Slipknot is the debut studio album by the American heavy metal band Slipknot. It was released on June 29, 1999, by Roadrunner Records, following a demo containing a few of the songs which had previously been released in 1998. Later, it was reissued in December 1999 with a slightly-altered track listing and mastering as the result of a lawsuit. It was the first release by the band to be produced by Ross Robinson, who sought to refine Slipknot's sound rather than alter the group's musical direction. This is the only album to feature original guitarist Josh Brainard who left at the end of recording in late 1998 while the band was taking a brief break. Jim Root, who recorded one track at this point, would appear full time on subsequent albums starting with their next album Iowa.
The album spans several genres, but is generally noted for its extensive percussion and overall heavy sound. It was well received by fans and critics alike and was responsible for bringing Slipknot a large increase in popularity. The album peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200, and has gone on to become certified triple platinum in the United States by the RIAA, making it the band's best-selling album. In 2018, readers of Revolver voted it as the second-greatest nu metal album of all time. In 2021, Eli Enis of Revolver included the song "(sic)" in his list of the "15 Greatest Album-Opening Songs in Metal". That same year, the staff of Revolver included the album in their list of the "20 Essential Nu-Metal Albums". In 2025, Rae Lemeshow-Barooshian of Loudwire included the album in her list of "the top 50 nu-metal albums of all time", ranking it seventh.
Recording and production
In 1997, following the band's demo release, Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., the members of Slipknot continued to write new material and work in SR Audio, a local studio, with new vocalist Corey Taylor. The band began to work on a follow-up, but were never able to go further than pre-production. Songs written and recorded in this period include "Slipknot", "Gently", "Do Nothing/Bitchslap", "Tattered & Torn", "Heartache and a Pair of Scissors", "Me Inside", "Coleslaw", "Carve", "Windows", and "May 17". In 1998, Slipknot was receiving growing attention from record labels, including Epic and Hollywood Records.
On September 29, 1998, Slipknot left Des Moines, Iowa, and relocated at Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu, California, anxious to record an album after a long wait to be signed. During that time, its members attended a show by avant-garde metal supergroup Fantômas, fronted by Mike Patton (whom the band already admired from his work with Mr. Bungle and Faith No More). Fantômas went on to greatly influence Slipknot's new music. After recording a new demo, Slipknot released it to prospective labels and producers; the track "Spit It Out" was the main focus in it and, with help from their manager Sophia John, they were able to supply a copy of the eponymous demo to Ross Robinson. The band wanted him to work with them on their debut album, and, after meeting with the band, Robinson signed them to his own label, I Am, but later helped sign them to Roadrunner Records.thumb|upright=1.2|[[Avant-garde metal band Fantômas was a major influence on Slipknot.]]
The album's recording process was "very aggressive and chaotic", as producer Robinson strove to capture the intensity that the band created when performing live. Within three days all the drums were recorded, which contributed to the raw, live sound on the album that the band considered integral to its musical direction. Robinson played a big part in the stylistic change of the band, convincing them to cut off the more experimental sections and guitar solos in favor of a straightforward metal sound. By November 11, 1998, the recording of the album seemed complete and the band returned to Des Moines. During the Christmas period, guitarist Josh Brainard, who recorded on all the tracks to that point, left the band. The reasons for his departure were unclear; it was widely thought to have been because of family constraints. However, Brainard dispelled these rumours, explaining that "some decisions were made that I wasn't particularly happy with." His replacement was Jim Root, with whom the band returned to the studio in February 1999. Slipknot finished recording during this period, with one new track called "Purity". The mixing stages turned out to be very challenging, as drummer Joey Jordison and producer Robinson mixed the entire album with analog equipment, instead of the then more common method of using digital formats; according to Robb Flynn who just finished working on Machine Head's The Burning Red in the same studio at the time, Robinson and Jordison spent almost a month mixing "Purity" as the first song to serve as a template for the rest of the album.
"Wait and Bleed" and "Spit It Out", which also appeared on the demo prior to the album, were released on the album, also; the demo songs "Interloper" and "Despise" are available on the digipak version of the same album.
Musical and lyrical themes
Slipknot's musical style is constantly contested; the genres in which the band are categorized vary depending on the source. However, this album is regarded as nu metal, while showing influences of other genres. Joey Jordison stated, "The roots are death metal, thrash metal, speed metal, and I could go on and on about all those bands." The album also shows influences from alternative metal and rap metal.
The band's use of percussion, turntables, and samples gave the album a dense, layered sound. Alternative Press hailed the "inventive sampling, creative guitar work and an absolute percussive overload", while Q described the album as "a terrifying racket". Slipknot also includes melody, notably in the single "Wait and Bleed".
