With today, April 13th, marking the anniversary of ex-Deftones bassist Chi Cheng‘s tragic passing in 2013, several publications have taken to republishing some Deftones-related content in recent days. One such article to crop back up is a retrospective piece from the band originally published in 2014 via Metal Hammer, but just newly shared online today, April 13th.
While the piece focuses on the band’s origin story, their concerted attempts to escape the confines of nü-metal and more, it also serves up an interesting tidbit associated with their landmark 2000 album, “White Pony“. Viewed by many as the alternative metal band’s magnum opus, it also saw the group branch out from their nü-metal peers, fracturing some relations they had established up to that point in the process.
The record’s bold gambit of redefining the band’s sound for decades to come ultimately paid off, landing the Sacramento natives a platinum certification in the United States. It also earned them their lone GRAMMY Award to date, taking home the ‘Best Metal Performance’ for “Elite“. However, the gestation period to fully realize that vision was arduous and prolonged, and as it turns, out, very financially costly.
Concerned with the amount of time the band were taking in constructing that game-changing effort, the band’s label at the time, Maverick Records issued the group a deadline of when to have the record delivered by. Upping the ante, the label also dictated that should the outfit fail to meet that deadline, they would face a fine of $1,000,000.
Ultimately, their creative pursuits came in direct conflict with that financial motivation. The deadline was blown and and the group were forced to, *ahem*, pony up the dough. Speaking to Metal Hammer back in 2014 of that unfortunate penalty, the band’s vocalist/guitarist Chino Moreno shared:
“It’s true. They just took it from us. There was nothing we could do because it was our fault. I mean, it’s a million dollars and I can’t act like that’s nothing but at least people liked the record and it’s gone down historically the way it has. Can you imagine what a million dollars looks like?”
As the record that arguably established the band as a singular entity and continues to inspire generations of bands, it would appear that that immediate expense was recouped in the long run.
