Maynard James Keenan doesn't care about being relevant on TikTok. Within the last year or so, metal bands like Ghost, Metallica and others have, inadvertently or not, been embraced by younger generations on the music-oriented social media app, which is often used as a marker for what bands are relevant with Gen-Z audiences.
During his recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, the TOOL, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle singer candidly stated that he doesn't care about being relevant on that app. Moreover, he also revealed that he thinks bands in his age group who consciously try to appeal to those young audiences often reek of desperation.
"I won't be relevant to the TikTok-ers of the world because it's just not on their radar," Keenan told Rogan. "The things they respond to now…I'm not necessarily relevant. But there's an entire generation of people that's just not my generation — there's people older than me and much younger than me — that have grown with this thing. And so as they're aging, they're discovering it."
From there, Rogan asks Keenan if he thinks about whether or not he's "relevant" to these other people outside of his usual fanbase.
"You can't [think about that], because you'll start being desperate and getting plastic surgery and looking like a fucking alien trying to insert yourself into some stupid fucking thing."
"It turns to desperation very quickly," Keenan clarified. "It reeks. So just maintain your art, dude."
See the interview clip below.
