Latest / DISGRACELAND / Slipknot: Death, Destruction, and Des Moines

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Slipknot: Death, Destruction, and Des Moines · DISGRACELAND

0:00
Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is a
0:16
Speaker 1: story about death, the smell of it, the feel of it,
0:21
Speaker 1: the finality of it. It's a story about being bored
0:25
Speaker 1: to death, about being beaten to death. It's about sudden
0:29
Speaker 1: death and a death by a thousand cuts. Most importantly,
0:35
Speaker 1: it's a story about death metal. Because this is also
0:40
Speaker 1: the story of a band. A band whose music was
0:43
Speaker 1: so dark that one of their members quit rather than
0:47
Speaker 1: risk eternal damnation. A band whose live shows were so
0:51
Speaker 1: intense they nearly left one band member dead. A band
0:55
Speaker 1: whose music was so disturbing, so evil, that some would
0:58
Speaker 1: say it led to immer. This is the story of
1:03
Speaker 1: slipknot the most extreme thing to come out of Iowa
1:07
Speaker 1: since the taco pizza was invented there in nineteen seventy four,
1:12
Speaker 1: a band known for their stage mass as much as
1:15
Speaker 1: their music. Great music, unlike that loop I played for
1:20
Speaker 1: you at the top of the show. That wasn't great music.
1:24
Speaker 1: That was a preset loop from my melotron called ozembic
1:28
Speaker 1: Face MK one. I played you that loop because I
1:33
Speaker 1: can't afford the rights to get Busy by Sean Paul,
1:38
Speaker 1: And why would I play you that specific slice of
1:41
Speaker 1: Down in Dirty Cheese. Could I afford it? Because that
1:46
Speaker 1: was the number one song in America on May twenty third,
1:49
Speaker 1: two thousand and three, And that was the day too
1:53
Speaker 1: California teenagers committed a brutal murder, a murder they claimed
1:58
Speaker 1: was inspired by slip Knot on this episode Death Metal
2:05
Speaker 1: down in Dirty Cheese. In the dark world of slip Knot,
2:11
Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan, and.
2:13
Speaker 2: This this disgraceland.
2:45
Speaker 1: He was screaming as he hit the water. Instantly he
2:49
Speaker 1: knew he made a terrible mistake. The water was swirling
2:53
Speaker 1: all around him, flooding into his mouth and filling his
2:56
Speaker 1: throat and pushing into his lungs. Panicking, he tried to
3:00
Speaker 1: his arms free, but they were pinned tightly to his side.
3:03
Speaker 1: He couldn't move them an inch. As his body sunk
3:06
Speaker 1: deeper and deeper into the murky water. His legs were
3:10
Speaker 1: in the air. Kicking frantically, he prayed that someone, anyone,
3:14
Speaker 1: would help him, but no one noticed, or if they did,
3:18
Speaker 1: they were probably laughing. He was a clown, after all, well,
3:24
Speaker 1: he was wearing a clown mask. At least the man
3:27
Speaker 1: currently drowning in a metal barrel was Sean Kran aka
3:32
Speaker 1: Number six aka Clown, the founder of Slipknot, and he
3:38
Speaker 1: was about to die tragically choking to death in eighteen
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Speaker 1: inches of water, stuck upside down in a trash can
3:47
Speaker 1: in front of thousands of metal heads at oz Fest
3:51
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine. That summer, the band broke out on
3:56
Speaker 1: their first nationwide tour as part of the oz Fest lineup.
4:00
Speaker 1: Among bands like Slayer, Godsmack, and System of a Down,
4:04
Speaker 1: slip Knot stood out first. There were the sheer numbers.
4:09
Speaker 1: There were nine of them, like some kind of heavy
4:11
Speaker 1: metal wu tank clan. Then there was the way they
4:14
Speaker 1: looked like nine psychos wearing matching jumpsuits and creepy rubber
4:19
Speaker 1: masks covering their faces. But none of that would have
4:22
Speaker 1: mattered if this band didn't bring it on stage, and
4:26
Speaker 1: that's exactly what they did. Their sound was massive, multiple percussionists, singers,
4:32
Speaker 1: a DJ, a sampler, two guitars in a big, driving
4:37
Speaker 1: rhythm section, and they played with sheer force, brutal force.
4:41
Speaker 1: The band leaped around the stage like animals, jumping onto
4:44
Speaker 1: and over each other, leaping into the crowd and routinely
4:47
Speaker 1: pushing themselves until they left blood, puke, or any number
4:51
Speaker 1: of other bodily fluids dripping from their masks. By the
4:53
Speaker 1: end of the show. As clown Sean Kran pushed it
4:58
Speaker 1: further than anyone. A whole cow's heads for the butcher
5:02
Speaker 1: and toss them on stage or into the crowd. He
5:05
Speaker 1: stuffed dead birds into jars and left under rot so
5:09
Speaker 1: the band could get the smell of death on them
5:10
Speaker 1: before a show, just like Mayhem did back in Norway.
