How Slipknot’s Corey Taylor Broke His Neck Without Realizing It
In 2015, Dave Grohl fell off the stage and broke his leg but continued performing while sitting in a chair, as the medical staff treated him. He eventually had to stop the gig and get adequate medical attention. Maybe it is such resilience that one Slipknot member imitated when he also fell off the stage while performing. Unfortunately, it did not end well because Slipknot’s Corey Taylor broke his neck without realizing it. The damage was spotted 17 years later, and he could have become paralyzed from the injuries. Here are all the details.
A Walking Miracle
Taylor had noticed that his body was not functioning as it should be. The strength on his right side had completely faded such that he could not wrestle with an 80-year-old. Since the gradual loss of strength and other issues had been going on for a while, Taylor assumed that maybe it was due to old age. After all, he had hit 40, so it was time to accept that and go for an “old man’s” physical examination. The singer visited his doctor in Los Angeles, who did all the necessary tests to get to the root of the problem. From MRIs to CT scans, the doctor was thorough, and finally, he spotted something with Taylor’s spine.
The doctor, therefore, sent the singer to a spinal cord specialist, which had Taylor wondering what could be wrong. The specialist explained that the singer had broken his neck. As published by Tone Deaf, Taylor revealed that his C5 and C6 vertebrae had fused, resulting in the discs between them being destroyed. Consequently, the bone had begun growing into his spine. As per the MRI, the bone had choked off the fluid and damaged the nerves on his spinal cord. Taylor needed to be operated on soonest possible, and the surgery was to replace the damaged discs and reshape the bone so it could not grow into the spine. Maybe to prevent the already shaken Taylor from panicking further, the doctor waited until after the surgery to inform the musician that he would have been paralyzed. The medical practitioner even added that he was surprised Taylor could walk, given the extent of the damage. Therefore, the singer was instructed to take two weeks off to recuperate, and he obeyed by adding an extra week.
What Could Have Caused the Broken Neck?
According to an interview with 93XRadio, Taylor had fallen many times in his career. However, the only incident he thought of that could have caused the broken neck happened in 1999. The musician explained that he had fallen four feet off the stage and landed on top of his head. Being only 25, the youthful musician was still high on energy, so he returned to performing because he felt fine, unaware that he had injured his neck and spine. Due to the emergency spinal surgery in 2016, SlipKnot had to postpone their US Tour with Marilyn Mason as they waited for Taylor to heal. He informed his fans that the band would be back on stage from June 28 and continue with the tour as they had previously scheduled. However, some of his fans were skeptical and started speculating because by then, he had not explained to them what caused the injury. They thought it had something to do with quitting smoking. Taylor hushed down the rumors by posting on social media on June 5, 2016, that it was an emergency surgery due to something that came up during his physical examination.
Did He Learn His Lesson?
For someone who had already been warned that the broken neck could have landed him in a wheelchair permanently, you would think that Taylor would be careful in his next performances. He might have followed his doctor’s advice to rest for two weeks, but a few weeks later, he wished he had gone beyond the three weeks he gave himself to recuperate. According to NME, Slipknot was performing in Atlanta, Georgia at the Lakewood Amphitheater on June 29, 2016, when he suffered another fall. The singer was still wearing a neck brace when he fell and could not walk, so he had to be picked up and rushed backstage. Fans could see that he was in pain even as the band performed, and when he fell, it was reported that he was shaking and appeared to be in bad shape. Taylor, however, assured his fans that he was okay and jokingly said it was one for the ages.
In 2017, as reported by Loudwire, the singer claimed to have made a 95% recovery. He said that the surgery had been a month after he quit smoking, so he lacked the energy to for the physical things he had been doing previously. When he performed in a neck brace, Taylor could not headbang, but he started his usual antics after slow but steady progress. He asserted that the band’s goal is to be tough and have a crazy attitude while still entertaining fans meaning that he is not planning to stop the physical risks any time soon.
He Had Another Major Surgery after the Neck Surgery
Taylor seems always to take everything on a light note regardless of how serious some issues are. Therefore, even when he told his fans about the double knee surgery, he joked that he would soon be worth $6 million at the rate he was going. According to Consequence, the joke was about “The Six million Dollars” film in which the lead character got superpowers from the bionic body parts. Once again, after the surgery slated for May 10, 2019, the singer would not have much time to recover. On May 17, Slipknot would perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live” before beginning their European tour in June 2019. We can only hope he does not undergo any more accidents that would halt his career because it is clear the singer loves his job.