The KoRn Guitarist Who Chose Faith Over Fame: Brian “Head” Welch’s Story
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 22 September 2025
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, Brian “Head” Welch seemed to have it all. As co-founder and guitarist of the Grammy-winning, multi-platinum band KoRn, he was at the center of the nu-metal movement—living in mansions, selling millions of records, and playing for legions of fans around the world—but it was all a lie. Beneath the fame and fortune, his life was unraveling. Addiction, emptiness, and despair left him searching for something more. In his moving testimony, Welch shares what pushed him to leave the band and how he found a peace he had never known before.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | What I told people, I was making a podcast about Benghazi. |
| 0:08.5 | Nine times out of ten, they called me a masochist, rolled their eyes, or just asked, why? |
| 0:15.1 | Benghazi, the truth became a web of lies. |
| 0:18.5 | From prologue projects and Pushkin Industries, this is Fiasco, Benghazi. |
| 0:23.6 | What difference at this point does it make? |
| 0:26.6 | Listen to Fiasco, Benghazi, on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:33.6 | You know, This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people coming to you from the city where the West begins, Fort Worth, Texas. |
| 0:56.9 | Brian Head Welsh was a rock star who thought he had it all. |
| 1:01.6 | He was the co-founder and lead guitarist of the Grammy Award-winning multi-platinum band Corn, |
| 1:07.2 | one of the biggest or most controversial rock bands on the planet. |
| 1:12.2 | He lived in a mansion, had millions in the bank, and legions of fans all over the globe. He was living the good life, |
| 1:18.4 | and it should have been perfect. But it was all alive. Here's Brian Welch with his story. |
| 1:25.1 | I grew up just loving music, man. |
| 1:30.8 | My parents in 1980 bought me ACDC Back in Black. |
| 1:32.4 | I turned that record on. |
| 1:33.4 | It was over. |
| 1:37.0 | I was like, I want to be that. |
| 1:40.1 | I stared at Engish Young, I stared at his picture. |
| 1:41.3 | Like, it just played. Then I got every album out there and just played that iron maiden |
| 1:45.2 | ozies osborne like all these all these bands and and you know i just wanted to be a rock star man |
| 1:50.7 | i met the guys in corn in uh elementary around 1987 these guys they went and started hanging out |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from iHeartPodcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of iHeartPodcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.