Throughout the history of the music industry, there have been many instances where artists have been accused of ripping off the works of others. Slipknot‘s Corey Taylor recently addressed this issue during an interview with 94.3 The Shark radio station by sharing his thoughts on how he avoids creating music that sounds too similar to existing works. He said:
“I have a very long memory when it comes to that stuff. Obviously, I try to avoid anything that sounds similar anyway. Because that stuff doesn’t interest me. So I really go above and beyond to really try and make sure that everything I do sounds different, feels different. And if it does start to sound a little too similar, I rein it in, and I break it down and restructure it from scratch.”
Recalling his own experiences on the issue, Taylor continued:
“I’ve started whole other songs before and just gone right back to the drawing board. ‘Cause I’m, like, I don’t want anyone to come in and say that I stole this [and] I stole that. ‘Cause I’ve gotten in arguments with people before who have tried to tell me that I’ve done it. And I’m, like, ‘You’re an idiot. I’m gonna put these two songs right together. You show me on the doll where these songs are the same. And if not, you kiss my a**, man.’ And it’s very satisfying.”
This is not the first time Corey Taylor has discussed the issue of artists ripping off others. In a previous chat with Cutter’s Rockcast two years ago, he expressed that:
“But the ones that really frustrate me are the ones that they take something that’s been around forever and then just basically rework it and call it new – even though it’s completely derivative. You know the band they’re ripping off – they’re not even trying to rip off a bunch of bands; they’re ripping off one band.”
Taylor’s second solo record, ‘CMF2,’ is set to be released on September 15. To support his upcoming album, the rocker announced a 28-city tour which starts on August 25 at Fillmore Auditorium in Denver and finishes in Los Angeles at The Wiltern on October 5.
You can watch the full interview below.
