To Joey Jordison, music was life. It was practically infused in his DNA. And even
after overcoming great adversity later in life,
he continued to do what he loved and made music until the end.
Joey Jordison despised school from the very beginning. As an introvert, the drummer
struggled to make friends, so music was how he got through it all, with his headphones on as
much as possible during the day. At home, Jordison learned to play both the guitar and the drums.
Jordison's mother, Jackie, reminisced about how even at the age of three,
he was drumming. She said to Rolling Stone:
"He'd just sit on the floor and bang on pots and pans.
I thought he had a heck of a beat for a little, tiny kid."
When Jordison reached high school, his circumstances did not improve
much at school because he was picked on for being the shortest guy there.
After his parents divorced, Joey Jordison's father moved out,
so the kids only got to see their dad on the weekends. For the rest of the week,
the drummer had to help his mother take care of his two younger sisters.
While talking with author Jason Arnopp, who wrote "Slipknot: Inside the Sickness,
Behind the Masks," Jordison recalled how he suddenly had to become the man of the house.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Joey Jordison said very bluntly,
"I'm in [Slipknot] because of everything that I hate about everything in the world."
The drummer has also gone into more detail to explain where a lot of that anger and
hatred originated from, basically due to the criticism and insults he and the rest of the
band received as they tried to make it in the relatively small city of Des Moines, Iowa.
At some times, it seemed like many people in the
predominantly conservative town were actively discouraging anyone to succeed and get out,
especially aspiring metal stars. Jordison explained:
"When someone constantly tells you to get a real job and quit spending your money on new drum
pedals, all that s--- circles around in your head. There's a constant hate in me: it never leaves
and it comes out every day. We were degraded for so long and had fingers pointed at us.
When you get that middle finger as much as we did, you just want to throw it back in their faces."
Needless to say, the drummer succeeded in doing so after the massive success of Slipknot.
The recording of their second album, "Iowa," was rough for all the members of Slipknot and each
one of them has been vocal about it, including Joey Jordison. When speaking with Revolver,
the drummer equated the experience to being in a prison since they were all trapped together until
it was finished. Plus, the drummer said everyone was heavily inebriated throughout the recording
as well, which, quote, "was a very dark time for the band" that he is not fond of talking about.
Jordison did give some explanation of the experience, saying:
"I'm in a band with the best musicians in the f------ world. I'm so blessed.
But at the same time, when we get together — even though we
have so much love for each other — we f------ want to kill each other."
It turns out that when you combine hardcore musicians who genuinely love
their craft with the characteristic Slipknot intensity, the results can be volatile.
In 2002, the members of Slipknot were in one of the worst stages of their careers,
collectively. Their problems were so severe,
both financially and with their personal relationships, that the band went on a brief
hiatus. Especially on the money side of things, Slipknot's issues stemmed from poor management.
According to Exclaim!, the lead singer of Slipknot, Corey Taylor, explained that their
manager at the time, Steve Richards, trapped each member through legal contracts and pitted
them against each other, while leaving the band with a ton of debt as well. The band also had to
fight to keep the rights to the Slipknot brand and were fortunately successful in that battle.
But they did have to tour excessively for their album, "Vol. 3: The Subliminal Verses," just to
pay off their debt. And the band certainly learned from the experience, making them a stronger unit.
Regardless of the wrongs Richards committed against Slipknot, Jordison appreciated the
things the manager did right and did not hold a grudge against him. The drummer said:
"[Richards] did a lot of good things, God bless his soul.
He's dead. [...] We ended up being ripped off and not told the truth. But I don't think about
that stuff anymore. I hope he's resting well and that he's in a better place."
Since Joey Jordison was doing what he loved, the drummer accepted the
problems that came with the level of fame he earned as a member of Slipknot,
but that is not to say that he was completely okay with it.
In an interview with Joel McIver in his book, "SlipKnoT: All Hope is Gone," Jordison went on
an expletive-riddled tirade about the negativity Slipknot was getting from much of the press.
Clearly, the issues got to him, but Jordison was always very resilient and fought to overcome all
obstacles in order to follow his dreams. The drummer also said:
"I'll do this until my last breath. It's what I've been put here for: it's my passion and
it's pretty much my life. Slipknot could go another 20 years, or it could go another two:
I don't know. Our band is like a freight train that's ready
to fall off the tracks at a million miles per hour, but it never does."
Given what the members have said about being in Slipknot, it sounds stressful enough.
However, the musicians also have personal lives that could put them even more on edge
if things went wrong. One of the worst of these situations occurred for Joey Jordison when the
band was around the peak of their popularity, while working on the album "All Hope is Gone."
In a heartbreaking reveal to Kerrang! in 2008, Jordison admitted that his girlfriend cheated
on him, even though they were in what he considered a very serious relationship.