5:14
Speaker 1: In the early days of black metal, Kran from Slipknot
5:17
Speaker 1: would do anything to work the crowd into a frenzy
5:21
Speaker 1: what it became his time in the late nineties, and
5:24
Speaker 1: now it looked like he was going to pay the
5:27
Speaker 1: ultimate price. The trash can stunt was one of his
5:32
Speaker 1: usual moves. He would find a trash can near the stage,
5:36
Speaker 1: dive into it, and go rolling into the marsh pin
5:39
Speaker 1: causing mayhem. It always made the crowd go crazy, Only
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Speaker 1: this time, when he jumped face first into the barrel,
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Speaker 1: it was half full of water. Whatever disgusting liquid might
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Speaker 1: be floating around inside an oz Fest trash can. Kran's
5:53
Speaker 1: entire face was underwater, his arms were stuck tight in darkness,
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Speaker 1: was gathering all around him see black rings in the
6:01
Speaker 1: corner of his vision, and they were growing larger and larger.
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Speaker 1: His legs quick kicking, preparing for the inevitable, and he
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Speaker 1: hoped that dying at Ozfest would at least make him
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Speaker 1: a legend. And just when he was on the verge
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Speaker 1: of blacking out, the crowd surged forward and someone slammed
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Speaker 1: into the barrel and tipped it over. Water went pouring everywhere,
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Speaker 1: and Sean Kran finally crawled free, gasping for breath and
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Speaker 1: puking up muthfuls of the foul smelling water. After a
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Speaker 1: few seconds to catch his breath, he jumped to his
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Speaker 1: feet and sprinted back to the stage, and there was
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Speaker 1: no time to recover. He started pounding on a metal
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Speaker 1: beer keg as the next song kicked in. It was
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Speaker 1: all in the day's work for one of the biggest
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Speaker 1: metal bands in America. Four years before that, when Kran
6:50
Speaker 1: pulled into an empty gas station parking lot in the
6:52
Speaker 1: middle of the night, it would have been impossible to
6:55
Speaker 1: imagine that it would lead here. It was one of
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Speaker 1: those cold des Moines Knights nineteen ninety five, A pair
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Speaker 1: of twenty something metal heads pushed their way into an
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Speaker 1: empty Sinclair gas station. Fluorescent lights hummed over her head.
7:11
Speaker 1: Sean looked around the empty store, at the aisles of candy,
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Speaker 1: beer and porno magazines, and standing beside him was a
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Speaker 1: friend and fellow musician, Paul Gray. Paul nodded at the
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Speaker 1: short teenager with the long hair working the counter, and
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Speaker 1: they bumped fists with a grin. That was how Paul was.
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Speaker 1: Everybody knew him in Des Moines, and everybody loved him,
7:31
Speaker 1: including the guy behind the counter. His name was Joey Jordison,
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Speaker 1: and although he was only five to three, he was
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Speaker 1: a ferocious drummer, and Paul thought he would be the
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Speaker 1: perfect addition to the new metal band they were putting
7:42
Speaker 1: together because Paul lived and breathed metal, unlike Sean. As
7:48
Speaker 1: a teenager, Sean was into punk. He loved that it
7:52
Speaker 1: had something to say and the way the music raged
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Speaker 1: against bigotry and conformity. Inequality. Metal to Sean was nothing
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Speaker 1: more than the hair spray bands that could play it
8:01
Speaker 1: on MTV, bands like Warrant and Poison. But Paul showed
8:06
Speaker 1: him a different side of heavy metal music that was raw,
8:09
Speaker 1: angry music with a message. Soon Sean was slamming around
8:14
Speaker 1: to bands like Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel. He and
8:17
Speaker 1: Paul were determined to invade the de Moi metal scene
8:20
Speaker 1: with a band every bit as heavy, over the top
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Speaker 1: and outrageous as their heroes, and once Joey, the little
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Speaker 1: dude behind the counter, agreed to join them on drums,
8:29
Speaker 1: the pieces slowly began to come together. It was Joey
8:33
Speaker 1: who suggested that they named the band slip Knot, after
8:36
Speaker 1: a song they had been working out with the same name,
8:38
Speaker 1: and not long after, Sean wore a creepy clown mask
8:41
Speaker 1: he bought at a Halloween start a band practice as
8:44
Speaker 1: a joke, but there was something so sinister that the
8:47
Speaker 1: idea stuck, and soon everyone had a mask and a
8:51
Speaker 1: number in place of their name. It was so dark,
8:54
Speaker 1: so disturbing, and it was perfect too, because right from
8:58
Speaker 1: the start the music a slip Knot with some of
9:01
Speaker 1: the most dark and disturbing music anyone in Iowa had
9:04
Speaker 1: ever heard. It was so dark that, even though there
9:07
Speaker 1: were filling clubs, they still couldn't find even a tiny
9:10
Speaker 1: little indie label willing to take on the band. It
9:13
Speaker 1: was so dark that the band's first guitarist Donnie Steele,
9:16
Speaker 1: a practicing Christian, quit the band rather than subject himself
9:20
Speaker 1: to that kind of darkness. Not that Sean cared if
9:24
Speaker 1: he was running people off. He figured their music might
9:26
Speaker 1: be touching a nerve. Besides, when he looked out into
9:29
Speaker 1: the crowd and saw massive kids writhing to the music
9:32
Speaker 1: like maggots. The fact, that's when he nicknamed their fans
9:35
Speaker 1: the maggots. He didn't think it was dark at all.
