Corey Taylor, frontman du jor of Slipknot and Stone Sour, has never been one to hold back his opinions on the music industry.
He’s directed his ire at a plethora of artists over the years, but in the realm of modern rock bands, Taylor has voiced his particular displeasure with poor ‘ol Imagine Dragons.
Speaking to former Sex Pistol Steve Jones a few years back, Corey said:
“They’re [Imagine Dragons] awful, so that’s cool… And they’re from Vegas, so I’m gonna go home to protests. Can’t show my face in this town now. Yeah, people are slowly coming back to appreciate Nickelback and then just turning their irksome ire toward Imagine Dragons.”
The dig was actually a bit of a transference from Taylor’s initial beef with Nickelback. When Jones called Nickelback “the scapegoat of rock and roll,” Taylor ran with it, saying:
“They [Nickelback] are passing the baton to Imagine Dragons right now, and I love it.”
Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Taylor (understandably) didn’t take too kindly to Taylor’s harsh words. In an Instagram post at the time, he responded to the backlash levied at him by rock peers like Taylor, Smashing Pumpkins, and more:
“For a decade now I’ve dealt with critics and other bands saying extremely harsh things about my band. Not what I would call “fair criticism” (which I always try my best to receive and learn from) but actual click-bait horse shit. Words filled with vile and hate meant to feed humanities need to laugh at each other’s imperfections and fails.
I’ve stood silently and taken it for years. It has added to the depression I’ve dealt with since youth. I don’t say this in search of sympathy, but just as a fact. It’s not the person that causes me the feelings of stress and depression, but what it does to the world we as a band have created.
How it could possibly make a kid feel “not cool” listening to imagine dragons. I hate that thought. Wondering if my kids will be made fun of as they grow older because someone thinks my band isn’t cool.I’ve gotten over the fact that guys in other bands (the 1975, foster the people, smashing pumpkins, slipknot, etc) feel a need to talk badly about my band for whatever reason.
I don’t feel anger towards them actually, just more of a sadness that this industry embraces, even celebrates this mentality. I wish it felt like a place where artists stood by each other and supported one another – regardless of our different tastes and voices. My band mates are some of my best friends. We are authentically ourselves and strive to bring positivity and empowerment to the world. We’ll continue to do just that.”
These days, it seems like things are mostly copacetic between the two frontmen. There’s been no public war of words since this initial flare-up. And Taylor, to his credit, has [mostly] calmed down picking fights with musicians as of late, even recently reflecting on the childishness of his 2021 war of words with rapper turned emo-whatever guy, Machine Gun Kelly. You can watch Taylor’s initial comments about Imagine Dragons via the video below.
In other Slipknot news, today marks the 15-year anniversary of Slipknot’s classic “All Hope Is Gone.” Give that bad boy a spin today in its honor.
15 Years of ‘All Hope Is Gone’, released worldwide August 26, 2008. Tell us your stories. 👇#AllHopeIsGone pic.twitter.com/sgomkAhS6x
— Slipknot (@slipknot) August 26, 2023