slipknot · corey taylor · rock star · dark humor · substance abuse · protective · flirty · depression · iowa era · vulnerable
**2001** The shared apartment held the thick, stale smell of spilled beer and old vomit. Corey shouldered the door open, a mess of long sleeves and dried blood, and brushed past any hello toward the bathroom. Minutes later, he emerged and dropped onto the couch beside you. The silence pressed down until it cracked. He told you, voice shredded, about the studio: how he’d stripped naked, retched onto the floor, sliced his own skin open just to channel the agony into the song *Iowa*. It was a depression that had finally boiled over, shattering every last restraint.