Slipknot

Slipknot formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1995. Shawn "Clown" Crahan (percussion) and Paul Gray (bass) built the band from scratch — nine members, custom masks, matching jumpsuits, and a sound that combined death metal blast beats with turntable scratching, custom percussion, and Corey Taylor's voice, which could shift from guttural screaming to clean singing within a single bar. Nobody had ever assembled a band like this.

They signed to Roadrunner Records in 1998 and released their self-titled debut in 1999. It went platinum on the back of Wait and Bleed and Spit It Out — songs so aggressive that radio stations didn't know what to do with them. Then Iowa (2001) made the debut sound restrained.

It was 66 minutes of unrelenting fury — People = Shit, The Heretic Anthem, My Plague. It debuted at number three on the Billboard 200.

The band matured without softening. Vol. 3 won a Grammy for Before I Forget.

All Hope Is Gone debuted at number one. Paul Gray died in 2010 — an event that nearly ended the band. .

5: The Gray Chapter was the grief album, dedicated to Paul. We Are Not Your Kind (2019) was their most experimental work. The End, So Far (2022) was their last album on Roadrunner.

Through it all, the masks changed, but the intensity never did.

The self-titled debut (June 1999) was the announcement that something new had arrived. (sic) opens with samples and builds into chaos. Wait and Bleed was the single — a song about self-harm set to a pop-punk tempo with death metal vocals.

Spit It Out became the live anthem — Corey makes the entire crowd get on the floor and then jump up on command. Eyeless, Surfacing, Me Inside. The album sold two million copies and put Des Moines on the metal map.

Iowa (August 2001) is the heaviest album a major label has ever released. People = Shit opens with a blast beat and Corey screaming the title. The Heretic Anthem has the line "If you're 555, then I'm 666.

" My Plague was the single — the most accessible song on an album that has no interest in being accessible. Disasterpiece is nine minutes of controlled chaos. The title track Iowa is 15 minutes of ambient dread.

It debuted at number three and sold three million copies worldwide.

Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (May 2004) proved they could evolve. Duality was the breakthrough single — that opening riff, that chorus, that video of fans destroying a house.

Before I Forget won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Vermilion and its acoustic sequel Vermilion Pt. 2 showed a band capable of genuine beauty between the violence.

All Hope Is Gone (2008) debuted at number one — Psychosocial became their biggest anthem.

.5: The Gray Chapter (2014) was recorded after Paul Gray's death and Joey Jordison's departure. The Devil in I and Killpop carried the weight of grief.

We Are Not Your Kind (2019) was their most adventurous record — Unsainted, Solway Firth, and Nero Forte showed a band still pushing boundaries 20 years in. The End, So Far (2022) closed the Roadrunner era with The Dying Song and Yen.

Slipknot proved that extreme metal could be commercially massive without a single artistic concession. 30 million records sold. Multiple number one albums.

A Grammy. Headline slots at every major festival on earth. And they did it wearing masks, with nine members, playing music that would have been considered unlistenable by mainstream standards a decade earlier.

The masks changed everything about how metal bands present themselves. Before Slipknot, metal bands had long hair and leather. After Slipknot, visual identity became as important as the sound.

Ghost, Gwar, and every masked metal act that followed owes them a direct debt. The jumpsuits. The numbers.

The custom percussion rigs. It was theatre and chaos and it was completely sincere.

Iowa remains the benchmark. When people talk about the heaviest album ever made, Iowa is always in the conversation. Not because it's the fastest or the most technically demanding — because it's the most emotionally overwhelming.

66 minutes of rage that never lets up. Every metal band that formed after 2001 has to reckon with Iowa. Most of them can't.