Slipknot (band)

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Slipknot on the Special Edition cover for their third studio album
Slipknot on the Special Edition cover for their third studio album
Background information
Origin Des Moines, Iowa, United States
Genre(s) Nu metal[1]
Alternative metal
Rap metal (earlier)
Years active 1995 – present
Label(s) Nuclear Blast (Scandinavia)
Roadrunner (international)
Associated
acts		 Stone Sour
Murderdolls
To My Surprise
Gorgoroth[2]

Ministry
Korn
DJ Starscream
Dirty Little Rabbits
Website www.slipknot1.com
Members
Nathan "Joey" Jordison
Paul Gray
Corey Taylor
Chris Fehn
Jim Root
Craig "133" Jones
Shawn "Clown" Crahan
Mick Thomson
Sid Wilson
Former members
Anders Colsefini
Greg "Cuddles" Welts
Josh "Gnar" Brainard
Brandon Darner
Quan "Meld" Nong
Patrick M. Neuwirth
Donnie Steele

Slipknot (sometimes typeset as SlipKnoT to fit their logo) is a Grammy-winning American nu metal[1] band from Des Moines, Iowa. The nine-piece formed in 1996 and is currently signed to Roadrunner Records[2]/Nuclear Blast. German-based record company Nuclear Blast Records handles the record sales of the band in Scandinavia while Roadrunner handles the sales worldwide.

Their albums and home videos have achieved platinum sales status.[1] The band's Grammy award nominations include Best Metal Performance, which their song, "Before I Forget", won after six successive years of nomination.[3]

Contents

History

Early years (before 1994)

Slipknot's first songs were composed in 1992.[4] The original Slipknot group was that of Anders, Shawn and Paul, they had the idea of making a group and played around with the idea, they even wrote some songs as early as 1993. However Shawn became busy and project "Slipknot" fell through. The idea was then revived in 1995 by Shawn and Anders and thus Slipknot was officially formed in the September of 1995. The Slipknot band went through the names "The Pale Ones," "PyGSYSTEM," and "Meld" before they settled on SlipKnoT.[4] 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.[4] Crahan, being the founder, 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.[4]

Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. Crowz and Slipknot (1995–2000)

In 1995 there were two rules. Slipknot had to play what they wanted to play and it didn't matter what they played, who they played to and the cost of seeing them play should never matter. The second rule was that there needed to be 3 drummers. The members came from several different bands (Pre-Slipknot Bands ) and each had the common view on the way that everything was going in the town of Des Moines, they were sick of it; there was no music scene, it was hard to get bands CDs, etc... . As a result Slipknot was born with one mission, this mission being to 'Clean up the music industry'. The band's aims remain to be to create a sound the world has never heard, a vision no one has ever seen, this can be clearly seen by the hype to Slipknot's second album. They sensed people were ready for a show, rather than some guys just playing some music.

The band achieved a stable line-up in late 1995, and released a demo entitled Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat on Halloween 1996. The demo was distributed by the small, Nebraska-based label -ismist Recordings. A year later Slipknot hired Corey Taylor (Stone Sour frontman) as the new lead vocalist and pushed Anders to percussion. They were always creating new material and were planning on releasing a second self released CD, Crowz, however this never came to fruition as they went through more line-up changes and eventually got signed to Roadrunner Records.

At the insistence of Midwest Promotion representative John Kuliak, Roadrunner Records signed the band in 1997. The band's first major label release, Slipknot, produced by Ross Robinson, was released in June of 1999. 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." Also in 1999, the band was part of the Ozzfest, which greatly expanded the band's fanbase.[1] In early 2000, the album was certified platinum, a first for any album released by Roadrunner Records.[1] In July 2001, Q magazine named Slipknot as one of the "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time".[5]

Iowa (2001–2002)

