The Downward Spiral of Slipknot’s Corey Taylor

it was just a few years ago that slipnot frontman Corey Taylor joyfully declared that he was the happiest he'd ever been after a lifetime of battling addiction and his inner demons Taylor entered the 2020s celebrating over a decade of sobriety married to his best friend and fronting two globally successful bands as well as an exciting new solo project but things took a dark turn at the start of 2024 citing a total breakdown of his physical and mental health the singer abruptly cancelled his previously announced North American tour the full extent of his struggles becoming evident once Taylor released a video message to address his decision fans were distressed by the singer's appearance noting that Taylor looked exhausted gaunt and unhealthy so what happened to him what led Corey Taylor's Swift descent from happiness and good health to hitting rock bottom to truly understand how things got so bad bad we must first take a look at the singer's deeply disturbing childhood born on December 8th 1973 Corey Todd Taylor was raised by a single mother in waterl Iowa as his father had abandoned his mother while she was pregnant with him when reflecting on his early life Taylor paints a grim picture marred by poverty and violence growing up was very fractious uh we moved around a lot uh we were very poor dealt with I mean it's it's a Cavalcade of cliches you know I mean it was a lot of addiction a lot of hardship a lot of you know psychosis that's not great for a kid and what did your folks do my uh I didn't meet my dad until I was 30 my mom well uh like I said man we lived hand to mouth you know like I'm it was it was difficult it was a difficult childhood with only one income to make ends meet Taylor's mother would often move the family around the country in search of job prospects Taylor had lived in 25 different states by the time he was a teenager and it wasn't uncommon for him to find himself sleeping in closets or bathtubs instead of a bedroom at the young age of 13 Taylor began using speed and developed a serious cocaine addiction by his 15th birthday in the years that followed the Perils of addiction would become evident culminating in a life-threatening overdose uh when I was 16 um and I I OD and I actually I woke up in a dumpster in waterl yeah I'd kind of been tossed in um some friends had uh basically abandoned me cuz they thought I was dead following this near-death experience Taylor would seek a new start by relocating to De Mo Iowa where he would find Refuge under the care of his loving grandmother shortly after arriving Taylor fell in love and entered into a new relationship for the first time ever his heart felt healed but as often as the case with young love the two eventually broke up triggering his deep-seated abandonment issues and plunging him into the darkest depths of depression he had ever known recognizing the immense toll the breakup had taken on Taylor his ex-girlfriend's mother paid an unexpected visit to check on him only to find him dying on his grandmother's floor I was 18 going on 19 and uh yeah I I swallowed a bunch of bills and my ex-girlfriend's mother came to check on me found me took me to the hospital they fed me epicac then they give you this liquid charcoal that soaks up your stomach and and gets you to settle down so I was laying I was laying in the hospital my grandma came and got me and then she brought me home she was very I'm obviously very disappointed and I kind of laid on the couch for a while and the VMAs were on was the year that Faith the mo first played and it kind of re-energized my whole will to make music they really kind of got me up off my ass and that's when I started writing again and started kind of you know making music again so if it wasn't for Faith No More I wouldn't be here Taylor would move forward by finding solace in music forming the band Stone Sour the following year and taking on the role of lead vocalist in the middle of recording their first demo tape however Taylor would abandon the band after being recruited by another local medal group slipnot with Taylor on vocals the band released their self-titled debut album on June 29th 1999 peing at number one on the billboard heat Seekers chart and achieving Platinum certification within the year their second album Iowa would prove to be a blockbuster success upon its release in August of 2001 solidifying slip knot as one one of the biggest bands in heavy music however despite Taylor's apparent success his personal life was falling apart behind the scenes in the Years following Iowa's release the singer welcomed a son named Griffin with his first wife Scarlet but rather than stepping up to the responsibilities of fatherhood this period saw Taylor escalate into a full-blown alcoholic drinking from the moment he woke up to the second he blacked out Taylor himself would recall I would disappear for long periods with no regard for my own safety or anyone else's I wouldn't even know where I was until the next morning I didn't care about myself my family anything I just remember being at a bar and then all of a sudden nothing his downward spiral would culminate on November 14th 2003 when Taylor attempted to remove himself from the planet by jumping off an eighth floor balcony thankfully Taylor's wife managed to stop him from jumping miraculously saving his life at the last second she then gave her husband an ultimatum either he sober up and become a dedicated husband and father or she was taking Griffin and leaving Taylor knew that he had officially hit rock bottom a realization that coupled with the overwhelming fear of losing his family served as the ultimate Catalyst for the singer to finally Embrace sobriety and turn his life around it wasn't until I really took a second and looked at how I was not only hurting myself but hurting the people I loved and the fact that I was basically turning my back on a life that had potential and you know people who I would die for when I was sober that