Corey Taylor names the two artists he “was inspired to be”
Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has named The Clash and Prince as two of his biggest musical heroes, noting “those are the artists that I was inspired to be.”
Ahead of the release of his second solo album CMF2 on September 15th, Taylor has revealed that he previously considered forming a ska band. However, the singer didn’t have time to start another group so the project was abandoned before it even got underway.
When asked about his love of the genre during a recent interview, Taylor explained how The Clash were the beginning of the fascination. “It started with The Clash obviously, because The Clash, they just dipped their toes into so many different genres that they just blew my mind,” he told Loudwire.
He continued: “They went from regular three-, four-chord punk to 2-tone ska, and when they leaned into some hip-hop and there was jungle. They just played with so many different vibes. They just inspired me musically so much. They’ve really been the band along with artists like Prince that they just had no boundaries. Those are the artists that I was inspired to be.”
In addition to speaking about his liking of The Clash and Prince, Taylor also disclosed that he was a fan of two iconic British groups. “So when I got into ska or 2-tone, it was obviously The Specials. I love the fucking Specials. Madness were fucking great. There were so many bands that were just unsung back in the day that you look back and go there was so much great music,” he revealed.
Meanwhile, last week, during an appearance on Steve-O’s Wild Ride podcast, Taylor accused bands who use backing tracks during their concerts of having “no heart”.
The frontman elaborated: “There’s no heart to it. Now the hip-hop community gets a pass because largely what they’ll do is they’ll throw the track on and then they rhyme over the top of it. But you can hear the double track on that, so you know they’re doing it, but they’re actually singing it live, singing along to themselves. However, there are people in my genre who not only have tons of Pro Tools going on, but they’re not physically singing as well.”
Watch Taylor on the Wild Ride podcast below.
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