Corey Taylor Officially Thinks All Hope Is Gone: “People Aren’t Going to Change — and I’m Done Trying”

Though their general message has always been, Better find something sharp, because God help you if we catch you, nine-headed Iowan sex llama Slipknot have always added an undercurrent of optimism to their music. Like, sure, the whole world’s a dead crow in a jaw, but at least us maggots are feeding and growing into something that can fly away from it. But according to a new interview, frontman Corey Taylor has made it clear that by now, he’s pretty much done with mankind.

Speaking to Kerrang!, Corey said the following:

“I think if I was younger then I would believe in something like hope. I would have that kind of optimism (laughs), but I’ve seen waves of this shit for 30 years, and I’m just unimpressed. The sad thing is, it takes real tragedy to make anything change, because we’re not a proactive species. We would rather close the door after the house is already on fire. I’m just kind of used to it at this point.

“I still obviously support and believe in all the causes that I’m very passionate about, but at the same time, I just realized that people aren’t going to change – and I’m done trying to change people. It’s wasted effort, and it takes time away from the people that I actually care about. Until I see real shit, I’m just not going to care anymore. It’s like, ‘If you motherfuckers want to kill each other, go ahead. I’m just gonna stand back and will not be in the line of fire,’ because I’m tired of the idiocy. I can only watch stupid shit for fucking so long. So yeah, it’s me basically going, ‘Go ahead, just fucking beat the living shit out of each other and see what happens.’”

There you go. At least he can admit that he’s really just an angry old man.

Slipknot’s The End, So Far drops September 30th, and is already available for preorder. Check out their new single “The Dying Song (Time to Sing)” below. Meanwhile, catch Slipknot on one of their upcoming tour dates:

Tue Sep 20 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
Wed Sep 21 Springfield, MO Great Southern Bank Arena
Sat Sep 24 Alpharetta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
Tue Sep 27 Austin, TX Germania Insurance Amphitheater
Wed Sep 28 Dallas, TX Dos Equis Pavilion
Sat Oct 1 Albuquerque, NM Isleta Amphitheater
Sun Oct 2 Phoenix, AZ Ak-Chin Pavilion
Tue Oct 4 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre
Fri Oct 7 Irvine, CA FivePoint Amphitheater