it it really got to the point where I was like okay this is this is these are the steps I need to take to get there he states that he hasn't touched a drop of alcohol since this fateful incident but life beyond sobriety came with its own set of challenges in Taylor's own words the first year I was sober was probably the worst year of my life my immune system was screwed I completely isolated myself I was weak all the time I didn't know who I was sometimes you define Yourself by your vices and I was known as the parier I was the guy that was always ready to go out and do shots and all of a sudden I had to figure out who I was without that and it took me a long time regrettably as Taylor embarked on a journey of self-discovery he came to the painful realization that his marriage was no longer working recognizing the irreparable damage they had inflicted upon each other Taylor and Scarlet eventually made the difficult decision to part ways finalizing their divorce in 2007 Taylor however moved on remarkably quickly sparking a whirlwind romance with a woman named Stephanie Luby the very next year when I saw her I was knocked out okay and I knew that I wanted to purs pursue her it was uh I I found that I had three days four about four days before uh the beginning of the tour uh this was in 2008 right so I flew out to LA just to see her and uh we and and by the time I landed we both had actually said I love you to each other and and it was on and then we've been we've been together ever since the couple wasted no time in tying the knot hosting a star studded ceremony in Las Vegas on November 13th 2009 a mere 2 years after his divorce unfortunately Taylor's celebration would be shortlived as just a few months after his wedding his slipnot bandmate Paul Gray would be found dead in an Iowa hotel room following a fatal overdose the singer was profoundly affected as he and gray had been friends since before slipnot ever ever existed the band would subsequently hold a press conference to address their basist untimely passing where their front man would make a heart-wrenching opening statement yesterday we lost our brother and the world seems a little smaller because of it he had the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known he had the greatest Soul I've ever had the privilege to know he was everything that was wonderful about this band I will miss him with every fiber of my heart he was the best of us we miss you Paul we miss you very much the profound anguish resulting from Gray's passing LED Taylor to completely distance himself from slipnot the singer would Express deep conflict within himself unsure if he would ever be able to continue his involvement with the band this would spark a public war of words between Taylor and slipnot drummer Joey jordison who was adamant about returning to the studio as soon as possible to honor Gray's memory it's not that we're not going to make another record there will be another record you know that there what keeps us going you know that's what keeps me alive is our the slipnot fans are insane Taylor stood his ground in his decision not to return to slipnot until he was ready but things got ugly when jordison threatened to move on with a new vocalist if Taylor didn't prove his commitment to the band as far as I'm concerned slip Knot's my baby and uh you know I have a bunch of songs written and uh I'm in rehearsal right now with all the guys and it's completely on fire Donnie's doing a great job and as far as slip Knot's concerned it will always is with him or without him so that's it Taylor would fire back stating people need to stop being so overly eager I'm not a guy you want to force into a corner I'll walk away during this period certain fans began viewing Cory Taylor as the sole obstacle preventing slip Knot's comeback and consequently turned against the singer this shift in fan sentiment would have a lasting impact on Taylor's reputation in the years that followed he became the target of blame for any band related drama regardless of his actual involvement like when Joey jordison was unceremoniously fired from slipnot in 2013 or when the band went on yet another lengthy Hiatus when Taylor decided to rejoin his other band Stone Sour in 2016 the burden of all this backlash no doubt weighed heavily on him yet nothing could compare to the private hell he was enduring behind the scenes in 200 17 Taylor would reveal that he and his wife of 8 years Stephanie Luby had separated when asked about his divorce in interviews Taylor would openly admit that he had spent the last several years in a deep depression grappling with the aftermath of his second marriage falling apart for 8 years I was married to the wrong woman and it sucked and it was a very toxic relationship and it ate a part of me that I don't know if I'll ever get back it's changed the way I look at life you know what I mean like because one wrong you know decision and then you wake up one day and you're like I don't even know who the am you know I mean it's bad man it will twist you out to the point where when you get away from it you are now this psychotic ball of emotion that is just trying to figure out what gives you Joy now 2017 would also see Taylor make an appearance on an episode of the therapist a show where musicians seek to reconcile their troubled pasts it was on this program that Taylor would make a shocking Revelation about his childhood I was I was by someone in the neighborhood he was this 16-year-old kid and he would invite me over to his house to play music and one day it became something else else and I didn't tell anybody for a long time because he threatened to hurt me threatened to hurt my mom he ended up burning his house down they fled in the night was kind of crazy Taylor would Channel these emotions and more into the lyrics found on slipnot 6 studio album we are not your kind which was released on August 9th 2019 Taylor would subsequently enter into his third marriage with accomplished professional dancer Alicia