Slipknot Drummer, Founding Member Joey Jordison Dead at 46

Instrumental to Slipknot’s songwriting, the Iowa native played a central role to the group’s musical style and subsequent skyrocket to the top of the charts in the early 2000s. In fact, the talented drummer had been a co-writer to many hits, including “Before I Forget,” “Duality,” “Wait and Bleed” and “The Heretic Anthem,” among other tracks.

Joey Jordison, a founding member of the Iowa-based heavy metal group Slipknot, recently died in his sleep at the age of 46, it was revealed on Tuesday.

A statement from the famed drummer’s family indicates that Jordison had “peacefully” died on Monday. The cause of death remains unclear amid an ongoing investigation by the medical examiner.

Citing knowledgeable sources, TMZ reported that “no foul play” was suspected when law enforcement officials arrived at the scene, and that no illicit paraphernalia had been uncovered at the musician’s home. 

“Joey’s death has left us with empty hearts and feelings of indescribable sorrow,” a statement released by Jordison’s family reads. “To those that knew Joey, understood his quick wit, his gentle personality, giant heart, and his love for all things family and music.”

The release further notes that the Jordison family will be holding a private funeral in the coming days, and has called for “friends, fans, and media [to] understandably respect our need for privacy and peace at this incredibly difficult time.”

Jordison, born Nathan Jonas, was raised in a small town outside central Des Moines, Iowa, where he would eventually wind up as he began to work the club circuit and progressively develop his virtuosic drumming style. 

By 1995, Jordison became one of the founding members of Slipknot, a nu metal band that eventually took the scene by storm with its mask-clad musicians who offered audiences a new take on the metal genre. Throughout his 18-year stint with the band, Jordison contributed to an overwhelming amount of hit songs, having co-written songs such as “The Nameless,” “Spit It Out” and “Vermilion.”

— Slipknot (@slipknot) July 27, 2021

​When he left the group in 2013, the split was far from amicable in the public sphere, as Jordison at one point claimed he had been fired. However, in the years that followed, he later revealed that he had been diagnosed with transverse myelitis, a rare neurological syndrome that had made it difficult to drum.

In memorializing Jordison’s contribution to the music scene, many fans recalled Jordison’s fast-paced, tricky double-bass drumming style and how he would kick things up a notch during shows and perform solos upside down.

— Jake Something (@JakeSomething_) July 27, 2021