How Steven Tyler's Daughter Made Him Cry With a Slipknot Album

There's no doubt that Slipknot's music speaks to a generation of metal fans, but it also did a pretty solid job of summing up the father-daughter relationship of Steven Tyler and Mia Tyler as well. During a recent episode of the Bad Bad Babydad podcast (seen below), Mia Tyler relayed a story from her youth of how she connected with her father through Slipknot ... and it moved him to tears.

Tyler was born Mia Abagale Tallarico to the musician and her mother Cyrinda Foxe in 1978. Her birth also led to the Aerosmith frontman writing the song "Mia" from the band's Night in the Ruts album. The singer and Foxe split in 1987, and during the podcast Mia revealed that she dealt with many of the emotions that come with growing up, trying to find a way to express them.

She recalled, “When I was feeling really like I wanted to express to my dad how I felt, and I didn’t know how to tell him, maybe my coming out of my emotions; the same way someone would come out… I was so scared to tell him that I was depressed and upset in life and that maybe he caused it and my mom him leaving me with all that stuff.”

So, at the time, Mia turned to music, hoping to connect to her dad through the medium in which he made his living. Giving the Aerosmith frontman a copy of Slipknot's self-titled 1999 album, she explained, “I didn’t know what to do, and the Slipknot album, the very first one, was just Slipknot. I gave it to him. I bought him a copy, and I said, ‘Listen to this if you want to understand how I feel. Listen to this and months went by.”

What Was Steven Tyler's Reaction?

“He just sat on with his Walkman, and he listened to the whole album and just cried in the woods. He called me, and he was like, ‘I’m so sorry,’ and like we had this whole thing," says Mia.

That conversation opened up things between father and daughter, and Mia revealed she even shared her story with Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor after learning he was a huge Aerosmith fan.

What Did Corey Taylor Think?

“He loves my dad, and it was like his world got flipped upside down," says Tyler.

She then relayed to Corey, "I was like, ‘You don’t know how much you helped me have a relationship and a bond with my dad.’ And that music is so heavy, and it was such a release because I was so upset and just so like just pissed off at life.”

Slipknot's Self-Titled Album History

Though Slipknot formed in 1995 and released an album independently prior to 1999's self-titled release through Roadrunner Records, most consider the album to be their debut effort. The album was notable for being aggressive and chaotic, yielding the standout singles "Wait and Bleed" and "Spit It Out." The record also yielded fan favorite "(sic)" as well.

It peaked at No. 51 on the Billboard 200 album chart, but "Wait and Bleed" earned a Best Metal Performance Grammy nomination and has since been certified as a double platinum selling album in the U.S.