See Photos of Slipknot’s Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan Through the Years

Shawn "Clown" Crahan founded Slipknot with Joey Jordison and Paul Gray in 1995, and he had a vision in mind. 25 years later, he's one of the most sinister-looking, brilliant figures in metal.

By the mid-1990s, Crahan was married with kids and working as a welder in his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa. Between instances of falling asleep in the car on his drive home from work and having various existential thoughts about the shortness of life, Crahan knew he wanted something bigger. "I started to think to myself that this is not how I wanted to live," he told BangerTV in 2010.

When he approached his wife about the idea of going back into music, she didn't seem to get the magnitude of how serious he was about it. "I was like, 'You don't understand — I'm gonna make the biggest band in the world.'"

It wasn't easy, but Crahan brought his vision to life. By the early 2000s, Slipknot had drawn in a cult-like following and were touring the world. Now, they're a household name in metal, and no one has done it like them since.

Sept. 24 is the day Crahan was born, so we compiled a collection of images of the musician over the years to celebrate. Considering Slipknot rarely did any press unmasked before the late 2000s, it's mostly a collection of images of his masks. Enjoy!