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“The first Slipknot album is all chaos; the Stone Sour album is a baring of the soul”: Corey Taylor reveals the 10 albums that changed his life
Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor spoke to Metal Hammer in 2011 about the ten albums that shaped him as a musician and person, ranging from his childhood introduction to heavy metal through to more introspective solo-era influences. The piece offers a personal, career-spanning insight into how Taylor's tastes evolved from the arena metal of his youth to the more soul-searching material he later drew on with Stone Sour.
Taylor traces his musical awakening to Iron Maiden, naming both Powerslave (1984), the first album he ever owned, gifted by his grandmother one Christmas alongside Mötley Crüe's Girls, Girls, Girls, and Somewhere in Time (1986), prized for its gatefold artwork. He goes on to describe how Slipknot's self-titled debut represented pure chaos, while Stone Sour's album marked a more personal, soul-baring departure, with further picks reportedly including artists as varied as Depeche Mode and Ray LaMontagne.
In short
- Corey Taylor names the ten albums that shaped his life and music
- Iron Maiden's Powerslave, a Christmas gift, started it all
- Picks range from Slipknot's chaos to Ray LaMontagne's soul
Explained simply
Corey Taylor is the lead singer of Slipknot, one of the most significant heavy metal acts of recent decades, as well as Stone Sour, a side project with a more introspective musical approach. In 2011, he gave an interview to Metal Hammer magazine in which he discussed the ten albums that had shaped him as both a musician and a person. He traced how his musical interests evolved from his childhood discovery of heavy metal through to the more introspective influences that came later.
Slipknot and Stone Sour represent starkly different musical approaches, with Slipknot characterised by aggressive, chaotic heavy metal and Stone Sour exploring more measured, reflective territory. His two projects illustrate the range of his musical interests. The interview shows he draws from artists across multiple genres and musical eras.