“They’re awful”: The worst band in the world, according to Slipknot’s Corey Taylor
Despite the specific appeal of Slipknot’s music, Corey Taylor has managed to infiltrate many mainstream circles. This isn’t just the case because of his immense charisma—of which he has bags—but also because of his incredible musicality, not just with intuitively knowing how a song should sound but in the boundary-pushing and thought-provoking nature of his lyrics.
Unlike most rock and metal virtuosos, Taylor seems to have entered the scene from a completely unique angle and maintained his position as one of the most influential songwriters ever. His repertoire is immensely impressive, not just within Slipknot but in his solo work, too. Perhaps this lies in his ability to transform personal experiences into deeply poignant tracks, regardless of the sonic headiness they seem to adopt.
Take ‘Snuff’, for instance; a somewhat slow and delicate song to be held under the Slipknot umbrella, the song came from a deeply personal place for Taylor, who once said the song was about a complicated relationship with someone “who helped me through a lot and I thought she felt the same way that I did and then she really let me down.” The melody, lyrics, and arrangements appear intensely emotionally charged and, in turn, form likely one of the most intimate songs he has ever released.
However, the instances in which Taylor seems to prove his prowess as one of the more musically adept figures in history aren’t sparse. Almost every track yields its own unique appeal, almost as if it emerged fully complete with the embellishments of an authentic maestro. In many ways, they did. Discussing how ‘Scissors’ came together and why it’s one of his favourite songs, Taylor once emphasised the power of music that sounds “violent and gorgeous”—often the characteristics that bracket his own songs.
This reputation has likely given him several free passes in the past when it comes to praising or criticising the work of others. For Taylor, there’s little worse than poorly executed rock bands who adopt overdone formulas for nothing more than commercial gain. In his mind, Nickelback held the torch in this arena for a long while, but they have since passed it along to another almighty entity: Imagine Dragons.
During an interview alongside Jason Christopher for Jonesy’s Jukebox, Taylor didn’t hold back from expressing his disdain for both groups and how Nickelback is “passing the baton” to Imagine Dragons, “and I love it.” Expressing his dislike in so many words, he said: “I’ll tell you what they are: they’re awful. So that’s cool,” adding, “And they’re from Vegas, so I’m gonna go home to protests. People are slowly coming back to appreciate Nickelback and then just turning their irksome ire toward Imagine Dragons.”
Though the reasons for Taylor’s dislike for Imagine Dragons seem unclear, his spite for Nickelback stems from a broader context involving the mutual disdain of both parties. Ever since they exchanged a series of offensive remarks in the early 2000s, the Slipknot frontman seems to have neglected to stifle his sourness, deciding to extend his frustrations to other inferior rock bands.
