The feat follows the song’s release 11 years ago
Slipknot joins Spotify’s Billions Club with “Duality” passing the threshold of one billion streams on the platform. The song is one of the rock band’s most iconic and commercially successful songs.
It was released in May 2004 as the first single from Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses).
“Duality” was composed by all nine members of Slipknot at the time. It is a blend of nu metal and hard rock, with a heavy, rhythmic groove.
A notable aspect of the song is the absence of profanity in the lyrics. This was a deliberate choice by vocalist Corey Taylor, who wanted to try something “different.”
The song explores the concept of duality, or having two sides to a personality—the public and the private. Lyrically, it delves into the conflict between light and dark, good and evil, and the need to accept both sides to be whole.
The famous opening line, “I push my fingers into my eyes,” is a powerful image of self-inflicted pain to stop an internal ache, a metaphor for the struggle to find relief from inner turmoil.
The music video for “Duality” is as famous as the song itself. It was directed by Tony Petrossian. The video was shot in a house in West Des Moines, Iowa, that was scheduled for renovation, and features the band performing while hundreds of fans, referred to by the band as “maggots,” cause chaos and destroy the house.
Roadrunner Records, Slipknot’s label, reportedly paid around $50,000 in damages to the homeowners. The video has been widely praised and was even named Roadrunner’s greatest video of all time.
Last month, Billboard reported that the band is close to completing a deal to sell its music catalog to HarbourView Equity Partners for around $120 million. The deal would include the rights to the band’s publishing and recording masters royalties, and covers its archival catalog, but not future releases.
Slipknot released its latest album, The End, So Far, in September 2022. The project is their seventh studio album and final one with their long-time record label, Roadrunner Records. The album also features percussionist Michael Pfaff for the first time on a studio record. It landed at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart and No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
In June 2023, the band also released the Adderall EP, a surprise release that features an alternative version of the song “Adderall” from The End, So Far, along with other tracks.
