{"id":376273,"date":"2025-12-29T17:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T17:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/376273\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T17:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T17:48:10","slug":"slipknots-clown-defends-ai-breaking-rank-from-other-high-profile-metal-musicians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/376273\/","title":{"rendered":"Slipknot\u2019s Clown defends AI, breaking rank from other high-profile metal musicians"},"content":{"rendered":"

The proliferation of artificial intelligence has been one of the most controversial topics of 2025, and Slipknot<\/a>\u2019s Shawn \u2018Clown\u2019 Crahan has become one of the few high-profile heavy metal<\/a> musicians to speak out in favour of the advancing technology.<\/p>\n

In a new interview with gaming magazine The Escapist<\/a>, the co-founder and percussionist for nu metal<\/a>\u2019s nine-man wrecking crew calls AI \u201ca professor in my pocket who only wants to do what I ask it\u201d. \u201cI\u2019m employing AI 190 percent,\u201d he states.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He also says, \u201cI\u2019ve been using AI my whole life,\u201d viewing it as the latest in the series of tools which have been set up to help musicians over the years. He then claims to have \u201cthousands and thousands\u201d of poems that he\u2019s written since he was young, adding that, through AI, he can transform them into something else without compromising his vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere are my words,\u201d he says. \u201cDon\u2019t change them. Don\u2019t alter them. But show me some different ways to sing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continues: \u201cWhat\u2019s the difference between me pulling out my pocket producer\u2026 or me trying to get a famous producer that might not even work with me and could potentially cost me $150,000\u2026 who will only give me one or two ways \u2013 I\u2019m not mentioning any names!\u201d<\/p>\n

The use of AI as a creative tool has been derided by many over the past few years. Content generation programmes such as Suno and ElevenLabs have been criticised for using copyrighted music to generate new songs from users\u2019 prompts, with no financial remuneration for the artists they\u2019ve been \u2018inspired\u2019 by.<\/p>\n

Some users have employed the technology to create fictitious bands and amass huge listener bases without ever picking up an instrument. During the summer, several publications observed that The Velvet Sundown<\/a>, an entirely AI-generated psychedelic rock outfit, had more than 320,000 Spotify<\/a> monthly listeners. In October, Lucas Woodland, singer for Welsh rockers Holding Absence, pointed out that an AI \u2018band\u2019 modelled on his group\u2019s music had amassed more monthly listeners than them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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He wrote on X: \u201cSo, an AI \u2018band\u2019 who cite us as an influence (ie, it\u2019s modelled off our music) have just overtaken us on Spotify, in only TWO months. It\u2019s shocking, it\u2019s disheartening, it\u2019s insulting \u2013 most importantly \u2013 it\u2019s a wake up call. Oppose AI music, or bands like us stop existing.\u201d<\/p>\n

AI has also come under fire for its environmental impact, as data-centres for such chatbots as ChatGPT and Google Gemini require large amounts of water for cooling. This month, it was reported that the use of AI led to the same amount of CO2 emissions as the city of New York<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Other metal musicians to speak out against AI include Killswitch Engage<\/a> frontman Jesse Leach, who over the weekend took to Instagram and urged fans to stop sending him AI-generated videos of he and his bandmates dancing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAi is not good for artists, it is dumbing us down and truly killing the thing that makes art amazing and crucial, HUMAN EXPRESSION!\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Even Clown\u2019s bandmate, Slipknot singer Corey Taylor, has criticised AI \u2018music\u2019. He told Kerrang! in 2023: \u201cPeople keep going, \u2018Oh, isn\u2019t it cool?\u2019 I\u2019m like, no, it\u2019s not cool. What are you, out of your mind? What? Suddenly now we have no talent? The only thing that we\u2019re gonna get that sounds cool and new is from something that doesn’t even exist? Screw you, man!\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the artists seemingly in favour of AI-generated \u2018art\u2019 are the death metal bands Deicide and Pestilence, both of whom used AI to put together the front covers of their latest albums. When criticised for their use of AI imagery last year, Pestilence doubled down in a Facebook post.<\/p>\n

They wrote: \u201cAre we so caught up in the past that that [sic] we do not embrace technology? Is recording with tape better than digital daws. Is taking a polaroid picture better than the newest tech phone? It\u2019s still about the music and lyrics and that\u2019s REAL!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

Clown acknowledges the danger of AI in the Escapist interview but argues that \u201cAI is the least of our worries on this planet\u201d: \u201cWe currently are the worst of our worries and have always been the worst of our worries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slipknot are currently working on their next album, the follow-up to 2022\u2019s The End, So Far<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The proliferation of artificial intelligence has been one of the most controversial topics of 2025, and Slipknot\u2019s Shawn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":{"0":"post-376273","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}