Slipknot Is Back...But Who's Buying?

Photo by Victor Pena

Slipknot stopped by the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion during Rockstar Energy Drink's 2012 Mayhem Fest.

Last month Slipknot rose from the ashes, releasing their first new record since 2008 and their first since losing drummer Joey Jordison and bassist Paul Gray. .5: The Gray Chapter is currently being praised as a return to form for the band, going back to the roots of their more successful sound on the album Iowa back in 2001.

This renaissance for the band is surprising, to say the least. For their fans, it's welcome and overdue. For the rest of us, it's just raising all kinds of questions. You see, full disclosure: I always hated Slipknot, growing up in the era where they were at their peak. But could that change? Could all these years have melted my icy heart?

When I was a young teenager, Slipknot was everywhere. They were one of the biggest metal bands on the planet, and they were universally beloved. Their masks and secret identities went over just as well for them as it did for KISS in the '70s. People were intrigued by the fact that they presented themselves as these avatars.

It helped that their lyrics connected so greatly to what so many teenagers of the era were feeling. Where KISS traded in rock and roll cliches because that's what teens of the '70s were into, my generation was an angry one and Slipknot thrust themselves fully into that niche.

Their lyrics were so pissed off and miserable, they felt dangerous. Songs like "People = Shit" convinced people these guys could really be the sorts who would gun down innocents. They took everything Nine Inch Nails and Korn brought to the table and amped it up.

I couldn't relate. I was a sad teen, not an angry one. I never wanted to kill anyone. I was just filled with heartbreak. I listened to emo, not rage-filled music like this. Slipknot's lyrics never got over with me, and I thought their music stunk too. After all, it was essentially just slightly heavier radio-metal.

Photo by Victor Pena

Fans wearing the masks really did not help my perception any.

Not to mention, the mask schtick was just begging to be lumped in with lowest common denominator horrocore bullshit like Insane Clown Posse. The whole gimmick reeked of the same desperation to be an outsider that painting your face and calling yourself a juggalo did. Emo found its roots in punk, and so both traded in real, in your face attitudes, with raw, barren emotions. You didn't hide behind a mask in that scene.

So, yes, as a young man, I thought Slipknot was garbage. Not just garbage in the way that Korn or Limp Bizkit were garbage, but embarrassing garbage somewhere alongside liking ICP or liking Phil Collins. But here's the point I'm making by laying this all out: people change.

As my past work here at Rocks Off shows, I fell in love with Phil Collins somewhere around the age of 16 and never stopped. My adoration for that man is endless. I would have called you so many names for appreciating No Jacket Required when I was younger than that, but now I consider Invisible Touch one of my top ten albums of all time.

So let's set aside all this "embarrassing" stuff. I quite believing in guilty pleasures a long time ago when I started unabashedly embracing pop songwriting. Let's just look at where Slipknot is today

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