Slipknot Biography
The following biography
is from
Wikipedia.org
“The
Free Encyclopedia.”
Slipknot is a nine-piece nu metal band from
Des Moines, Iowa. Aside from their real names, members of the band are
also referred to by numbers 0 through 8.
Slipknot is currently one of the more popular musical groups of the
Contemporary music scene, with their extreme music and violent stage
performances. Their albums and home videos have achieved Platinum-sales
status, with Grammy nods in the Best Heavy Metal and Best Hard Rock
categories for songs from all four of their albums.
The band is also well-known for its peculiar image: the members wear
matching uniforms (some of which have UPC barcodes printed on the them)
and each has a unique mask.
* * * *
History
The band found it's initial roots
in the 1992 "Basement Sessions", conducted in the basement of Anders Colsefini,
co-founder of the band. Many of the songs on Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat and some that
made it through to the newer albums were written during these sessions.
The group formed in 1995, and
released a demo album called Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat in 1996. The album was
well-received, and several major record labels became interested in the group.
At that time, there were only 5 members. Slipknot eventually signed to
Roadrunner Records, and released their self-titled debut album in June of 1999.
Despite receiving little airplay, the album was successful, due mainly to
word-of-mouth. Regarding the album, one reviewer wrote "You thought Limp Bizkit
was hard? They're the Osmonds. (Slipknot) are something else entirely. And it's
pretty impressive."
Heavy touring (including an Ozzfest
stint in 1999) greatly enhanced the band's fanbase.
2001's Iowa, the follow-up to their
debut album, was widely anticipated and debuted at number three on the Billboard
Magazine album charts and at number one on the UK album chart. They again toured
heavily to promote the record.
After an almost two-year hiatus,
the band regrouped in late 2003 and began writing and recording with
world-renowned producer Rick Rubin, who has worked with artists ranging from
Johnny Cash to the Beastie Boys to Slayer.
The band released their third
album, Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses) in May 2004. Reviews were mostly positive.
New Musical Express noted, "At least two thirds of it is still comprised of
head-spinning speed metal, but there are signs of genuine progression -- not to
mention progressive rock -- from the off." It debuted at #2 on the Billboard
albums chart.
Several members of the band have
been photographed without masks: Vocalist Corey Taylor and guitarist James Root
with their band Stone Sour, drummer Joey Jordison with his side-project the
Murderdolls, percussionist Shawn Crahan with To My Surprise, Sid Wilson as DJ
Starscream, guitarist Mick Thomson in Total Guitar magazine, and bassist Paul
Gray in a police mugshot leaked through The Smoking Gun. In the video for
"Before I Forget" they performed without their masks, with cameras facing only
under the heads. (but as the video progressed, details of the faces were shown
in brief moments.)
Debate on
categorization
The critics are in discord where Slipknot's music
fits, if in nu metal / mallcore or other genres.
Critics argue that the lyrical themes and
instrumental styles of Slipknot (most notably the rarity of guitar solos), the
use of turntables and sampling, and rap-style vocals are definitely similar to
those of typical nu-metal bands. The structure of the songs tend to be
simplistic. On the contrary, supporters of Slipknot note that the majority of
their music does not have a rap-based lyrical structure (although the influence
of rap is evident in some of their earlier music). Additionally, most of their
instrument settings are not typical of nu metal (scooping of the mid range is
not common in Slipknot's music).
With the release of Slipknot's latest album, "Vol.
3: The Subliminal Verses", advocates felt that the presence of solos on their
albums would silence debates on the genre with finality. However, it can be
argued that this is simply another financially conscious move given the
mid-2000s "retro-metal" renaissance, and that the style of vocals still have
more in common with hardcore music than metal. Some others think that the
presence of solos in their latest album is only due to the change of the
producer, because of some sort of solo presence in pre Road Runner recordings.
Following that hypothesis, producer Ross Robinson should have denied to Slipknot
the use of guitar solos at all, to align them to the musical tendencies of late
90's. The debate goes on.
Detractors
Some detractors accuse Slipknot of not being
sincere in their music, to show violence on stage and to scream only to sell
better and not because they are really angry with the world. As one detractor of
their music says: "Slipknot are intense the same way your little sister
screaming is intense. It's loud and angry, but also very annoying and not the
least bit menacing".
The band is also frowned upon by many critics due
to their appearance which many attribute to shock marketing and are described as
"gimmicky". Some argue that this is no different to other nu-metal bands and
that image is promoted in all mainstream bands. Another detractor is that many
fans of the band Mushroomhead claim that Slipknot copied them. But the fans of
Slipknot says otherwise, along with Mushroomhead and Slipknot. And then there
are people who are fans of both bands and say that they both came out around the
same time, in different states, so neither band copied the other.
Other methods of shock marketing that the band
incorporates are epitomized in songs like The Heretic Anthem suggest Satanic
undertones. The lyrics "If you're 555 then I'm 666! What's it like to be a
heretic?" imply the dark purpose strongly, but the band members say otherwise,
agreeing that it is part of the shock marketing.
Slipknot is also accused of creating positions
within the band for the sole purpose of increasing the total number of members;
for example, no other popular bands hold a position for a sampler, even if
samples are included in the music. The band and fans claim that they have these
extra members to create a unique sound, such as their two extra percussionists
to add drum fills. However many critics argue that the extra members add little
to the music, especially in a live setting.
Members
Current members
0 Sid Wilson - Turntables
1 Joey Jordison - Drums
2 Paul Gray - Bass guitar
3 Chris Fehn - Percussion
4 James Root - Guitar
5 Craig "133" Jones - Sampler
6 Shawn "Clown" Crahan - Percussion
7 Mick Thomson - Guitar
8 Corey Taylor - Vocals
Former members
Anders Colsefini
Greg "Cuddles" Welts
Josh "Gnar" Brainard
Brandon Darner
Donnie Steele
Quan "Meld" Nong
Discography
Albums
Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat (1996)
Slipknot (1999) #51 US, #37 UK
Iowa (2001) #3 US, #1 UK
Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses) (2004) #2 US, #5 UK
Singles
From Slipknot:
"Wait And Bleed" (2000) #27 UK
"Spit It Out" (2000) #28 UK
From Iowa:
"Left Behind" (2001) #24 UK
"My Plague" (2002) #43 UK
From Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses):
"Duality" (2004) #15 UK
"Vermilion" (2004) #31 UK
"Before I Forget" (2005) #35 UK
Unreleased Discs
Crowz (1997)
Roadrunner Records Demo (1997)
* * * *
The
above biography has been copied in part or in whole
from an article on
Wikipedia.org
"The Free Encyclopedia." It has been modified under
the NGU Free Document License Section 5 in the
following manner: (1) All links within the article
have been removed, including text links such as
"[#]"; (2) The "[Edit]" text and link have been
removed [if you would like to update the article,
you may do so from the original page]; (3) the table
of Contents links and text have been removed; and
(4) all of the sections of the original article have
not been copied. All of the above text is available
under the terms of the
GNU Free Document License.
URL of Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slipknot_%28band%29
Date Article Copied:
August 7, 2005
We
will try to replace this article with an original
biography in the near future, but we hope this will
be of help to our visitors in the mean time.
For
additions & corrections,
Click Here |