Corey Taylor on the first time he met Ozzy Osbourne: “It was like being baptised”
Every great metal band has always been informed by Black Sabbath. Whether they know it or not, every band that has played a riff destined to scare the straight establishment away is born from the same band that made songs like ‘Paranoid’ and ‘War Pigs’. Unsurprisingly, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor has the utmost respect for Ozzy Osbourne, and the first time they met was an unforgettable experience for the singer.
When Taylor’s career was in its infancy, he first revealed how Sabbath’s music shaped his development, saying in an interview: “I wanna say I was at my grandma’s house, and my uncle Alan was playing Sabbath. He put on ‘Paranoid‘, and I just remember hearing that riff and being just mesmerised by it. I was just, like, ‘What is that?’ Then everything just kind of kicked in. And I remember listening to it and just listening to it and listening to it, going, ‘I just wanna hear that over and over and over again’.”
Prior to his life-changing introduction to the band, Taylor was oblivious to the early work of the ‘Prince of Darkness’ who he thought was always a solo artist. He added: “I was blown away. I was, like, ‘How do you get to be two amazing bands?’ So it was really cool, man, to find Black Sabbath and then be able to become a fan and really be able to kind of trace that all the way through our history has been incredible”.
Although Sabbath remained a cornerstone in Taylor’s life, the real turning poing came when he started to enjoy mainstream success with Slipknot. On one of their first major tours, the band got to play Ozzfest ’99. When speaking to Loudwire, Taylor shared his amazement at meeting Ozzy, and said: “I was sitting at a table with Sharon and Jack {Osbourne} and a couple of other guys from Slipknot. And out of nowhere comes Ozzy. Sharon introduces us, and he’s like, ‘Oh, you’re in Slipknot, there’s nine guys, right? I want to be number ten’. It was like being baptised and knighted all at the same time”.
The tour helped Slipknot cut their teeth, and Taylor remains grateful to Ozzy’s son Jack for helping his band get the gig. He continued: “Jack was the only reason we were on Ozzfest ’99. He was a huge fan and talked his mom into bringing us on”.
As the rest of the series of shows played out, the tides started to turn in Slipknot’s favour. Following the run of dates, it was clear to Taylor that Slipknot could no longer be a support act, and had graduated to headliner status. Taylor said: “After the Coal Chamber, which was our tour after Ozzfest, we would play, and then half the audience would leave. No one wanted to take us out on the road anymore”.
Watch the footage below from Slipknot’s performance at Ozzfest.
