Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor released his book, “Seven Deadly Sins: Settling the Argument Between Born Bad and Damaged Good,” this month to share his worldview about life as a sinner.
“I was 22-years-old, a hard-on with a pulse, wretched and vice-ridden … too much to burn and not enough minutes in an hour to do so. The year 1995 was a full 365-day year of drinking, fucking, lying, raging, and exploring. It was a time of self-shit: self-importance, self-absorption, self-indulgence, and selfishness.”
Sans ghost writer, Taylor speaks directly to his fans for the first time, leaving no topic off limits – from drugs and sex in a hard-living and hard-loving live-for-the-moment existence to realizing he doesn’t need all the booze, women and chaos. In addition to the personal, Taylor also confronts the notions of good and bad and speculates if sin makes us human than how bad can it be?
The book starts at 100 mph, with no sense of beginning, end or middle. Taylor has a lot in common with Slipknot and Stone Sour — attention grabbing image and aggressive chaos — and this similarity is evident in his writing.
The book reads like a psychoanalysis, with the reader as doctor and Taylor as patient, as his stream of consciousness thoughts jump from metaphor to metaphor, from talking about nachos to wrath to rage to religion all while discussing his favorite topic, himself. He judges and labels people, he creates absolutes wrapped in hateful metaphorical bouquets mixed in with a healthy dose of egotistical narcissism. His thought process is just as jumbled.
He states “you see I have been able to move on. I have been able to release, to tap the valve of hatred and turn it into something positive” but later states how much he hates “mall walkers, dog walkers, speed walkers, slow walkers — these people are so frustrating they make us all want to chew and ingest stained glass until we pass out from internal bleeding.”
Also see “I will make you all fucking choke on it,” “you make me sick to my fucking stomach,” “I hope the world gets Mono.”
Hmm … he says he watches the “world without presumption” but his rants say otherwise as he judges the world like the religious zealots he loathes. He criticizes religion but, a few paragraphs later, takes on the form of Father Corey and preaches about sin and how he “gets it” and “empathizes.”
One of the funniest parts was when he said “it is that self shit again, the attitude in which the only one who exists today is me.” Hmm … do as I say not as I do, perhaps?
What else is in the teaches of Father Corey? I don’t care to know.
Readers note: this book isn’t so much about Taylor. It’s a rant from someone who has all the answers with tidbits of his life sprinkled in for taste.
When it comes to musical tastes, it’s so my-way-or-the-highway (you don’t like (insert name here)? Well then f- you! You suck!) so I’m going to recommend this book for Slipknot and Stone Sour fans because, as a fan of Taylor and his lyrical mastery, you will enjoy this half look into his mind, half rant on sin. Hence the subtitle “Settling the Argument Between Born Bad and Damaged Good,” if this is a topic you’ve thought about before or at least care to settle, read on. If not, at least check out Slipknot and Stone Sour if you enjoy awesome heavy metal. — Kate Vendetta
“Seven Deadly Sins” was released by Da Capo Press. More information is available at thecoreytaylor.com.
Jason Price founded the mighty Icon Vs. Icon more than a decade ago. Along the way, he’s assembled an amazing group of like-minded individuals to spread the word on some of the most unique people and projects on the pop culture landscape.
