In a new interview with Music Radar, Slipknot’s Jim Root threw some not so thinly veiled shade at rap metal juggernauts, Rage Against the Machine. When asked to respond about what it’s like to live within the ‘weird cultural moment’ of now, Root had the following to say:
“Everything is so bizarre and so bananas I don’t even know what’s going on with the world right now. I couldn’t even tell you what is going on with the culture, because, being locked up for two years, and then you come out and everything’s upside down, it’s really… I don’t get it.” Root continued:
“I thought rock ’n’ roll, and punk and metal, and all that stuff was meant to be anti-establishment and against the man, and now it seems more and more like, ‘Obey!’ and do as you’re told sorta shit, and that seems backwards to me. I don’t know if I am the only one that feels that way.
I haven’t really talked to anyone in the band about it, ‘cos we’re just trying to get through these tours, through the protocol and the Covid shit, and all that.
We haven’t really checked in with one another to see how we’re doing, how we’re feeling about the state of the world and all that, but when I hear a band that’s saying ‘Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me’ telling me to do what the government tells me to do, that seems backwards to me.”
A band saying ‘Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me’ is of course a direct nod to Rage Against the Machine’s smash the system opus, ‘Killing in the Name’.
While he makes it clear that he’s not speaking on behalf of all of Slipknot, Root seems to take umbrage with either the fact that Rage Against the Machine postponed their reunion tour numerous times due to Covid-19, and/or perhaps due to the band followed government-provided Covid safety protocols during their arena tour run.
Or, perhaps it is a reference to this public exchange between a fan and Tom Morello on Twitter a few days ago:
RATM never played a single gig in its history that required vaccination. Not one. Fact-check next time bozo https://t.co/CbaI6A2pWe
— Tom Morello (@tmorello) September 17, 2022
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Slipknot is about to drop their highly anticipated new full length, THE END, SO FAR, which is arriving on September 30th. Pre-orders are still available for THE END, SO FAR (via this link here).