
While Corey Taylor may be most famously known for his singing and screaming, the Slipknot frontman is also quite the writer. Back in 2010, Taylor had his first book published, which is titled Seven Deadly Sins: Settling the Argument Between Born Bad and Damaged Good. In 2013, he released his second book, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Heaven (Or How I Made Peace With The Paranormal And Stigmatized Zealots & Cynics In The Process); his third book, You’re Making Me Hate You: A Cantankerous Look at the Common Misconception That Humans Have Any Common Sense Left, was released in 2015.
The most recent book to come from the Slipknot frontman is that of 2017’s America 51: A Probe into the Realities That Are Hiding Inside “The Greatest Country in the world.” This last book of Taylor’s came up in a recent conversation On Dough Bradley’s show Down To Hell on March 3rd (the same show where Taylor shared a recent update on the new Slipknot album).
Per the conversation with Bradley, as transcribed by Blabbermouth, Taylor talked about how ‘America 51’ “almost killed” him, and how he has recently gotten the itch to write again.
Bradely asked Taylor if he had any intention to write another book, to which Taylor responded with, “I kind of put a pause on the books about five years ago because [my last book, 2017’s ‘America 51’] almost killed me. It was such a gnarly, gnarly experience. But I’m actually getting the itch to do another one again. And not just another one but, like, another fun [book].”
Continuing to discuss ‘America 51,’ Taylor said, “That was very political. And I won’t bore anybody with my partisan crap, but it was just the lamentations of somebody who could see that we were in for a very long four years.
“When I wrote that, it was definitely something I needed to say. And I was, like, ‘You know what? I’m never doing another politics book ever again. I don’t even care.'”
The co-host of the show, Steph Sciullo, brought up the topic of how a lot of artists won’t voice their opinions because they don’t want to alienate folks. To that, the Slipknot frontman said the following:
“But then they get so bent out of shape when people think that they’re fake or they’re two-dimensional. It’s, like, well, if you acted like yourself, maybe people would get a chance to get to know you and they would see that you’re a three-dimensional person. It’s this lambastic white-bred bullshit that keeps people from enjoying what they do.
“Early on, I said I don’t care if it gets me in trouble. I’m gonna speak my mind. I’m not gonna be a jerk — well, okay, I was a jerk a handful of times — but I’m not gonna censor myself. If I have an opinion about something, I’m gonna say it. And I think people find that refreshing. I know it annoys some people, but at the same time, they’re, like, at least you know you’re gonna get exactly what I think.”
***
Words by: Michael Pementel