Slipknot Discography

Slipknot Discography

The discography of Slipknot, an Iowan heavy metal band, currently consists of four studio albums, one live album, fifteen singles, three video albums, and two demos.

Slipknot was formed in September 1995 by vocalist Anders Colsefni, guitarist Donnie Steele, bassist Paul Gray and drummer Shawn Crahan under the name of The Pale Ones. Crahan moved to become a percussionist upon drummer Joey Jordison's arrival, and Josh Brainard was added as a second guitarist around the same time. The band played their first live performance on December 4, 1995 under the name of Meld, before Jordison suggested "Slipknot", the title of a song they were working on at the time. The band began recording songs in early 1996, during which time Steele left due to his Christian beliefs. He was replaced by Craig Jones, who moved to samples after current guitarist Mick Thomson joined. Slipknot's debut demo, Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat, was released on October 31, 1996 without contributions from Jones or Thomson.

Slipknot recruited a new lead vocalist in 1997; Stone Sour's Corey Taylor. This moved Colsefni to backing vocals and percussion duty, though he left the band shortly afterwards and was replaced on percussion by Greg "Cuddles" Welts. By the end of the year, the band had adopted two traditions which they still adhere to today; uniform coveralls and individual numbers for all the members. In 1998 a second demo was recorded with contributions from a new member, turntablist Sid Wilson. Producer Ross Robinson showed interest in Slipknot, which helped them become noticed by record labels. On July 6, Welts became the first and only member to be formally fired from the band, being quickly replaced by Chris Fehn. On July 8, Slipknot signed to Roadrunner Records.

With a major label the nine-man unit began work on their full-length debut, disregarding Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., which the band themselves label a demo. Recording began in late-September 1998 and was essentially completed by November, at which point the band returned to their hometown of Des Moines. During the Christmas period, Brainard left the band for reasons still unclear. He was replaced by James Root, who recorded guitar on the final two tracks recorded in February 1999, "Me Inside" and "Purity". Slipknot was released on June 29 and on May 2, 2000 it became the first Roadrunner release to be certified Platinum by the RIAA. The album was re-released in December 1999 with "Purity" (as well as its prelude "Frail Limb Nursery") removed due to copyright infringement (the track would later appear on the album's 10th anniversary edition). Slipknot's second studio album was recorded in early 2001, and released on August 28. Iowa was a huge commercial success, reaching #3 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on the UK Albums Chart. Slipknot released their second video album (after Welcome to Our Neighborhood in 1999), Disasterpieces. The DVD was extremely successful, and has since been certified four-times Platinum in the US.

After the releases of Iowa and Distasterpieces, Slipknot members redirected focus to side projects. Taylor and Root revived their old band Stone Sour, releasing their eponymous debut on August 27, 2002. Just one week prior to this, Murderdolls had released their debut album with Jordison on guitar. Crahan also created a side project in mid-2003, To My Surprise. Rumours that Slipknot had split up were snubbed and the band began recording their third album in late-2003. Produced by Rick Rubin (Johnny Cash, System of a Down, Slayer), Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) was released on May 24, 2004. It reached #2 in the US, but performed much worse than its predecessor in the UK, where it peaked at #5. On November 1, 2005 9.0: Live was released. The band's first live album did not perform particularly well, reaching only #17 on the Billboard chart. 2006 and 2007 contained more work with side projects, as Stone Sour released Come What(ever) May and Crahan founded Dirty Little Rabbits.

All Hope Is Gone was released on August 20, 2008. As of October 31, Slipknot has sold over 20 million albums worldwide.