Music Folks

Slipknot: The Masked Iowa Band Who Took Metal to the Top

October 17, 2026 · by Music Folks

Slipknot are the masked, boiler-suited metal band from Des Moines, Iowa, who turned a local metal project into one of the biggest heavy bands of the 21st century. With roughly 30 million records sold worldwide, a Grammy on the shelf and their own traveling festival, they proved that a band from a state better known for corn than mosh pits could take extreme music into arenas and onto the top of the charts.

Quick Facts

Formed: 1995, Des Moines, Iowa
Founders: Shawn “Clown” Crahan, Paul Gray and Anders Colsefni
Known for: Masks, matching jumpsuits, a numbered lineup and famously chaotic live shows
Genre: Heavy metal, nu metal
Key albums: Slipknot (1999), Iowa (2001), Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (2004), All Hope Is Gone (2008)
Awards: Grammy for Best Metal Performance (“Before I Forget,” 2006)
Sales: About 30 million records worldwide, more than 12 million in the US

From Meld to Slipknot

The band grew out of the Des Moines scene in 1995, built around percussionist Shawn Crahan, bassist Paul Gray and vocalist Anders Colsefni. They played their first show that November under the name Meld before drummer Joey Jordison suggested Slipknot, the title of one of their early songs. A self-released demo, Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., followed in 1996 and sold little, but the lineup kept shifting and sharpening. Guitarist Mick Thomson arrived in 1996, singer Corey Taylor in 1997, and guitarist Jim Root and turntablist Sid Wilson in 1998.

The look came almost by accident. Crahan brought a clown mask to early rehearsals, and the idea grew into a full uniform: every member in his own mask and a matching jumpsuit, identified by a number from 0 to 8. Critics called it a gimmick. The band argued it pushed attention onto the music and gave them some privacy offstage, and the masks have been redesigned for each new album era ever since.

The Breakthrough Years

Signed to Roadrunner Records, Slipknot released their self-titled debut in June 1999 and built a ferocious word-of-mouth following on the road. The darker, heavier Iowa (2001) reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 in the UK, a remarkable result for a record that made few concessions to radio. Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (2004) widened their range with more melody and climbed to No. 2 in the US, and its single “Before I Forget” won the band its first Grammy, for Best Metal Performance, in 2006. All Hope Is Gone (2008) then gave them their first US No. 1 album.

Loss and Rebuilding

In May 2010, founding bassist Paul Gray died at a hotel in Urbandale, Iowa. His death hit the band hard, and it shaped the next chapter. Joey Jordison left in December 2013, and Slipknot returned in 2014 with .5: The Gray Chapter, a record dedicated to Gray, with Alessandro Venturella on bass and Jay Weinberg on drums. Jordison died in July 2021, aged 46.

The lineup kept changing. Percussionist Chris Fehn was removed in 2019 after a dispute over payments, and Michael Pfaff was later confirmed in his place. We Are Not Your Kind (2019) and The End, So Far (2022) completed the band’s run with Roadrunner. Longtime sampler player Craig Jones left in 2023, Jay Weinberg departed that November, and former Sepultura drummer Eloy Casagrande made his live debut with the band in 2024.

Knotfest and Beyond the Records

Slipknot also built their own platform. The first Knotfest took place in August 2012 in Iowa and Wisconsin, with Deftones and Lamb of God on the bill and a Slipknot museum on site. The festival has returned in several forms since, including a 2016 crossover with Ozzfest and the Knotfest Roadshow tours of 2019 and 2021. In November 2025, Harbourview Equity Partners announced it had bought a majority stake in the band’s catalog.

Where They Are Now

As of October 2026, Slipknot are recording their eighth studio album with producer Matt Wallace, the band’s first since The End, So Far and their first on their own label, (sic)est Records. The standalone single “Arsenal” arrived in September 2026, and the band have announced the (sic)est Stadium Tour for July to September 2027, opening at London’s Wembley Stadium before dates across North and South America. There has been one more lineup change along the way: in August 2026 the band confirmed that Sid Wilson, their DJ since 1998 and a player on all seven studio albums, was no longer a member. Shawn Crahan remains the only founding member, still steering a band that has outlived most of the scene it emerged from.

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Tagged: 1990s, American, Heavy Metal, Nu Metal