Slipknot

It's a way for us to become unconscious of who we are and what we do outside of music. It's a way for us to kind of crawl inside it and be able to use it." The concept behind wearing matching jumpsuits has been described as a response to commercialism in the music business and led to the idea of assigning the band members numerical aliases. "Originally, we were just going to wear the jumpsuits we figured we might as well take that further and number ourselves. We were basically saying, 'Hey, we're a product!'" explained Taylor. Their image has been the subject of much criticism, generally thought of as a gimmick to try sell more albums. The band strongly objects to these claims, proclaiming that the masks are used to draw the attention away from themselves as individuals and put it on the music. Several band members have noted that wearing the masks also helps keep their personal lives private. During an interview in 2005, percussionist Fehn went as far as saying it was a "blessing" that they do not get recognized. Slipknot has been the subject of many controversies throughout their career, both for their image and their music. The lyrical content of some of Slipknot's songs has been linked to several violent and criminal incidents. One such case from 2003 involved a pair of young killers who blamed the lyrics from the song "Disasterpiece" for their vicious crime. Another from 2006 involved the lyrics from the song "Surfacing" being found at the site of a grave robbing. Slipknot deny any responsibility in cases like this and to date have not been proven to be liable in any cases of this nature. In 2008, vocalist Taylor commented on a stabbing in South Africa that Slipknot were linked to, saying: "obviously, I'm disturbed by the fact that people were hurt and someone died, as far as my responsibility for that goes, it stops there, because I know our message is actually very positive." Furthering his point by saying: "there are always going to be mental disorders and people who cause violence for no other reason than the fact that they're fucked up and lost."