Iowa, the band's second album with Roadrunner Records, was released in 2001. Critical response to the album was generally mixed: Jason Arnopp of Kerrang! called the album "one beautifully crafted labour of hate",[6] and David Fricke of Rolling Stone called the album "the first great record of the nu-metal era."[7] It was a commercial success also, peaking at number three on the Billboard album charts, and at number one on the UK album chart.[8]. However, the album only achieved a "3 Star rating" by All Music Guide. In mid-2001, the band once again toured with Ozzfest,[1]. The band was dropped by Roadrunner for sales in Scandanavia in 2002 due lack of success with Iowa in the area. Slipknot were snapped up by Nuclear Blast Records, an equally successful label in the following year. In 2001, the band went on tour with System of a Down in the United States, Mexico and Colombia. After seeing the success of the tour, System and Slipknot went on a Pledge of Allegiance Tour with Rammstein in 2002. A live album entitled Pledge of Allegiance Tour: Live Concert Recording was recorded from this tour.[9] The band also appeared in the concert scene of the 2002 movie Rollerball.[10] The single "Left Behind", a track from Iowa, was nominated for a Grammy in 2002.[11] In 2002, the BBC said that Slipknot stole the show and proved entertaining after the band performed at Reading Festival in England.[12]

Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) and hiatus (2003–2007)

In late 2003, the band began writing and recording with renowned producer Rick Rubin, who had previously worked with artists such as Johnny Cash, System of a Down, and Slayer.[1][13] The band released their third album, Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) in May 2004. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 and .[2] Johnny Loftus of All Music Guide called the album "a satisfying, carefully crafted representation of [the band's] career to date."[14] 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."[15] In 2004, the band toured with Ozzfest for a third time.[16] In early 2005, the band went on The Subliminal Verses Tour with Shadows Fall and Lamb of God.[17][18]

Several members of the band collaborated with other artists on the Roadrunner United: The All-Star Sessions CD released in October 2005.[19] On the record, Joey Jordison was named a "team captain".[19] James Root, Corey Taylor, and Paul Gray also contributed to the album. 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.[20]

In 2006, the band won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance for "Before I Forget".[3] The DVD Voliminal: Inside the Nine was released December 5, 2006. In January, 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.[21]

Reformation and new album (2007–present)

On April 19, 2007, the band's website posted a news article stating that a new Slipknot album "will surface in 2008." Jordison explained in a recent Kerrang! Magazine interview that this album would be the heaviest they've ever made, but still containing some experimental sounds, and recording shall commence in January 2008.[22] On April 19, 2007 Jordison stated that he would be drumming for Korn in the summer of 2007.[23]

In 2007, Joey Jordison announced the formation of a new side project with King ov Hell of Gorgoroth. [24]

Possible Future Break-Up

On May 4, 2007, MTV.com released a statement by Corey Taylor in response to rumors that the band would break up after their next album. Taylor responded by saying that "[Slipknot fans] are very pessimistic, and instead of looking at things in a pragmatic mindset, they go, 'Oh, I can't live.' Please." Taylor also said that the band was unsure what will happen after SlipKnoT's release of their next album, for which recording will begin in January 2008. "Nothing's really been written yet, and it's just kind of up in the air right now," Taylor said. "We're definitely going to do at least one more Slipknot album, let's put it that way. But after that, who knows? You get to a point in life where you've said all you can really say with one thing, and I've still got some stuff I want to say with Slipknot. But who knows where I'll be after that. So I want to at least make one more, and then I don't know what's going to happen."[22]

Style

Slipknot has an extreme performance style provided by their massive line-up featuring a typical heavily downtuned guitar setup (lead, rhythm, and bass guitars),[25] two percussionists in addition to the primary drummer, and electronics (samplers and turntables). Robert Cherry of Rolling Stone compared the band's sound to "a threshing machine devouring a military drum corps."[15]

Their early work hosted a large range of vocal styles, ranging from rapping to occasional singing to grindcore-esque growling.[25] Death metal growls can also be included.[citation needed] In more recent work, this vocal style remains present, but now includes more melodic singing.[14] The lyrics generally follow a very aggressive tone, "[are] not generally quotable on a family website"[1], and feature themes such as darkness, nihilism, anger, disaffection, love, Misanthropy and psychosis.[1][14]

Injuries suffered

Due to the band's often extreme live performances, all of the band members have suffered multiple injuries. These range from simple bruising, to more severe injuries such as broken ribs. A detailed list of injuries can be found here.

