White Pony | ||||
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Released | June 20, 2000 | |||
Recorded | August–December 1999 | |||
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Length | 48:52 | |||
Label | Maverick | |||
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Deftones chronology | ||||
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Singles from White Pony | ||||
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White Pony is the third studio album by the American alternative metal band Deftones, released on June 20, 2000, through Maverick Records. It was produced by Terry Date, who produced the band's first two albums, Adrenaline (1995) and Around the Fur (1997). Recording sessions took place between August and December 1999 at Larrabee Sound Studios in West Hollywood and The Plant Recording Studios in Sausalito, California.
The album marked a significant growth in the band's sound, incorporating influences from post-hardcore, trip hop, shoegaze, progressive rock, and post-rock into the alternative metal sound which they had become known for. [1] [2] White Pony was also the first recording to feature Frank Delgado as a full-time member of the band on turntables and synthesizer; Delgado had previously worked with the band as a featured guest on their first two albums, producing sound effects on some songs. It was also the first Deftones album on which Chino Moreno began to contribute rhythm guitar parts.
Upon its release and retrospectively, the album was met with critical acclaim, and is regarded by fans and critics alike as one of the band's most mature outings at that point. [3] [4] [5] [6] The album includes two successful singles ("Change (In the House of Flies)" and "Back to School (Mini Maggit)"), the promotional single "Digital Bath", as well as the 2001 Grammy Award-winning track for Best Metal Performance, "Elite". The album received a 20th anniversary reissue, packaged with Black Stallion, a companion remix album of White Pony, in December 2020. [7] [8]
After a break from touring, the band spent four months in the studio writing and recording White Pony with the producer Terry Date, the longest amount of time they had dedicated to an album thus far. [9] The singer Chino Moreno explained that the majority of this time was spent trying to write songs, and that the writing of "Change (In the House of Flies)" was the turning point where the band began working as a unit. [9]
Despite being pressured to release the album sooner, the band decided to take their time making the album. The bassist Chi Cheng explained, "We didn't feel like we had anything to lose, so we made the record we wanted to make." Moreno did not have an overall lyrical theme in mind, but made a conscious decision to bring an element of fantasy into his lyrics, explaining, "I basically didn't sing about myself on this record. I made up a lot of story lines and some dialogue, even. I took myself completely out of it and wrote about other things. Once I did that I was able to sing about anything I wanted to, I could be a lot more general. There's a lot of stuff on this record that people are going to question me about, and I can just remove myself from it. It's not me. I'm writing a story here." [9] Moreno later claimed in a 2020 interview that his decision to play rhythm guitar on the album caused tensions to escalate with the guitarist Stephen Carpenter during the writing process. Despite the tensions, Moreno and Carpenter found themselves on friendlier terms and found a cohesive songwriting process for most of the album's tracks, with Moreno claiming, "Initially, I don't think the idea was that I was going to actually play on the record, even. Then I remember Stephen specifically saying, 'Dude, if you're going to play it in practice, then you're going to play on the record!' and I was like, 'Oh, okay… If that's cool with you!' I don't think he was too happy about it, to be honest, then [...] I do remember us both smiling at each other when we were sitting listening to the track being made, and the fusing of both our guitars, the sound of it, the way that Terry [Date] produced it." [10]
Although the band initially did not intend to include guest musicians on the album, [9] it features additional vocals by the Tool and A Perfect Circle singer Maynard James Keenan on "Passenger" and Rodleen Getsic (simply credited as Rodleen) on "Knife Prty". [11] "Rx Queen" also features vocal contributions from the Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland, though he is uncredited. Weiland brought Moreno to his studio for collaboration, where he would sing along and suggest vocal harmonies; the result was left in the final version of the song, and credit for Weiland's part was never discussed by either party. [12]
Stylistically, White Pony combines the band's standard alternative metal sound, [13] [14] [15] influenced by bands such as Tool, Faith No More, Nine Inch Nails, and Pink Floyd, with the layered atmospherics of the Cure, specifically their Pornography era. [15] [16] It has also been categorized as an art rock [17] and nu metal album, [18] though several critics also acknowledge that the record moved beyond the latter label. [1] [19] [20] Metal Hammer likened the album to a metal version of Radiohead's critically acclaimed OK Computer (1997). [21] Moreno discussed the lyrics to the original opener for the album, "Feiticeira": "The name Feiticeira is some Portuguese name that I read in a magazine and just liked. It's based on the scenario of being taken captive. It's completely fictional. I want that people who listen to it feel like they are the ones in the situation. Because of that I sing it in first person. It's up to people to figure out if i'm having fun (with them) or not, even though it sounds a bit eerie".