9:38
Speaker 1: Darkness was already out there in the world, and people
9:42
Speaker 1: needed something to release that darkness inside of them, something
9:45
Speaker 1: to vent their frustrations, and that was the beauty of
9:49
Speaker 1: a heavy metal show. The kids in the crowd went
9:52
Speaker 1: nuts on each other for two hours, but they left
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Speaker 1: that darkness behind and then they went home in peace.
9:58
Speaker 1: At least that's what Sean tried to explain Donnie. Placing
10:02
Speaker 1: Donnie on guitar, though, didn't worry Sean, and that was
10:05
Speaker 1: the easy part. Who worried him was that, after the
10:09
Speaker 1: band spent forty grand of their own money to record
10:11
Speaker 1: a proper demo, he could hear that their sound wasn't right. Sure,
10:19
Speaker 1: the sound was big, but it needed to be bigger.
10:22
Speaker 1: It was also missing something for all the grunting, growling
10:25
Speaker 1: and unhinged screaming. Sometimes they just needed someone who could
10:29
Speaker 1: well sing, just that tiny bit of sugar to help
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Speaker 1: all the darkness go down. Because they had fans, every
10:38
Speaker 1: show seemed to bring out more and more than maggots,
10:42
Speaker 1: and they had an image, and they had the drive.
10:45
Speaker 1: But if they're ever going to break out of.
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Speaker 3: Des Moines, they're gonna need a new lead singer.
11:16
Speaker 1: The smell of death was everywhere. Sure, maybe not to
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Speaker 1: a human, but the rats, they could smell it, and
11:26
Speaker 1: they were closing in from the shadows. They crept closer,
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Speaker 1: scurrying through the parking lot, trailing the scent, past gas
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Speaker 1: pumps and around piles of old tires. People think of
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Speaker 1: rats as a city problem, but the truth is that
11:41
Speaker 1: they multiply everywhere. Rural areas mean farmland, and farmland means food,
11:47
Speaker 1: and food means survival. Of course, country rats don't have
11:51
Speaker 1: it quite as easy as rats in the city. While
11:55
Speaker 1: you might catch a New York City rat dragging the
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Speaker 1: size of pepperoni pizza across the subway platform in Waterloo, Iowa,
12:01
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty eight, these rats had to scratch and
12:04
Speaker 1: claw and kill each other just to stay alive. So
12:08
Speaker 1: when the smell of fresh death hit their noses, they
12:11
Speaker 1: knew they would have to act fast. There would be competition.
12:16
Speaker 1: Some of the boldest rats weren't going to wait for
12:18
Speaker 1: death to overtake the body lying in the dumpster. The
12:21
Speaker 1: smell of blood was driving them into a frenzy, so
12:24
Speaker 1: they began to climb onto the dumpster and they tested
12:27
Speaker 1: the lids, and their claws made a tapping noise as
12:30
Speaker 1: they scurried across a thick black plastic looking for a
12:33
Speaker 1: way in. Suddenly the lid flew open, sending rats flying
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Speaker 1: in every direction. A fifteen year old Corey Taylor sat
12:41
Speaker 1: up with a shot. He let out a blood curdling scream,
12:45
Speaker 1: and speaking of blood, he was everywhere soaked into his
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Speaker 1: t shirt, caked onto his nose, covering his lips, and
12:53
Speaker 1: his shoes were missing. He had no idea what day
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Speaker 1: it was, He had no idea where he was. All
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Speaker 1: he knew who said his friends, his so called friends,
13:04
Speaker 1: had left him for dead, Not that he was too surprised.
13:09
Speaker 1: Even though he was only fifteen years old, he was
13:11
Speaker 1: already living like somebody on borrow time. First, there was
13:15
Speaker 1: his birthdate, December eighth. The date was seriously cursed. Jim
13:20
Speaker 1: Morrison born on December eighth died. Young Sam Kinnison born
13:25
Speaker 1: on December eighth died. Young Frank Sinatra Junior kidnapped on
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Speaker 1: December eighth. John Lennon shot on December eighth. You remember
13:34
Speaker 1: that Vince Neil car crash where he killed the guy
13:36
Speaker 1: from Hanoi Rocks. Want to guess what day that happened on?