Image and identities

 The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.
This section has been tagged since November 2007.

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. Aside from their real names, members of the band are referred to by numbers 0 through 8.[1]

The band didn't start of wearing masks, the idea was originally brought up by Shawn who one day brought in a mask and mucked around with it. It was fun and the idea caught on, soon other members of the band were wearing masks, they pivoted around the idea of how a mask can make you a different person. It was a chance the group were willing to take, to be original and out there, it worked. One thing the masks aren't is something to get people into Slipknot, a point continuously repeated by the band. The group were constantly being degraded for trying something different and as a result the masks were used to conceal identities and portray the band as an anonymous entity. "It's not about our names or faces, it's about the music." state Slipknot

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

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. In the video, the masks are visible hanging off hooks, possibly representing their unwillingness to "forget."[27] Each member is also unmasked in individual interviews on their DVD Voliminal: Inside the Nine.[27]

The band's image has sparked controversy over the years. Some of the controversy comes from the band Mushroomhead, who, along with their fans, claim that Slipknot stole their image.[28] In 2005, another source of controversy was the band's lawsuit against Burger King, claiming that company created the advertising based band Coq Roq to capitalize on Slipknot's image.[29] The band's lawyer claimed that Burger King had contacted the band's label to get Slipknot to take part in "advertising campaign designed to motivate young people to vote."[30] Burger King responded to the suit with a countersuit, and in that suit pointed out that many other bands, such as Mudvayne, Kiss, and GWAR have used masks as part of their image, although after private discussions the advertising campaign was dropped.[29][30]

Band members

Current members

Former members

Discography

Main article: Slipknot discography

Awards and recognition

Slipknot have won one Grammy Award:

Collaborators

 This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (October 2007)

Members of Slipknot have recorded with numerous other artists, including:

Feuds

Limp Bizkit

Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit was embroiled in controversy with Slipknot after lead singer Corey Taylor heard from a friend that Durst referred to their fans as "the fat ugly kids" in a Spin Magazine interview.[31]

Shawn Crahan, one of Slipknot's percussionists, threatened violence against him if he criticized their fans again, and Taylor later said in an interview with MuchMusic that he saw Durst as a great businessman, but not as an artist. In a 2001 post on Limp Bizkit's official website, Durst disputed the perceived ill will against Slipknot. He was quoted as writing, "We really like Slipknot and are very happy that they hate us, because it makes their music heavier, angrier and real!!".[32]

This quote angered Chris Fehn, Slipknot's other percussionist. Fehn later described Durst as being "scared of us (Slipknot) and that he didn't know until then that Clown (Shawn Crahan) was being serious about what he implied".[citation needed]

Green Day

Billie Joe Armstrong, vocalist of pop punk band Green Day has criticized Slipknot on numerous occasions. He said in an interview that "their masks are so fucking retarded" and even went as far as to call an audience member "an asshole" for throwing a tattered mask on the stage.[33] This would seem hypocritical though, as he has sometimes donned random masks while singing lines from some of his songs on stage at times, including the opening line to "Longview" at the 2004 Reading Festival[citation needed].

In an interview, Corey Taylor, Slipknot vocalist, warned Armstrong to "throw away" his "anti-Slipknot" attitude or at the least, keep his mouth shut and keep his opinions to himself or the consequences will be unbearable. Since then Armstrong has still criticized Slipknot, but no further action was taken by Slipknot.[citation needed]

Taylor and Armstrong were rumoured to have reconciled at Benji Madden's (Good Charlotte) birthday party in 2006, though both latters deny the rumours.[citation needed]

Mushroomhead

Conflicts between Mushroomhead started in the 1990s when Roadrunner Records signed with Slipknot instead of Mushroomhead, even though the label was close to signing with Mushroomhead.