"Elite" is more straightforward and heavy and lacks typical Deftones dynamics, containing industrial rock influences. [22] Moreno said that the song "is laughing at everybody trying to become what they already are. If you want to be one of the elite, you are". [22] Moreno considers "Rx Queen" "the most futuristic song in the album". [22] About "Street Carp", Moreno said: "It's a classic Deftones song, with a rolling riff and some really interesting chords in the chorus. The vocals are kinda crazy - I'm singing out loud over the top of the music, like (the Smiths singer) Morrissey or something, a cool contrast". [22] Although the song was not released as a single, a promo video was made for it. [23] Moreno stated that he wrote the lyrics to "Teenager" when he was 15 after a first date and that it was originally a Team Sleep song. [22]
Moreno said about "Knife Prty", "It's a seductive song with a lot of violent imagery. People don't tend to like sex mixed with violence. The mid section has amazing vocals from a girl called Rodleen who worked next door to our studio". [22] "Passenger" features a guitar intro and vocal interplay between Maynard James Keenan and Moreno alongside piano and keyboard lines, leading to heavy guitar that introduces the choruses.
"Change (In the House of Flies)" was the album's lead single, and became a radio hit. Moreno compared it to earlier single "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)", considering it "a beautiful metamorphosis". [22] The closer, "Pink Maggit" is a "brooding, surreal epic" which ends with a recorded heartbeat. [15] [24] The title is a reference to a line in the Dr. Dooom song "No Chorus" on the album First Come, First Served which mocks Nas. [25] Leading off the reissued version of the album, "Back to School (Mini Maggit)" is a reinterpretation of the album's closer with additional rap or hip hop influences. [15] Moreno at first appreciated the support the band received from the label as a result of recording the track, [26] but later declared that he regretted the creation of the song and its placement on the album. [15] "The Boy's Republic" is a song exclusive to the limited-edition releases of the album, with lyrics about someone desperately seeking redemption, and comes after "Pink Maggit," making it the final track on the limited edition. [27]
"White pony" is street slang for cocaine. However, there are other meanings for the album name, including a sexual reference, as explained by Moreno:
Upon release, White Pony debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 below Britney Spears' Oops!... I Did It Again, selling 178,000 copies in its first week. [29]
White Pony is Deftones' highest-selling album to date, being certified gold on September 7, 2000, and eventually the album became their first platinum record certified by the RIAA on July 17, 2002. [30]
Five different editions of the album exist. On its release date, limited-edition numbered copies were released with solid red and black jewel cases. The two differently colored cases also featured different booklet inserts. Both limited-edition versions included "The Boy's Republic" but not "Back to School (Mini Maggit)."
The edition with a gray cover was released as the initial non-limited version of the album and did not include "The Boy's Republic". This, along with the red and black versions, were the properly sequenced version of the album as the band intended. The gray version was later superseded by the current white version, which added "Back to School (Mini Maggit)" as the first track. This was only added as a marketing strategy, a decision that Moreno stated that he was unhappy with. [31] [32] The original release was also pressed on clear red vinyl for a promotional run of about 1,000 copies.
