In a recent interview with Paste, SLIPKNOT frontman Corey Taylor expressed his frustration over his songwriting contributions being overlooked within the band. He stated that there have been instances where he composed material for one of his bands, but other band members took credit for his work.
This has prompted Taylor to take a solo route, which he sees as an opportunity to set the record straight and highlight his prowess as a songwriter. He expressed similar sentiments about his time with STONE SOUR, indicating that he did not receive the recognition he deserved for his musical contributions.
“When STONE SOUR first started, not only was I playing guitar constantly, but I was also the lead guitarist and main writer. Honestly, one of the reasons why I was very adamant about starting my solo thing is that there was a weird misconception around who was writing what for what band,” Taylor said.
“Maybe this is where my ego comes into play, but I felt like I wasn’t getting the credit for the things I was actually writing. With STONE SOUR, it was fairly obvious, but there were a lot of songs that I wrote that people thought [guitarists] Jim [Root] or Josh [Rand] wrote where that wasn’t the case at all.”
Elaborating on comparable situations within SLIPKNOT, Taylor offered: “With SLIPKNOT, there was a lot of stuff that either wouldn’t have been written without me, or that I wrote that other people gave [themselves] credit [for]. As someone who takes great pride in sitting down and creating something from nothing — just from my imagination — that stuck in my craw.”
Taylor then articulates how his solo venture provides an opportunity for him to display his prowess as a songwriter.
“I’ve never shied away from giving credit to the people who deserve it,” he said. “I’ve never taken credit for anything that I didn’t do, and I’ve always been the first to shine the spotlight on anybody else. I don’t necessarily get that in return. So this, for me, is setting the record straight and changing the narrative. Showing people that, ‘Oh yeah, he does write heavy s**t. And country s**t. And acoustic s**t. And piano s**t. And rock s**t. Hardcore s**t’—the gamut.”