Slipknot debuted on Roadrunner Records with its 1999 album Slipknot. Corey Taylor has stated that Slipknot had never heard of Mushroomhead until they were recording their debut album in 1998.[34]

The 1999 signing of Slipknot to Roadrunner Records led to changes within Mushroomhead. The band felt their image had been stolen for financial gain, Mushroomhead “killed” their individual characters. Their once colorful costumes, camouflage and rubber masks, were replaced by a black uniform. Later, cartoon style X marks over each eye were added to further illustrate the death of the group’s image. This X mask design later lead to the “X Face” logo which today is recognised as the band’s iconic symbol. These changes were also reflected on the band’s 1999 release “M3”.

An incident between Mushroomhead fans and Slipknot themselves occurred when Slipknot trekked to Cleveland as part of their tour in support of their debut album, Mushroomhead fans flocked to the concert and peppered Slipknot with batteries forcing them off-stage.[citation needed] In a press conference, lead singer Corey Taylor stated that members of Mushroomhead had encouraged fans to do these acts. Mushroomhead has publicly stated that the band in no way encourages this sort of behavior. In a May 2007 interview in Imhotep.com, singer Jeffrey Nothing stated that the day after the Cleveland incident, his then girlfriend went down to the venue and the members of Slipknot and some of their crew harassed her saying: "You're wearing a Mushroomhead shirt, what do you know?" Nothing went on to say, "The bottom line is: here is our city, our fans support us completely! They felt just as fucked over by these pony "Clowns" as us and they aren't afraid to show it. Welcome to Cleveland bitches.” [35]

Korn

In 2000 when David Silveria, drummer of the band Korn modeled for Calvin Klein jeans, it struck a nerve with the band, particularly Corey. Slipknot reacted by burning copies of the ad onstage at several of their subsequent shows (Jay Gordon of Orgy also being one of the models).[36]

It is understood that Korn and Slipknot have since reconciled, as they toured together in 2004 at the UK Download Festival, and members of Slipknot are reported to have said they appreciate what Korn has done for their genre of music and themselves as a band.[citation needed]

At Download Festival 2006, Corey Taylor filled in on vocals for Jonathan Davis when he came down with a serious illness. Later in the summer Corey while touring with Korn on the Family Values Tour 2006 came on stage many times to sing "Freak On A Leash" with Jonathan.[citation needed]

Joey Jordison drummed for Korn until some late October [37]) as David was on a temporary hiatus.

