After being remixed to replace the screamed vocals in the verses with more melodic singing, it was released as the lead single from the album in July 1999, and peaked at number 34 on the US Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in February 2000.

"[7] "Wait and Bleed" earned Slipknot a first Grammy nomination in 2001 for Best Metal Performance, though it lost to Deftones' "Elite".

[12][13] This track, along with "Left Behind", "Pulse of the Maggots", and "Snuff", were released as downloadable songs in the Rock Band series.

A remix version of "Wait and Bleed" by Terry Date was featured on the soundtrack for Scream 3.

[16] The second, known as the "Claymation version", depicts all nine members as small, animated, doll-like creatures inside a laboratory inhabited by a man who is attempting to catch them.

As of July 2024, the music video for "Wait and Bleed" has over 150 million views on YouTube.