The History of Slipknot

lipknot is an American Heavy Metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. At first Slipknot only consisted

of 5 band members, Joe Jordison, Paul Gray, Shawn Crahan, Anders Colsefini and Josh Brainard.

In later years the band underwent several line-up changes and ended up with a total of 9

members. Instead of using their real names, members of the band are referred to by numbers 0

through 8. Each member of the band wears a unique mask and jumpsuits when they perform on stage.

Their music style has always been hard to explain but most people would say that they are a mixture of

Heavy Metal, Nu Metal, Grindcore and Alternative Metal.

Early formations of the band started as early as 1992. The core band members were percussionist

Shawn Crahan, vocalist Anders Colsefini and bassist Paul Gray. They enlisted the help of guitarists

Donnie Steele and Quan Nong. These people made Slipknot’s first demo album titled ‘Mate. Feed. Kill.

Repeat.’ The album was released on October 31, 1996. Then the band went on to change their line-up

after some of their members left. They chose to have 9 band members and their music benefited

greatly because of it. The current line-up of Slipknot is Sid Wilson (No.0), Joey Jordison (No.1), Paul Gray

(No.2), Chris Fehn (No.3), James Root (No.4) Craig Jones (No.5), Shawn Crahan (No. 6), Mick Thompson

(No.7) and Corey Taylor (No.8). These are the band members who would go on to record Slipknot’s

next 4 successful albums.

Slipknot have been a band and been playing their music for the past 15 years. For a band that has been

around that long they have built up a large fan base. The majority of their fans are teenagers and

people in their 20s that enjoy well structured songs with aggressive drums, guitars and vocals.

Slipknot really started to take off as a band when they grew to 9 members. Early on the 9 members

experimented with their looks by wearing grotesque masks and the same type of jumpsuits on stage.

With each successful studio album they changed and enhanced their music with refined lyrics and

melodies. This was well received by their fans with increased record sales and the amount of people

going to their concerts also increased. Slipknot fans are very loyal and they love everything that the

band puts out. Through all of the changes the band has made to their line-up and to their music over

the years fans haven’t stopped loving and listening to their unique style of music.

After success with their last studio album ‘All Hope Is Gone’ the lead singer of Slipknot, Corey Taylor left

to sing for the band Stone Sour. Shawn Crahan is writing and releasing a book titled ‘The Apocalyptic

Nightmare Journey’ which tells the journey of being in Slipknot. The other band members are either

doing their own projects or taking time off to be with their families. It is unknown when Slipknot will be

back to record and release their next album but it could be quite a few years until their next album is in

stores.

Sydney, 2010 Andrew Keane

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