Slipknot’s brand of heavy metal isn’t for everybody.
Beyond outraged parents, the Knot have made a few enemies on their way to the top.
While Corey Taylor’s thoughts on certain artists is a meme these days, these artists have unabashedly shared how much they hate Slipknot.
Although some of these conflicts have cleared up since the band’s hard-partying days, some o are still fresh in the minds of fans and artists to this day.
From fellow nu-metal bands to old rock fans that didn’t get it, here are a couple of examples of artists who would be very happy not to hear from Slipknot again.
Then again, you might want to think twice before getting into a scrap with a band this balls to the wall.
Mushroomhead
Two bands who play metal music and wear outrageous masks? Can’t imagine why they’d be feuding.
When Slipknot were first breaking out, fans of Ohio-based outfit Mushroomhead called out the band for jacking their hometown heroes’ look. The fights ended up getting ugly when Slipknot played in Ohio, including one instance where bassist Paul Gray and guitarist Jim Root got into fisticuffs with some Mushroomhead fans.
Frontman Jeffrey Nothing didn’t advise against the Slipknot hate, being more than happy to make signs boycotting the band alongside his fans.
By the time Slipknot crossed over, it was water under the bridge. Even though Mushroomhead have made efforts to tour with Slipknot, it doesn’t help when the frontman refers to the Knot as “The Backstreet Boys of metal.”
Chad Kroeger – Nickelback
Back when Slipknot signed to Roadrunner, the 9 had frequent dustups with Roadrunner’s biggest band at the time: Nickelback.
In 2002, Corey Taylor mentioned not being a fan of Nickelback’s promotion, thinking they were taking away promo from Slipknot saying “I’m glad they could use our money to make Nickelback.”
Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger didn’t back down.. In between takes of a radio interview, Kroeger mentioned Taylor’s comments and thought his side project Stone Sour was “Nickelback lite.”
In Taylor’s mind, Kroeger is all talk saying, “You can run your mouth all you want. All I know is I’ve been voted ‘Sexiest Dude In Rock’ wearing a mask. You’ve been voted ‘Ugliest Dude In Rock’ twice without one. Stick that up to your ass. Dude, curl up in bed with your Hello Kitty pillow and shut up.
Chris Fehn – Slipknot
Slipknot can be a hard beast to tame. While it’s all worth it once the check comes in, Chris Fehn was livid when he found out he wasn’t getting paid.
Just before releasing We Are Not Your Kind, Fehn left the band and said that he was suing Slipknot, citing money that was being withheld from him along with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude to entering the studio.
While the suit was eventually dropped, Fehn has spoken out about the mental abuse that he had to take from the rest of the band, from hazing in the studio to not being allowed to record anything for the new project.
Although Fehn’s case didn’t work out in court, the members of Slipknot have been fairly tightlipped about what actually happened behind the scenes.
Fred Durst – Limp Bizkit
Bands weren’t always happy-go-lucky in the world of nu metal.
In between the tour cycles for Iowa, Fred Durst made comments about Slipknot’s music, saying that it was music meant for fat, ugly kids. While Durst was known to run his mouth, Slipknot made a video for MTV calling him out, saying that they would kill Durst the next time they saw him.
As Durst laughed it off at the time, time was kind to Slipknot. During one of his Q&As, Corey Taylor mentioned Durst showing up at one of Slipknot’s gigs and asking if his son could get a picture with him.
Limp Bizkit may have inspired a bunch of nu-metal kids, but Slipknot was about unleashing that anger onstage rather than toward other people.
Machine Gun Kelly
MGK’s recent pivot to pop-punk has been controversial to say the least. While Corey Taylor may have been supportive of Colson Baker’s first steps into pop punk, they fell out hard before rock’s latest arrival took to the stage.
When going on before Slipknot at a festival, Kelly remarked how he felt really good about not “being 50 years old and having to wear a fucking mask on a fucking stage.”
While Kelly would eventually make claims about Taylor wrote a verse for a song on his album Tickets to My Downfall, Taylor shot back on Twitter saying “I don’t like people airing private shit like a child. So this is all I’ll say: I didn’t do the track because I don’t like when people try to ‘write’ for me. I said NO to THEM.”
Kelly may have wanted to start something, but when you step to someone like Taylor, you have to come correct.
Billie Joe Armstrong – Green Day
The members of Slipknot are all eclectic music fans. Corey Taylor has been known to be a fan of acts as diverse as ABBA and Green Day. However, his love for the pop punk legends doesn’t go both ways.
When Green Day were promoting their album Warning in a record store, Billie Joe Armstrong spotted someone throwing a mask onstage and put it on. Before going into a song, Armstrong said “We’re Slipknot. FUCK YOU!!!” before saying “Why don’t you try writing a good fucking song for once?”
While nothing came of the feud, Armstrong’s definition of a ‘good song’ might be strained. Slipknot aren’t going to write something as poppy as “Basket Case,” but Armstrong is probably never going to write something as harsh as “The Heretic Anthem” either.
Dan Reynolds – Imagine Dragons
Corey Taylor never minces words about his musical tastes.
In an interview, Taylor had mentioned that Imagine Dragons were taking up the mantle as the worst rock band, an accolade he originally thought Nickelback deserved.
Once frontman Dan Reynolds caught wind of this, he made a lengthy post about staying strong in the face of haters, chalking up Taylor’s comments to bullying.
Instead of taking any criticism, Reynolds took Taylor’s comments as an excuse to talk about the industry rewarding people hating bands.
Taylor was not a bot sent to leave hate comments though. For as long as he’s been in Slipknot, Taylor always calls it as he sees it.
David Silveria – Korn
Corey Taylor has never been shy when it comes to calling out selling out.
When the Slipknot frontman saw former Korn drummer David Silveria modeling jeans for Calvin Klein, Taylor ripped on the drummer, thinking that the underground hero had cashed in.
After bringing these comments to Silveria, the drummer had mentioned that he had met Taylor and had kicked his ass for his comments. Though Taylor claims that never happened, he hasn’t said much about Clown modeling for Balenciega.
While Korn and Slipknot have performed together since, Taylor isn’t planning on a reunion with Silveria any time soon.
Dave Brockie – GWAR
GWAR have been known for their tongue-in-cheek humor when performing live. Things weren’t so funny when Corey Taylor started to talk condescendingly about the shock rock band’s antics.
When being compared to GWAR, Taylor said that Slipknot are much more serious and thought that Oderus Urungus was past his prime.
In response, Dave Brockie retaliated at length saying “It delights me to no end that you don’t like GWAR’s music. Maybe you can whine about it some more and we can get some free publicity.”
Even though both bands have mask-themed stage getups, the difference between Slipknot and GWAR are night and day.
Axl Rose
Slipknot is always ready to give it their all whenever they take to the stage. So when they see someone not giving the fans their money’s worth, they’re gonna have something to say about it.
While Corey Taylor admits to being a fan of Guns N Roses, he cannot stand Axl Rose’s recent attitude, calling him one of the biggest douchebags in rock.
During an interview, Taylor spoke at length about Axl’s antics saying “anybody who makes his fans wait for two to three hours for him to go on stage, I have no respect for…You want an ‘Appetite’ reunion? Tell him to fucking stop being a douchebag.”
Taylor also put his attitude to the test during a festival, finding Rose’s piano and rubbing his delicate area on it to screw with him.
Although Slipknot has respect for all stripes of rock, Taylor is never going to cower to King Axl.
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