Whether you think their music is groundbreaking or you think it's just noise and screaming, one can't deny that Korn has been a powerful influence in the era of 90's metal and beyond. When their self-titled debut dropped amid the alternative-obsessed and almost-metal-void landscape of 1994, they gave a new hope to recently-pubescent kids (like me) and teenagers who were either tired of grunge or wanted a music that spoke to them and got them through the harsh reality of the teenage years. Korn's crunching guitars, funked-up basslines, thundering drums, and of course, shrieking screams and creepy, yet sometimes youth-oriented lyrics from singer Jonathan Davis, also paved the way for future bands like Limp Bizkit, Deftones, Slipknot, Godsmack, Staind, Disturbed, Mudvayne, Powerman 5000, Static-X, System of a Down and many others, and created the genre we now know as "Nu-Metal." As one might expect, "Greatest Hits Vol. 1" contains all the obvious hits that people from my generation (the youth of the 90's) remember and love from junior high and high school.

Surprisingly, the CD starts off with two covers, Cameo's 1986 hit "Word Up," and Pink Floyd's timeless classic, "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2." The cover of "Word Up" is a real treat, but "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2" seems pointless and uninspired. The CD then goes in reverse chronological order. It starts with hits from their 2003 release Take a Look in the Mirror, which includes the hits "Y'all Want a Single," "Right Now" and "Did My Time." "Did My Time" and the psychotic "Right Now" are great additions, but "Y'all Want a Single" kinda seems like an out-of-place novelty song, even though it's not all that bad. After that is the catchy yet angry "Here to Stay" and the mellower "Alone I Break," both of which are from 2002's The Untouchables.

The CD then spirals into hits from their overly-depressing yet still good Issues from 1999. "Trash" and "Somebody Someone" would make non-fans want to commit suicide, while "Make Me Bad" and "Falling Away From Me" have catchy enough choruses for anyone to sing along with despite their negative tone. 1998's Follow the Leader, which was the high-point album of their career, contains upbeat hits like the almost disco-sounding "Got the Life" and the massively-popular "Freak on a Leash." Unfortunately, 1996's Life Is Peachy contributes the lame, one-minute scream fest "Twist" and the lyrically stupid "A.D.I.D.A.S." I always cringe at the part when he screams "All Day I Dream About Sex!" eight times in a row.

Finally, their 1994 self-titled debut unleashes all the nostalgic hits that got people my age interested in them back in junior high. "Clown," "Shoots and Ladders," and "Blind" are all memorable and still sound heavy as hell, even though the screamed nursery rhymes in "Shoots and Ladders" now seem kind of messed-up and unbelievable to me. All in all, "Greatest Hits Vol. 1" is the typical greatest hits album that anyone would expect from this band that pretty much revolutionized heavy metal in the mid and late 1990's