13:39
Speaker 1: You got it, December eighth. Corey's problem only began with
13:44
Speaker 1: his birthday, though he was born in Iowa, but his
13:47
Speaker 1: mom dragged him and his sister across the country looking
13:49
Speaker 1: for a man, a payday, or perhaps both. But by
13:52
Speaker 1: the time he was ten, Corey had lived in twenty
13:55
Speaker 1: five different states and the paydays were hard to come by,
14:00
Speaker 1: but his mom always seemed to find a certain type
14:02
Speaker 1: of man. Guys with thick mustaches and cheap turquoise rings,
14:06
Speaker 1: the kind who wouldn't hesitate to backhand a nine year
14:09
Speaker 1: old boy with a big mouth. Grown up bullies. Corey
14:13
Speaker 1: hated bullies, the kind who shacked up with his mom
14:16
Speaker 1: and put the scars on his face, The kind that
14:18
Speaker 1: roamed the halls at school looking for victims to torment,
14:22
Speaker 1: and the kind lured him in before taking advantage, like
14:26
Speaker 1: the kid who lived next door. When Corey's mom dragged
14:28
Speaker 1: him down to Florida, he was five years older and
14:31
Speaker 1: he had a great record collection, so he started inviting
14:34
Speaker 1: Corey over to listen to music Public Enemy Slayer, Metallica.
14:39
Speaker 1: The music blew Corey's mind. He started dreaming about being
14:43
Speaker 1: a singer, and the listening sessions also gave him a
14:46
Speaker 1: safe place to be away from the chaos at home,
14:49
Speaker 1: or so he thought. One day, while they were listening
14:52
Speaker 1: to music, the older boy pounced on him. He pinned
14:55
Speaker 1: him to the ground and took advantage of a ten
14:56
Speaker 1: year old Corey, and then he made Corey swear to
14:59
Speaker 1: keep it a secret, or else he would kill Corey
15:01
Speaker 1: and his family. So Corey kept quiet. But by the
15:05
Speaker 1: time his family moved back to Iowa, the rage inside
15:08
Speaker 1: of him was burning out of control. He fought with
15:10
Speaker 1: his mom, he got in trouble at school, he stayed
15:13
Speaker 1: out late, ran with a wild crowd, and took every
15:16
Speaker 1: drug that he could get his hands on. But getting
15:21
Speaker 1: tossed in a dumpster and left for dead was too
15:23
Speaker 1: big of a wake up call. To ignore. Corey knew
15:26
Speaker 1: that something had a change, so he left Waterloo to
15:30
Speaker 1: move in with his grandma and des Moines, and she
15:32
Speaker 1: gave him love and stability, and she supported his musical
15:36
Speaker 1: ambitions even though Elvis Presley was the heaviest thing that
15:38
Speaker 1: she had ever listened to. And in des Moines, Corey
15:42
Speaker 1: Taylor found a thriving metal scene, more kids like him
15:46
Speaker 1: fed up than looking for a place to vent their
15:49
Speaker 1: feelings and where they could slam into each other and
15:51
Speaker 1: bang their heads and find something sort of like a family.
15:56
Speaker 1: Corey started a band called Stone Sour and began packing
15:59
Speaker 1: club's lows, but he was on the lookout for something bigger,
16:03
Speaker 1: something heavier, something that could incorporate his love for both
16:07
Speaker 1: Slayer and Public Enemy, something that could take over the world.
16:12
Speaker 1: That's why he was standing in the front row of
16:14
Speaker 1: a tiny des Moines club called the Safari in April
16:18
Speaker 1: of nineteen ninety six. He was there to check out
16:21
Speaker 1: the debut performance from a band of heavy hitters on
16:24
Speaker 1: the local metal scene. They included Paul Gray on bass,
16:28
Speaker 1: Sean Cran on percussion, and Joey Jordison on drums, and
16:33
Speaker 1: they were called Slipknot while two hundred people were stomping
16:37
Speaker 1: their feet and waiting for the band to emerge from backstage.
16:40
Speaker 1: Corey watched in awe as a group of masked men
16:43
Speaker 1: emerged from the back of the room and ran through
16:46
Speaker 1: the crowd like a marauding gang on their way to
16:49
Speaker 1: the stage. Once they were there, the tall bass player,
16:53
Speaker 1: who Corey figured was Paul Gray, even with the pig
16:56
Speaker 1: mask covering his face, hit a thunderous low note. The
17:00
Speaker 1: drummer pounded out of Phil and then everyone, the band,
17:05
Speaker 1: the crowd, and Corey in the front row, went off
17:10
Speaker 1: Ninety minutes later. Corey was sure of him this band
17:13
Speaker 1: could take over the world. They were only missing one
17:16
Speaker 1: thing him. It took a year, but eventually Paul, Sean
17:23
Speaker 1: Joey and guitarist Mick Thompson officially invited Corey to join
17:26
Speaker 1: Slipknot as a lead singer, and Corey agreed. He picked
17:30
Speaker 1: out a mask and adopted the number eight aka infinity
17:35
Speaker 1: aka forever because that's how long you wanted his songs
17:39
Speaker 1: to be remembered. It may have seemed like a big
17:42
Speaker 1: brag at first, but soon it was becoming reality because
17:45
Speaker 1: with Corey in the mix, suddenly the band had a
17:47
Speaker 1: totally new dimension. They had a singer who could growl,
17:50
Speaker 1: who could scream, who could rap, and yes sing in
17:53
Speaker 1: honest to God melody. When the time came and with
17:56
Speaker 1: Corey Taylor as lead singer, the band sound expanded dramatic.
