Snuff (song)
"Snuff" | |
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Song | |
A-side | "Snuff" (radio edit) |
B-side | "Snuff" (album version) |
"Snuff" is a power ballad by American metal band Slipknot.[1] Released as the fifth single from their fourth album All Hope Is Gone on September 28, 2009,[2] the song charted at number two on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, their highest-charted single to date, surpassing "Dead Memories".[3] It was not included in the All Hope Is Gone World Tour setlist but the band performed the song live at the October 11, 2009 performance in Kennewick, Washington.[4]
Roadrunner Records placed "Snuff" at number 6 for its greatest music videos of all time.[5] The song was also nominated for Best Single at the Kerrang! Awards 2010,[6] but lost to "Liquid Confidence" by You Me at Six.[7]
It is the final single released from the band before the death of their bassist, Paul Gray who died just eight months after its release, and also the final single released before drummer, Joey Jordison was fired from the band four years later. During recent solo acoustic shows, Corey Taylor has performed an acoustic version of "Snuff" as a tribute to Paul Gray.
"Snuff", ”Psychosocial” , ”Dead Memories” "Wait and Bleed", ”Sulfur”, "Left Behind", and "Pulse of the Maggots" were released as downloadable songs in the Rock Band series.
Background
"This is the slow one. It's another personal one. Again, not naming names, it's about someone who helped me through a lot and I thought she felt the same way that I did and then she really let me down. At the same time, it was good that she did, because it was that final push to me figuring out myself. The lyrics are pretty self-explanatory." – Corey Taylor[8]
"Corey doesn't really write music for Slipknot – but, when he came over to hear the songs Paul [Gray, bassist] and I were working on for All Hope Is Gone, he showed me this… I had him lay a scratch track down in the studio. Then I went in late at night, without telling him, and laid down some drums… When he heard it the next day, he started crying. It's Corey's masterpiece." – Joey Jordison[9]
Music video
It was announced on October 14, 2009 by Roadrunner Records that a music video fit within enough production quality to be considered a short film was to be released for "Snuff",[10] which premiered on December 18, 2009 at 11:09 PM CST.[11] It was co-directed by Shawn "Clown" Crahan and P. R. Brown, and features Malcolm McDowell and Ashley Laurence of Hellraiser fame.[12] Corey Taylor is seen for the third time in a Slipknot video without his mask (the other two times being: "Dead Memories" and "Before I Forget") and is cross-dressed at the end of the short film.[13]
The video is about a man (played by Corey Taylor) who has broken up with his girlfriend, but is truly obsessed with her. The man enters the woman's apartment, smelling things with her scent on it. He then notices on the television a tape that he and the woman had made, and then collapses on to the woman's bed. As she walks out the door, she doesn't notice the man lying on her bed. The man then dives out after her, but she has already gone to visit a neighbor. Going back in, he sits at a table and holds a wine glass that she was drinking from. The glass shatters in his hands and the man goes into a rage, throwing things around and screaming. The video ends with the man cross dressed as his ex and exiting the corridor, revealing it was the man who had exited the apartment and not the woman; the concierge, not seeing the difference, walks back along the corridor whistling the tune to the song.
Chart positions
Chart (2009)[3] | Peak position |
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U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles | 14 |
U.S. Billboard Alternative Songs | 12 |
U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 2 |
U.S. Billboard Rock Songs | 6 |
Track listing
- Promo single
- "Snuff" (radio edit) – 4:12
- "Snuff" (album version) – 4:36
Personnel
Aside from their real names, members of the band are referred to by numbers zero through eight.[14]
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References
- ^ "Maggot Brains". Spin. 24 (9): 118. September 2008. ISSN 0886-3032.
- ^ Slipknot -Snuff Archived 2009-09-25 at the Wayback Machine. FMQB. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
- ^ a b "Snuff-Slipknot". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-10-22.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ Slipknot Performs "Snuff" on YouTube. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
- ^ Guyre, Jen (2010-04-30). "The Ten Greatest Music Videos in Roadrunner History". Roadrunner. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
- ^ "Relentless Energy Drink Kerrang! Awards 2010". Kerrang!. June 23, 2010. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
{{cite web}}
: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=
(help) - ^ "And the winners are..." Dan. 2010-06-29. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
- ^ "Snuff" by Slipknot. Songfacts. Retrieved 2010-01-31
- ^ Bryant, Tom (14 July 2012). "Hell unleashed". Kerrang #1423. p. 25.
- ^ "New Music: Slipknot, Megadeth, Killswitch Engage". Roadrunner. 2009-10-14. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
- ^ B. Crawford, Allyson (2009-12-18). "Slipknot, 'Snuff' -- Short Film Premiere". Noisecreep. Retrieved 2011-12-19.
- ^ Snuff short film featuring Ashley Laurence[permanent dead link]. Dailyradar. Horrorblips. Retrieved 2010-01-31.
- ^ See Slipknot's Short Film Snuff Starring Some Familiar Faces
- ^ "Biography". Slipknot. AllMusic. Retrieved 2008-07-31.