It’s been nearly two decades since Corey Taylor traded his Slipknot mask for a cigarette and an acoustic guitar to record "Through Glass." If you were alive and breathing in 2006, you couldn't escape it. It was everywhere—from car radios to MTV’s top countdowns. But while the melody is infectious, the Stone Sour Through Glass lyrics carry a bitterness that most radio listeners completely missed at the time.
Most people hear the "30/30-150" riff or the soaring chorus and think it's a ballad. It isn't. Not really. It’s a middle finger.
The Viral Reality Before "Viral" Was a Thing
Corey Taylor didn't write this song because he was feeling sentimental. He wrote it because he was pissed off. He was sitting in a hotel room, watching a music video channel—probably MTV or VH1—and realized he was looking at "monsters." Not actual monsters, obviously. He was looking at manufactured pop stars who were essentially being photoshopped in real-time.
He saw people who had no business being famous becoming the "stars" of the week. This was the era of the first real wave of reality TV dominance and the birth of the "famous for being famous" culture.
The "glass" in the Stone Sour Through Glass lyrics isn't a window into someone’s soul. It’s a television screen. It’s a computer monitor. It’s the barrier between a person and a fabricated reality.
Taylor once told Loudwire that he was just watching these "plastic" people and felt a profound sense of disconnection. He felt like he was looking through a lens that distorted everything. Honestly, it’s kind of wild how much more relevant that feels now in the age of Instagram filters and TikTok trends. We’re all looking through glass now. All the time.
Breaking Down the Verse: "The Stars, They Shine For You"
The opening lines are iconic. I'm looking at you through the glass / Don't know how much time has passed.
It describes that weird trance we get into when we’re staring at a screen. You know the feeling. You pick up your phone at 9:00 PM and suddenly it’s midnight and you’re watching a video of someone you don't know making a sandwich. That’s the "time has passed" element. It’s a vacuum.
But then he gets into the "stars."
"And the stars, they shine for you / They're empty and they're brown."
This is the part where most people get the Stone Sour Through Glass lyrics wrong. They think it's poetic imagery. It’s actually pretty gross if you think about it. Taylor has hinted in interviews that "brown" refers to, well, waste. He's saying these celebrities are full of it. They aren't shining like celestial bodies; they’re dull, manufactured, and ultimately worthless.
It’s a stark contrast to the way we usually talk about fame. We use words like "glimmer," "shine," and "gold." Corey looks at it and sees something stagnant. He sees a lack of soul.
Why the Bridge is the Secret Heart of the Song
The song builds. It’s a classic power ballad structure, but the bridge is where the desperation kicks in. How do you feel? That's the question.
He’s asking the person on the other side of the screen if they’re even real anymore. Have they become so much of a product that they’ve lost the ability to feel anything? Or maybe he’s asking us—the audience. Are we just passive observers?
It’s worth noting that James Root, who was also in Slipknot with Taylor at the time, provided the guitar work that gives this song its texture. While Taylor provided the lyrical venom, the music has this shimmering, almost deceptive quality. It sounds beautiful, which makes the critique of "plastic beauty" even more effective.
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The Production Magic of Nick Raskulinecz
You can't talk about these lyrics without talking about how they were captured. Nick Raskulinecz produced Come What(ever) May, the album this track lives on. He’s the same guy who worked with Foo Fighters and Rush.
He kept Taylor’s vocals very "forward" in the mix. You hear the rasp. You hear the breath. It feels human. That was intentional. If you’re writing a song about how fake everything is, the recording itself has to feel authentic. They didn't over-polish it.
The song actually reached Number 1 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and stayed there for weeks. It’s ironic, isn't it? A song about how much the music industry and celebrity culture sucks became one of the biggest industry hits of the decade. Taylor basically tricked the world into singing along to a protest song against the very people playing it.
Common Misconceptions About "Through Glass"
Let's clear some stuff up.
- It’s not a love song. People play this at weddings. Please don't. Unless your marriage is based on mutual loathing of the media, it doesn't fit.
- It’s not about drug addiction. While Corey has been very open about his struggles with alcohol and substances in the past, this specific track is a cultural critique.
- It’s not "Slipknot-lite." Stone Sour was Corey’s first real band, formed before Slipknot. This song represents his melodic sensibilities, which are just as much a part of him as the screaming.
The Legacy of the Lyrics in 2026
If the Stone Sour Through Glass lyrics felt biting in 2006, they feel like a prophecy today.
Back then, we just had cable TV and the early days of MySpace. Now, we carry the "glass" in our pockets. The "monsters" are everywhere. We’ve moved past just watching celebrities; we’ve all become our own mini-celebrities, carefully curating our own "shining" lives that are often just as "brown" and empty as what Taylor saw in that hotel room.
There’s a specific line: And it's the infested that are coming to take you over. Think about that in the context of influencer culture. It’s an infection of the ego. It’s the idea that being seen is more important than being.
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How to Truly "Listen" to Stone Sour
If you want to get the most out of this track, stop listening to it as a background radio hit. Do these three things:
- Listen to the acoustic version. There are several live acoustic performances where the vitriol in Taylor’s voice is much more apparent.
- Read the lyrics without the music. Take the melody away and just read the words. It reads like a cynical poem.
- Watch the music video again. Notice the "cardboard cutout" feel of the party guests. It visually represents the "plastic" nature the lyrics describe.
What to Do Next
If you’re feeling that 2000s rock itch, don't just stop at "Through Glass." To see the full range of what Stone Sour was doing at that time, go listen to "Bother" from their self-titled debut or "Zzyzx Rd." from the same album as Through Glass. Those tracks provide the emotional context that makes "Through Glass" even more impactful.
If you're a musician, try learning the opening chords. It’s a simple $Eb - Gb - Db - Ab$ progression (usually played with a capo or in a specific tuning), but the way the suspended notes ring out is what creates that "glassy" atmosphere. It’s a masterclass in how to use simple tools to convey a complex emotion.
Ultimately, "Through Glass" is a reminder to put the phone down, turn off the TV, and check if you're still "much too real for anything to say."
Stop looking through the glass and start looking at what's right in front of you.
Actionable Insight: The next time you find yourself doom-scrolling or feeling "less than" because of something you see online, hum the chorus of this song. Remind yourself that the stars you're looking at are often just "empty and brown." Authenticity is the only thing that actually lasts.