Trivia

  • 8 of the 9 members have appeared unmasked in DVDs and/or other side projects. Criag Jones is the only member of the band who hasn't appeared unmasked in public showings.
  • SlipKnoT is officially signed to Roadrunner Records for American releases but are signed to Nuclear Blast Records for German releases.
  • SlipKnoT is often credited as SlipKnoT's first album. However, they released a independent-released album before that in 1996.
  • Many songs off of SlipKnoT's unreleased album, Crowz, have inspired many songs released on future albums. Before I Forget is one of the more notable songs that have been inspired by the song, Carve, on Crowz. Carve was actually a "rough" demo of Before I Forget.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Huey, Steve. Slipknot biography. All Music Guide. Last accessed Sept. 28, 2007.
  2. ^ a b Band Bio on Roadrunnerrecords.com (en-us). Roadrunner Records. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  3. ^ a b A List of 2006 Grammy winners From CNN.com (en-us). CNN (2006-02-09). Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
  4. ^ a b c d M.F.K.R. Facts (en-us). Black-goat.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  5. ^ (2001-07) July 2001 Edition of Q Magazine (in en-gb). Emap. 
  6. ^ Jason Arnopp. Kerrang! review of Iowa (en-gb). Kerrang!. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  7. ^ David Fricke (2001-10-11). Rolling Stone review of Iowa (en-us). Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  8. ^ Jason Birchmeier. Billboard.com's page on Iowa (en-us). Billboard.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  9. ^ Chris Genzel. All Music Guide Review of Pledge of Allegiance Tour: Live Concert Recording (en-us). All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
  10. ^ Jolie Lash (2002-04-11). Slipknot Play Rollerball (en-us). Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
  11. ^ Jerry Armor (2002-02-27). Slipknot Contemplates Grammy Chances, Favors System (en-us). Yahoo! Music. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
  12. ^ Michael Hubbard (2002-08-26). Slipknot liven up Reading's finale (en-gb). BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-02-11.
  13. ^ Jason Ankghgeny. All Music Guide's article on Rick Rubin (en-us). All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
  14. ^ a b c Johnny Loftus. All Music Guide Review of Vol. 3 (en-us). All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
  15. ^ a b Robert Cherry. Rolling stone review of Vol. 3 (en-gb). Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
  16. ^ Corey Moss and Joe D'Angelo. Judas Priest, Slayer, Slipknot To Join Ozzy On Ozzfest (en-us). Vh1. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
  17. ^ Jon Zahlaway (2005-02-01). Slipknot's 'Subliminal Verses' tour continues to grow (en-us). Live Daily. Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
  18. ^ Doug Gibson (2005-03-09). Subliminal Verses Tour Show Report From Philadelphia, PA (en-us). Metal Underground. Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
  19. ^ a b Roadrunner United bio on Roadrunnerrecords.com (en-us). Roadrunner Records. Retrieved on 2007-04-12.
  20. ^ Billboard.com's listing of 9.0:Live (en-us). Billboard.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
  21. ^ Jon Wiederhorn (2007-01-09). Stone Sour's Sweet Success May Mean Slipknot-Free 2007 (en-us). VH1. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
  22. ^ a b Slipknot1.com news (en-us). Slipknot (2007-04-19). Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
  23. ^ Slipknot Drummer Eric Verdejo To Tour With Korn (en-us). Blabbermouth.net (2007-04-19). Retrieved on 2007-06-15.
  24. ^ [1]
  25. ^ a b All Music Guide Review of M.F.K.R. (en-us). All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
  26. ^ The Smoking Gun's Page with Paul Gray's mugshot (en-us). The Smoking Gun. Retrieved on 2007-02-13.
  27. ^ a b Shawn Crahan (Director). (2006). Voliminal: Inside the Nine (DVD). Roadrunner Records. Retrieved on 2007-02-12.
  28. ^ Jeff Niesel (2000-04-13). Soundbites (en-us). Cleveland Scene. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
  29. ^ a b The Smoking Gun's Page about the lawsuit (en-us). The Smoking Gun. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
  30. ^ a b Charlie Amter. Slipknot Seeks to Block BK's Coq (en-us). Eonline. Retrieved on 2007-04-22.
  31. ^ Slipknot Dictionary (en-us). Slipknot-metal.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
  32. ^ Durst Fumes Over Rumors (en-us). WholeNote.com (2001-02-03). Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
  33. ^ Green Day Authority - Didja [sic Know] (en-us). The Green Day Authority. Retrieved on 2007-08-05.
  34. ^ Slipknot Frontman Discusses Mushroom 'Feud'. Blabbermouth (2005-03-11).
  35. ^ Sarkis, Thiago. Mushroomhead – Going through changes, although some things never change (en-us). Imhotep. Retrieved on 2007-05-01.
  36. ^ http://www.nyrock.com/worldbeat/05_2000/051000b.asp
  37. ^ Joey Jordison Interview with Kerrang.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-10.

External links

 v • d • e Slipknot
Current members: #0 Sid Wilson | #1 Joey Jordison | #2 Paul Gray | #3 Chris Fehn | #4 James Root | #5 Craig "133" Jones | #6 Shawn "Clown" Crahan | #7 Mick Thomson | #8 Corey Taylor
Former members: Anders Colsefini | Greg "Cuddles" Welts | Josh "Gnar" Brainard | Brandon Darner | John Green | Quan "Meld" Nong | Patrick M. Neuwirth | Donnie Steele
Discography
Demos: Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. | Crowz | Roadrunner Records Demo
Studio Albums: Slipknot | Iowa | Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) | Slipknot's 4th Major-Label Album
Live albums: 9.0: Live
Singles: "Wait and Bleed" | "Spit It Out" | "Left Behind" | "My Plague" | "Duality" | "Vermilion" | "Before I Forget" | "The Nameless" | "The Blister Exists"
DVDs: Welcome To Our Neighborhood | Disasterpieces | Voliminal: Inside the Nine
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slipknot_%28band%29"
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