In honor of the album's 20th anniversary, Deftones re-released White Pony on December 11, 2020, packaged with Black Stallion, a bonus remix album. [7] Black Stallion features the full track list of the original White Pony album in order with each song recreated by a different producer with an "electronic, beat-driven" approach. Deftones originally conceived of doing a remix album prior to the recording of White Pony and had reached out to DJ Shadow to remix the entire album himself. [8] Black Stallion includes remixes from DJ Shadow, Clams Casino, Robert Smith, Mike Shinoda and more; and was promoted with a music video for Purity Ring's remix of "Knife Prty". [7]
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 72/100 [33] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Entertainment Weekly | B+ [35] |
Kerrang! | 5/5 [36] |
Los Angeles Times | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Melody Maker | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
NME | 8/10 [39] |
Pitchfork | 8.4/10 [25] |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Spin | 4/10 [41] |
The Village Voice | ![]() |
White Pony received widespread acclaim by critics, garnering an aggregate rating of 72 on Metacritic. Several reviewers praised Moreno's increasing lyrical sophistication and the group's sonic experimentation. [33]
Billboard gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, though it cautioned that "the band's continuous inclination toward a bludgeoning experimental sonic attack and Moreno's violent, impressionistic lyrics made the album a tough pill to swallow for most listeners". [43] Similarly, BBC Music praised the album while opining: "[The fact] that such a progressive, risk-taking LP wasn't celebrated across the board for its gutsy reinventing of a band thought pigeonholed wasn't that surprising, though – this is a difficult album." [44] In a favorable review, Alternative Press noted the album's "art-rock explorations." [17] Publications such as Rolling Stone and Q were somewhat less enthusiastic. The former lamented that the album was overproduced to sound too much like their influencers, [40] while the latter wondered if White Pony was "their most adventurous and assured album to date". [45]
In 2016, Jonathan Dick of NPR Music retrospectively praised the album as a watershed moment or turning point, not only in regards to the Deftones' sound but also, more generally, to heavy and experimental music in the new millennium, describing the album as signaling "not only a change for the band but a new trajectory for heavy and experimental music entering the 21st century". Dick especially noted the album's "shift into the heavy post-rock, shoegaze spectrum" and contended that, within the span of five years from the band's debut album to the release of White Pony, Deftones had distinguished itself as a band "whose sound no longer fit too comfortably under any genre-specific title". [2] Similarly, Mike Diver of Clash magazine asserted that White Pony "changed everything – not just for Deftones, but metal as a whole", noting the album's "distinct air of progressive rock" and its ability to weave electronics into aggressive yet reflective songs. [46] Pitchfork retrospectively noted that White Pony "transcended the dubious genre [of nu-metal] by fashioning a truly new form from post-hardcore, industrial, trip-hop, shoegaze, ambient electronics, and synth-pop." [25]
Alternative Press ranked White Pony as the second best album of 2000, and in their September 2010 issue, placed it in their list of the "Top 10 Most Influential Albums of 2000". UK rock magazine Kerrang! named White Pony their third best album of the year behind Queens of the Stone Age's Rated R and At the Drive-In's Relationship of Command . In 2011, Complex Media Network's music website, Consequence of Sound, honored White Pony on a "List 'Em Carefully" installment dedicated to writer David Buchanan's top 13 metal records released between 2000 and 2010, noting that Deftones was one of several acts who "helped usher the popularity of complex structure meets MTV audience". [47] In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked White Pony as 66th on their list of 'The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.' [48] In 2019, The Guardian ranked it 29th on their list of 'The 100 best albums of the 21st century'. [49] In 2020, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 2000 by Metal Hammer magazine. [50]
The album's third track, "Elite", won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2001. [51] The Deftones drummer Abe Cunningham commented on the awards night: "All the people were on the ground, on the floor, and we were up sort of in the balcony, we were like, 'We're not gonna win. Look where we're sitting.' Everybody else who was winning, they'd get up there quick and get back. So we were just watching it and the whole thing was rad, just seeing the (stuff) go down. And all of a sudden they called our name. We just jumped over this balcony down onto the floor and ran up there. It was pretty cool, man". [52]
