Stone Sour

To call Stone Sour a Slipknot spin-off band isn't really accurate. Though both groups share vocalist Corey Taylor and guitar player Jim Root, Stone Sour actually came together several years earlier. The band, inspired by the likes of Alice in Chains and Metallica, formed in Des Moines in the early 1990s. After recording a handful of demos that went unreleased, Stone Sour was forced into hiatus when Slipknot, on the verge of mainstream success, tapped Taylor and Root for duty. The group came storming back in 2002 with the (long overdue) release of its self-titled debut album. Despite its ties to Slipknot, Stone Sour steers clear of the nu-metal genre. Not unlike Nickelback, they take brooding, guitar-heavy post-grunge and filter it through 1970s classic rock. After yet another Slipknot-induced break, 2006's Come What(ever) only further accentuated these qualities. Even though Taylor and Root cannot make a full-time commitment to the band, Stone Sour has quietly become a staple of modern-rock radio.