"Dead Memories" is a song from American
heavy metal band
Slipknot's fourth album, ''
All Hope Is Gone
''All Hope Is Gone'' is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Slipknot, released on August 26, 2008 by Roadrunner Records. The album was published in two versions: the standard album in a CD case and a special edition packaged ...
''. It was released on December 1, 2008.
"I had gone through a pretty brutal divorce at that point," explained
Corey Taylor. "This ''
ong Ong or ONG may refer to:
Arts and media
* Ong's Hat, a collaborative work of fiction
* “Ong Ong”, a song by Blur from the album The Magic Whip
Places
* Ong, Nebraska, US, city
* Ong's Hat, New Jersey, US, ghost town
* Ong River, Odisha, ...
' was me letting go of a lot of regret and cynical feelings. It was very cathartic… I got a lot out on that album.
Released as the third single from ''All Hope Is Gone'', its video was directed by
P. R. Brown
Paul R. Brown is an American graphic designer, photographer, and music video and commercial director.
Biography
Brown's early career in graphic design started at Pentagram in London with Peter Saville and Brett Wickens, followed by Frankfurt B ...
and
Shawn Crahan
Michael Shawn Crahan (born September 24, 1969), more commonly known by his stage persona "Clown", is an American musician. He is the co-founder and one of two percussionists for heavy metal band Slipknot in which he is designated #6. Crahan he ...
. The video premiered on MTV2 on October 25, 2008.
The song is featured in ''
Rock Band 4
''Rock Band 4'' is a 2015 music video game developed and published by Harmonix. ''Rock Band 4'' allows players to simulate the playing of music across many different decades and genres using instrument controllers that mimic playing lead and bas ...
''s "More Metal Pack 01" downloadable content.
Music video
The
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
for "Dead Memories" was directed by
P. R. Brown
Paul R. Brown is an American graphic designer, photographer, and music video and commercial director.
Biography
Brown's early career in graphic design started at Pentagram in London with Peter Saville and Brett Wickens, followed by Frankfurt B ...
. On September 30, 2008, the band's record label
Roadrunner Records released a 15-second teaser video on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
which featured vocalist
Corey Taylor in what appears to be a grave in torrential rain. The video premiered on
MTV's ''
Headbangers Ball'' on October 25, 2008, as part of the ''Headbangers Ball'' 20th anniversary special programming. The treatment for the music video was percussionist
Shawn Crahan
Michael Shawn Crahan (born September 24, 1969), more commonly known by his stage persona "Clown", is an American musician. He is the co-founder and one of two percussionists for heavy metal band Slipknot in which he is designated #6. Crahan he ...
's idea, Crahan calls the video a "short film" and admits it was "very" expensive. Crahan's initial idea was to have several rooms; he introduced the idea to vocalist
Corey Taylor who decided what each room would be.
The video starts with Taylor walking from the
Iowa State Capitol in downtown Des Moines to a rural area. Taylor walks through empty fields and begins to dig. He seemingly falls through the ground into a room below, now wearing a mask. The room is occupied by turntablist
Sid Wilson
Sidney George Wilson (born January 20, 1977) is an American musician. He is the turntablist for the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #0. Wilson was the youngest member of the band until bassist Alessandro Venturella and dr ...
, crawling on the walls and ceiling. Taylor opens the curtains, only to find the view obscured by earth, suggesting the room is underground. Wilson tries to stop Taylor from leaving the room by grabbing his leg but Taylor manages to escape and enter a second room, occupied by drummer
Joey Jordison, who is being assisted and nursed by four women. Taylor spectates the scene, but does not interact with anybody, and leaves. Jordison spots Taylor's reflection in a mirror and turns as the latter exits. He enters a third room, occupied by sampler and keyboardist
Craig Jones. When Taylor enters, the video's colours are reversed and remain so throughout the scene but Taylor's actions imply that the room itself is either very dark or dimly lit. Taylor walks around Jones, who remains immobile, and inspects his mask, touching one of the nails in it to get any response but to no avail. Jones lights a flare, which temporarily blinds Taylor, who leaves.
Taylor enters the fourth room, occupied by bassist
Paul Gray. The room is filled with mirrors and when Taylor passes, he is reflected along with Gray. Taylor becomes unnerved and attempts to ascertain whether it is Gray or not by turning from the mirror and back to it. He then waves and Gray uses the wrong hand, revealing that he is not a reflection. Gray advances, smashing the mirror, and his image appears in all the mirrors, visibly frightening Taylor. Backing away, Taylor falls backwards, and into another room, occupied by percussionist
Shawn Crahan
Michael Shawn Crahan (born September 24, 1969), more commonly known by his stage persona "Clown", is an American musician. He is the co-founder and one of two percussionists for heavy metal band Slipknot in which he is designated #6. Crahan he ...
, who is dancing with several women. Again, just like in the second room with Jordison, he does not interact with anybody, although two women persuade him to stay.
When Taylor pushes his way into another room, he is met by guitarist
Mick Thomson
Mickael Gordon "Mick" Thomson (born November 3, 1973) is an American musician. He is one of two guitarists for the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #7. Thomson originally met founding Slipknot members Anders Colsefni, Donn ...
