The horror-punk project that bridged the gap between Slipknot and 1970s shock rock
In short: Formed in Hollywood in 2002, the Murderdolls were a high-energy collaboration between Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison and vocalist Wednesday 13. Blending punk sensibilities with the theatrical aesthetics of horror cinema, the band became a cult phenomenon, famously described by observers as a collision between Mötley Crüe and the Misfits.
The band's origins trace back to a Des Moines project called The Rejects, which featured Jordison and vocalist Dizzy Draztik. After Draztik introduced Jordison to the music of Wednesday 13’s horror-punk group, Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, the pair recruited him to play bass. Following Draztik's departure to support his mother, Wednesday 13 assumed the frontman role, and the group rebranded as the Murderdolls. Their debut, Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls, relied heavily on re-recordings of Wednesday 13’s previous material, with Jordison and 13 handling most instrumentation.
While the band experienced modest success in the United States, they found a dedicated audience in Japan, Europe, and the United Kingdom. Their sound was rooted in punk rock and 1970s hard rock icons like Alice Cooper and Kiss, while their lyrics leaned into macabre, tongue-in-cheek themes like grave robbing and necrophilia. Despite their rapid rise and extensive touring, the band was plagued by shifting lineups and the members' commitments to other projects, leading to an indefinite hiatus in 2004.
In 2010, the band reunited to record Women and Children Last, a project Jordison considered their first true album due to their collaborative writing process in a secluded Hollywood Hills mansion. Though they toured extensively, the reunion was short-lived, with the band splitting permanently in 2011. Following the death of drummer Ben Graves in 2018 and Joey Jordison in 2021, the possibility of a future resurrection remains closed, marking the end of a unique chapter in early 2000s rock history.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Murderdolls
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