This past Tuesday, Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor became the third nu metal icon to appear on Mythical Kitchen's smash hit web series Last Meals, following in the plates of Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda and System of a Down's Serj Tankian.
If we're looking at the Big Four of nu metal, this means we should have Korn's Jonathan Davis on the show before long. But that's for another episode and another article.
The hour-long interview was accompanied by a menu of Taylor's choosing, and in the spirit of Hot Ones' Sean Evans before him, host and Mythical Chef Josh Scherer took a fine-toothed comb through three decades plus of Corey's time in the limelight. It is a staggering episode, and below are a collection of highlights from C motherfuckin' T himself.
Corey's Midwest accent makes Fargo look tame (6:04)
While not a story from Taylor's past, the Iowa native shows off his put-on Midwestern accent, making for a hilarious moment. In discussing the first course, a breakfast feast featuring "a sub-lethal amount of gravy," Scherer tops off Taylor's coffee cup before both launch into respective diner waitress impressions that would make the cast of Fargo collectively raise an eyebrow. Even if one isn't from the region, they've heard the dialect, and hearing the man responsible for rage-filled tirades in song and script tap into it is a joy.
Ozzfest 1999, going in on a bus, and Billy Idol doing them a solid (9:10)
"We smelled like the leather seat in a 1978 Toyota Corolla, let's put it that way, that had just been sat in a garbage dump, and then you spray with a fart spray. We were the grossest people on the planet, right?"
To say that the band were starving artists at the time of their debut self-titled album's release in 1999 would be putting it gently. As Taylor described the situation, they were broke as a joke, pooling their money together for a tour bus that had to somehow house the nine, and it wasn't easy going. Of all potential benefactors to bail them out, it was Billy Idol who did them a solid. Having owned the bus before them, Idol and his crew left a stash of Goldfish crackers and a case of water, which served as sustenance until the boys learned the beauty of craft services on Ozzfest that summer, which would end up being bogarted and hauled back to the bus.
The first time Corey saw Slipknot was a revelation (15:05)
The real ones know that Stone Sour, Taylor's more hard rock-oriented project, predates Slipknot by a couple years, as does Taylor's involvement with Slipknot. He recounts seeing the band for the first time, noting the band's entrance through the crowd and the "feeling of threat" Taylor felt as the show began. In the mid-Nineties in Bumblefuck, Nowhere, USA, something like this was dangerous and shocking, and Corey was sold in that very moment.
What also sold Corey was the motivation behind the music, as he noted:
"Everyone was in that band was hungry, everyone in that band was driven. They were the dudes in their bands, those individual bands that I knew and done shows with. We had done all ages shows on Sundays for 20 people for nothing, they were all the dudes in those bands who were driven and like 'I'm going to do this for the rest of my life, no matter what.'"
On entitlement and taking things for granted (23:40)
"About three years ago, I woke up one day and realized I wasn't happy. I had hurt everyone I love, I hurt people that I worked with. I had taken so many things for granted and I had stopped appreciating not just what I had built, but the people who I had in my life."
Something has to give at some point, and Corey talks about his struggles with mental health, self-worth, and more with such a grace and a frankness that comes as refreshing. He had the world and wasn't happy, and that meant something was wrong with him, and Corey took it upon himself to seek the answers. He also talks about his relationship with Alicia Dove, and how she's "the first person who loved me for me."
Slipknot are one of the biggest, most recognizable acts in the metal world today, and to see that that success made Taylor want to adapt, rather than become jaded or dejected, is nice to see. It was a long road to get there, as history and his memoirs have shown, but the result is him performing like he never has before in his early fifties, and that's no mean feat.
On masculinity and mental health (27:30)
"It's taken me three therapists all working simultaneously. That's how fucked up I am, kids!"
Given the opinions of metal frontmen such as All That Remains' Phil Labonte being the topic of discussion in the music space lately, it's refreshing to see someone like Taylor being frank about his struggles. Nu metal gets lumped in, only sometimes unfairly, with Kyles and toxic masculinity, and as such, Taylor and Slipknot get painted into a corner. Hearing someone so directly associated with rage and unhinged behavior being so blunt and sincere about masculine culture and emotions is something to behold.
The nacho diatribe from Seven Deadly Sins come to life (30:50)
"Movie theater nachos are a fucking lie. They're a public travesty to all things edible and moral distractions brought on in an attempt to reshuffle a stagnant menu brought on by an industry pigeonholed by their own narrow views.
While not specifically requested by the man himself, the Mythical team took it upon themselves to bring Corey a platter of nachos worthy of his lofty expectations, as he laid out in his book Seven Deadly Sins. The gesture leaves him "smiling like a fucking asshole right now," so job done, though his wife Alicia apparently would not approve. Hey, leave the man be; after all, it is his last meal.
A higher power in "Lord Mother" (36:30)
With lyrics such as "What if God doesn't care?" and songs like "The Heretic Anthem," it feels odd to hear Corey talk about a higher power, but as is commonplace with organized recovery programs, he has his in what he calls "Lord Mother." He defines it as "a little bit of everything," though he recognizes that he doesn't trust organized religion as a whole.
As he puts it:
"When you open up to it, it's like feeling a breeze on the hottest summer day. it's like a glass of iced tea, man. You get that little sweetness, but then your thirst is quenched... I've never been a religious person, I've never been a spiritual person, but letting go of that, the incredible weight of ego, has helped me listen.
Josh didn't recognize Griffin Taylor at The Echoplex (37:55)
The comparisons between Slipknot and Vended, the latter being fronted by Corey's son Griffin, are there for sure, but it has to be one of those things that the Taylor family as a whole are sick of hearing. At a show at The Echoplex, Scherer was invited backstage to meet the band, and Josh proceeded to make an ass of himself, by his own admission. As Josh recalled the tale, it was the mention of blue body paint that had Corey smirking and laughing, having seen where things were going, and it makes for a hysterical anecdote and moment in an episode full of them.
The Nardwuar interview fiasco (44:00)
To call the infamous Nardwuar interview a shitshow would be an offense to fecal pageantry. While Corey was not shown on-camera, never mind that this is before he got sober, he remembers the media blitz, the kind of thing that can throw even the most seasoned public figure for a loop. The general feeling after the fact was "hey, what the fuck was that?" and it's become the stuff of maggot legend since. Granted, in that time, the band was far more defensive of their brand, so the idea that this asshole - at least, in their minds - is mocking them wasn't conducive to a good time.
Grief, losing Paul and Joey, and sobriety (55:00)
No conversation about Slipknot can truly happen without remembering the fallen members in Paul Gray and Joey Jordison. Processing those tremendous losses, coupled with substance abuse issues meant confronting his own mortality, and this all led to Corey joining a twelve-step program in January 2024. He took accountability, grabbed life by the horns, and refused to lose himself. The price of fame was great, but since his recovery, Corey has been able to invest in himself.
The full episode is now streaming on YouTube. Check it out below:
