“The label says, ‘We need five more Wait and Bleeds.’ I was like, ‘We're really not that band. You sell our records and we'll make them, okay?’”: Mick Thomson reflects on Slipknot's Wait and Bleed, label pressures – and sticking to their own guns

Mick Thomson of Slipknot performs on stage during day 2 of Download festival 2019 at La Caja Magica on June 29, 2019 in Madrid, Spain.

When Slipknot released their self-titled debut on Roadrunner Records, precisely on June 29, 1999, singer Corey Taylor, percussionists Shawn “Clown” Crahan and Chris Fehn, drummer Joey Jordison, bassist Paul Gray, turntablist Sid Wilson, sampler/keyboardist Craig Jones, guitarist Mick Thomson, and original guitarist Josh Brainard altered not only the sound but also the very image of heavy metal as it entered the new millennium.

And while breakthrough single Wait and Bleed was pivotal in introducing Slipknot to the masses and opening the floodgates to nu metal, as Thomson said in a 2014 Guitar World interview, it wasn’t quite the musical trajectory the band wanted to follow for the rest of their career.