Slipknot, Duality- A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Reaction

#virginrock #slipknot
Indeed, it sounds American heavy metal, aggressive, energetic and chaotic!

Here’s the link to the original song:

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Amy Shafer, LRSM, FRSM, RYC, is a classical harpist, pianist, and music teacher, Director of Piano Studies and Assistant Director of Harp Studies for The Harp School, Inc., holds multiple degrees in harp and piano performance and teaching, and is active as a solo and collaborative performer. With nearly two decades of teaching experience, she teaches privately, presents masterclasses and coaching sessions, and has performed and taught in Europe and USA.

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Credits: Music written and performed by Slipknot

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[Gforceracing]

The odd percussion you may have heard is a beer keg being hit with an aluminum baseball bat

[Sandlchi]

this isnt just a step out of her comfort zone, its more of a 40 day track through the desert of discomfort

[tghagen]

"The music is high energy, but the vocals, not so much." The song is a duality

[axelthegreat]

The impression I always got with this song, and a majority of slipknot, is one of "Things are bad. They will often be bad. But you're not alone, and you'll never be alone."

If I remember correctly, the lyrics are inspired by Cory struggling with migraines. And having them occasionally, yeah. That tracks.

[nobandfan]

The headache line is right on track. Corey used to get debilitating migraines and the only thing that helped was pushing his finger into his eyes.

[adamp.]

I love the fact that Amy is exploring more modern and truly heavy stuff now.
I still can't get over the fact that she got to listen to some random Limp Bizkit song as an introduction to nu metal instead of some early KoRn.

[ailsatg]

I love rock and metal and i greatly appreciate your curious and open attitude to different kinds of music! People can be put off by the 'volume' and aggro of this kind of music but your ear acclimates, and then you can truly appreciate it. Just like a booming orchestra or a rap song can fly over your head until you let yourself be immersed and see the skill at play.
Music is cool!

[jacobmarsh]

Slipknot was at the forefront of Nu Metal in the late 90s and early 00s which sort of reinvigorated metal as a genre in the mainstream. Nu metal being sort of the natural crossbreeding of influences from more down tuned and down tempo metal in Metallica's black album, Pantera, and with a stop in hip hop.

The interesting thing about the genre is that it became one of the most mainstream takes on metal we've ever seen, with the lyrical content often dealing very directly and poignantly with child abuse, interpersonal turmoil, depression, being "othered" by peers, bullying etc. so it struck a chord with a lot of midwestern youth that felt trapped in these situations they didn't ask for. It isn't mindless aggression, it is the pain of repression and abuse given an outlet. Kids being abused or neglected at home and tortured by bullies at school, who were made to feel powerless and alone were finding power and solace in slipknots music.

Slipknot was HUGE for a band that sometimes bordered on death metal, and its in large part because Corey Taylor tapped very deeply into a collective frustration and helplessness experienced by disaffected youth at that time. The catharsis, sympathy, and sense of belonging this band provided probably saved American society a lot of future trouble.

For a very real, raw, aggressive, and unfiltered look at what I mean, it would be best to listen to these slipknot songs: Disasterpiece, People = Shit, Left Behind, Surfacing

Or some of the early Korn stuff.

It is overwhelmingly angry and disturbing at times, and that was the inner world these guys were living in, and that a large swath of youth was living in. It is not comfortable to listen to, nor was it ever intended to be. There is no compromise or restraint. There is no emotion that is left unexplored. There was no other music available that properly articulated these feelings for these kids. People in the comments are saying its noise, but there's a reason it became massively popular, and that's because some guy crooning over a couple of chords was not sufficient or commensurate with their experience.

[geno]

Slipknot has the one best backing vocals in the metal rock roll music industry

[gothicpixie]

The bands high energy is the world around moving at pace, relentless onslaught of external factors.

The vocals are the individual struggling to keep up, its one thing after another causing the individual a headache. As the lyrics energy grows, he becomes more angry with the world rather than pushed down by it.

At least thats my interpretation.

[tommymclaughlin-artist]

Lots of haters in these comments. This is a great song by talented musicians. Slipknot are a treasure.

A diverse sampling of nu metal would include Deftones - digital bath, limp bizkit - break stuff, and sevendust - denial.

[TheMadMedek]

For people that struggle with harsh vocals. Look at them as another instrument. You don’t have to “understand” a guitar. It adds to the emotion or feel. Usually rage or sorrow in metal

[sjsuismylife]

Not a huge Slipknot fan, but this song is amazing. A lot of songs are aggressive and shouty... But the way this song expresses it... It blows my mind.

[rog]

Corey Taylor did a track with Apocalyptica (classically trained string quartet from Finland who do metal) called I'm Not Jesus, that's interesting.
Bit of Slipkot trivial - when Daphne and Celeste (a 90s pop duo) had a really rough set at Reading Festival (someone actually threw a wheelchair at them, as well as the more tradhitional, for Reading, bottles of 'liquid'), Corey went backstage to see if they were OK and told them they'd done really well, since not many acts would have stuck it out to the end.
"I was like ‘hey, you did something that a lot of people wouldn’t have done. You stayed in there, so hold your head high’. I don’t know if they f**king cared what I said, but they did it.”

[Kkcoryu]

Another good song to react from Slipknot is "Before i forget", i hope you try it with that one. By the way, thanks for your videos.

[jasonq]

I commend you for being open and listening to them. They're one of my favorite bands and not everyone enjoys them. You gave it a great review!

[matthewsanders]

Constant power, a band with ADHD, piecemeal themes. She gets it.

[usuallyclueless]

I am surprised that, being a classical musician, no one has asked you to listen to more complex music like Dream Theater yet.

[dmj]

She had issues with Nightwish-- Ghost Love Score as not Opera enough like a year ago, and now gets Slipknot. Seen this so many times with newbie rxers to rock and metal, it's really fun to track when it happens

[emmettkweton]

Slipknot is its own orchestra of chaos