Slipknot Part 2 - Acclaim

Now I could go on forever about their achievements, but I won’t. What I will do instead is give them some “street-cred” (not that they need any more of that...)

- Since their debut album “Slipknot” was released on June 29, 1999, EVERY-SINGLE-ONE of their studio albums have received platinum status (over 1 million albums sold).
- “Slipknot” was the first platinum album for stable, Roadrunner Records – [Slipknot – X-Posed, The Interview]
- Their live album “9.0 Live” turned gold (over 500,000 copies sold) in December 2005 [only a month after it hit the shelves].
- Every one of their DVD releases has also received platinum acclaim.
- The band has been nominated for 7 Grammy Awards, resulting in a win in 2006 for the single “Before I forget” in the Best Metal performance category.
- As of May 2010, Slipknot has sold more than 14 million records worldwide.

Impressed yet? No? Then consider this: Roadrunner Cash-Cow, and the subjects of my absolute disregard, Nickelback (formed in the same year as Slipknot), did not manage to go platinum before The Nine did. EVEN more impressive if you consider who else belongs to the Roadrunner Stable, bands like: Korn, Devil Driver, Collective Soul, Dream Theatre, KISS, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Machine Head, Meat Loaf and Rob Zombie.

Now that says a HUGE AMOUNT about the talent of this band. Especially since mainstream pop-music is so heavily punted by the Grammy Award Committee [a side issue to be discussed at a later stage...]

Now before any of you go off the hilt cause I’ve gone too far in saying Slipknot hit platinum before some of the artist’s I’ve mentioned have – just note that is while signed for Roadrunner.

As a band, Slipknot is the awe inspiring King of the hill. But as much as they perform as a whole, they are made-up of individuals... [Before I lose you here, this is not Wikipedia, so I’m not going to do an in-depth breakdown of each member – easy as that would be. Instead, I’ll restrain myself a little and focus on only 2 members...]

Corey Taylor (#8):

Responsible for the lyrics in the band, Corey is more than the Vocalist - he is the undisputed front-man. He replaced the original vocalist Anders Colsefni with what Joey Jordison called: "really good melodic singing" as opposed to the guttural roar usually associated with this genre. As front-man Taylor is the link between audience and band, and during live performances the responsibility of crowd interaction falls on him more than any other. Taylor also fronts Stone Sour, a very successful rock band also out of Iowa. Incidentally, Slipknot guitarist Jim Root also plays for Stone Sour. Corey was ranked number 86 on Hit Parade’s Top 100 metal vocalists of all time.

It seems that Taylor has developed his talents for expression during his time with Slipknot. Rumor has it that his main influence in the writing of the lyrics for "Slipknot" and "Iowa" was ‘what is wrong with him’. On "Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses" and "All Hope is Gone" the theme seems to change to ‘what is wrong with the world’. There is a definite, palpable progression in the vocal content from the first, more aggressive, “thrashier” albums to the later, melodic, more driven albums – to the extent that the 2 latest albums did not necessitate the “explicit lyrics” warning label. There is no disputing the fact that Corey Taylor has proficiency around words and expressing emotion through song.

Joey Jordison (#2):

In August 2010 Jordison was voted the best drummer of the past 25 years by readers of Rhythm magazine. That should give you an inkling as to his prowess on a drum kit. Besides playing the main drum-kit for Slipknot, Joey has played for other huge names in metal. When Lars Ulrich of Metallica was hospitalized due to sickness, Joey stepped in and finished the tour. James Hetfield (Metallica front-man) called Joey their “Hero of the Day”. Joey also sat in on the Rob Zombie reissue of "Hellbilly Delux 2". Further to playing as a stand-in for these bands, Joey also plays guitar for horror punk band Murderdolls, and has released 2 studio albums with them.

I’m not a drummer, and I won’t profess to know anything about the nitty-gritty of drumming. But I have ears, and I can count time [although Joey sometimes makes that difficult as all Hell] – and by those parameters Joey Jordison is undoubtedly THE best drummer who has had the pleasure of beating on my eardrums.

That's it for today...

On a personal note, I've been bursting at the seams to tell you all about the discussion about Slipknot I had the other night. But it would be to no avail if I don't introduce you to some of my friends first. I'll do that in the next post, so stay tuned...
 
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