page_title: Slipknot (band)
section_title: Musical style, influences, and lyrical themes
hierarchical_section_title: Slipknot (band) / Musical style, influences, and lyrical themes
caption_attribution_description: English: Rock band Kiss in 1976.
context_page_description: Slipknot is an American heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. The band was founded in 1995 by percussionist Shawn Crahan, drummer Joey Jordison and bassist Paul Gray. After several lineup changes in its early years, the band settled on nine members for more than a decade: Crahan, Jordison, Gray, Craig Jones, Mick Thomson, Corey Taylor, Sid Wilson, Chris Fehn, and Jim Root. Gray died on May 24, 2010, and was replaced during 2011–2014 by guitarist Donnie Steele. Jordison was dismissed from the band on December 12, 2013. Steele left during the recording sessions for .5: The Gray Chapter. The band found replacements in Alessandro Venturella on bass and Jay Weinberg on drums. After the departure of Jordison, as of December 2013 the only founding member in the current lineup is percussionist Crahan. Fehn was also dismissed from the band in March 2019 prior to the writing of We Are Not Your Kind.
  Slipknot is well known for its attention-grabbing image, aggressive style of music, and energetic and chaotic live shows. The band rapidly rose to fame following the release of their eponymous debut album in 1999.
context_section_description: Slipknot is considered a nu metal band. The band's members prefer to distance themselves musically from other nu metal bands such as Korn and Limp Bizkit. Slipknot describes its sound as "metal metal" and regards the link to nu metal as coincidental and a result of nu metal's emergence being concurrent with that of Slipknot. The band's sound typically features a heavily down-tuned guitar setup, a large percussive section, sampling, keyboards and DJing/turntablism. Using a variety of vocal styles, the music typically features growled vocals, screaming, backing vocals, as well as melodic singing. The band has continually experimented with its sound, most notably developing tracks led by acoustic guitars and melodic singing that first appeared on Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses).
  Slipknot's lyrics are generally very aggressive; they sometimes include profanity while exploring themes such as darkness, nihilism, anger, disaffection, love, misanthropy, and psychosis. They often draw upon topics including the music industry, politics, personal strife, and reflection, among others. Rick Anderson of Allmusic said, "those lyrics that are discernible are not generally quotable on a family website". On Vol. 3, Taylor deliberately avoided using profanity in response to claims he relied on it. The album All Hope Is Gone is considered a groove metal album with elements of death metal and thrash metal. The band has also been described as heavy metal, alternative metal groove metal, death metal, hard rock, grindcore, thrash metal, and rap metal. Slipknot cited both Korn's self-titled album and Limp Bizkit's album Three Dollar Bill, Y'all$ as influences. The members of Slipknot are also influenced by Kiss, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Jimi Hendrix, Deicide, Pantera, Anthrax, Metal Church, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Sepultura, White Zombie, Alice in Chains, Malevolent Creation, Mr. Bungle, Nine Inch Nails, Neurosis, Led Zeppelin, Converge, The Melvins, Johnny Cash, N.W.A, Skinny Puppy, Mayhem, Dimmu Borgir, Iron Maiden, Emperor, Suicidal Tendencies, Beastie Boys, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Misfits, Gorefest, Run-DMC, Black Flag, Faith No More, Dead Kennedys, and Metallica. In 1999, Chris Fehn said Sid Wilson is influenced by jungle music and rave music.
caption: American hard rock band Kiss (pictured in 1976) is among Slipknot's influences.
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