The Negative One is a song by Slipknot and the first single from the album .5: The Gray Chapter, released on August 1, 2014. t was the band’s first new song since the death of bassist Paul Gray in 2010 and the 2013 firing of drummer Joey Jordison.
An accompanying music video premiered on Slipknot’s official website on August 5, 2014; however, no band members were featured. Vocalist Corey Taylor told BBC Radio 1 that he saw the song as more of a “gift to the fans” than a regular single though it was still released as a digital single on iTunes and many other digital music retailers. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2015.
The Negative One returns to a more aggressive and chaotic sound, similar to the sound of Iowa and the self-titled debut album. Among others, it contains double-bass attacks and stomping percussion strikes combined with fast riffs, shrieking samples, and continuous aggressive shouting and screaming by Corey Taylor. The drumming was compared to the style of Lamb of God‘s Chris Adler, which led some to the question if he was the new drummer for Slipknot, although Adler said the rumor was incorrect.
Tracklist:
- The Negative One (album version)
- The Negative One (clean version)
The video was released on the band’s official website via a private YouTube link after a countdown on their official site timed out on August 5. The next day, the video was made publicly available. Directed by Shawn Crahan, the music video features two women performing various acts along with props paying homage to some of Slipknot‘s earlier work. It does not feature any of the band members.
This was the band’s first NSFW video on YouTube and must have an account with 18+ years of age to watch. The video was whitelisted when first released, but now the link is public. However, age verification is still required. As of August 2022, the song has 25 million views on YouTube.
Credits
Sid Wilson: turntables
Chris Fehn: Percussion, backing vocals
Jim Root: guitars
Craig Jones: keyboards, samples, media
Shawn Crahan: percussion
Mick Thomson: guitars
Corey Taylor: vocals
Jay Weinberg: drums
Alessandro Venturella or Donnie Steele: bass
