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50 free Slipknot trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Slipknot came out of a Des Moines metal scene where the same handful of musicians kept swapping bands, a self-financed demo released on Halloween 1996, and late-night planning sessions at a Sinclair gas station where Joey Jordison worked nights. By 1999 nine masked, numbered members were on Ozzfest and the debut became the first platinum album in Roadrunner Records history. These 50 questions cover the whole story: the Pale Ones and Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat., Ross Robinson and the Malibu sessions, Iowa's 15-minute title track, Rick Rubin and The Mansion, the Grammy for "Before I Forget", Paul Gray's death and the .5: The Gray Chapter tribute, Knotfest, Tortilla Man, Eloy Casagrande and the catalog sale. Plus the masks, the numbers, the side projects and the influences from Kiss to Mr. Bungle. Every answer is cited to a page we checked. Play in sets of ten or print the list.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Slipknot formed in 1995 in which Iowa city?
Des Moines
Founders Shawn Crahan, Anders Colsefni and Paul Gray all came out of the same shifting Des Moines metal scene of the early 1990s.
Q 02Under what name did Colsefni, Crahan and Gray start the band in September 1995?
The Pale Ones
They played their first public show that November as Meld. Body Pit, Heads on the Wall and Vexx were earlier Des Moines bands of the future members.
Q 03The name Slipknot was borrowed from what?
One of their own songs
Jordison suggested it in late 1995 during planning sessions at a Sinclair gas station where he worked the overnight shift.
Q 04Much of Slipknot's early planning happened at what kind of business where Jordison worked nights?
A gas station
Gray, Crahan and Jordison plotted the band's future at a Sinclair station in Des Moines.
Q 05What was the title of Slipknot's self-released 1996 demo album?
Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.
It came out on Halloween 1996 and cost the band an estimated $40,000 of their own money. It won local airplay but no label interest.
Q 06Corey Taylor was recruited in 1997 from which other local band?
Stone Sour
The band wanted more melodic vocals. Taylor and Jim Root later revived Stone Sour during Slipknot's 2002 hiatus.
Q 07Which label signed Slipknot to a $500,000, seven-album deal in 1998?
Roadrunner
The deal was signed publicly on July 8, 1998. Their debut became the first Roadrunner album ever certified platinum.
Q 08Which producer offered to record Slipknot's debut after watching them rehearse in Iowa in 1998?
Ross Robinson
Robinson, known for Korn, produced the self-titled album and Iowa. Rubin did Vol. 3, Fortman All Hope Is Gone, and Fidelman the later albums.
Q 09Slipknot recorded their self-titled debut at Indigo Ranch Studios in which California town?
Malibu
They left Des Moines on September 29, 1998. Guitarist Josh Brainard quit over Christmas and Jim Root completed the lineup.
Q 10Slipknot's first tour, in 1999, was as part of which touring festival?
Ozzfest
Ozzfest hugely expanded their audience; the self-titled album followed on June 29, 1999.
Q 11Which Slipknot album was certified triple platinum in 2025, making it the band's best seller?
The 1999 debut
The debut only peaked at number 51 on the Billboard 200 but kept selling; it went platinum in May 2000, a first for Roadrunner.
Q 12Which Slipknot single lost the 2001 Best Metal Performance Grammy to Deftones' "Elite"?
Wait and Bleed
It was the band's first Grammy nomination. They finally won the category in 2006 for "Before I Forget".
Q 13Along with "Frail Limb Nursery", which debut track was pulled after a copyright claim?
Purity
Both were inspired by an online story about a kidnapped girl named Purity Knight. "Purity" resurfaced on Disasterpieces and the 10th anniversary edition.
Q 21Which Slipknot video did the band's label call the best music video in its history?
Duality
Vol. 3 produced six singles in all, including "Vermilion" and its acoustic-led sequel "Vermilion, Pt. 2".
Q 22For "Vermilion" in 2004-05, the members wore special masks made from what?
Casts of their own faces
The life masks were a one-off. Since 2000 the regular masks have been custom-made by special effects artist Screaming Mad George.
Q 23Slipknot's first concert album, released in 2005, was titled what?
9.0: Live
It peaked at number 17 on the Billboard album chart. Disasterpieces and (sic)nesses are video releases; Day of the Gusano is the 2017 Mexico live album.
Q 14Slipknot's second album, released in August 2001, is named after what?
Their home state
Iowa peaked at number three in the US and number one in the UK, and is widely regarded as the band's heaviest and darkest record.
Q 15Iowa's closing title track is the band's longest continuous song at roughly what length?
Just over 15 minutes
Corey Taylor has described recording its vocals as the lowest point of a session the band called the darkest time of their career.
Q 16Which Iowa single appeared on the soundtrack of the 2002 film Resident Evil?
My Plague
"My Plague" was also Grammy-nominated in 2003. The same year the band performed "I Am Hated" in the Rollerball remake.
Q 17During the 2002 hiatus, Joey Jordison formed which horror-punk band with Wednesday 13?
Murderdolls
Jordison switched to guitar for the Murderdolls. Scar the Martyr, Vimic and Sinsaenum were his later projects.
Q 18Under what solo DJ name has the band's turntablist, number 0, performed?
DJ Starscream
Wilson, the band's turntablist and number 0, went solo under the Transformers-inspired name during the band's hiatuses.
Q 19Which producer made Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) with the band at The Mansion in Los Angeles?
Rick Rubin
It is the only Slipknot album Rubin produced. Crahan later complained the band wasted money waiting around "the Houdini mansion."
Q 20Slipknot won their first Grammy, for Best Metal Performance in 2006, with which song?
Before I Forget
The track later turned up on the set list of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
Q 24Which Slipknot album was the first to debut at number one on the Billboard 200?
All Hope Is Gone
Released August 20, 2008, it outsold The Game's LAX by just 1,134 units in its first week.
Q 25The 2008 album was recorded at Sound Farm Studio in which Iowa town?
Jamaica
Producer Dave Fortman ran the February 2008 sessions; Jim Root later said the experience made him appreciate Rick Rubin.
Q 26Which acoustic-led 2008 track has been called Slipknot's attempt at a power ballad?
Snuff
The album also produced "Psychosocial", whose video shows the band burning the oversized "purgatory masks" from the pre-release photo shoots.
Q 27Founding bassist Paul Gray died in May 2010 in a hotel room in which Iowa city?
Urbandale
The next day the remaining eight members held an unmasked press conference with his widow and brother. Gray had been planning to tour with the supergroup Hail!.
Q 28Which 1996-era guitarist returned to play bass, hidden behind Jordison, on the 2011 tour?
Donnie Steele
Steele had left the original lineup over the lyrics. He stood in for Gray from 2011 to 2014, positioned out of the audience's view.
Q 29Slipknot's 2012 greatest-hits compilation was titled what?
Antennas to Hell
Roadrunner teased it with a video on May 29, 2012; Taylor confirmed the release on Twitter the same day.
Q 30The first Knotfest in August 2012 was held in Iowa and which other state?
Wisconsin
Deftones, Lamb of God and Serj Tankian played the two-city event, which also debuted a Slipknot museum.