Slipknot percussionist Michael Shawn Crahan, who is known by his stage persona “Clown”, has revealed that he loves pop music – in particular, Ariana Grande and Christina Aguilera.
The musician made the surprising revelation during a chat with the British online newspaper The Independent.
“My hardcore fans are gonna hate me for what I say… Well, not hate me, but they’re gonna be upset,” he said.
“I’m listening to a lot of Ariana Grande, some Christina Aguilera. I have a real love of pop.”
Clown went as far as to call Slipknot pop culture – and despite the band’s incredible successes, he believes that Slipknot can become even more famous than they already are.
“I don’t necessarily want to be a big pop artist, but Slipknot at this point is pop culture, so for me I want to stand right next to those people because they need to know what is happening on this side of art.”
Clown is the only remaining founding member of Slipknot and he generally wears clown-style masks while performing with the band.
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Slipknot’s lead vocalist, Corey Taylor, has recently dished on which is his favourite of the iconic masks he and his bandmates have worn over the years.
“This one,” he said during a new Reddit AMA when asked the question, referring to the mask that he first debuted at Rocklahoma in September 2021.
When asked what was his favourite mask from the other Slipknot members, Taylor chose Sid Wilson’s current look, with Taylor hailing it as “ridicks”, which is presumably short for “ridiculous”.
Elsewhere in the AMA, Taylor also revealed his Desert Island Discs picks, discussed how his voice improved after quitting smoking, and much, much more. You can peruse the full AMA here.
The AMA took place just after the long-awaited release of Slipknot’s seventh studio album, The End, So Far, last week. Produced by the band and Joe Barresi, the album contained the singles ‘The Dying Song (Time to Sing)’ and ‘Yen’.
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