The reason why Corey Taylor was known as the “ceiling-fan guy”
Nicknames can be ruthless and often inexplicable. To millions, Corey Taylor is known as the masked singer from Slipknot. However, to his nearest and dearest in his hometown, Taylor goes by the name of the “ceiling-fan guy”.
When it comes to nicknames in the music industry, there’s none finer than ‘The Boss’ as a moniker for Bruce Springsteen. As the leading man of The E Street Band, Springsteen wasn’t merely in control of their artistic endeavours; he was in charge of every aspect of the band. During their early days and playing bars in New Jersey, Bruce was the one who collected the money at the end of the evening.
Internally within the group, Springsteen has always been ‘The Boss’, and now, his legion of fans also know him by the tag. Nickname connoisseur, Andrew Delahunty, told the BBC in 2009: “In the early days when he and the E-Street Band played gigs in small venues, it was Bruce’s job to collect the money and pay the rest of the band. This led them to start calling him The Boss, a nickname which has stuck.”
Fortunately for Taylor, his nickname “ceiling-fan guy” didn’t spread beyond Des Moines, Iowa. However, in 2007, the Slipknot singer decided to share the story behind his alias with the broader world and explain how he earned such a baffling sobriquet.
“Should I tell you about ‘ceiling-fan night’? Let me tell you about the ceiling-fan night,” he told Revolver Magazine in an interview. Taylor explained how a friend from a wealthy background was hosting a party while their parents were away, which is when the incident happened. “So let me set the scene for you. We’re up in this bedroom. I have two thighs on my face and a girl on my crotch. They’re making out, and it kicks ass,” the singer remembered.
He continued: “I’m gonna bounce off the bed and stagedive into the crowd — and basically just shove everyone out of the room. I’m laying on my back going, Fuck, what happened? and the whole room is screaming with laughter.”
After making a mockery of himself in front of the whole room, Taylor had to dust himself off quickly. The musician added: “The thing that sucked was I had to play a show the next day, and most of the people who were there were at the party. The ongoing joke for years afterwards was, ‘Oh, Corey, be careful, there’s a ceiling fan in here!’ And I would just go, ‘Ah, if only you knew’.” However, the Slipknot singer had the last laugh and concluded his tale by saying, “Because two days later, I finished that threesome!”
