Slipknot's Taylor influenced by Beat poets

Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has revealed that his lyrics are influenced by Hunter S. Thompson and writers of the Beat Generation.

The singer-songwriter told The Guardian that he was inspired by the manner in which the Beats captured the darker elements of society.

Taylor said: "People such as Hunter S. Thompson and the Beats were a huge influence on me, not just in what they were saying, but how they said it. The first time I read Howl by Allen Ginsberg - my God!

"Despite the fact I have little in common with a gay Jewish man, there's something so stirring in that poem."

He added: "The poem came at a time when society wanted everything to be hunky dory, but it really captured that underlying darkness, ignorance and prejudice.

"It was revolution in print, and that to me is really a lost vibe. It's influenced what I do, for sure - there's nothing I'm not afraid to say, nothing I'm not afraid to blurt out."

Ginsberg's Howl was recently the subject of a biopic starring James Franco.