20 years ago, Deftones released their seminal third album White Pony — an album that marked a tremendous change in direction for the band.
It marked an epic change in direction and a turning point for experimentation in Deftones. But more specifically, White Pony saw Deftones embrace everything from new wave and dream pop to shoegaze and post-rock.
The year 2000 was a weird time for metal. Bands like Korn, Linkin Park and Papa Roach were leading the airwaves with their nu-metal sound. But Deftones were determined to go against the grain. They didn’t want to be just another nu-metal band.
After months of touring 1997’s Around the Fur, Deftones bunkered down in the studio. It took them four months to write White Pony. The result? An album that breaks all the rules of what metal in 2000 is supposed to sound like.
The 2001 Grammy award-winning single ‘Elite’ was a powerful take on the metal of the time. But no one could have foreseen where else the album would head just on that song alone.
There’s ‘Teenager’, a track which finds itself unspooling like a long lost Radiohead song. And then there’s ‘Knife Prty’, which as well as featuring some of the punchiest drumming of the 2000s wouldn’t be too dissimilar to a My Bloody Valentine song if you upped the reverb.
Speaking to SPIN, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park has nothing but love for the album. “We wouldn’t have written a song like “A Place for My Head” if not for them.” he said. “There was a bounce to their music that reminded me of my favorite hip-hop songs.
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“And even though the guitars were super heavy, oftentimes they felt smooth like a keyboard, as if the distortion had flattened it so much it was just a wash of chords. Deftones just has such a unique sound and aesthetic, and White Pony was the album that took such a big step up in terms of communicating who the band was.”
It’s been four years since Deftones’ most recent album Gore. Rumours about a new record have been circulating for months, with drummer Abe Cunningham noting that their latest album should “hopefully” be out September.
Check out ‘Elite’ by Deftones:
