See Muse Steal Corey Taylor's Mask, Impersonate Slipknot in 2001

In the late Nineties and early 2000s, Slipknot were known for their wily antics both on and off the stage, but it turns out that Muse once tried to make the Iowa Nine the butt of their own ridiculous joke. Metal Hammer has unearthed footage of two members of the British prog-rock band, frontman Matt Bellamy and drummer Dominic Howard, messing around with Corey Taylor's iconic mask after swiping it from a woman who was standing side-stage during Slipknot's set at Spain's Metalfest in 2001. 

As the story goes, a woman named Paula Meliveo was up front watching Slipknot play at the fest (where Muse were also playing) when Corey Taylor tossed his Iowa-era mask to her after he was done screaming in it. According to a tweet she posted in 2016, Meliveo was hanging with the guys from Muse when she received Taylor's sweaty visage and decided to gift it to them and get into some mischief with it. 

"Oh, the Slipknot guy threw it to this girl at the side of the stage after they played because he must have wanted to impress her," Bellamy recalled of the incident in 2001, according to Metal Hammer. "Unfortunately for him she wanted me so we got it. I think Dom got possessed by the spirit of Slipknot when he put it on. He was running around screaming."

The second part is Bellamy's synopsis of aforementioned video, which sees Howard pulling the mask over his face and leaping around a backstage area while impersonating Taylor's aggressive stage presence. "Sit the fuck down," he yells repeatedly, miming the words Taylor screams when his band is about to launch into the breakdown of "Spit it Out." In the clip, you can hear Bellamy practically dying of laughter in the background while his bandmate jests.

We're not sure if the impression is quite as funny as the "Supermassive Black Hole" songwriters thought it was at the time, but you can see for yourself above via YouTube.