Nathan Jonas Jordison was born on April 26, 1975 in Des Moines, Iowa at the Mercy hospital. Jordison went to Valley High School in West Des Moines, Iowa. While in high school, Jordison played drums in the Valley Marchmasters drumline and he played in jazz band.

Jordison had worked at a Sinclair gas station in Waukee, Iowa and played in various extreme metal bands from around the Des Moines area, including Modifidious and Anal Blast. Slipknot released an album in 1996 named Mate.Feed.Kill.Repeat. Only 1000 copies were ever made and sold worldwide. It wasn't until their second album (which was their first record to be released by Roadrunner Records) that they began to garner significant attention, charting at a respectable #51 on the Billboard chart. Jordison, along with his band, played in several Ozzfest tours, headlining the tour in 2001.

Another Slipknot album, "Iowa," was released in 2001. This saw Jordison's band reaching super-stardom, the album debuted in at #1 in the US Billboard charts and number #1 in both the United Kingdom and Canada's national charts. After touring relentlessly, Slipknot went on hiatus.

During this time Jordison remixed "Fight Song" for Marilyn Manson and was also featured in Manson's "Tainted Love" video. In 2002, Jordison, with Wednesday 13 and Tripp Eisen, formed what would become his second most popular band, Murderdolls.

He performed "unmasked" (achmel the accursed)(i.e. not in his Slipknot persona) with the Murderdolls and added guitar to the album "Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls". The glam metal/horror punk band became popular (in the United Kingdom and Japan in particular) before the group went on hiatus in order for Jordison to return to Slipknot.the members work on their side projects. Meanwhile, his attachment to the Murderdolls seems to have been severed as Wednesday 13, almost having picked up where they left oft in regards to Jordison and Eisen, are still functioning.

Since returning to Slipknot, Jordison recorded a fourth album with the group, "Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses)", released in 2004. The album climbed to #2 on the Billboard chart, and also reached #1 status in the United Kingdom.

In the summer of 2004 at Download Festival, Lars Ulrich of headliners Metallica was unable to perform with the band. Jordison stepped up and filled in for Ulrich. Joey played most of the set with Metallica. In December of 2004 Joey filled in for drummer Frost of Norwegian black metal band Satyricon for the band's tour of the United States after Frost was unable to get into the country. He also drummed for Ministry on their tour for the Rio Grande Blood album. He also played with the band American Head Charge. On April 19, 2007, it was announced that Joey would be touring with Korn for about 5 months while David Silveria was on hiatus from the band. Before Slipknot, Joey was in a band called The Rejects, with a few former members of Murderdolls, Wednesday 13 and Tripp Eisen. Joey has also now began producing albums, his first being Fire up the Blades by the band 3 Inches of Blood, which he drummed in.