- For the sports apparel manufacturer, see Adidas.
"A.D.I.D.A.S." is a song written and recorded by American rock band Korn for their second studio album, Life Is Peachy. It was released as the album's second single in March 1997.
Music and structure
“A.D.I.D.A.S.” is an acronym for the statement “All Day I Dream About Sex”, and it remains to this day one of the most recognisable Korn songs from the album. This is most likely due to the minor-key seven-string guitar riff that the band was making prominent in their genre at that time, accompanied by the simple lyrics. The inspiration of the song’s title comes from the popular German sportswear brand “adidas”. It is commonly thought that the brand is an acronym for “All Day I Dream About Soccer”, however this was just a retronym used to market the product in 1949, and the "adidas" brand name comes from the portmanteau of the creator, Adi Dassler's, name.
Concept
The lyrics illustrate a sexually frustrated and narcissistic individual who lives in fantasy as a result of his isolation from actual social encounters.
Chart performance
While the song did not reach the same level of appeal as Follow the Leader, it was less aggressive than the songs released off the band's self-titled debut, reaping it moderate airplay on rock radio stations at the time of its release. Sales of a CD single, which strangely did not contain the original version of the song itself, gave Korn their first charting single in the U.S., with "A.D.I.D.A.S." peaking at number 13 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles for the issue date of April 5, 1997.1
| Chart (1997) |
Peak
position |
| U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles |
13 |
| United Kingdom |
22 |
| Australia |
45 |
Live performance
The song was famously played at Woodstock 1999 to a crowd of 275,000. To present day, it is rarely absent from the band's setlist, two recent exceptions being the 2007 edition of the Family Values Tour, and the first leg of the Bitch We Have a Problem Tour.
Music video
"A.D.I.D.A.S." is the only official video from Life Is Peachy. It was directed by famous director Joseph Kahn. The plot revolves around a car crash which causes the death of all Korn members at the hands of a pimp and his prostitutes. The police and fire fighters secure the crash-site and the corpses are transported to a grotesque morgue where spooky professors examine them in an odd manner. When the band members are undressed, it is revealed that Jonathan Davis, Korn's singer, is wearing women's underwear, true to Korn's sometimes morbid sense of humor.
Tribute
It is no coincidence that the song's title is also a kind of tribute to German sports apparel manufacturer Adidas, which was a favourite of the band in their early years. Ironically, in 1998, Korn took up a six-figure endorsement deal with rival Puma.2
Track listing
US release
- "A.D.I.D.A.S." (Synchro dub) – 4:27
- "A.D.I.D.A.S." (Under Pressure mix) – 3:55
- "A.D.I.D.A.S." (The Wet Dream mix) – 3:35
- "Wicked" (Tear the Roof Off mix) – 3:47
UK release #1
- "A.D.I.D.A.S." (radio mix) – 2:32
- "Chi" (live) – 4:46
- "Ball Tongue" (live) – 4:56
- "Low Rider/Shoots and Ladders" (live) – 6:14
UK release #2
- "A.D.I.D.A.S." (album version) – 2:32
- "Faget" – 5:50
- "Porno Creep" – 2:01
- "Blind" – 4:18
References
External links
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