Slipknot Singer on N.W.A’s Rock Hall Induction: ‘That’s Rock & Roll’
Corey Taylor is excited to see N.W.A inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month. “I’m all about it,” the Slipknot singer tells Rolling Stone. “They influenced me just as much as Slayer did; just as much as Metallica did.”
The vocalist, who also fronts the hard-rock group Stone Sour, has previously been critical of the Hall of Fame. In an interview with Rolling Stone last year, the singer bemoaned the fact that Madonna had been inducted years before another one of this year’s class, Deep Purple. “Stop calling it the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” he said. “It’s obvious that you don’t give a shit about rock & roll. … Call it the Popular Music Hall of Fame. Call it anything other than that, because all you do is fucking piss me off.” He added that were Slipknot to be nominated, he “wouldn’t even go.”
Taylor now stands by his stance on allowing N.W.A into the Hall of Fame, but not Madonna. “Madonna didn’t make anyone make music,” he says. “I can’t think of any rock dude whom Madonna made want to make music. There’s a weird, fine line.
“It all comes down to what your definition of rock & roll is, and I can’t think of one song that Madonna made that sounded like rock & roll to me,” he continues. “N.W.A sounded like rock & roll, even though it was hip-hop, because it had the attitude. It was the ‘Fuck you, this is how life is, and you’re going to fucking hear it and you’re going to understand it because we feel it.’ That’s rock & roll.”
5 Fascinating Things N.W.A Told Rolling Stone
Cheap Trick is another artist Taylor is happy to see inducted next month. “I was bitching for years that Cheap Trick wasn’t in,” he says. “I’ve said since the beginning that they should have been in before Green Day. Without Cheap Trick, without the Who, Green Day wouldn’t exist. As much as I love Green Day, it’s just a respect thing, and I think the Hall of Fame has forgotten that.”
In addition to N.W.A and Cheap Trick, this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees include Deep Purple, Chicago, Steve Miller and Bert Berns. The induction ceremony will take place at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on April 8th.
Taylor previously explained what hip-hop has inspired him over the years, as he embarked on his latest side gig as a Beats 1 Radio DJ. “I love old-school rap, like N.W.A, Ice Cube, Ice-T, Dre, Eminem, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, KRS-One,” he says. “The hip-hop that I grew up listening to was very poignant. It had something to say and it wasn’t afraid to say it. It was the punk rock of soul and R&B music, a statement.” He said, though, that he planned on focusing the music he played on his show, A Series of Bleeps, on metal, punk and hard rock, as he felt those genres were underrepresented.