The album won the 2000 Kerrang! Award for Album of the Year. [53]
At the 2001 California Music Awards, it won Outstanding Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Album. [54]
All tracks are written by Deftones (Stephen Carpenter, Chi Cheng, Abe Cunningham, Frank Delgado, Chino Moreno) except "Passenger", written by Deftones and Maynard James Keenan
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Feiticeira" | 3:09 |
2. | "Digital Bath" | 4:15 |
3. | "Elite" | 4:01 |
4. | "Rx Queen" (featuring Scott Weiland) | 4:27 |
5. | "Street Carp" | 2:41 |
6. | "Teenager" | 3:20 |
7. | "Knife Prty" | 4:49 |
8. | "Korea" | 3:23 |
9. | "Passenger" (featuring Maynard James Keenan) | 6:07 |
10. | "Change (In the House of Flies)" | 4:59 |
11. | "Pink Maggit" | 7:32 |
Total length: | 48:43 |
No. | Title | Length |
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12. | "The Boy's Republic" | 4:35 |
Total length: | 53:18 |
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Back to School (Mini Maggit)" | 3:57 |
2. | "Feiticeira" | 3:09 |
3. | "Digital Bath" | 4:15 |
4. | "Elite" | 4:01 |
5. | "Rx Queen" | 4:27 |
6. | "Street Carp" | 2:41 |
7. | "Teenager" | 3:20 |
8. | "Knife Prty" | 4:49 |
9. | "Korea" | 3:23 |
10. | "Passenger" (featuring Maynard James Keenan) | 6:07 |
11. | "Change (In the House of Flies)" | 4:59 |
12. | "Pink Maggit" | 7:32 |
Total length: | 52:40 |
No. | Title | Remixed by | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Feiticeira" | Clams Casino | 2:02 |
2. | "Digital Bath" | DJ Shadow | 3:24 |
3. | "Elite" | Blanck Mass | 5:20 |
4. | "Rx Queen" | Salva | 4:14 |
5. | "Street Carp" | Phantogram | 3:31 |
6. | "Teenager" | Robert Smith | 3:07 |
7. | "Knife Prty" | Purity Ring | 4:29 |
8. | "Korea" | Trevor Jackson | 4:31 |
9. | "Passenger" (featuring Maynard James Keenan) | Mike Shinoda | 4:46 |
10. | "Change (In the House of Flies)" | Tourist | 5:02 |
11. | "Pink Maggit" | Squarepusher | 10:12 |
Total length: | 50:38 |
Personnel adapted from album liner notes, unless otherwise noted. [11]
Deftones
Additional musicians
Other personnel
| Technical personnel
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Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
Singles
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [84] | Gold | 35,000^ |
Canada (Music Canada) [85] | Gold | 50,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [86] | Gold | 100,000^ / 132,812 [87] |
United States (RIAA) [88] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by frontman Chino Moreno, lead guitarist Stephen Carpenter and drummer Abe Cunningham, with bassist Chi Cheng and keyboardist and turntablist Frank Delgado joining the line-up in 1990 and 1999, respectively. The band's experimental nature has led some critics to describe them as "the Radiohead of metal".
Camillo "Chino" Wong Moreno is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the metal band Deftones. He is also a member of the side-project groups Team Sleep, Crosses, and Palms.
Around the Fur is the second studio album by the American alternative metal band Deftones, released on October 28, 1997, by Maverick Records. The songs "My Own Summer " and "Be Quiet and Drive " were released as singles with accompanying music videos. The album was certified gold by the RIAA in 1999, and was later certified platinum in 2011.
Adrenaline is the debut studio album by the American alternative metal band Deftones, released on October 3, 1995, by Maverick Records. The majority of the album was produced by Terry Date, while a hidden track titled "Fist" was produced by Ross Robinson.
Stephen "Steph" Carpenter is an American musician, known as the co-founder and lead guitarist of the alternative metal band Deftones.
Deftones is the fourth studio album by the American alternative metal band Deftones, released on May 20, 2003, by Maverick Records. The album features a strong change in musical direction from the band's previous albums, ranging from some of their heavier compositions to moody trip hop and shoegaze influences. It was also the band's last release to be produced by Terry Date until Ohms in 2020.
Team Sleep is an American experimental alternative rock/post-rock group led by singer/guitarist Chino Moreno. Moreno is better known for fronting the Sacramento-based alternative metal band Deftones. Other current members include guitarist Todd Wilkinson, keyboardist and turntablist CrookOne, bass guitarist and keyboardist Rick Verrett, drummer Gil Sharone, and bassist Chuck Doom, with past members Zach Hill, Rob Crow, Mary Timony, and Dan Elkan contributing significantly to the band’s debut album.
B-Sides & Rarities is a compilation album by alternative metal band Deftones, consisting of a CD and a DVD. The CD compiled previously released and unreleased B-sides, while the DVD featured multimedia content, including a complete videography. It was released in 2005 by Maverick Records.