"742617000027", the intro, named after the barcode of Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., contains guitar scratches and abstract sound samples by sampler Craig Jones. The track features the line "The whole thing, I think it’s sick," sampled from an interview with a former cellmate of Manson Family member Susan Atkins in the 1973 documentary film Manson. In an interview shortly after the album was released, Jordison claimed the voice is Corey Taylor's, sped up. "(sic)", recalled Jordison, was written "at the very first rehearsal I had with Slipknot, on September 15, 1995. We were called The Pale Ones then and the song was originally called 'Slipknot'. It sounded completely different as Corey wasn't in the picture at that point." (Corey Taylor appeared on Slipknot's second demo, which resulted in them signing to Roadrunner Records.) "[[Paul Gray (American musician)|Paul [Gray, bassist]]] and I wrote the song together many years before we started Slipknot," said Shawn Crahan. "We basically had the riff and the drum beat. But it wasn't '(sic)' until everyone else was in the band and we brought it to [[Ross Robinson|[producer] Ross [Robinson]]]." "All of us were in the same room when we recorded this. It was hilarious. Everyone had their headphones tied to their head so we could all slam and go crazy while we played. Ross was throwing potted plants at Joey. It was the most insane thing I'd ever seen."
Out of all the tracks on the album, the song "Diluted" is the only one to have never been performed live. Rick Anderson of AllMusic noted that on "Scissors", Taylor "sounds like he's about to burst into tears." Taylor's aggressive, expletive-filled lyrics were noted by AllMusic: "[the] lyrics that are discernible are not generally quotable on a family website; suffice it to say that the members of Slipknot are not impressed with their fathers, their hometown or most anything else."
Critical reception
Slipknot received acclaim by critics and fans; following its release the band gained popularity beyond their own expectations. Reviewing for AllMusic, Rick Anderson called it "an auspicious debut" and proclaimed, "You thought Limp Bizkit was hard? They're The Osmonds. These guys are something else entirely. And it's pretty impressive." and that they were "the first death metal jam band". Kerrang! called the album "raw and wholly uncompromising, each track delivered a powerful blow to the senses", and in 2001, Q included the album in their list "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time". The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery. Jon Hotten of Classic Rock described Slipknot's "scary, genre-busting debut" as a "clever synthesis of a slasher movie aesthetics with some grindingly heavy metal" and judged the band as apparently not "built to endure".
In 2011, Slipknot ranked at number 247 in Qs readers poll of the "250 Best Albums of the Last 25 Years". In 2021, it was named one of the 20 best metal albums of 1999 by Metal Hammer.
Commercial performance
A single from the album, "Wait and Bleed", was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 2001 Grammy Awards, but lost to Deftones' "Elite". The song was also named the 36th greatest metal song of all time by VH1. The release of the album and the touring which followed greatly increased the band's popularity. The album became the "biggest selling extreme metal album" at the time. It was ranked by American SoundScan as the fastest-selling metal debut in SoundScan's history. On May 2, 2000, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a first for any album released by Roadrunner Records. The website, called Crime Scene, presents fictional stories as real life crime cases. Originally, the website included no disclaimer saying that it was a work of fiction. Many readers believed the story to be true, including Corey Taylor: "I still think the story's real. It fucked our whole world up when we read it. Can you imagine a girl being buried in a box and have all this lecherous bullshit drip down on her from this guy? It just hurts your head."
'Purity', said Taylor, "was originally called 'Despise' but it didn't work when we tried to put it together… Ross [Robinson] took it and helped us restructure it."
However, Slipknot, to prevent the entire album being pulled, removed "Purity" and "Frail Limb Nursery". Standard and digipak versions of the album were issued in December 1999, replacing both tracks with "Me Inside". Although "Frail Limb Nursery" was never re-released, "Purity" was included on the DVD Disasterpieces, the live 9.0: Live, the 'best of' Antennas to Hell, and the 10th anniversary edition of Slipknot. The DVD, which was directed by percussionist Shawn Crahan, features footage of the band in 1999 and 2000, titled Of the Sic: Your Nightmares, Our Dreams. The DVD also features all three music videos released in support of the album, an entire live concert recorded at the Dynamo Open Air, 2000 and "other surprises". A "super deluxe" box set version of the re-release contains a T-shirt, patch, collectible cards, key chain, beanie and a note from vocalist Corey Taylor, and comes in packaging that resembles a safety deposit box. Known songwriters listed where noted.
- Both tracks are omitted completely from the reissue.
- Both sample interludes technically have no songwriters.