Alright as promised here is another Slipknot top ten but this time, I'm going from the self-titled start 1999 to 2008's All Hope Is Gone era and what a fuckin' era this was for Slipknot!
This is a monumental task I have on my hands with picking 10 songs as my top 10 from this era BUT I'm going to do my best.
Without further ado, let's open up this fucking pit and headbang motherfuckers!
10: The Blister Exists
Alright you maggot motherfuckers are you ready!? 1,2,3!!!!!! Hell of a fucking track, catchy and gets in your head and also gets hella blood pumping. I could be wrong, but I think this song is about people stereotyping you constantly, and the overcoming of those stereotypes he's also saying don't judge me when he says "I'm a number that isn't equal to any of you he's saying I'm better than you.
9: My Plague
The first time I heard this song was thanks to the Resident Evil film and I found it catchy and loved it since. The song is about hypocrites. The quote "kill you, fuck you / I will never be you" is directed to followers - people who are not being themselves, and trying to fit in by acting like someone else. The quote “I know why you plague me” means that he knows why people are messing with him, and he is sick of it and of all the posers in this world; people doing things for popularity and so on. The quote “I'll reach in and take a bite out of that shit you call a heart,” is just warning everyone not to push him any further or else he will snap and kill him. The quote “I know why you plague (yourself)” is informing the person that he knows why he is messing around with him, and that he has had enough, and he cannot be pushed around any longer."
8: Left Behind
Alright this was the first song of Slipknot and I heard this in passing thanks to skipping music channels, and I was intrigued by these men in masks and why they were screaming about being left behind haha. This is a song about Corey when he was homeless. He made so many friends and trusted them with life. He shared space and everything. And now when he had a house and everything the old faces just disappears.
7: Snuff
Love isn't it complex, hard, beautiful and something else and when Slipknot comes together and does these softer slower songs about love and loss and heartbreak, it is always beautiful and cathartic. I love this one. I believe we all can relate to this or a song like Vermillion from its soft nature, hard hitting lyrics and sombre tones. Lead singer Corey Taylor (from Kerrang! July 19, 2008): "This is the slow one. It's another personal one. Again, not naming names, it's about someone who helped me through a lot and I thought she felt the same way that I did, and then she really let me down. At the same time, it was good that she did, because it was that final push to me figuring out myself. The lyrics are pretty self-explanatory."
6: Psychosocial
Oh man, the first time I heard this was angelic, like the heavens had opened and delivered me this song at the exact right time. Catchy and meaty as fuck in its instrumentals and lyrics, the chorus is just oof. Anti-war and anti-gov themed song you could mostly relate to song to. Lead singer Corey Taylor (from Kerrang! July 19, 2008): "Man, what a love song to the band! It's got that Rammstein/Ministry mechanical edge to it, but my vocals add something very real and very human to it. The Juxtaposition works and I wanted to play in and out of that world. Lyrically it's very much about us, and the fact that we can pull it off when we are focused."
5: Wait And Bleed
Iconic and one of the band's biggest hits and one of my all-time fave Knot songs of course. Also, if you ever get the chance please check out the fan made Disney version of this song hahaha. As for the meaning behind the song well this is about a man who keeps having repetitive black and white dreams about laying in a bathtub full of his own blood with his wrists slit. One day he wakes up and sees that his dream has become a reality, but he doesn't want to believe it and he tries to fall back asleep again.
4: Duality
Is this Slipknot's biggest song? Possibly. Did I once say this was overplayed? Yes. Do I fucking love this song? WITH ALL OF MY BEING YES! This song is about the band dealing with every problem they've had over the past couple of years, and it definitely reflects any struggles they have. The video was shot in Iowa and featured a large group of Slipknot fans. Drummer Chris Fehn explains: "They had an audition I think at some hotel in Des Moines, and the kids lined up. It was funny, because there were people that totally weren't into the band but just wanted to go down there and see if they could get into the video and stuff. And they're like, 'No, dude, get outta here.' But that was cool. I guess some kids flew in from Europe and got in the video."
3: Vermillion, Pt. 2
I love this song so much, that's all I will say. This song is obviously a love song, only Slipknot style. So it dances around the fact that it's a love song and goes into more of an obsession angle. Upon a deeper look, the word Vermillion means a vivid red to reddish orange. "Vermilion Pt. 2" is believed to be about an unrequited love interest from the first part of "Vermilion." Part 2 is much softer, and the video hints that the woman in the first video is now dead.
2: Before I Forget
The song that pushed me full time as a maggot and also thank you Guitar Hero 3 for the introduction. I was bewildered and also just hooked the first time I heard this song. It is no secret that Vol 3 is my fave Slipknot album also haha. The song is about rising above the bullshit and being a person, not a human. It's about saying what you mean and meaning what you say. Zero bullshit. In 2006, this won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. This was Slipknot's first Grammy - they were nominated for the award six years in a row before finally winning. The beeping at the end of the song is Morse code, which spells out the word "Slipknot." Slipknot rarely appear without their masks, but they do in this video, although only tight shots of their faces are seen. Corey Taylor explains the loop at the end of the song in his book A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Heaven: "Another ghost got into the machine in the control room one night as we were making a rough mix of 'Vermilion' - it started looping a section of a verse, so we hit 'record' and began making a remix of that loop. You can actually hear it on the album: it is in between 'Before I Forget' and 'Vermilion pt. 2.'"
1: Spit It Out
An absolute tune mun, prior to being a metal head I was really into rap and so you can imagine how I took the speed of Corey here and with these immense instrumentals. I was blown away, and I mosh like no tomorrow to this. This was written in retaliation to childish mudslinging by a handful of individuals who worked at a local radio station in Des Moines, Iowa, where the band is from. These individuals worked hard to keep Slipknot off the air. The video is based on the film The Shining, directed by Stanley Kubrick, but using the members of Slipknot in the main roles. Kubrick touched on themes of madness and mental breakdowns in a lot of his films, as do many Slipknot songs. Whenever Slipknot play "Spit It Out" live, they do what's called the "zero bulls--t" at the bridge. Corey tells all the fans in the crowd to get down on their knees and jump up when he says "jump the f--k up," at which point the crowd goes crazy. The line "Jump the f--k up" replaces the line in the recording, "Good enough, had enough."
Alright maggots, that is my list for today, so thanks for coming with me on this trip back in time to the ferocious era of Knot and for headbanging and opening up the pits hehe. Oh, and thanks for sticking your lighters in the air for the soft songs too, that was totally cool and very much appreciated.
Click here for the next top ten Slipknot era!
Stay (sic, sic, sic)!!!!
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