The drummer was so devastated that he went on a three-week drug binge afterwards. Though one
positive result from this was that Jordison reached a moment of clarity when it was over,
which helped him turn his life around in positive ways and address his drug addiction.
Before 2008, Joey Jordison made public comments about the frequent drinking and drug use in
Slipknot, just like the other members, but was also private about any personal struggles with
addiction. Though the drummer did sometimes drop hints about his negative view on drugs,
as in his interview with Revolver when he said,
"I don't like to condone any drug use, whatsoever."
However, Jordison publicly admitted to having a drug problem
after he could see that he was hurting his family and was desperate to change that.
Jordison recalled that his sister, Annie,
was desperately trying to help him during his weeks-long drug binge.
She eventually sent him a picture of his nephew playing drums in one of his old masks.
The moment struck him to the core. Jordison said:
"I realized I was basically f----- dying. It took that to make me realize what was
really important in my life and that I'd done a lot of mean things to people."
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please call the Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Administration's 24/7 National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP. That's 1-800-662-4357.
Joey Jordison received all sorts of injuries and battle wounds while playing for Slipknot,
from brutally lacerating his shin to getting a concussion
and a deep gash due to having a pipe thrown at his head from a keg drum that broke.
Normally, Jordison kept on performing without skipping a beat,
literally. But in 2008, Slipknot was forced to cancel their European shows while
on tour for their upcoming album, "All Hope Is Gone," because Jordison broke his ankle. In
order to prevent further injury, his doctor recommended that he should rest and heal,
so the drummer was put out of commission for four to six weeks. Fortunately, he got better.
"Is your foot okay now? Yeah, it's completely healed."
Joey Jordison had been friends with Paul Gray even before the formation of Slipknot, and it was Gray
who brought him into the fold back in the fall of 1995, when Jordison would become the primary
drummer of the band. So, the news of the bassist's tragic death in 2010 hit him particularly hard.
"This is very hard for me now. I just want to say that I love you, Paul. Very much."
While talking to Joel McIver, Jordison described the painful event through his perspective. The
drummer had just landed in Des Moines after collaborating with Rob Zombie for a tour while
the members of Slipknot were taking a break from the road. Since Jordison was still on the plane,
he struggled to keep his composure when his manager called to inform him of Gray's passing,
and ended up smashing his phone in frustration from so many people calling afterwards.
At first, Jordison was furious that his manager could not
wait until he was at home 30 minutes later, but as he said,
"Then I realized they told me because they didn't want me to hear it from anyone else.
I just went into a blank shock."
On December 12, 2013, Slipknot released a statement that Joey Jordison had left the band,
citing personal reasons but no more details other than that.
However, the drummer was quick to say that he was actually fired and had no
idea beforehand that the decision had been made to kick him out.
Years later in 2016, Jordison was still fuming over the dismissal and
revealed more from his perspective on how it played out when he said:
"No band meeting? None. Anything from management? No, nothing. All I got was a stupid f------ email
saying I was out of the band that I busted my ass my whole life to f------ create."
According to Blabbermouth, lead singer Corey Taylor could not get too detailed
for legal reasons, but he gave his own short explanation for why it happened and said:
"It's when a relationship hits that T-section and one person's going one way and you're going the
other. And try as you might to either get them to go your way or try and go their way, at some point
you've got to go in the direction that works for you. This is me speaking in the broadest terms,
with respect to Joey. I guess to sum it up, it was one of the hardest decisions we ever made."
Joey Jordison said that the other members of Slipknot thought he was on drugs
and that was the reason why they had decided he should leave the band in 2013.
But they were not aware of the fact that he had a neurological disorder called transverse
myelitis that prevented him from being able to play the drums. And they were not aware of this
for a time because even he was not fully aware of what was happening to him, says Billboard.
Transverse myelitis is a horrible condition that causes inflammation of the spinal cord
that then damages nerve fibers. Jordison described the harrowing experience when he said,
"I lost my legs. I couldn't play anymore. It was a form of multiple sclerosis,
which I don't wish on my worst enemy."
Yet, by using his characteristic determination,
Jordison managed to overcome the illness through exercise and therapy. The talented
drummer then went on to play for the bands Sinsaenum and Vimic after leaving Slipknot.
In July 2021, the rock music world was devastated by the news of Joey Jordison's death.
His family released a statement on July 27th that the accomplished drummer
passed away in his sleep the day before, according to Variety. The statement read,
"Joey's death has left us with empty hearts and feelings of indescribable sorrow.
To those that knew Joey, understood his quick wit,
his gentle personality, giant heart and his love for all things family and music."
Along with his family and friends, Joey Jordison will always be remembered by
the many fans who adored him and the bandmates who loved him like a brother.