Friday, December 2nd 2011
News: Slipknot
Watch Corey Taylor’s Full, Compelling Speech At Oxford University
For the past few weeks, Slipknot/Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor has been making the headlines surprisingly often. His An Evening With Corey Taylor solo tour has already featured a variety of great covers, a revealing rant on Rick Rubin, and, most recently, the bashing of easy-target Scott Weiland over his Christmas album. However, something equally as interesting happened back in June, when the singer addressed about a hundred students at Oxford University.
Speaking at the British university’s Union Society hall, Taylor shared his philosophical views on professional success and art, for approximately one hour. It turned out to be a surprisingly insightful speech, and even brings to mind the famous one that Steve Jobs gave at Stanford. On the first part of the talk, the singer explains the difference between doing the things one loves, and the things one’s good at. He also remembers his time as a student, and why he got into making music:
On the second part, Corey speaks about the importance of admitting that you might not be good at the thing you love doing. He tells the students to find out what their best capability in life is, and chase it, in order to achieve personal fulfillment:
From the third part onward, a Q&A session is opened, going into slightly less introspective subjects. Here, the singer speaks about his problem with drugs, and the way that Slipknot’s lyrics and use of masks onstage were a way for him to translate frustration with his early life. He also addresses what are his favorite (and least favorite) songs that he’s released:
For the last part, the Slipknot frontman goes into hilarious detail on the experience of touring with the band, as well as the difference between working with that group and Stone Sour:
Although the first half of the speech is definitely similar in nature to Steve Jobs’, it diverges from that on one key point. On one hand, the Apple founder was keen on the idea that a person should follow the career path that they love, no matter what, because “life is too short” anyway; on the other hand, Taylor says that “there’s nothing short about life,” and that a person shouldn’t waste it on doing something they love, but don’t have the ability to do well, and will ultimately fail at. More food for thought than you’d usually expect from any given artist.
Corey Taylor’s new book Seven Deadly Sins can be purchased here. His An Evening With Corey Taylor tour has the following dates remaining:
12/04 Boston, MA, Middle East
12/05 New York, NY, Highline Ballroom
12/06 Philadelphia, PA, World Cafe Live
12/07 Providence, RI, The Met
12/09 Sayreville, NJ, Starland Ballroom
12/10 Baltimore, MD, Sound Stage
12/12 Atlanta, GA, Masquerade
12/13 Orlando, FL, The Social
Ermmm, no. He laughs at his own jokes and is modelling himself on Henry Rollins. Do not want.
i think most of that speech was aimed at the cameraman who filmed this.