Anyone who tries to say 2020 isn't an endlessly unique year (for better or much, much worse) obviously hasn't been paying that much attention to the outside world. Suffice to say, these are strange days indeed, which has somewhat ironically relegated newly bizarre reports and situations as par for this fucked up course. Case in point: with face masks a constant topic of conversation regarding the pandemic, an Adult Swim series welcomed one of most famous mask-wearers in the entertainment world, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor.
Having also attained mutually exclusive fame as the lead singer of the band Stone Sour, Corey Taylor is one of the most well-known names in heavy metal music, although his face may still be slightly unfamiliar to some fans, given his predilection for donning masks while performing with Slipknot. Taylor made a predictably off-kilter appearance on Adult Swim's low-key series Williams Street Swap Shop and hosts Zach White and Matthew Hutchinson prodded him to offer some signature advice to everyone out there who isn't comfortable wearing face masks in public during the pandemic. In Taylor's words:
Yeah. Don’t be stupid. Honestly, for real, if I can wear it for 2+ hours, then you can wear it for five seconds to go in and get donuts. It’s not about freedom, it’s about being smart.
Ever since its formation and ascent to popularity in the late '90s, Slipknot has made the band members' masks as recognizable as their thrash-infused music, with Corey Taylor leading the herd in that respect. Taylor has adorned tons of masks over the years, from intricately freaky ones to more plain-but-still-freaky designs, and wears them throughout the band's live performances. The more Halloween-esque masks that Taylor wears obviously aren't exactly the same as the mouth-and-nose coverings that are required to enter many public places around the country, but they're arguably even more intrusive, especially while performing.
So in his eyes, if he can go on stage on a nightly basis and sweat his ass off while screaming song after song in front of thousands of fans, then it shouldn't be impossible for people to wear masks when grabbing a bite to eat. Mmm...donuts.
For a singer known for songs such as "'Til We Die," "Death Because of Death," "Be Prepared for Hell," "Snuff," "Not Long for This Life," and "My Plague," Corey Taylor clearly wishes to maintain his continued survival by doing what he can to avoid contracting COVID-19. Incidentally, this is also a time where Slipknot's "Spit It Out" should not be taken literally.
All in all, Corey Taylor's visit to Adult Swim's Williams Street Swap Shop was as silly and surreal as the weekly community-embracing show usually gets. He gave his opinions on viewer-submitted mask pictures, and after donning the mask he's used to promote the band's most recent album We Are Not Your Kind, he even brought out one of his newest additions: the skull mask seen above. Taylor said he found the mask while visiting Lima, Peru and was taken by it, and then it was taken (purchased) by him.
Check out the video below, in which Corey Taylor gamely provides vocals for a ridiculous animated music video that he has no context for.
In a year when we've already gotten "wear a mask" messages from Amazon's The Boys cast, horror movie icons, TV doctors, and Princess Bride stars (to name but a few), it only makes sense that someone from Slipknot weighed in on the issue. I guess now we just wait for Corey Taylor to be unveiled as one of the contestants on The Masked Singer, and then 2020 can come to its fitting conclusion, burning up in a bottomless dumpster.
Williams Street Swap Shop streams Wednesdays on Adult Swim's website at 6:00 p.m. ET. Stay tuned to our 2020 Fall TV premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows are on the way in the near future.
