Corey Taylor may be a living metal legend, but were it not for a chance encounter during one of his darkest moments as a teenager, he may have never pursued a career in music at all. In fact, had it not been for an inadvertent intervention from some 90s alt metal heroes, he may well not be with us today.
In a candid new interview with Metal Hammer magazine, Taylor is asked which band made him think he could be in music himself. The Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman is typically straightforward and raw in his response.
“Seeing Faith No More on the [MTV] Video Music Awards in 1990," he answers. "It was the day of my last attempt at suicide. I had attempt edit a couple of times before. This time, I’d just hit the bottom of the bottom. I’d taken a handful of pills from the bathroom – I didn’t know what they fuck they were. Luckily, my ex-girlfriend’s mom, who was an EMT, happened to stop by my house to check on me ’cos she knew what I was going through. She found me on the floor, called 911, and they rushed me to hospital and pumped my stomach, which I don’t recommend.
"My grandmother came and picked me up from the hospital," he continues. "I was lying on the couch, thinking, ‘Why am I doing this?’ I turn on the television and here comes Faith No More playing Epic. They sounded amazing, Mike Patton was out of his gourd. The next day I started putting signs up in guitar places, looking for people to start bands with. And that’s where it all started.”
Thankfully, Taylor is very much still with us and in fine form, with his second solo studio album, CMFT2, due out on September 15. You can read more from his interview in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, out now.
