A Deep Dive Into the Story of Deftones’ ‘White Pony’
From alternate covers to different tracklist versions, White Pony suffered many changes that ultimately made the album one of the most influential projects of the early 2000s.
Back when Britney Spears was doing it again on the Video Music Award stage, Eminem was walking around grabbing his you-know-what while breaking sales records, and boyband posters were covering up teenagers’ bedroom walls, the peak of the nu-metal era was happening on the other side of MTV. Multiple sound-alike bands were placing hip-hop vocals on top of loud guitar riffs and heavy drums, achieving massive success and collecting platinum sales. While the Californian band Deftones had had a hand in creating that scene with their 1995 debut album, Adrenaline, their second project, Around the Fur (1997), seemed like an attempt to distance themselves from that niche with a collection of experimental songs that mixed agony and serenity. Their third album, White Pony, was the ultimate middle finger to such ties.
Twenty-two years ago this month, the band raised people’s eyebrows with their new album. White Pony elevated the band high above the entire nu-metal scene, which they reluctantly but still treated. At a time when metal bands were succumbing to trends, and grunge, the biggest movement of the 90s, was on life support, Chino Moreno and his bandmates found ways to mature and refine their sound without bending to the pressure of their record label. White Pony was the first – and certainly not the last – Deftones album to feature different elements of musical genres: from trip-hop to post-rock.
Instead of sticking to the predominantly heavy sounds that characterized the band's first two albums, Chino Moreno wanted to add a broader range of instruments to the Deftones' sound palette, as he was unexpectedly into electronic music – thanks to DJ Shadow and his Entroducing album. He also intended to experiment with slower, mellower styles. But the band’s guitarist, Stephen Carpenter, did not approve of this idea, as he wanted to make the record go in a sonically heavier direction, which resulted in many heated discussions among the band members and made the songwriting sessions quite stressful.
Moreno, who was the primary songwriter in the band, decided to go in a different lyrical direction, too: instead of doing the typical nu-metal album with songs about personal experiences, suppressed emotions, anger, and bullying, he thought it better to tell abstract stories – something similar to what had occurred to bands like Radiohead in previous years. As a result, each song has an individual atmosphere, and White Pony was strange and diverse compared to the albums the band had previously released.
The conflicts lasted until the band started to record Change (In the House of Flies), a sexy, slowed-down nu-metal song that features mellow vocals from Moreno in the verses and high notes in the chorus, in which the members found common ground. Change became the first single off of the album and achieved incredible commercial success in the United States, and indicated that the album would perform well commercially.
Though White Pony debuted at number #3 on the Billboard 200 Charts with over 117,000 copies sold, the label wasn’t thrilled about the numbers. Part of the reason is that they failed to understand that the Deftones were a non-mainstream band, and while nu-metal acts like Linkin Park were pulling out much higher numbers, it is also fair to say that they produced more radio-friendly, commercial material. Deftones, on the other hand, weren’t willing to compromise their creative process to make executives happy about some numbers on spreadsheets. But they had to anyway.
The label thought White Poney had no other promising singles to be released – which is quite strange, especially since many fan favorite songs are among the other ten tracks left. One of the executives liked the hook in the last song of the tracklist, Pink Maggit, a 7-minute long track with lyrics about reminiscing one’s glorious status in school. They demanded the band record a new version of the song with a more commercial approach. Out of spite, according to Moreno himself, they went back to the studio and recorded Back to School (Mini Maggit) in less than two hours to prove that they could deliver a hit single if they wanted to. A new version of the album was released with the new song as the first track.
Even amidst so much confusion, White Pony is considered by many as the best and most significant album in the Deftones’ discography. Perhaps, not as sharp as Around the Fur, which isn’t a bad thing whatsoever if we consider the more mature and multilayered sound in White Pony. The composition process alone took over six months – double the amount of time of its predecessor album – before they even began the recording sessions at the famous California-based studio The Plant in Sausalito, where artists like Prince, Metallica, and Flatwood Mac had once made history. Mixing and final touches took place at the same time that the band members hosted long night parties in a rented mansion in Beverly Hills, which contributed to the delay in production and to the anxiety of the impatient fans.
It is worth mentioning that White Pony wasn’t always a fan favorite. Upon its release, many people didn’t understand the major changes proposed by the new project. But just like its predecessor, White Pony mixes intricate compositions with melodic and depressive sounds. Although not as energetic and furious as the previous album, it’s nu-metal with a more sophisticated and adult approach. Most critics praised the album for its alternative metal sound with noticeable grunge, shoegaze, and heavy post-rock influences with a slight touch of psychedelia.
Since the album’s release in 2000, Deftones’ crystal complex sound and lyrical personality have become a hallmark for newer bands. If anything, White Pony proves that good musicians can create splendid work even when they are not trying to and still deliver amazingly original material in the face of pressure to sell out. And thank God Moreno has overcome those times and isn’t willing to concede to the hallucinations of his label executives anymore because I could not take a Deftones’ Tik Tok challenge.
You can listen to White Pony here.
