In a recent interview with Classic Rock, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor opened up about how they got in to Ozzfest back in 1999. Corey also recalled Ozzy Osbourne’s out of the blue request. He explained:
“The reason Slipknot got onto Ozzfest [in 1999] is because we were [Ozzy’s son] Jack’s favourite band. Sharon gave us a little more leeway because of that. We did some crazy shit, but she’d be, ‘It’s fine, it’s Slipknot.’”
Taylor reminisced about the first time he met the Prince of Darkness during Ozzfest. He added:
“I was sitting at a table with Jack and Kelly and Sharon. All of sudden, Ozzy comes bounding up: ‘Sharon, can you help me with my earrings?’ And Sharon goes, ‘Ozzy, this is one of the members of Slipknot, it’s Corey, he’s the singer.’”
Corey went on to share Ozzy’s unexpected request to join their nine piece band. The frontman expressed:
“He looks at me and goes, ‘You’re the guys with nine members? I want to be number ten!’ I was, like, ‘Dude, you’re Ozzy, anything you want!’ It was like meeting Superman.”
Many years later Slipknot and Ozzy Osbourne joined forces and created ‘Ozzfest Meets Knotfest.’ The festival took place two years in a row, in 2016 and 2017. Both years many A-list names in the rock and metal scene joined in support of the joint festival, names like Prophets Of Rage, Deftones, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and Stone Sour.
The second year Slipknot weren’t the headliners of Knotfest, so Corey shared his take on the what the festival represented. He said:
“Knotfest was never supposed to be exclusively about Slipknot. It was always about the things that fuelled the spirit of Slipknot: music, art, passion, insanity, and the tribes that give it power… Teaming up again with Ozzfest means another weekend of the biggest, baddest, loudest and best. I hope you all will join us – it’s going to be (sic).”
You can read Corey Taylor’s interview with Classic Rock here.
