It’s always a bummer to hear someone who’s achieved success in their respective field choose to talk shit about the people coming up after them. That’s essentially what founding Slipknot percussionist Shawn “Clown” Crahan did during a recent interview, complaining that the music industry’s “future headliners” are “horrible bands.”
While Crahan was speaking to NME, the topic of masked British rockers Sleep Token headlining the big Download 2025 festival came up, something that has apparently been controversial among some festival goers. The 55-year-old musician gave the band some credit for their popularity… but in a clearly backhanded manner.
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“They have their niche and they must be doing their business well,” he said. “The old me might have torn it down, but the new me, the real me, is just like ‘Hey, it’s always up to the fans.’ The fans let the business people know what to do. The fans speak and the business people listen.
“They must be very popular, and you’ve got to remember that there’s not a lot of good music out there. There just isn’t,” Crahan went on to say, seemingly criticizing fans’ music taste…? “In my opinion, these days there are so many horrible bands right now.”
Crahan then continued to comment on Sleep Token, saying, “I’ve seen Sleep Token, I’ve watched them for a bit and I’ve downloaded their stuff. They have their niche and they have a fan base. It doesn’t matter if it has divided [Download fans] because that means 50 percent are getting what they want.”
“I no longer worry about these sorts of things, I just worry about being me and about being in the moment,” he added. “If they’re a good band, and if they work hard – as it seems like they do – they deserve everything they get.”
Up until this point in the conversation, Crahan was doing his best to not be too negative, but then he was asked if he thinks concert organizers have a responsibility to feature younger and up-and-coming bands, to which he lamented that the “days of great music have come and gone at the moment,” which is just a tragically narrow-minded generalization.
“As I was saying, there are so many horrible bands who are going to be our future headliners,” Crahan said. “You don’t want me to start naming off names because we’ll both start laughing and laughing.”
“The days of great music have come and gone at the moment,” he continued. “We’re seeing the backlash of the computer and we’re seeing the backlash of everybody being able to get in [to the music industry]. But where is everybody that got in and did it themselves? They all need validation.”
Crahan then offered a personal comparison, saying, “I didn’t get in a band to get validated. I validated myself. When someone said I needed to work harder, I worked fucking harder. I didn’t need the internet, or socials, or anything to validate me.”
“We have a real problem now, and bands that are good these days – which is few and far – are being prepped for this future,” he added. “We saw that with Bring Me The Horizon. They’re a great band and I’m a fan. I’ve listened to the band since the very, very beginning and they’re doing big things like headlining Download because they can make that jump.”
“Great bands are being pushed into these new circumstances,” Crahan concluded. “What else do we have [without artists like that] – a bunch of crap bands that won’t draw tickets. So yes, the business people need to take chances and push these few good bands in the right direction.”
Look, Slipknot is undeniably one of the most influential metal bands of the past 25 years. Crahan has seen a lot in his nearly three decades in the music industry and has certainly earned the right to have an opinion on how that industry has changed.
However… it’s so unfortunate that the perspective he chooses to voice is that of a grumpy old man who’s disappointed that he’s not seeing his idea of what’s “good” or “quality” music. Lest Crahan — and all of the nu-metal generation forget — one of the idols from two eras before his, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine, once confessed that he “laughed” at nu-metal bands, per Revolver, and never took the genre seriously. Maybe it’s better we just live and let live.
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