Corey Taylor once wanted to become a history teacher instead of a musician

Corey Taylor of Slipknot
(Image credit: Venla Shalin/Redferns)

Corey Taylor has discussed what career he would have chosen if he had not become a world-renowned musician.

Interviewed on 6Music by Craig Charles on September 29, the Slipknot frontman opened up about what job he would have taken up if music hadn't inspired him to go down an alternative path.

"I wanted to be a teacher, to be honest" Taylor muses.

Elaborating on what stopped him from exploring a career in teaching, he continues, "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.

"And I realised 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."

Elsewhere during Taylor's appearance on the show, he's introduced to a viral TikTok video in which a teacher incorporates Slipknot's 1999 track Wait And Bleed into her lesson on music theory, while counting the song's time signature out on a drum and singing along. 

After viewing the video, Taylor admits: "It's not often that I find myself at a loss for words. That's pretty rad, dude. I don't even know what to say, man, I'm infecting a whole new generation." [Laughs]

After the frontman answered questions sent in by the students of the aforementioned class about the time signatures on various Slipknot songs, host Charles praised Taylor for his natural ability to educate, remarking that he would have made a "brilliant" teacher. 

"There are times that I wish maybe I might've gone back to it," the singer responds, referring to his former aspiration. "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 seventh studio album The End, So Far is out now.

Liz Scarlett

Liz works on keeping the Louder sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.