CRO-MAGS’ John Joseph Shows Us Why Healthy Living Is Pure Hardcore
April 8, 2015, 9 years ago
No one ever accused John Joseph of taking the easy road. In his book, Evolution Of A Cro-Magnon, Joseph describes how growing up in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s in New York City, he suffered years of abuse, neglect and homelessness and coped primarily with drugs, crime and violence. Yet rather than succumbing to the streets, he chose a new plan of attack. Not only did Joseph become lead singer of the Cro-Mags, whose innovative fusion of hardcore punk and thrash metal music continues to influence, he also became a triathlete who dedicates his life to a spirituality that includes meditation, a plant-based diet and helping others. And in doing so, he is showing everyone that healthy living can be as intense as any mosh pit.
Joseph was born of violence. He states: “I came out of a very violent background as a child. My father was a well-known boxer and very violent towards my mom. I didn’t find out until I was 40 years old that she had already left him, and he broke in and raped her, and that’s how I was conceived. The last memory I have of him was that he broke down the door one night to my mom’s house and beat her all over the apartment, and she ended up in the hospital. Broke her jaw, everything. That’s when they took us away and put us in the orphanages, and then they put us in foster care.”
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