Slipknot (band)

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Slkipknot's latest look before they went on hiatus.
Background information
Origin	Des Moines, Iowa, USA
Genre(s)	Alternative metal^[1] Heavy metal^[1] Nu metal^[1]^[2] Rap Metal^[1]
Years active	1995 – 2006 (currently on hiatus)
Label(s)	Roadrunner
Associated acts	Stone Sour Murderdolls To My Surprise
Website	http://www.slipknot1.com
Members
Sid Wilson Nathan "Joey" Jordison Paul Gray Chris Fehn James Root Craig "133" Jones Shawn "Clown" Crahan Mick Thomson Corey Taylor
Former members
Anders Colsefini Greg "Cuddles" Welts Josh "Gnar" Brainard Brandon Darner John Green Quan "Meld" Nong Patrick M. Neuwirth Donnie Steele

Slipknot (sometimes written SlipKnoT) is a nine-piece musical group from Des Moines, Iowa, formed in 1995 and currently signed to Roadrunner Records.^[3]

The band has been on major tours such as Ozzfest and their albums and home videos have achieved platinum sales status. ^[1] The band also has Grammy award nominations in the "Best Heavy Metal" and "Best Hard Rock" categories for songs from three of their four albums and in 2006 the band won its first Grammy. ^[4]

1 Band history
2 Style
3 Image and identities
4 Band members
- 4.1 Current members
- 4.2 Former members
5 Discography
- 5.1 Singles
- 5.2 Videography
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Band history

Early history (Before 1995)

Slipknot's first songs were composed in 1993.^[5] During the early years the band went through the names The Pale Ones, Pyg system, and Meld before the band settled on Slipknot.^[5] Many of the songs on Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat and some that were added to later albums were written during these sessions. Shawn Crahan was the lead drummer before Joey Jordison entered the band.^[5] Crahan, being one of the founders, came up with the idea of having three drummers; first to create a powerful tribal sound, and second to create a 'wall of sound', both of which Crahan wanted.^[5]

Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat and Slipknot (1995-2000)

The band achieved a stable line-up in late 1995, and released a demo entitled Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat on Halloween 1996.^[1] The album was distributed by the small, Nebraska-based label -ismist Recordings.^[6] A year later Slipknot hired Corey Taylor as the new lead vocalist and pushed Anders to percussion.^[7] Anders was not interested in being a percussionist and left the band to pursue his own musical goals.^[7]

At the urging of Midwest Promotion rep John Kuliak, Roadrunner Records signed the band in 1997.^[1] Slipknot then released their self-titled album, Slipknot, which was produced by Ross Robinson, in June of 1999.^[1] Regarding the album, Rick Anderson of All Music Guide wrote "You thought Limp Bizkit was heavy? They're the Osmonds. Slipknot is something else entirely."^[8] Also in 1999, the band toured with Ozzfest, this tour greatly expanded the band's fanbase. ^[1] In spring of 2000 the album was certified platinum, a first for any album released by Roadrunner Records.^[1] In July of 2001 Q magazine named Slipknot as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums Of All Time.^[9]

Iowa (2001-2002)

Iowa, the band's second album with Roadrunner Records, was released in 2001. Critical response to the album was generally favorable. Jason Arnopp of Kerrang! called the album "one beautifully crafted labour of hate"^[10] and David Fricke of Rolling Stone called the album "the first great record of the nu-metal era".^[11] The album peaked at number three on the Billboard Magazine album charts and at number one on the UK album chart.^[12]^[13] In the summer of 2001, the band once again toured with Ozzfest.^[1] In fall of 2001, the band went on The Pledge of Allegiance Tour with System of a Down. This tour would spawn a live album titled Pledge of Allegiance Tour: Live Concert Recording.^[14] The band also appeared in the concert scene of the 2002 movie Rollerball.^[15] The single Left Behind, a track off of Iowa, was nominated for a Grammy in 2002.^[16] In 2002 the BBC said that Slipknot stole the show and proved entertaining after the band performed at Reading Festival in England.^[17]

Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) and hiatus (2003-present)

In late 2003 the band began writing and recording with renowned producer Rick Rubin, who had previously worked with artists such as Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Slayer.^[18] The band released a fourth album, Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) in May 2004. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart.^[3] Johnny Loftus of All Music Guide called the album "a satisfying, carefully crafted representation of [the band's] career to date."^[19] Robert Cherry of Rolling Stone said that the album "experiments with even newer extremes, which in Slipknot's case means tunefulness and traditional song structures."^[20] In 2004, the band toured with Ozzfest for a third time.^[21] Several members of the band also collaborated with other artists on the Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions CD released in October 2005. 9.0: Live, a live album recorded from shows in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Osaka, Singapore, and Tokyo, was released in November 2005. The album peaked at 17 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart.^[22] In 2006 the band won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance for "Before I Forget".^[4] The DVD Voliminal: Inside the Nine was released December 5, 2006. Corey Taylor stated in an interview with VH1 that the band is currently on hiatus until 2008 while the members work on their side projects.^[23] just weeks after the band finished their tour of Finland with Lordi.

Style

Slipknot's style is rather extreme. This is exemplified by a Rolling Stone review which compared the band's sound to "a threshing machine devouring a military drum corps."^[20] Slipknot's early work hosted a large range of vocal styles, ranging from rapping to grindcore-esque growling.^[6] In more recent work, this vocal style remains present, but has expanded to include melodic singing.^[19] The lyrics generally follow a very aggressive tone and are, as Rick Anderson of All Music Guide put it, "not generally quotable on a family website."^[8] The lyrics feature such themes as darkness, nihilism, anger, disaffection, and psychosis.^[1]^[19] The band features a rather typical guitar setup with a lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, and bassist. The guitars are heavily downtuned and near death metal in tone.^[6] Unlike many bands, Slipknot features two percussionists in addition to the primary drummer.

Image and identities

The band is known for its attention-grabbing image.^[1] The members wear matching uniform jumpsuits and homemade masks.^[1] In the past, their jumpsuits have featured large UPC barcodes printed on the back and sleeves, which are identical to the barcode on their first album, Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. The initial reason for the band wearing masks was the disbelief and ridicule the band received in reaction to their musical ambition.^[1] Aside from their real names, members of the band are referred to by numbers 0 through 8.^[1]

Today most members of the band have now been photographed without their masks, largely as the result of their work outside of Slipknot:

Vocalist Corey Taylor and guitarist James Root appear unmasked when working with their band Stone Sour and Corey Taylor was unmasked in an appearance on the Killswitch Engage DVD. He has also appeared unmasked in the Des Moines Register.
Drummer Joey Jordison appears unmasked with his side project the Murderdolls and Ministry.
Percussionist Shawn Crahan appears unmasked with his band To My Surprise
DJ Sid Wilson works unmasked when performing as DJ Starscream
Guitarist Mick Thomson appeared unmasked in a Total Guitar magazine shoot.
Bassist Paul Gray's face was revealed in a police mugshot leaked through The Smoking Gun.^[24]
Gray and Jordison have appeared unmasked during various photo shoots and sessions with Roadrunner United.

In the video for "Before I Forget" the band performed without their masks; however, the band members' faces are shown only as brief glimpses, with the camera mostly focused on their hands and instruments.^[25] Each member is also unmasked in individual interviews on their DVD Voliminal: Inside the Nine.^[25]

The band's image has sparked controversy over the years. Some of the controversy comes from the band Mushroomhead, who claim that Slipknot stole their image.^[26] In 2005 another source of controversy was the band's lawsuit against Coq Roq, claiming that the advertising based band capitalized on Slipknot's image. ^[27]