COREY TAYLOR: 'Technology Is So Badly Ruining Music'

Jonathan Barkan of Bloody Disgusting recently conducted an interview with Corey Taylor (SLIPKNOT, STONE SOUR). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Bloody Disgusting: What's your take on the musical styles of today versus the styles 5 years ago, 10 years ago, maybe even further than that?

Corey: It's kind of depressing, man. [laughs] It really is. There's so much that's just glossed over these days. It's almost like this weird cross between the '60s and the '80s. It's like singles were very big in the '60s. And then all the really weird, crappy, forced-upon pop music of the '80s. So now you've got people who don't really have the skills, because technology hides it, going out and putting these crappy singles out, and because that's all there really is, people basically eat it like hamburgers. It's become very, very commercialized. Which wouldn't bother me as much if people actually had talent. When I listen to something and the first thing I notice is that it's been turned into crap, I shut it off and throw it out the window of my car. Like it's the most offensive thing to me. I was just having this conversation last night because the Grammys were on, and I would say 3 out of 4 people nominated were all Auto-Tune artists. At that point, you shouldn't be allowed to be nominated in anything that has a vocal category. You should be nominated in an instrumental category because the computer did all the work for you. If you sound more like a keyboard than a human being, you shouldn't be allowed to walk away with one of those trophies. Of course I'm in the minority when it comes to that, which pisses me off even further.

Bloody Disgusting: So, do you feel that today's teenage generation is lazy or easily persuaded and how to do you think that bodes for the future of the industry and the future of music itself?

Corey: I think you're always gonna have half the generation that's lazy. But I think it makes the other half work that much harder. I think this generation that's growing up really enjoying this pop music is gonna be the same as the people who grew up really liking Rick Astley. It's passing fancy, as far as music goes. But I think because technology is so badly ruining music, it just breeds a generation that's going to be completely 180 [degrees] from that. I think the hungrier generation is just going to completely destroy any thought of trying that. I think we're gonna have a lot more home grown rock 'n' roll coming out soon. I'm hoping. Between the Auto-Tune pop and all these fucking hipster indie bands who are on every commercial, it's kind of depressing in music right now. But, I think it's kind of like me. When I was growing up in the '80s, a lot of that pop shit was just like, "What is this?" And then I found my music in the thrash scene, in the hardcore punk scene, so I had that background and that made me want to make the sort of music I make today. So I think that half of the generation is going to come to the surface in the next five years.

Bloody Disgusting: So how has the work that you've done with SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR reflected what music means to you?

Corey: I guess it's reflected in the fact that I can still do it. If I hit a flat note, you're gonna hear it. I'm really proud of the fact that anywhere, at any time, I can make music. A lot of people can't do that. I just did a tour where it was basically just me and a guitar, and if I fucked up, I totally knew. And I let the audience know. I think the human side is reflected in the music I make, both with SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR. You have to have that. For all the machines out there, you have to have a soul. You have to have some place to come back. And I know there's a lot of metal bands that use technology to hide shit because 9 times out of 10 you can't tell one band from another because of how it's mixed, because of how the drums are being portrayed, because of how stock the guitars sound. So I know it's a problem that really infects every facet of the industry. But for every 9 of those bands, there's a band like SLIPKNOT or STONE SOUR that really tries to stand apart. If it works, it works, if it doesn't, it doesn't. So, for me, the way I make music is just a reflection of how I think music should be made. Where you sit in a studio, and you make music, and you use technology to your advantage, not to hide all the glaring mistakes.

Read the entire interview from Bloody Disgusting.