From 1993 to 1997, the band established its style by wearing mainly Adidas T-shirts and tracksuits, which became a "trend" and unified their fan community. The clothing brand was also willing to provide them with free merchandise. Davis was described as having an "addiction and a mad obsession to sex", and "constantly fantasizing" about women, and claimed to be a "porn movie specialist". "A.D.I.D.A.S." contained the sexually charged lyrics: "I don't know your fucking name / So what? Let's fuck!". The song was a "wink" to the old backronym "All Day I Dream About Sex" and to the brand.

At that time, Korn was portrayed visually and lyrically as "indecent, vulgar, obscene, and intends to be insulting". Fans wearing the band's characteristic style of clothing with the "Korn" logo printed T-shirts were considered "not different than a person wearing a middle finger on their T-shirt".

While the terminology "nu metal" appeared shortly after [1998], Korn and Adidas had pushed the boundaries of the metal code; Davis later stated, "our attitude has always been punk rock".

## Live performances

The song was played at Woodstock 1999 to a crowd of 275,000. The song was a staple of the band's live setlist up until about 2007, when it started to be played far less frequently, and its performances ceased around 2009. In 2021, the song was performed live for the first time in 12 years, and is now played frequently by the band again.

When guitarist Brian "Head" Welch rejoined Korn in 2013, it was one of the songs he requested the band never play again. In 2003, there was an incident where Welch saw his daughter Jennea, then aged 5, reciting the explicit lyrics to the song, which was a contributing factor to him leaving the band and finding Christianity. He later recalled, "She was five years old, and I'm sitting there watching her sing 'All day I dream about sex'. That's not right. I don't care if she didn't know what she was singing. It still freaked me out. It's just not right for her to see her dad strung out on drugs, and it's not right for her to sing that song. It's like I was stealing her childhood or something."

## Music video

"A.D.I.D.A.S." is the only official video from *Life Is Peachy*. It was filmed in Los Angeles with director Joseph Kahn and released in March 1997. The plot revolves around a car accident that causes the death of all Korn members at the hands of a pimp and his prostitutes. The police officers, firefighters, and paramedics secure the crash site. The corpses are placed in black body bags, where they appear to come alive and move violently. After that, they are transported to a grotesque morgue where a pathologist examines their corpses. When the band members are undressed, it's revealed that Davis is wearing stripper clothes. This is the only video where singer Jonathan Davis can be seen wearing one of his customized sequined Adidas tracksuits. The radio mix of "A.D.I.D.A.S." is used for the video.

When asked about the video in a May 1997 interview with Australia's *The Buzz*, Fieldy remarked "The director....it was his idea. He just did the Shaq video with the helicopter and he did the Westside Connection video. He has had pretty much all hip hop crap. Then he came to us with his idea, he knew that Jon used to work for the morgue in the coroner's office and all that crap so...We liked his idea and we're like - lets do it."

## Appearances in other media

It was featured in a season 1 episode of *Daria* titled "Road Worrier", which originally aired on July 7, 1997.

That same year, the video for the song also appeared in an MTV program titled *12 Angry Mothers*, which featured a group of mothers who judged different music videos by giving them a "yes" or "no". The "A.D.I.D.A.S." music video received a "no" from all the mothers.

## Reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the song. He writes ""A.D.I.D.A.S."—a kinetic funk-metal track allegedly built around the schoolyard acronym "All Day I Dream About Sex"—was Korn's breakthrough single, and deservedly so—it was arguably the best moment [on *Life is Peachy*].

### Accolades and legacy

"A.D.I.D.A.S." ranked 24th on Australian radio station Triple J's annual "Hottest 100" list for the year of 1997. 91X also ranked it 18th on their "Top 91 of 1997" list.

*Noisecreep* ranked "A.D.I.D.A.S." as the 4th best Korn video in 2013. They state "Pimps, hookers and Korn perishing in a car accident? That's not why 'A.D.I.D.A.S.' is one of the best Korn videos. It's the deft way that the band explored the seedy underbelly of a city and pushed shock value to the limit that makes it so."

In 2019, *Loudwire* ranked the song number six on their list of the 50 greatest Korn songs, and in 2021, *Kerrang* ranked the song number ten on their list of the 20 greatest Korn songs.

"Direct a Korn video contest" winner Sean Dack took inspiration from the "A.D.I.D.A.S." video when directing Korn's "Alone I Break" in 2002.

