Poll: If Slipknot Were a Rotating Cast of Uncredited Live Musicians, Would You Care?
Earlier today, while searching for a backlink to include in the piece about Slipknot’s mysterious “Live.2020” teaser, we stumbled upon a 2016 article written by MS contributor Emperor Rhombus about a fringe conspiracy theory regarding the band’s membership. The “Slipknot Truthers” (lol) allege that the band changes up their live roster constantly, with all members except for Corey Taylor often being replace by someone of similar build.
A website that’s since disappeared claimed to have spoken with one of the supposed replacement members, and a video produced at the time by This Exists (embedded below) chronicles the rest: rumors that Skrillex DJ’ed and Satyricon’s Frost sat in on drums with the band at various points, and that Jim Root’s hand tattoos are sometimes visible and sometimes not, for instance. You know, typically conspiracy theory stuff.
MetalSucks does not endorse these theories; let us make that clear. It is, however, easy to imagine that session musicians may’ve filled in for a few gigs over the years — imagine the logistics of getting ALL nine members on board for everything all the time! Why plan around Sid Wilson’s sister’s wedding (for example) when it’d be just as easy to dress someone else up in that suit for a couple of gigs mid-tour? Extrapolate that concept to its logical extreme and, well, Slipknot Truthers exist.
In any case, IF the theories are true — that much of Slipknot’s live performers rotate in and out on more than a very occasional basis — would you care? Would you be crushed to learn that the devastating performance you saw years ago was conducted by a bunch of fill-ins? Or would it not matter because you headbanged, moshed and had a great time anyway?
