Slipknot (/ˈslɪpnɒt/ SLIP-not) is an American heavy metal band formed in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1995 by percussionist Shawn Crahan, former vocalist Anders Colsefni, and bassist Paul Gray.

[1] After several lineup changes in its early years, the band settled on nine members for more than a decade: Crahan, Gray, Joey Jordison, Craig Jones, Mick Thomson, Corey Taylor, Sid Wilson, Chris Fehn, and Jim Root.

In the years before Slipknot formed, a state of shifting band membership existed throughout the heavy metal scene in Des Moines, Iowa.

[8] Drummer Shawn Crahan formed another Des Moines band called Heads on the Wall, playing funk metal cover songs at clubs and releasing a demo tape in July 1992.

A fourth Des Moines band called Vexx played death metal with Anders Colsefni on drums, Paul Gray on bass, and Josh Brainard on guitar and vocals.

Gray failed to get Jordison to join Body Pit, but soon after he recruited local guitar teacher Mick Thomson, the band broke up.

As a result, Corey Taylor was recruited from fellow Des Moines band Stone Sour; this moved Colsefni to backing vocals and percussion.

[66] The day after his death, the remaining eight members of the band held a live, unmasked, press conference alongside Gray's widow and brother.

The members made conflicting statements in interviews; drummer Jordison told The Pulse of Radio "there is another Slipknot record already kinda in the making".

[72] The DVD features Slipknot's entire live performance at the 2009 Download Festival and a 45-minute film documenting their tour in support of All Hope Is Gone,[73] and served as a tribute to Paul Gray.

The band performed to roughly 90,000 people and was twice forced to stop the set—once in the middle of a song—to allow the front barricade, which had split open under crowd pressure, to be repaired.

[94] After years of both sides being silent and evasive as to the reasons for his leaving the band, Jordison revealed in June 2016 that he suffered from Transverse myelitis, a neurological disease that cost him the ability to play the drums toward the end of his time with Slipknot.

In July 2014, Slipknot began releasing teasers for the new album on the band's website and social media using cryptic messages and gory imagery.

[107] The official video for "The Devil In I", featuring musicians wearing modified versions of the band's old masks—with the exception of Taylor, Wilson and Crahan who all wore new masks — was released on September 12.

[108][109] Taylor later said he was "upset" at the leak of the identity of the bassist, alleged to be Alessandro Venturella because of a unique tattoo on his hand,[110] though he'd later clarify that he meant that in jest.

[114] On August 2, 2015, during a concert in Hartford, Connecticut, the band was forced to stop performing after Venturella was suddenly rushed to hospital, after undergoing a medical emergency.

[117] In the meanwhile, Crahan made his directorial debut with the feature film Officer Downe, based on a graphic novel of the same name and starring actor Kim Coates.

[121] Corey Taylor revealed in October 2018 that the band would enter the studio in early 2019, with a targeted release for their sixth album that same year, followed by a world tour.

[126] Fehn specifically accused Corey Taylor and Shawn Crahan of setting up several band-related business entities, in different states, that collect money from the band.

[135] On that day, the album's title was revealed to be We Are Not Your Kind, along with its tracklist and a music video for "Unsainted", where the new masks and outfits for the nine band members were shown for the first time, including an as-yet-unknown new percussionist.

[155] On November 5, the band announced that they had parted ways with Jay Weinberg;[156] like with Jones, social media posts about his departure were subsequently deleted.

[189] The band has continually experimented with its sound, most notably developing tracks led by acoustic guitars and melodic singing that first appeared on Vol.

[190] Slipknot's lyrics are generally very aggressive; they sometimes include profanity while exploring themes such as darkness, nihilism, anger, disaffection, love, misanthropy, and psychosis.

[217] While Slipknot was making its debut studio release, the entire band attended one of the first shows by avant-garde grindcore supergroup Fantômas-composed of Patton, Slayer's Dave Lombardo, Melvins' Buzz Osborne and Mr. Bungle's Trevor Dunn-which greatly influenced them at the time.

[218][196] From that album on, Slipknot has displayed a much more straightforward, extreme metal sound, largely because of producer Ross Robinson,[195] and some writers have identified the influence of Faith No More on some tracks' structures and alternating melodies from Iowa and Vol.

[231] In addition the punk and new wave bands Black Flag,[224] The Clash,[232] Dead Kennedys,[224] Misfits,[180] the Police,[233] 1990s grunge and alternative rock bands Alice in Chains,[234] Pearl Jam,[235] the early hip hop acts such as the Beastie Boys,[231] N.W.A,[236] Run-DMC,[231] and the industrial rock acts Nine Inch Nails,[230][231] Skinny Puppy,[231] have also been cited as influences by the members.

"[246] The concept of wearing matching jumpsuits has been described as a response to commercialism in the music industry and led to the idea of assigning the band members numerical aliases.

[257] Slipknot has inspired artists including Deafheaven, Code Orange, Knocked Loose, vein.fm, Ho99o9, City Morgue, Demon Hunter, Cane Hill,[258] Of Mice & Men, Suicide Silence, Whitechapel, Poorstacy, Loathe, Blood Youth,[259] Bad Omens,[260] Sleep Token,[261] Slaughter to Prevail,[262] Infant Annihilator,[263] and Asking Alexandria.

[269] Burger King responded with a countersuit, saying many other bands, such as Mr. Bungle, Mushroomhead, Mudvayne, Kiss, Insane Clown Posse, and Gwar have used masks as part of their images.

[274] During an interview with Rock Rage Radio, Reavis praised Slipknot as he criticized his former bandmates after a dispute with the band's founding members which led to his dismissal.