Corey Taylor slams Grammys for Metallica mishap

Corey Taylor
Corey Taylor

Corey Taylor has slammed Grammy organisers for disrespecting Metallica during their appearance at this year’s ceremony.

The band were joined onstage by Lady Gaga for a performance of Hardwired… To Self-Destruct track Moth Into Flame. But guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield was forced to share the microphone with Gaga at the start of the song when his own equipment failed to work.

At the end of the performance, Hetfield kicked over his mic stand and threw his guitar off stage. Drummer Lars Ulrich later admitted Hetfield was “livid” after the performance.

Now Slipknot and Stone Sour’s Taylor says a band as established as Metallica shouldn’t have had to deal with technical issues – and is angry that presenter Laverne Cox forgot to introduce the band before the track.

Taylor tells The ETC show: “I feel bad for Metallica because at this point in their career they shouldn’t have been disrespected like that. The fact that they shut James Hetfield‘s microphone off. Metallica doesn’t have control of that.

“All of Metallica’s people are not allowed to work on live performances on television – none of us are. They have a sound producer and a whole crew of people who work on those shows, and then your people work right behind them. But you’re not allowed to touch anything, which is horseshit, because stuff like this then happens.

“The fact that then they weren’t introduced? It was just, ‘Oh, here’s Lady Gaga. By the way, she’s with Metallica.”

Slipknot won a Grammy in 2006 in the Best Metal Performance category for their track Before I Forget. But that holds no sway with Taylor.

He adds: “I have a lot of very strong opinions about the Grammys anyway but that really cemented it for me. We don’t need your respect. We don’t need you to make us feel like we accomplished something because all you do is open our mouths and shit in it, and I’m tired of tasting it.”

Taylor has been working on Stone Sour’s upcoming sixth album. No release date has been announced for the record, but the vocalist recently said: It’s probably the coolest album I’ve made since the first Slipknot album.”

Stone Sour released a 10th anniversary deluxe reissue of their 2006 album Come What(ever) May in December.

Listen to Stone Sour’s 1st Person demo

Scott Munro
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Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more for Louder. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, The Tragically Hip, Marillion and Rush.