As a guest on BBC Sounds with host Craig Charles, Slipknot's Corey Taylor revealed the job he first wanted as a child, before becoming a musician and, in a convenient twist, he also answered questions that were submitted by fith grade students at a U.S. school.
Charles acknowledges Taylor as the type of person who can likely succeed in anything he puts his mind to and inquired about what the singer would be doing today if he had not become a world renowned musician.
"I wanted to be a teacher, to be honest. I wanted to be a history teacher, but I quickly learned in my mock up classes that I would do as a 12-year-old for my six-year-old sister that I don't have patience for any of this. None — not one drop," the singer says, "And I realized that I was going to have to go to school for years and years and years and I also didn't have patience for that. So, I just kind of tucked that love for history and whatnot into my back pocket and kind of waited for whatever to come to me."
Keeping with this theme, the discussion then shifts to a viral TikTok video where a fifth grade music teacher used Slipknot's "Wait and Bleed" as an example of how to count out and identify meter. The song was selected after one of her students was disgruntled at the rap example that was being used, preferring heavy metal, which the teacher was familiar with and began vocalizing the lyrical melody while tapping a hand drum.
When part of an interview with the teacher is played back, Taylor can't believe it. "It's not often that I find myself at a loss for words," he admits, "That's pretty rad, dude. I don't even know what to say, man, I'm infecting a whole new generation [laughs]."
Students from that class also recorded themselves asking questions for the Slipknot frontman. One question was about if the band has any songs that change time signatures and Taylor identified "Vermillion" as one that perfectly fits the bill.
"'Vermillion' is actually a song that goes from three-four into four-four and kind of back and forth. I think there’s a section in there that goes from three-four to seven-eight, actually, which is very weird. It all kind of ties together with a riff that could go either way. And it allows us to kind of flow back and forth between them," explains Taylor.
Other questions pertained to meter, if Slipknot intentionally write in certain time signatures or if it just happens naturally as well as how he became a musician and what inspires him to make music.
After answering those questions from the students, Charles remarks that the singer sounds like he would have been a "brilliant" teacher.
"There are times that I wish maybe I might've gone back to it," he says of teaching, "I've done special classes with kids who work in music and stuff and it was great. But I barely have enough patience for my own kids, I don't know if I could do it with anybody else's kids [laughs]."
Slipknot's U.S. tour with Crown the Empire and Ice Nine Kills finishes up on Oct. 7. For tickets to any of the remaining shows, head here. The band's new album, The End, So Far is out now — see what fans have said about here and head to this location to see what the Loudwire staff loved about it.
