Mick Thomson explained to Guitar World why he didn’t object to Slipknot removing his solos from their first album.
Slipknot’s self-titled debut album doesn’t have traditional guitar solos. According to Mick, they were all removed because the producers thought solos were outdated. While he understood the decision, he felt disappointed because he had worked hard on his guitar skills.
“No. What are you gonna do? Throw fits? Go, ‘I demand!…’ If it works, it works,” the guitarist replied when asked whether he fought against the decision.
He further talked about it in the same interview, “I actually had some solos in songs, but they all got cut out. Because between Ross and Joey, guitar solos are stupid now.” He blamed producer Ross Robinson and Joey Jordison, the band’s late drummer.
“I mean, I get it… but it sucked. Because it was one of those things where I’m like, ‘I’ve spent my whole life playing, and now f*cking here I am, and… nope! Never mind! It’s all gone!’ You know?” the musician added.
Thomson also noted, “Like, ‘Just take it all away from me. That’s cool! Never mind that I sat in my room for years obsessing and trying to f*cking do whatever, and then here I am and… nope!’”
People commented that Slipknot’s album ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ also doesn’t have any guitar solos. Jim Root responded to this criticism in an interview with The Art and Span Show.
He explained, “Well, obviously, Mick (Thomson) and I are very into guitar, we love playing guitar, loving doing solos over every song, but that didn’t occur to me. I was more concerned about the arrangements and making a good song top to bottom.”
“The point I’m trying to make is I get to think outside of the box and approach guitar playing in a way that I would never approach it with a song like ‘Spiders’ because Clown wrote that song and it didn’t come from my mind, so it’s hard for me to process it,” Root shared.
Slipknot will next perform at Knotfest Chile on November 2. They will also have a show in Bogota, Colombia on November 5.