The anticipation for Slipknot's follow-up was intense, and many industry observers predicted that it would debut at number one however, faced with some stiff competition that week, the band's sophomore effort, Iowa, bowed at number three upon its release in 2001. Finally, in the spring of 2000, Slipknot was certified platinum the first such album in Roadrunner's history. The tracks 'Wait and Bleed' and 'Spit It Out' got the band some airplay, but most of the buzz came from touring and word of mouth. Their live shows were a much-discussed hit with metal fans, and the band performed with such energy that Crahan gashed his head open on his own drum kit twice that summer, requiring stitches both times. They gradually built an audience through near-constant touring, working their way up to the summer Ozzfest package tour, which really expanded their audience. Working with producer Ross Robinson, the band recorded their official self-titled debut album, which was released in 1999. It was picked up for distribution by the Nebraska-based -ismist label, and also caught the attention of Roadrunner Records, which signed Slipknot in 1997. Repeat., which began to build a buzz around the group once it found its way to several labels. On Halloween 1996, Slipknot self-released an album called Mate. The music scene in Des Moines wasn't much to speak of, and the band's big-time ambition was usually met with disbelief and ridicule, which provided the initial spark for its mostly anonymous stage visuals. Slipknot were formed in late 1995 in the unlikely locale of Des Moines, Iowa after some early personnel shifts, the nine-piece lineup settled around (in order from number zero to number eight): DJ Sid Wilson, drummer Joey Jordison, bassist Paul Gray, percussionist Chris Fehn, guitarist James Root, sampler/programmer Craig Jones, percussionist Shawn 'Clown' Crahan, guitarist Mick Thomson, and lead vocalist Corey Taylor.

Emerging in 1995, the Grammy Award-winning band issued their eponymous debut album in 1999 and went mainstream with subsequent gold and platinum efforts like Iowa (2001), All Hope Is Gone (2008), We Are Not Your Kind (2019), and The End, So Far (2022).

Add to that a lyrical preoccupation with darkness and nihilism, and an affectionately insulting name for their fans ('Maggots'), and Slipknot's blueprint for nu-metal success was set. But even more helpful was their theatrical, attention-grabbing image: the band always performed in identical industrial jump suits and homemade Halloween masks, and added to their mysterious anonymity by adopting the numbers zero through eight as stage aliases. Slipknot's mix of grinding, post-Korn alternative metal, Marilyn Manson-esque neo-shock rock, and rap-metal helped make them one of the most popular bands in the nu-metal explosion of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

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