Woody Weatherman

Corrosion of Conformity (also known as COC) is an American heavy metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina, formed in 1982.

The band has undergone multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with guitarist Woody Weatherman as the sole constant member.

Corrosion of Conformity was formed in Raleigh, North Carolina, by bassist and vocalist Mike Dean, guitarist Woody Weatherman, drummer Reed Mullin, and singer Benji Shelton in 1982.

They were influenced by heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, and Judas Priest, as well as by hardcore groups like Black Flag, Bad Brains, Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, Discharge, Germs, and "a lot of older D.C. bands."

They released tracks on the No Core cassette tape compilation on the label of the same name along with other North Carolina punk bands in 1982 as well as on the "Why are we here?"

7" compilation in 1983, also on the No Core label. Shelton quit the band in 1983 and COC first recruited Robert Stewart to sing but he stayed only for about a month, so they recruited Eric Eycke from fellow Raleigh band Colcor to be the new singer. They recorded their first album, "Eye for an Eye", with Eycke.

Their first three studio albums―Eye for an Eye (1984), Animosity (1985) and Blind (1991)―attracted the attention of Columbia Records, who signed the band in 1993.

Their hardcore punk-oriented 20-track debut Eye for an Eye—the only album featuring Eycke—was initially released in 1984 and later re-released by Caroline Records in 1989.

Soon after, Eycke left the band and COC continued as a three-piece with Dean and Mullin sharing vocal duties on 1985's follow-up Animosity, released through the Metal Blade Records imprint Death Records.

Although it was well-received upon release and is now seen as an important album in the crossover thrash genre, Metal Blade did little to promote the album, prompting Dean to quit the band in 1987.

COC recruited Simon Bob Sinister to replace Dean, after the breakup of their fellow Carolina band and Death Records labelmates Ugly Americans.

The band's 1987 release, the Technocracy EP, featured the hectic crossover thrash musicianship of COC with a cleaner vocal style than they had in the past.

The band issued the EP in order to fulfil their contractual obligations with Metal Blade.

Bob soon left Corrosion of Conformity to return to Ugly Americans, after which the band broke up without notice for two years.

Mullin said that because Metal Blade had charged the band for Technocracy as if it were a full-length album, "[the band] lost a lot of control, we lost sight [and] we lost our track. We were finished."

Weatherman, founding bassist Mike Dean, founding drummer Reed Mullin and vocalist/guitarist Pepper Keenan (who joined the band in 1989) are widely regarded as its 'classic' lineup.

In 1989, Weatherman and Reed decided to reform Corrosion of Conformity and began searching for a new vocalist, even posting a classified in Flipside Fanzine for a singer similar in sound to "James Hetfield or Ozzy Osbourne" to go with their new metal sound.

Karl Agell was recruited on vocals, Phil Swisher on bass and Pepper Keenan as a second guitarist.

Around this time, Caroline Records released some old tracks with Mike Dean singing during this time with the aptly named Six Songs with Mike Singing EP.

Dean also participated in Snake Nation.

The new lineup released 1991's Blind.

Blind was the first COC album to receive mainstream attention.

The video for "Vote with a Bullet" (the only song with Keenan on vocals on the album) received airplay on MTV and the album cracked the Billboard Heatseekers chart in early 1992.

In 1993, Agell and Swisher left the band and formed the band Leadfoot, Dean returned and Keenan took over lead vocals.

The band began working on their next album for Relativity, Deliverance.

During this time however, session demos for the album found their way into the hands of Columbia Records.

The label then offered to buy the band's contract from Relativity; when the label refused, Sony/Columbia bought Relativity, turned it into a distribution label, and transferred the band's contract over to Columbia.

Deliverance saw the band also incorporating stoner and Southern rock influences, which they also carried onto the following albums.

Corrosion of Conformity found success with the release of their 1994 fourth studio album, Deliverance, which peaked at number 155 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the hits "Albatross" and "Clean My Wounds".

In 1994, their song Big Problems was featured on the Clerks soundtrack.

The song "Clean My Wounds" was featured in the anime movie Tekken: The Motion Picture.

Deliverance was the band's biggest selling album.

This was mainly due to the singles "Albatross" and "Clean My Wounds" becoming Top 20 hits on rock radio and the album managed to spend almost four months on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 155.

On the Heatseekers chart, it peaked at No. 5 and lasted almost a year on that particular chart.

Their 1996 follow-up Wiseblood was also successful, and at the time, it was the band's highest-charting album in the United States, peaking at number 104 on the Billboard 200.

After a hiatus in 2006, Corrosion of Conformity returned in 2010 without Keenan, who had been busy touring and recording with Down, but announced their reunion with him in December 2014.

The band started as a hardcore punk band but later moved towards a slower and blues-tinged heavy metal sound.

To date, the band has released ten studio albums, four EPs, one compilation, and one live album.

By 2011, the album had sold over 250,000 copies in the United States.

Their latest album, No Cross No Crown, was released in 2018 and became the band's first album to enter the top 100 on the Billboard 200, where it peaked at number 67.