18:00
Speaker 1: They added a DJ, bringing their number to nine death metal, rap,
18:05
Speaker 1: pump thrash that were throwing it all into the mix,
18:07
Speaker 1: and all of it worked. Their self titled album became
18:11
Speaker 1: the fastest selling debut in heavy metal history. Their pulverizing
18:15
Speaker 1: sets at oz Fest in nineteen ninety nine cemented their
18:17
Speaker 1: status as one of the heaviest bands on the scene.
18:21
Speaker 1: The pressure to go even further on their follow up
18:23
Speaker 1: was huge, so Corey dug deep into painful memories from
18:27
Speaker 1: growing up to harness lyrics for the second album. He
18:30
Speaker 1: spilled out grotesque revenge fantasies against the bullies who tormented him,
18:35
Speaker 1: dark stories of his homeless years as a teenager. He
18:38
Speaker 1: also laid down withering critiques of the fame hungry coattail
18:41
Speaker 1: riders and clueless record executives who were beginning to circle
18:44
Speaker 1: the band. It all made for haunting material, but it
18:48
Speaker 1: also took its toll. Corey began drinking more and more
18:51
Speaker 1: as he dug deeper and deeper into the worst memories
18:54
Speaker 1: of his life, and the alcohol made him feel numb.
18:58
Speaker 1: In the recording studio, drank till he puked in order
19:01
Speaker 1: to take away the pain, but then he would resort
19:03
Speaker 1: to cutting himself with shards of broken glass just to
19:06
Speaker 1: feel something so he could make it through a song.
19:10
Speaker 1: The recording process was as brutal as the record itself,
19:14
Speaker 1: but it all seemed worth it When Iowa was released
19:17
Speaker 1: in two thousand and one, the album went all the
19:20
Speaker 1: way to number three on the Billboard charts. But after
19:23
Speaker 1: several years of intense touring and recording, the band was
19:27
Speaker 1: coming apart of the seams, and the darkness that they
19:30
Speaker 1: harnessed in the recording studio was leaking out into the
19:33
Speaker 1: real world because Corey Taylor's dream of having his music
19:37
Speaker 1: remembered forever was about to come true in the worst
19:41
Speaker 1: possible way. We'll be right back after this word. We're
19:52
Speaker 1: wre darkness stretched out like a blanket. It covered the
20:03
Speaker 1: baseball fields, the playgrounds too, and also the palm and
20:08
Speaker 1: pepper trees. In the late night hour. That darkness covered
20:12
Speaker 1: every inch of Paris Hill Park in San Bernardino. It
20:17
Speaker 1: was a warm May night, and the wind rustled through
20:20
Speaker 1: the leaves of the trees, and everything else was silent,
20:24
Speaker 1: and from a walking path high up on the hill,
20:27
Speaker 1: everything seemed still down below, everything except two barely visible
20:33
Speaker 1: human outlines leaning against the tree. They were Jason Harris,
20:38
Speaker 1: age twenty, and Amber Riley, age sixteen. From the path,
20:43
Speaker 1: they wouldn't have looked too suspicious, maybe a young couple
20:47
Speaker 1: of for clandestine late night mina, or just some friends
20:50
Speaker 1: sneaking a smoke and sharing a pair of headphones hooked
20:53
Speaker 1: up to a CD Walkman. And that was the problem
20:57
Speaker 1: for Jason. Were he and Amber friends or were they
21:01
Speaker 1: something more? Amber knew he was obsessed with her, but
21:05
Speaker 1: she toyed with him, she acted like his girlfriend, and
21:08
Speaker 1: then she would flirt with their friend Terry, and it
21:11
Speaker 1: drove Jason fucking mad. Besides, he and Amber had so
21:16
Speaker 1: much in common. They both loved horror movies, death metal, horror,
21:21
Speaker 1: core rap. The more gruesome the better, and they couldn't
21:24
Speaker 1: get enough of that shit. And Amber talked all the
21:27
Speaker 1: time about wanting to see a dead body. Jason had
21:30
Speaker 1: practiced on a few neighborhood pets. But tonight they're going
21:35
Speaker 1: to go further because Jason had a plan that would
21:38
Speaker 1: bind him and Amber together forever. They were going to
21:42
Speaker 1: find out what it was like to kill someone. As
21:47
Speaker 1: a lone figure emerged on the walking path far in
21:49
Speaker 1: the distance, Jason hit the back button on the CD player. Instantly,
21:54
Speaker 1: a squealing guitar riff kicked the song to life. He
21:58
Speaker 1: and Amber locked eyes and they started chanting along with
22:01
Speaker 1: the singer, words about vengeance and brutal violence. Jason pulled
22:07
Speaker 1: the knife out, and the blade glinted in the moonlight
22:09
Speaker 1: as he set it down behind his back. A moment later,
22:13
Speaker 1: their friend Terry emerged from the shadows. He nodded to Jason,
22:17
Speaker 1: but his face lit up with a smile when he
22:18
Speaker 1: saw Amber. Jason could tell Terry had a thing for Amber.
