I wrote a very long post about this record, but my computer over-heated and crashed, deleting my ramblings. Truth be told, there's really very little of interest to say about Slipknot - everyone knows their story, and my story of how I started listening to them is the same as that of every other kid who turned 16 in 2000 - everyone was going mad for Slipknot and you pretty much had to like them; plus, it was hard not to be bought into their gimmick. I spent a while tracking down an original pressing of their self-titled album to get the tracks that had to be removed (in hindsight, I wonder if such a scandal was really just a publicity stunt). There's a live dvd filmed in London that I spent ages trying to spot myself in the crowd of. They were a big deal back then.
However, half my life has since passed, and my feelings towards them can be assumed from the fact I can't be bothered to rewrite this post. By the time I went to university, I remember making a conscious choice to leave my Slipknot cds at home. The strange thing is that for people a few years younger than me, they aren't an embarrassing band - at ArcTanGent festival last year, Slipknot came on at the silent disco and people went mad; I didn't even know the song - this record was the last Slipknot release I bought, a few months after Iowa came out. Iowa did less for me than the debut, and by the time the third album came out I was exploring other genres. I don't know how many albums they have released by now.
16-year-old me would be disappointed to hear of my ambivalence to Slipknot, but these things happen. Left Behind was a fine song, but listening to it now, I don't remember it particularly well. I had to check the tracklisting, but I think The Heretic Anthem was the big lead single from that album? The b-side is a live recording of Liberate from the first album, a song I remember fairly well, but not as well as I'd expect given how much play that debut album got back in the day. It could well be that over the last 16 years I've repressed all memories except for Wait and Bleed. The live recording sounds like shit, but that might be the picture disc doing it's wonders.
Format: 7", picture disc
Tracks: 2
Cost: £1.50 new
Bought: Bournemouth
When: 30/10/01
Colour: Picture disc
Etching: none
mp3s: no