. The two standoff, only for Taylor to fail to push past Thomson several times. Thomson advances towards Taylor, who bolts through the door he came through. He enters a seventh room, occupied by guitarist
Jim Root
James Donald Root (born October 2, 1971) is an American guitarist. He is one of two guitarists for heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #4, as well as the former lead guitarist for rock band Stone Sour.
Life and career
R ...
and several women, this time engaged in a pillow fight. Root spots Taylor but seems too caught up in the moment to interact with him. Taylor walks through the crowd into an eighth room, occupied by percussionist
Chris Fehn
Christopher Fehn (born February 24, 1973) is an American musician. He was a percussionist and backing vocalist for the heavy metal band Slipknot from 1998 to 2019, in which he was designated #3. He was also the bassist for Will Haven from 201 ...
, who is lighting candles. Taylor spectates and eventually blows a candle out while Fehn looks on. In the end, he emerges from the pit, where Taylor is also digging as shown at the beginning. On November 5, 2009, a 10-minute "short film" version of the video, featuring narration by Corey Taylor was released.
As of January 2022, the song has over 122 million views on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
.
Reception
Reviews of ''
All Hope Is Gone
''All Hope Is Gone'' is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Slipknot, released on August 26, 2008 by Roadrunner Records. The album was published in two versions: the standard album in a CD case and a special edition packaged ...
'' remarked on the song's melody and accessibility.
Blabbermouth.net
Blabbermouth.net is a website dedicated to heavy metal and hard rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. Blabbermouth.net was founded and is run by Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001; in Octob ...
's Ryan Ogle says that the track shows
Slipknot's diversity. He went on to state it is "well-written and melodious".
Total Guitar's writer Nick Cracknell compared "Dead Memories" to the works of Alice in Chains.
Dan Martin of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' compared it to "
Enter Sandman
"Enter Sandman" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It is the opening track and lead single from their self-titled fifth album, released in 1991. The music was written by Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Vocalist an ...
" by
Metallica: "
tis so listenable it's almost conventional".
However, Jim Kaz of
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
said that the track almost detracts from the intensity of the album, stating, "it's at this point the band loses a little momentum".
In the same vein Ogle of Blabbermouth.net says that it's a track that "lack
the white hot fire that allows the rest of the disc to burn our asses".
It was nominated for the
''Kerrang!'' Award for Best Single. It is the band's third-highest single – behind "
Snuff
Snuff may refer to:
Tobacco
* Snuff (tobacco), fine-ground tobacco, sniffed into the nose
** Moist snuff or dipping tobacco
** Creamy snuff, an Indian tobacco paste
Media and entertainment
* Snuff film, a type of film that shows a murder
Literat ...
" and "
The Devil in I
"The Devil in I" is a song by American heavy metal band Slipknot. Released as a single from the band's fifth album, '' .5: The Gray Chapter'' (2014). It is the second single for the album and the first to be released to radio and music channels ...
", which both peaked at number 2 on the Mainstream Rock tracks chart – peaking at number 3. On the Active Rock chart, it peaked at number one.
Track listing
Promo
# "Dead Memories" – 3:41
# "Dead Memories" – 4:00
# "Dead Memories" – 4:28
"Dead Memories" (Chris Lord-Alge mix) CD single
# "Dead Memories" – 3:58
Personnel
*(#0)
Sid Wilson
Sidney George Wilson (born January 20, 1977) is an American musician. He is the turntablist for the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #0. Wilson was the youngest member of the band until bassist Alessandro Venturella and dr ...
–
turntables
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
*(#1)
Joey Jordison – drums
*(#2)
Paul Gray – bass guitar
*(#3)
Chris Fehn
Christopher Fehn (born February 24, 1973) is an American musician. He was a percussionist and backing vocalist for the heavy metal band Slipknot from 1998 to 2019, in which he was designated #3. He was also the bassist for Will Haven from 201 ...
– percussion
*(#4)
Jim Root
James Donald Root (born October 2, 1971) is an American guitarist. He is one of two guitarists for heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #4, as well as the former lead guitarist for rock band Stone Sour.
Life and career
R ...
– lead guitar
*(#5)
Craig Jones –
sampler, keyboards
*(#6)
Shawn Crahan
Michael Shawn Crahan (born September 24, 1969), more commonly known by his stage persona "Clown", is an American musician. He is the co-founder and one of two percussionists for heavy metal band Slipknot in which he is designated #6. Crahan he ...
– percussion
*(#7)
Mick Thomson
Mickael Gordon "Mick" Thomson (born November 3, 1973) is an American musician. He is one of two guitarists for the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #7. Thomson originally met founding Slipknot members Anders Colsefni, Donn ...
– rhythm guitar
*(#8)
Corey Taylor – vocals
*
Dave Fortman
Dave Fortman (born July 11, 1967) is an American record producer and musician. He is the guitarist for rock band Ugly Kid Joe, and has worked with bands such as Superjoint Ritual, Snot, Atomship, Eyehategod, Mudvayne, Otep, Slipknot (on the ...
– producer
*
Colin Richardson
Colin Richardson is a British record producer, mixer and recording engineer. He has worked on over 100 albums and is most frequently associated with heavy metal and its subgenres.
Career
Some of the bands he has worked for include:
* 3 Inch ...
– mixer
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
{{authority control
2008 singles
Slipknot (band) songs
Songs written by Corey Taylor
Songs written by Paul Gray (American musician)
2008 songs
Roadrunner Records singles
Songs written by Joey Jordison
Songs written by Jim Root