There are two things even people who don’t like Slipknot know about Slipknot. One, they wear masks. And two, there are nine of them. Except singer Corey Taylor reveals there was almost a 10th member – Ozzy Osbourne.
In an interview in the brand new issue Classic Rock magazine, Taylor – who has just released his second solo, CMF2 – looks back on the time the Black Sabbath singer once offered his services to the Iowa metal band when Slipknot appeared on the Ozzfest in 1999.
“The reason Slipknot got onto Ozzfest [in 1999] is because we were [Ozzy’s son] Jack’s favourite band,” he says. “Sharon gave us a little more leeway because of that. We did some crazy shit, but she’d be, ‘It’s fine, it’s Slipknot’”
Taylor then recalled the first time he properly met Ozzy.
“I was sitting at a table with Jack and Kelly and Sharon,” he says. “All of sudden, Ozzy comes bounding up: ‘Sharon, can you help me with my earrings?’ And Sharon goes, ‘Ozzy, this is one of the members of Slipknot, it’s Corey, he’s the singer.’
“He looks at me and goes, “You’re the guys with nine members? I wanna be number ten!” I was, like, ‘Dude, you’re Ozzy, anything you want!’ It was like meeting Superman.”
In the same interview, Taylor talks about crossing paths with some of his musical heroes, including Lemmy, late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen and Metallica.
“I’ve met them in so many phases of their career,” he says of the latter. “The first time was when they headlined over Slipknot at a show in the early 2000s. James [Hetfield] and Jason [Newsted] invited us into their dressing room to hang out, and we were in such awe of them that the only thing we could do was raid their food and drink. We were like these Dickensian street rats, drinking all their beer and stuffing our pockets. Those guys were watching us, rolling their eyes and laughing.
“When we hung out with the next time, James was sober. I had gotten sober myself, and he said: “If you ever need a talk, if you ever need anything, just call me.” He’s a gracious dude.
Read the full interview with Corey Taylor in the brand new issue of Classic Rock, which has been guest edited by Bryan Adams. Order it online and have it delivered straight to your door.