22:23
Speaker 1: Fucking Terry. Terry sat down next to Amber and began
22:27
Speaker 1: to chat without a care in the world. Jason laid
22:30
Speaker 1: back for a few moments, waiting. Then he started having
22:34
Speaker 1: second thoughts. Maybe they should call it off, but Amber
22:38
Speaker 1: locked eyes with him and he couldn't resist. He could
22:42
Speaker 1: hear the song playing on repeat in his mind. Then
22:45
Speaker 1: he picked up the knife and plunged it down into
22:47
Speaker 1: his friend Terry's chest, again and again. The next morning,
22:53
Speaker 1: police found the body of Terry Taylor with his throat
22:55
Speaker 1: slashed and more than twenty stab wounds in his body.
22:59
Speaker 1: Jason's mother called the police when he and Amber asked
23:01
Speaker 1: her for help getting bloodstains out of their clothes. When
23:05
Speaker 1: the police questioned them, the song the pair said they
23:08
Speaker 1: were listening to and repeat was Disaster Piece by slip Knot.
23:16
Speaker 1: It was two thousand and three and darkness was everywhere
23:20
Speaker 1: as the members of Slipknot were moving into Rick Rubin's
23:22
Speaker 1: house in studio to begin working on their third album.
23:27
Speaker 1: Corey Taylor may have written Disaster Piece as a fuck
23:29
Speaker 1: you to the bullies of his childhood, but in two
23:32
Speaker 1: thousand and three, no one wanted to hear it. In
23:34
Speaker 1: the media firestorm that followed, radio stations quit playing the
23:38
Speaker 1: band's music, high schools band kids from wearing their shirts.
23:42
Speaker 1: Paul Gray was concerned darkness was starting to engulf the
23:46
Speaker 1: band from the inside. The pressure from their success, the
23:50
Speaker 1: media frenzy from the murders, all combined with the physical
23:54
Speaker 1: toll of constant touring and recording, it was driving the
23:57
Speaker 1: band apart, anseled a European tourist, citing tensions within the band,
24:03
Speaker 1: and then they announced the hiatus. Corey Taylor and guitarist
24:07
Speaker 1: Jim Root reformed Stone Sour and had an immediate alternative
24:10
Speaker 1: rock hit. Joey Jorison started his own band, Murder Dolls.
24:15
Speaker 1: Sean Kran was busy with a new record label he
24:18
Speaker 1: was starting, but Paul Gray didn't take on any side projects.
24:23
Speaker 1: As one of the founders of slip Knott, Paul had
24:25
Speaker 1: been there since the beginning and ever since he put
24:28
Speaker 1: on the mask. Paul knew that slip Knott was his
24:31
Speaker 1: band for life, so he tried to hold the rest
24:34
Speaker 1: of the band together, and as the rest of the
24:36
Speaker 1: band slid further apart, Paul slid further and further into Heroin.
24:42
Speaker 1: Because for a band with big appetites, Paul Gray aka
24:47
Speaker 1: Number two aka Pig had the biggest appetite of them all.
24:52
Speaker 1: He loved the Maggots. After shows and anywhere he would
24:56
Speaker 1: come across them, he would always find time to chat
24:58
Speaker 1: with fans, and he loved to write songs. In fact,
25:03
Speaker 1: he and Joey had recorded dozens of demos for the
25:05
Speaker 1: new Slipknot album, and he loved Heroin, especially when he
25:10
Speaker 1: had nothing to do, which is exactly what Paul had
25:13
Speaker 1: been doing at Rick Rubin's Laurel Canyon mansion for the
25:16
Speaker 1: last three months. Nothing. When he arrived in la Paul
25:21
Speaker 1: was eager to get to work, so he was disappointed
25:23
Speaker 1: when he pulled up to the mansion and everyone was gone.