Doug of but 2019 also exposed another side of the front man one that fans never could have expected slipnot percussionist Chris feain shocked the music world when he filed a lawsuit against his bandmates for withheld payments feain specifically accused Corey Taylor and founding member Shan clown cran of hiding money from the rest of the band and keeping it for themselves the lawsuit was ultimately settled out of court and and feain was predictably fired from slip knot with this incident further tarnishing Taylor's reputation in the eyes of fans nevertheless the resilient singer remained unfaced in fact Taylor proclaimed that he was happier than ever in 2022 citing the Fulfillment he experienced in his marriage as well as the joy derived from raising his children and excelling in his career he would tell Clash music before all of this I was going through one one of the darkest times in my life my life was in upheaval I was getting toward the end of a really toxic marriage and was taking the steps to get out of that I was in a really dark spot man I was in a bad way trying to focus and stay through that was tough but the changes and decisions that I made over the next 4 years really got me to where I am now I'm happier than I have ever been this is as close to the best time of my life that I have ever been man it's good to feel however within a year after this this interview Taylor's demeanor underwent a severe decline during a 2023 appearance on the feedback death podcast Taylor lamented slip Knot's financial situation stating that he and his bandmates didn't make much money we're never going to see Taylor Swift money you know that so you know the misconception that you know all rock stars are just rolling in it that's not true there's a reason why we have to tour as much as we do because that's the only way we can actually pay our bills he would later tell rockfeed that he lives in a constant state of physical pain following a lifetime of touring recent videos of Taylor highlight the evident struggle he faces just to walk up a flight of stairs 2023 would also see the sudden departure of two slipnot members both keyboardist Craig 133 Jones and drummer J Weinberg left the band in quick succession sparking controversy among fans still Taylor had a lot to look forward to the singer was gearing up to release his second solo album cmf2 in September of 2023 Taylor was extremely confident in his solo material proclaiming in interviews that it would be the best rock album of that year in a momentous occasion the singer even celebrated his 50th birthday on December 8th 2023 marking the Milestone by announcing a massive North American solo tour in support of cmf2 however in one instant everything took a turn for the worst just 28 Days Later Taylor released a statement via social media informing fans that he was canceling his previously announced tour the post read for the past several months my mental and physical health have been breaking down and I reached a place that was unhealthy for my family and I I know this decision will come as a shock to some and and may be regarded as unpopular by others but after taking a hard look at where I am and where I was going I need to pull myself back and be home with my family for the time being Taylor's statement came in the wake of a new lawsuit that was being levied against slipnot this time by the estate of Joey jordison who had passed away in 2021 the lawsuit specifically listed Taylor claiming he and the band exploited jordon's death to boost album sales but less than 3 weeks after cancelling his tour Taylor announced a short run of shows in Asia fans quickly expressed their outrage online confused as to why his concerts in North America were cancelled while he carried on with his performances overseas what happened next was alarming as Taylor would address the issue by way of a video message revealing the singer's gaunt and unhealthy appearance I um over the last year have had a complete and utter breakdown of boundaries mental health ego entitlement uh the whole nine yards uh culminating in a very very real very near relapse that uh I'm just doing the best for me right now and it's uh it's a it's a long run um and I don't know what's at the end of it but I uh I look forward to it I have gratitude for it and um I hope uh you can show me some patience fans immediately expressed their concern for Taylor's Health with comments that included I'm actually shocked by how rough he looks here extremely tired and gaunt he sounds rough too with another writing look I don't want to see another of our Legends take themselves out like Cornell Co Bane Bennington Staley and others if he recognizes the path he was going and needs to be isolated from the spotlight to heal that sh let him Taylor had previously spoken on the self-termination of fellow rock musician Chester Bennington who was found hanging in his Southern California home on July 20th 2017 he killed himself right yeah you have any idea why he fought what a lot of us fight which is that that serious depression that heavy depression unless you've walked in those shoes you don't understand the the pain the weight of kind of carrying that along and there's no right way to deal with it you it's there's no Universal fix all so you spend your whole life trying to find what works for you for now fans will continue to root for the singer encouraging him to summon the strength to climb out of the darkness like he has so many times before it was Cory Taylor himself however who said it best nothing on this planet is worth going away for there is always light at the end of the tunnel there is always a way out

Channel: Heavi

Views: 341,914

Keywords: slipknot, corey taylor, joey jordison, slipknot kicks out jay, paul gray, chris fehn, roadrunner records, slipknot psychosocial, slipknot duality, corey taylor snuff, corey taylor interview, slipknot live, heavy metal

Id: p6vzOAbepFM

Length: 20min 12sec (1212 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 20 2024