While Mushroomhead‘s latest feud is an internal legal matter between current and former members, there was a period of time amid the late 90s / early 00s where the group seemed to be mortal enemies of Slipknot. The basic gist is that Slipknot were seen to have ripped off Mushroomhead‘s masked persona, with tensions flaring over that between the two groups, as well as their fanbases.
That bitterness came to a head during a show Slipknot played in Mushroomhead‘s stomping grounds of Cleveland, OH back in 1999. As the tale goes, fans of Mushroomhead allegedly became combative with Slipknot mid-show, pelting the group onstage with batteries and other objects. Incensed by the behavior, members of Slipknot responded by jumping into the crowd and allegedly engaging in physical altercations with the offending concertgoers.
Elements of that beef lingered for close to two decades, as back in 2018, now former Mushroomhead vocalist Jeffrey “Nothing” Hatrix claimed the following of Slipknot in an interview with the ADHD Podcast:
“[Former Roadrunner Records senior vice president of A&R] Monte Conner from Roadrunner had a guy shopping us. And at the time we were making more at local shows than they were offering us in advance and they wanted all of our merch; which was like selling crazy already, and the money just didn’t make any sense.
And he basically made his own [version of Mushroomhead] when we said no. And what’s really funny is that I have a friend that would end up backstage at all these festivals, he became friends with Corey [Taylor, Slipknot singer] and Corey said, to quote him, ‘Was I supposed to turn down a million dollars?’ So that’s what that was.”
Nothing further stated in that conversation:
“As far as what I know, I believe Shawn [Crahan] and Joey [Joridson] were the only ones from Des Moines. They had Anders [Anders Colsefni]—I forget what his last name is—he was the singer. And they wanted someone more commercial so they got Corey [Taylor]. I just heard a lot of stories. It’s like… Linkin Park was Hybrid Theory with the other guy rapping and until they brought in Chester [Bennington] they didn’t do anything, but they were made. They were made and some people thought that it was from our model.”
Mushroomhead drummer Steve “Skinny Felton has since regretted the beef, stating of it back in 2020,”We spent a lot of time complaining about them [Slipknot] for nothing.” In a newly conducted interview with Metal Hammer, Felton continued to express the appreciation he has fostered for Slipknot over the years since burying their contentious past. He told the aforementioned publication:
“Slipknot, man, amazing. One of the biggest heavy metal bands in the world. Holy shit, it’s gigantically huge and what they have done is amazing. And I think it opens the doors for other bands as well as my own. People like this masked metal. They like theatrics.”
Asked now about the Cleveland incident, Felton offered:
“A bit of it over time has been inflated. I wasn’t there personally and I’ve heard 20 different versions over the years. And let’s not forget that it was popular in that era to have beefs in bands and stack people against each other. It was huge with the West Coast and East Coast rappers. The media fuelled it and fans bought into it.”
Regarding the allegations that the group were signed in place of Mushroomhead, Felton stated:
“There were lots of people signing lots of bands in the day. It wasn’t like we got the exact same offer by the same guy who signed Slipknot. And I have a lot of compassion for them, because they’ve put up with a lot of bullshit just to make music and art, and they’ve lost good people. I commend them for everything they do and it just goes to show that I wasn’t that far off many years ago that this type of thing was going to be bigger than we even knew. I wasn’t wrong. It just wasn’t my band.”