## Track listing

### Australian release

* CD 6641 77 2

1. "A.D.I.D.A.S." – 2:37
2. "Chi" (live) – 4:47
3. "A.D.I.D.A.S." (The Wet Dream mix) – 3:37
4. "Wicked" (Tear the Roof Off mix) – 3:46
5. "A.D.I.D.A.S." (Synchro dub) – 4:28
6. "A.D.I.D.A.S." (video) – 2:32

### US release

* CD 49K 78530

1. "A.D.I.D.A.S." (Synchro dub) – 4:27
2. "A.D.I.D.A.S." (Under Pressure mix) – 3:55
3. "A.D.I.D.A.S." (The Wet Dream mix) – 3:35
4. "Wicked" (Tear the Roof Off mix) – 3:47

### UK release No. 1

* CD 664204 2

1. "A.D.I.D.A.S." (radio mix) – 2:32
2. "Chi" (live) – 4:46
3. "Ball Tongue" (live) – 4:56
4. "Lowrider/Shoots and Ladders" (live) – 6:15

### UK release No. 2

* CD 664204 5

1. "A.D.I.D.A.S." – 2:33
2. "Faget" – 5:51
3. "Porno Creep" – 2:03
4. "Blind" – 4:19

### Austrian and Swedish release

* CD 664053 2

1. "A.D.I.D.A.S." (radio mix) – 2:35
2. "Ball Tongue" (live) – 4:56
3. "Lowrider/Shoots and Ladders" (live) – 6:14

Tracks 2 and 3 were recorded live at the Bronco Bowl in Dallas, Texas on November 23, 1996.
## Charts

 US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (*Billboard*) | 13

## References

1. ↑ Wiederhorn, Jon (July 1, 2013). "Noisey Vs. Metalsucks". Vice.
2. ↑ "Paolo Gregoletto: Nu-Metal - Revered or Reviled? The Top Ten". All Axess. 5 January 2015. (January 5th, 2015). Retrieved on September 23rd, 2015
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "A.D.I.D.A.S. review". AllMusicGuide. Retrieved October 21, 2008.
4. ↑ "Fact Check: What Does Adidas Really Stand For?". *Snopes*. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Paquet, Sebastien (2002). Prélude et fugue (ed.). *Korn de A à Z* [*Korn from A to Z*]. MusicBook guides (in French) (1st ed.). Paris: L'Express éditions. pp. 15, 16. ISBN 978-2-843-43101-2. OCLC 470426200.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Law, Sam (May 26, 2021). "'It was about smashing down walls': How adidas invaded nu-metal". *Kerrang!*. Archived from the original on May 31, 2021. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Bozza, Anthony (2010). *Whatever You Say I Am: The Life And Times Of Eminem*. New York: Random House. p. 283. ISBN 978-1-4000-5380-3.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Attinello, Paul Gregory; Halfyard, Janet K.; Knights, Vanessa (2010). *Music, Sound and Silence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer*. UK: Ashgate Publishing. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-7546-6042-2.
9. ↑ Korn Concert Setlists setlist.fm
10. ↑ Waliszewski, Bob (2011). *Plugged-In Parenting: How to Raise Media-Savvy Kids with Love, Not War*. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. pp. 77–78. ISBN 9781604828085. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
11. ↑ *Billboard* March 1, 1997
12. ↑ Korn - A.D.I.D.A.S on YouTube
13. ↑ "KoRn Articles & Interviews". *members.tripod.com*. Retrieved Jul 19, 2020.
14. ↑ "Outpost Daria Reborn - Song List: Season One". *outpost-daria-reborn.info*. Retrieved Jul 19, 2020.
15. ↑ "Korn Facts". *www.angelfire.com*. Retrieved Jul 19, 2020.
16. ↑ "The Hottest 100 of 1997: the full list". *Double J*. Jan 25, 2018. Retrieved Jul 19, 2020.
17. ↑ "The Most Popular Hottest 100 Of All Time Is Being Replayed This Month". *Music Feeds*. Jan 17, 2018. Retrieved Jul 19, 2020.
18. ↑ "Top 91 of 1997". Jan 20, 1997. Retrieved Jul 19, 2020.
19. ↑ Sciarretto, Amy. "10 Best Korn Videos". *Noisecreep*. Retrieved Jul 19, 2020.
20. ↑ "The Top 50 Korn Songs, Ranked". *Loudwire*. September 13, 2019. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
21. ↑ Law, Sam (April 20, 2021). "The 20 greatest Korn songs – ranked". *Kerrang*. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
22. ↑ "Treatment: Korn". MTV. November 3, 2002.
23. ↑ "Australian-charts.com – Korn – A.D.I.D.A.S.". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
24. ↑ "Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 25th, 2022.
25. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
26. ↑ "Korn Chart History (Bubbling Under Hot 100)". *Billboard*. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
27. ↑ "Canada's Top 200 Singles of 2001". *Jam!*. Archived from the original on July 26, 2002. Retrieved March 28, 2022.

## External links

* *A.D.I.D.A.S.* on IMDb
* "A.D.I.D.A.S." Official music video on YouTube
* Song facts