25:27
Speaker 1: Corey split for the Rainbow on the Sunset Strip almost
25:31
Speaker 1: as soon as he dropped his bags, and Sean was
25:33
Speaker 1: still finalizing details for a band on his label, and
25:37
Speaker 1: Rick Rubin, well, nobody knew where Rick Rubin was. Paul
25:41
Speaker 1: woke up every day hoping the band would start recording,
25:44
Speaker 1: but with all it goes around, it became impossible, so
25:48
Speaker 1: he spent his days sitting on a couch in the
25:50
Speaker 1: recording studio with nothing to do except Heroin. After three
25:57
Speaker 1: months of shooting dope and sitting on a couch, things
26:00
Speaker 1: were trending in a seriously bad direction for Paul. When
26:03
Speaker 1: Rick Rubin finally made his appearance, it was a normal
26:07
Speaker 1: day and Paul stumbled out of bed at two in
26:09
Speaker 1: the afternoon. He grabbed his bag and headed down to
26:12
Speaker 1: the bathroom, fully prepared to get high and to zone
26:14
Speaker 1: out for another pointless day while the band he loved
26:17
Speaker 1: fell apart around him. But just as he reached the
26:20
Speaker 1: bathroom door, Rick Rubin stepped in front of his path
26:24
Speaker 1: and calling a band meeting. That was all he said,
26:27
Speaker 1: and then he handed Paul a cup of tea downstairs.
26:30
Speaker 1: Paul was shocked to see the rest of the band
26:32
Speaker 1: all in the same room for the first time in weeks.
26:35
Speaker 1: He had to give Rick Rubin credit for that much.
26:37
Speaker 1: At least. There was no equipment, no microphones, and nothing
26:41
Speaker 1: set up at all except nine chairs. Paul is expecting
26:45
Speaker 1: a recording session, but instead he got a group therapy
26:48
Speaker 1: session with Rick Rubin as counselor. It never should have worked,
26:52
Speaker 1: it was so predictable, and they were a metal band
26:55
Speaker 1: after all. But no matter how awkward it was, Rick
26:58
Speaker 1: Rubin stuck with it. He got them hockey, he got
27:01
Speaker 1: them vending, and soon they were releasing all that darkness
27:05
Speaker 1: that they'd been holding inside, the grudges, the resentments, the anger,
27:09
Speaker 1: the guilt. No one pulled any punches for hours. They
27:14
Speaker 1: went at it, bashing each other like the kids in
27:16
Speaker 1: the wash pit. It was exhausting, but it was also
27:19
Speaker 1: cathartic and whatever it was, it worked. Paul swore that
27:25
Speaker 1: he only saw Rick Rubin five more times during the
27:27
Speaker 1: making of the album, but he'd done the producer's most
27:29
Speaker 1: important job. He got them making music again and then
27:35
Speaker 1: he was gone, but not before he helped the band
27:37
Speaker 1: stage in an intervention with Paul, and they'd given him
27:40
Speaker 1: an ultimatum, go to rehab or quit the band. Paul
27:44
Speaker 1: chose rehab. He would do anything to stay and slip knot.
27:48
Speaker 1: He even finished his bass parts while living in a
27:50
Speaker 1: halfway house, and it worked. Paul managed to get off drugs,
27:56
Speaker 1: and after a few close calls of his own, Corey
27:59
Speaker 1: Taylor was sober well. When Volume three, The Subliminal Verses,
28:02
Speaker 1: came out to rave reviews in two thousand and four,
28:06
Speaker 1: it seemed like the band was locked and loaded for
28:08
Speaker 1: the second era when two thousand and eight's All Hope
28:10
Speaker 1: Is Lost debuted at number one on the Billboard charts.
28:14
Speaker 1: But after that album came another grueling world tour and
28:18
Speaker 1: Joey was starting to complain about pains in his legs,
28:20
Speaker 1: and Corey was eager to take off the mask and
28:22
Speaker 1: get Stone Sour back on the road, and Sean had
28:25
Speaker 1: a million different projects that he was diving into, and
28:28
Speaker 1: by twenty ten, it seemed once again like Paul's makeshift
28:32
Speaker 1: family was scattering in every direction. He was the bass
28:35
Speaker 1: player for slipping on it, and no more and no
28:38
Speaker 1: less than his calendar looked empty. Maybe forever, all he
28:44
Speaker 1: could see again was the endless boredom. Paul knew about
28:48
Speaker 1: one cure for boredom, but sometimes, unfortunately, the cure is
28:54
Speaker 1: worse than the disease. It was a beautiful sunlit day
29:20
Speaker 1: at England's Nebworth Park, one hundred thousand metal fans stretched
29:25
Speaker 1: out as far as the eye could see. Everything looked
29:28
Speaker 1: just like it should, and there was a massive tower
29:31
Speaker 1: of speakers stretching up into the sky, and the sponsors
29:34
Speaker 1: banners flapping in the breeze, and of course seeing an
29:37
Speaker 1: escapable smell of middle grade grass floating through the air. Still,
29:42
Speaker 1: something was strange and something was off. Something was wrong,
29:47
Speaker 1: because despite the beautiful weather, despite the massive festival crowd,
29:51
Speaker 1: despite the decent bud and the overpriced beers, despite all
29:54
Speaker 1: the bands on the bill, the park was dead silent.
