Last month, we picked the 10 best Slipknot songs that you could safely play at a church disco. But it doesn’t matter what your mum says, swearing is fucking big and fucking clever – and it makes you look really cool.
There’s nothing more satisfying than bellowing ‘fuck’ as loud as humanly possible after standing on a plug or hissing the word ‘shit’ when your favourite football team loses. There’s lots of swear words at your disposal and you can string them all together for maximum effect.
Of course, there’s a time and place for that kind of fucking thing and we’ve discovered it’s mostly found on Slipknot albums.
So, without anymore pissing about, here are 10 of the best Slipknot songs that include some of the most powerful bastard words in the English shitting language.
PEOPLE = SHIT (Iowa, 2001)
It would be hard to start this list anywhere other than Slipknot’s only song with a naughty word in the title. Their adopted slogan adorned t-shirts long before Iowa was released, thanks to its inclusion in the CD sleeve for debut album Slipknot (alongside the cheery words “Come play dying”). The song itself opens Slipknot’s second full-length release and sets the sinister tone with its bludgeoning, pummelling percussion and Corey’s strained, pained lyrics aimed at the global populus.
(SIC) (Slipknot, 1999)
Opening Slipknot’s debut album, this was the first time most people ever heard the Iowan nine-piece and their brand of coarse, depraved metal. The distorted riff that instantly follows 742617000027 has become synonymous with the Knot’s earlier, harsher material, encompassing the barbarous aggression the Nine felt toward their home and the world. Littered with effs and jeffs, this is a masterclass in the versatility of the word ‘fuck’.
SURFACING (Slipknot, 1999)
Here’s “your new national fucking anthem” as Corey often reminds us, and if you’ve ever seen Slipknot live you’ll know it’s the song that goes down in history. The wailing guitar intro transcends into something much heavier and nastier, before the nonet unleash all-out war with its powerful, rallying chorus “Fuck it all, fuck this world, fuck everything that you stand for!” Since its recording, Surfacing has featured in every live Slipknot show and its easy to see why.
CUSTER (.5: The Gray Chapter, 2014)
The natural successor to Surfacing, Custer’s chorus is also packed full of fucks, which made it such a surprising nomination for a Grammy award earlier this year. Easily the most sweary song on Slipknot’s latest album, it’s about the band’s resilience and refusal to give up in the face of adversity – and if there’s one thing the Iowans prove time and again, it’s that they won’t go down without a fight. The loss of two key members wasn’t enough to halt the ‘Knot train and this song is a big middle finger to those who thought it would be.
ME INSIDE (Slipknot, 1999)
Not included on the original release of Slipknot’s debut album, it was added to the re-release replacing Purity and Frail Limb Nursery after a copyright controversy. Starting with what sounds like whirring tapes, it moves into something much more psychotic and menacing. Thematically the song talks about emotional detachment and depression, with the protagonist feeling like “This fucking life is killing me!” According to one Slipknot fansite, this song was the first recording to feature Corey on vocals instead of former singer Anders Colsefni.
DUALITY (Vol.3 (The Subliminal Verses), 2004)
If we’re being honest, their is only one swear word in Duality, but it was enough to miss out on our non-sweary Slipknot song list (see fucking below), so its place on this list is justly deserved. It’s one of the biggest songs in Slipknot’s arsenal with a chorus that could level buildings, and is still played relentlessly in rock clubs all over the world 12 years later. And don’t pretend you weren’t jealous of everyone involved in the music video, running about and smashing that house up like a bunch of toerags.
GET THIS (Slipknot, 1999)
Probably the most visceral and lyrically aggressive song in Slipknot’s back catalogue. Coming at the latter end of their debut album, amongst all the weird instrumentals, is the band’s ode to inferior music and how every other band on the planet can “suck these nuts”. It’s so intense and full of curse words, you feel guilty just for listening to words like “Suck the snot end of the tip of my prick.” Imagine having to follow a young Slipknot onstage in Iowa after they’ve called you out for being talentless and not deserving your spot on the bill – it’s got to knock your confidence somewhat. Get This is also one of two ‘Knot songs to include the word ‘cunt’, the second being AOV from .5: The Gray Chapter.
DISASTERPIECE (Iowa, 2001) Opening on the line “I wanna slit your throat and fuck the wound” sort of lets you know what you’re in for. Disasterpiece isn’t a friendly cuddle of a song, it’s a bile-filled punch of hatred and abuse allegedly aimed at bullies and people who do nothing more than hurt other people. It’s no secret that a lot of Slipknot’s early material was written about the band’s brushes with the worst of the world throughout their childhoods and teenage years, and Disasterpiece is the manifestation of nine masked men’s rage and venom.
EYELESS (Slipknot, 1999)
As the legend goes, the chorus “You can’t see California without Marlon Brando’s eyes” came from a homeless man the band encountered in the street. Its drum ‘n’ bass opening with the record scratching and pumping drums is the closest Slipknot really got to commercial nu-metal before the song nosedives into something much more desperate and hostile about Corey’s father. Linkin Park this ain’t.
MY PLAGUE (Iowa, 2001)
One of Slipknot’s most popular songs and the only to be attached to a movie, My Plague was the song (arguably alongside Left Behind) that really got the nine noticed and sent Iowa to Number One in the UK album charts. There are two versions of the song, but we’re not talking about the wimpy non-sweary New Abuse Mix, My Plague’s inherent violence comes from Corey’s spitting of every word – especially the “Kill you, fuck you, I will never be you!” directed at the fakers and posers surrounding rock music. And relax.
