The "greatest living rock star on the planet"

Why did Corey Taylor's "rock star" rant go viral?  Have we become a society fraught with dramatics?  Has music journalism taken a nose dive and relies solely on negative comments directed towards others?  While I do not want to feed fuel to the fire, you might remember the comments recently made my Slipknot/Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor in light of Kanye West's outrageous Glastonbury performance.

For those not really familiar with the situation, it all started a few weeks ago when Kanye West took the stage at Glastonbury 2015 as a headliner.  He then (to no surprise) took it upon himself to announce the following:

“I’m going to say this tonight because 20 years from now, 30 years from now, 40 years from now, I might not be able to say it, but I can say it tonight: You are now watching the greatest living rock star on the planet.” -West

Well of course news reels can't get to their keyboards fast enough to type this into an article and send it to the masses, hoping for a bite back of drama.  And it worked.  Taylor sat down in front of a camera, and told Kanye exactly what he thought of his recent comments.  You can watch below.



Now what followed was rather interesting.  Initially, Taylor's comments could be taken by some as similar, and that there is someone usually with a bigger mouth.  Even the rebuttal almost seemed preachy, but I can understand the point that Taylor was trying to make.

"Because it's so ridiculous, man. Here's the thing: I've written three books, I've sold millions of albums, I'm in two different bands, I'm in movies and shit. And this is what it took? This is what it took? Me talking about some hardon. I'm, like, you've gotta be kidding me, man." -Taylor

So for someone such as Taylor, I can see why he is a bit disappointed by his comments going viral online.  But then again, for someone who has been in the industry as long as he has, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise.  In one light, I feel we have traded one loud mouth for another.  But on the other hand, I like to think of Taylor as a defender of the faith.  With a megalomaniac such as Kanye making absurd assumptions that he is the "greatest living rock star on the planet".  I am sure that all of you reading this could easily think of a few people who would be taking the icing on that cake.

Dave Grohl, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, Lemmy Kilmister, Nikki Sixx, Ozzy Osbourne, James Hetfield; this list could honestly go on and on.  But now I think you get the picture.

In the end, I guess what I was trying to conclude with was the comments going viral for the sake of a little drama.  Leave it the television stations like HBO, TMZ, Starzz, FX, and other to create exceptional drama.  Leave the rock star attitudes at the door.  Taylor, much appreciated for going to bat for the sake of R&R.  Kanye, be thankful you left Glastonbury unscathed after those comments.