29:59
Speaker 1: Someone walked toward the front of the stage. On a
30:01
Speaker 1: stand they placed a red jumpsuit and a mask. A
30:04
Speaker 1: bass guitar rested in a stand nearby, and the crowd
30:09
Speaker 1: stood in silence as the seconds ticked on for two
30:11
Speaker 1: full minutes before they finally let out a deafening roar
30:16
Speaker 1: from the wings of the stage. The members of the
30:18
Speaker 1: band's Slip Knots stood unmasked, waving to the crowd with
30:21
Speaker 1: tears in their eyes, all eight of them. Because Paul
30:26
Speaker 1: Gray was dead, many people believe that Paul Gray had
30:32
Speaker 1: been able to stay clean after a stint in rehab
30:34
Speaker 1: in two thousand and three. Unfortunately, many people were wrong.
30:38
Speaker 1: It turned out that as far back as two thousand
30:40
Speaker 1: and five, Paul's personal physician was writing in prescriptions for
30:43
Speaker 1: heavy doses of morphine and xanax. His doctor did this
30:47
Speaker 1: despite knowing Paul's history with drug addiction. In fact, the
30:51
Speaker 1: doctor would be tried for manslaughter in twenty twelve, although
30:54
Speaker 1: he was eventually found not guilty. For Paul Gray One
30:59
Speaker 1: Slipknots two thousand and nine world tour ended, he quickly
31:02
Speaker 1: spiraled out of control. His wife, who was pregnant with
31:05
Speaker 1: their first child, attempted to stage an intervention with their
31:08
Speaker 1: immediate family. On May twenty third, twenty ten, rather than
31:12
Speaker 1: submit to another round of detos, Paul fled in his
31:15
Speaker 1: car and he drove to a hotel room in Urbandale, Iowa.
31:18
Speaker 1: The next day, the hotel manager discovered him in his
31:21
Speaker 1: room with a needle in his arm. The members of Slipknot,
31:25
Speaker 1: a band that had been together for more than fifteen years,
31:27
Speaker 1: had been growing apart before Paul's death, but the tragedy
31:31
Speaker 1: reinforced their bond with each other and with their fans.
31:35
Speaker 1: Every show became an outpouring of rage, of grief, of frustration,
31:39
Speaker 1: and just like it had been when the band was
31:41
Speaker 1: playing tiny clubs in Des Moines, it was incredibly cathartic.
31:45
Speaker 1: For the next year, the band took the stage with
31:47
Speaker 1: eight members, leaving Paul's jumpsuit and mask on stage as
31:51
Speaker 1: a tribute. As for the basslines themselves, the band kept
31:55
Speaker 1: it in the family. Original guitarist Donnie Steele, the one
31:59
Speaker 1: who had been scared off by the darkness of the
32:01
Speaker 1: band's material in the beginning, returned to the fold to
32:04
Speaker 1: fill in the gap on bass, although he played off
32:07
Speaker 1: stage to better help the band and the fans grieve.
32:10
Speaker 1: In twenty fourteen, the band released five, The Great Chapter
32:15
Speaker 1: and Tribute to their falling bandmate. The album once again
32:18
Speaker 1: topped the Billboard charts, but troubles continued to follow the band.
32:22
Speaker 1: Original drummer Joey Jordison was forced to leave the group
32:25
Speaker 1: after a rare neurological disease robbed him of the use
32:28
Speaker 1: of his legs. Guitarist Mick Thompson was nearly killed when
32:31
Speaker 1: his brother stabbed him in the back of the head
32:33
Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen. That's how crazy the stories are about
32:37
Speaker 1: this band, all right. The guitarist get stabbed in the
32:39
Speaker 1: back of his head by his brother and it only
32:41
Speaker 1: got one line in this episode. Joey Jordanson died in
32:46
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one as a result of transverse malitis, the
32:50
Speaker 1: disease that took the use of his legs, which left
32:52
Speaker 1: Sean cran as the only founding member of the band
32:55
Speaker 1: left as of this recording. That's the thing about a band, Slipknot.
33:01
Speaker 1: The faces can change, but the mass remain, and so
33:05
Speaker 1: Slipknot keeps thrashing their way into the future, taking on
33:09
Speaker 1: the darkness, embracing it, owning it, and then destroying it.
33:15
Speaker 1: Because metal is all about release and Almost everyone knows that,
33:20
Speaker 1: but some people take the darkness way too literally, and
33:25
Speaker 1: that's a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan in this is Disgraceland.
33:46
Speaker 1: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in
33:49
Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be
33:52
Speaker 1: found on the show notes page at disgracelambpod dot com.
33:56
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33:59
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Speaker 1: Man