The current Slipknot lineup has about as much in common with the original as today’s Lynyrd Skynyrd has with a time-traveling version of themselves. In other words, not much.
It’s sad to see Jay Weinberg leave the band, especially since we don’t know why they are parting ways. Slipknot’s statement today that the band is “evolving” and made “a creative decision” doesn’t offer much insight.
But with losing a talented drummer with an immense amount of stage presence, Slipknot’s evolution better be in a direction that doesn’t leave fans left behind… with dead memories.
Is this going to be like the evolution of the dodo bird? They evolved to lose their ability to fly, which contributed to their extinction once humans invaded with hunting and deforestation. Will the fans stay loyal to the band during this “evolution”? We’ll have to wait and see whether this evolution is going in a way that aligns with the survival of the fittest in the metal world. This genre has a plethora of talented artists with the stage presence and skill that Slipknot undeniably has.
I’ll continue to enjoy the music they have put out over the last quarter century, but that doesn’t mean I have to like or consume music from this upcoming era. That said, despite all of the changes over the years, I enjoyed the Slipknot lineup that I woke up to this morning (before the announcement was made) so maybe their constant and vicious recruit-and-discard cycle has some musical merit 🤔
All I know is that while the rest of us worry about losing our jobs to AI, Slipknot members worry about waking up to notices that they can’t sit at the cool kids’ table. Slipknot will soon realize that if they aren’t making decisions that benefit their music, they will become forgotten but not gone.
Janice MacGregor 