Formation and early years,SLIPKNOT (1995 – 1998)

Early formations of a band were beginning to coalesce as early as 1992, when the core band members, percussionest Shawn "Clown" Crahan, vocalist Anders Colsefini, and bassist Paul Gray enlisted the help of guitarists Donnie Steele and Quan Nong, and created Pain Face.

In September 1995, the band "The Pale Ones" was created comprising Crahan on drums, Gray on bass, Colsefini on vocals, and guitarist Steele. Joey Jordison joined the band shortly after, taking up the role of drummer and, subsequently, Crahan moved to percussion. The band continued to develop their vision of what the band would be, deciding to add a second guitarist, recruiting Josh Brainard and moving Colsefini to percussion along with lead vocals. under the name of Meld on December 4, 1995 at a club called Crowbar in Des Moines. Soon after, Jordison suggested renaming the band "Slipknot" after their song that eventually appeared on the band's demo Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. The band also began experimenting with their image, wearing grotesque make-up and eventually the anti-image concept developed towards the members wearing masks. Up until this point, the band had remained mainly obscured due to their desire to wait until their music was fully developed. With plenty of material ready, the band began recording in a local studio, SR Audio with Sean McMahon. In February 1996, guitarist Donnie Steele left the band due to his Christian His replacement, craig jones arrived during the mixing stages of this new project. On April 4, 1996, Slipknot played their first public performance at Des Moines reggae club the Safari, where they played most of their early gigs. Their second gig at the Safari was alongside Stone sour. The band began to realize again that there was need for a change, as they were adding samples to their recordings but could not produce these sounds live. Subsequently, Jones moved to full-time sampler and Mike thompson was brought in to fill the space on guitar. After conflict over the mixing and mastering, the band self released their first album Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat on halloween, October 31, 1996.

Debut album and commercial success (1998–2001)

In late 1998, Slipknot entered the recording studio to work on their debut album. In the early new year, guitarist Brainard decided to leave the band due to personal reasons. His replacement, Jim Root , left the band with the line-up they retain. Recording finished in early 1999, with "Me Inside" and "Purity", and the band attended the Ozzfest which began in March. On June 29, 1999, the band released their eponymous album Slipknot. Regarding the album, Rick Anderson of Allmusic wrote "You thought Limp Biskit was heavy? They're The Osmonds. Slipknot is something else entirely." The band performed in the Livin La Vida Loco tour in support of Slipknot.