I started to find that music was something that really brought a lot of joy into my life, and it was sort of cool because I discovered that I had a gift for it, too. So the stuff I would listen to I could play along, I could sing along.
Corey TaylorThe biggest difference between me and other artists out there is that they'll put anything out to sell a record or sell a ticket.
Corey TaylorAs much as I love Slipknot, I don't want that to carry over into what I do for Stone Sour. I want both bands to stand on their own.
Corey TaylorI'm a very lucky guy. I get to write music that I love, and lo and behold, people seem to really like it. I know how fortunate I am.
Corey TaylorI don't know whether we will find ourselves in the cross hairs, pulled by the short hairs, or just trying to find the next inane hairstyle. But change is coming; it is inevitable. It is as steady and reliable as a ticking clock.
Corey TaylorWe are defined by our dignity to rise above debasement. We are certainly better people for doing so.
Corey TaylorI want you to understand something: I am loving father who would do anything for his kids, whether they are mine or belonging to others in my family.
Corey TaylorSo many people in the world would rather stay in a situation that's painful but familiar because they're comfortable with it. Not a lot of people have the strength or heart to realize when something's not good for them and to turn around and be alone.
Corey TaylorSlipknot is the darkness; Stone Sour is the light. Slipknot is chaos; Stone Sour is structure.
Corey TaylorFrom depression to ceiling fans, I've been through it all. I've taken almost every step that life has to offer and invariably I've found several different endings to my Choose Your Own Adventure stories. I've lived, loved, sacrificed and scraped for this existence, this paltry little city state I call my time so far. And by God, I wouldn't change a single frame of this movie.
Corey TaylorBefore you tell yourself its a different scene remember its just different from what you've seen.
Corey TaylorI write almost all my songs on an acoustic guitar, even if they turn into rock songs, hard rock songs, metal songs, heavy metal songs, really heavy songs I love writing on an acoustic because I can hear what every string is doing; the vibrations haven't been combined in a collision of distortion or effects yet.
Corey TaylorWhen you're looking for a house, you're not looking for a house that's perfect. You're looking for that house to have character. And I think it's those little bits of humanity they come from the music. That's what the music brings out when you have that, it brings out the character of a song. You go back and listen to 30, 40 years of music, and all the great, great songs that we've had in our lives, they all have that character. They have that human nudge, they all have that human relation. You can relate to it.
Corey TaylorYou gotta remember: we're musicians we're just crazy people who can't get along sometimes. I've definitely come to the table with my knife in my pocket a couple of times; you know how it is. It's part of being human. Now add fame and money and all that rock and roll craziness to it - we're lucky we don't eat each other in this industry!
Corey TaylorBut I always kind of knew in the back of my head that I could come back and do Stone Sour.
Corey TaylorI mean come on. Do you know how easy it is to be famous these days? Do you have any idea? The web has made it plausible to have your very own platform to stand and spew nonsense from on an hourly basis. There's an old saying: when everyone is special, no one will be. These days, everybody thinks they're special, so no one really does anything to be special anymore.
Corey TaylorI grew up poor in crappy situations various crappy situations. What kept me sane was reading and music. I had so many different literary tastes growing up, be it fiction like Stephen King or Piers Anthony or non-fiction like reading Hunter S. Thompson essays or reading the Beats. I was a huge fan of the Beat movement.
Corey TaylorI didn't write my speech until the night before, and even then I refused to write it out like I would say it, preferring to keep cribbed notes I could come back to if necessary. I wanted this to feel like a conversation because it was what I wanted to say that mattered, not how it looked on paper.
Corey TaylorI love the fact that people can relate to what I'm saying, even if it's not for the same subject I was writing about. That is the power of real music and real expression.
Corey TaylorWhen you're a kid, nine times out of 10, everthing is pure depending on how you grow up. Everything is new as a kid, so it's all amazing and wonderful. But as we get older, things start to lose their luster or possibly their relevance. Things don't mean as much as they did then. I know the feeling.
Corey TaylorIt was always a thrill for me, getting out of the cocoon and wandering. I'd let the wind wrap around me like fire and slip into the unknown with a moment's hesitation.
Corey TaylorYou have to live in these moments, not for them. If you look too hard, they blow right by you. If you do not live enough, you will regret every breath.
Corey TaylorThe '90s were indeed a great time to be alive. There was a sense of optimism that I never felt before that decade and I haven't felt since.
Corey TaylorYou don't break ground by doing the same thing over and over and over. That's like standing in place. You have to risk to gain it all.
Corey TaylorI've got to be honest, and I'm not just saying this because the majority of you reading this live there, but I love the United Kingdom. I just flat-out love it.
Corey TaylorPeople such as Hunter S. Thompson and the Beats were a huge influence on me, not just in what they were saying, but how they said it.
Corey TaylorI left Stone Sour in '97 because, by that time, we'd been together for about five years and I was kind of getting to the point where I wanted to do something different. I loved the music that we did and I loved the guys that I was with, but I was 24 and just felt like I needed to go and try something different so I didn't get stuck where I was, you know, just doing the same thing. And, coincidentally, that's when Slipknot came and asked me to join. I'd never done anything like Slipknot up until then, so I was like, "Okay, we'll try this and we'll see what happens." And it worked out.
Corey TaylorThe future is meant for those who are willing to let go of the worst parts of the past. When you cannot take two steps without turning around to inspect your footsteps, you are getting nowhere fast.
Corey TaylorI'm really proud of the fact that anywhere, at any time, I can make music. A lot of people can't do that.
Corey TaylorIt is always the nights you cannot remember that eventually become the stories you don’t forget.
Corey TaylorI think of how and where all the horrible people I've come across in my life ended up, and I smile.
Corey TaylorWhen I'm working on a Slipknot song, it's like a switch flips in my head. I can go there easily - it doesn't take a lot of soul searching - and it's a dark, almost sinister place. Stone Sour is more the way I've always written. It's a different tone.
Corey TaylorI have a really good idea for a novel and would like to just kind of try my hand at fiction. I'm starting to kind of get a really good body of work going from a literary standpoint. As long as the audience is there, man, I'll keep cranking them out.
Corey TaylorEveryone knows Spiderman is my favorite superhero of all time. My favorite supervillain? George W. Bush.
Corey Taylor