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Who are Slipknot’s fans?
We head down to Slipknot’s Here Comes The Pain tour in Manchester to meet the Maggots that had their lives changed forever by nine masked men from the cornfields…
As he looks back over Slipknot's self-titled era, Corey Taylor has revealed his favourite song from the band's entire discography…
As Slipknot's iconic self-titled debut album turns 21 this week (yes… we are all super-old, sigh), frontman Corey Taylor has been reminiscing over the band's early days – and revealed that his favourite ’Knot song was released all the way back in 1999.
In a reflective piece for Knotfest, Corey explains that his favourite song “by far” is experimental album closer Scissors – and it remains the best, in his eyes, to this day.
Read this: The 20 greatest Slipknot songs – ranked
“I love it because every time we would play it, the whole second half was improvised,” he explains. “We played at each other, free form, free prose, everything. It was violent and gorgeous. Nothing will ever replace it for me – when we stopped playing it live, I had a hard time enjoying our sets for a very long time.”
Lyrically, Corey also points to track three, Eyeless, as a highlight, stating: “I’ve always loved the lyrics for Eyeless. I’d never written anything as raw and open before. It was all about the absence of my father, being a teenage addict and also being forced to enter NA and Alateen when I was still fucked up. In treatment, they kept telling me, ‘It’s all in your head.’ That line resonates with me to this day.”
Former Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison was also getting nostalgic earlier in the week, enthusing how their debut record “made all of our dreams come true”.
“It’s almost hard to believe how these years have flown by like blast beats,” he said. “That album was and will always be some of the absolute best memories of my life. There’s nothing out there quite like it, and what it did for all of us and the metal world. It made all of our dreams come true, and the overall reaction from the fans almost collapsed venues and stadiums worldwide. We didn’t expect it, but it absolutely exploded!
“We were so determined, hungry, and ready to take on the world and we did. We feared no-one, and it showed when we took the stage. It was just ‘that’ time. Total mystery it was. Thank you to Monte Conner, Dave Rath, and all at Roadrunner Records… Sophia John, Ross “The King” Robinson and Chuck Johnson. To the fans, you guys made this happen for all of us, and I dedicate this anniversary to you!!! Metal forever. Thank you eternally!”
Read this: Freaks unleashed: The story behind Slipknot's debut album