"Back to School (Mini Maggit)" is a song by American alternative metal band Deftones. It is an altered version of the song "Pink Maggit" from the band's 2000 album White Pony. Shortly after the album's initial release, in a contentious move by the band's label Maverick, it was re-released with "Back to School (Mini Maggit)" added on. The song's style has been described as nu metal as well as rap rock.
Saturday Night Wrist is the fifth studio album by the American alternative metal band Deftones, released on October 31, 2006, by Maverick Records. Despite early contributions that were later scrapped, it marked the departure of Terry Date, who had produced the band's first four albums. It was also the last Deftones album with bassist Chi Cheng, as well as the last album of his career and his lifetime, prior to being involved in a serious car accident in 2008, which put him in a coma. He eventually died five years later from cardiac arrest.
"Digital Bath" is a song by the American alternative metal band Deftones. The song was released as a promotional single from their third studio album, White Pony.
The discography of Deftones, an American alternative metal band, consists of nine studio albums, three extended plays, three compilation albums, five demo albums and 22 singles. Their back-catalogue of B-side material encompasses 52 tracks. One release is certified gold by the RIAA in recognition of shipments exceeding 500,000 copies, and three are certified platinum for exceeding one million copies. They have sold over 10 million albums worldwide.
Eros is the working title of an unreleased album by American alternative metal band Deftones, with tentative release dates in 2008 and 2009. The band spent time recording the album from April to November 2008 at The Spot in Los Angeles. The November 2008 car accident of bassist Chi Cheng forced the band to initially hold off on releasing the album, however, and they later shelved the album indefinitely in a creative decision to move forward. With Cheng in a coma, Deftones recruited former Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega and released Diamond Eyes instead in 2010. In the years that followed, the band has had mixed feelings about finishing and officially releasing Eros at some point down the road. The recording sessions of this album marked the first time in five years, since their self-titled fourth album, that Deftones had worked with Terry Date.
Diamond Eyes is the sixth studio album by the American alternative metal band Deftones, released on May 4, 2010, by Reprise Records. It was the first album to feature bassist Sergio Vega, who replaced original bassist Chi Cheng. An album tentatively titled Eros was originally intended to be the band's sixth full-length release following Saturday Night Wrist (2006), but was not finished due to Cheng entering a coma after a serious car accident that occurred in November 2008, eventually resulting in his death in 2013. The band continued on with Vega as his replacement, and the release of Eros was put on hold in favor of Diamond Eyes in June 2009.
Crosses is an American musical side project of Deftones singer Chino Moreno and Far guitarist Shaun Lopez, based in Los Angeles, California, and formed in 2011.
Koi No Yokan is the seventh studio album by the American alternative metal band Deftones, released on November 12, 2012, by Reprise Records. Its title is a phrase from the Japanese language "恋の予感", translating to "premonition of love".
VII: Sturm und Drang is the eighth studio album by the American heavy metal band Lamb of God. The album was released on July 24, 2015, through Epic Records in North America and through Nuclear Blast outside North America. It is the final Lamb of God album of original material to feature longtime drummer Chris Adler, who left the band in 2019.
Gore is the eighth studio album by the American alternative metal band Deftones, released on April 8, 2016, by Reprise Records. Its release was met with critical acclaim, debuting at number two on the US Billboard 200; it is the band's fifth album to debut within the chart's top-ten and is their highest-charting since their 2003 eponymous album.
"Prayers / Triangles" is a song by American alternative metal band Deftones, appearing on their eighth studio album Gore. The song was released as the lead single from the album on February 4, 2016.
Ohms is the ninth studio album by the American alternative metal band Deftones, released on September 25, 2020, through Reprise Records. The album was produced by Terry Date, making it their first collaboration since the unreleased Eros and the final with bassist Sergio Vega who departed from the band in early 2021. The album was preceded by the release of two singles: "Ohms" and "Genesis". The song "Ceremony" was later released as a single. Ohms received acclaim from critics. The opening track "Genesis" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance and the closing track and title track Ohms was nominated for Best Rock Performance at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
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: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)...the washed-out ebb and flow that made 2000's White Pony an alt-metal revelation.
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: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)Jeff Buckley would have been thrilled at how "Knife Party" expands the hard-rock notions of his Grace — the track's bridge finds singer Chino Moreno pulling off a worthy tribute to Buckley's falsetto —