Down with the sickness

Down with the sickness
Disturbed
publication	October 31, 2000
length	4:38 (album version) 3:42 (single version)
Genre (s)	Alternative metal
Author (s)	Dan Donegan David Draiman Steve Kmak Mike Wengren
album	The sickness

Down with the Sickness is a song by the American alternative metal band Disturbed . It was released on October 31, 2000 as the third single from their first album The Sickness . The single was in the United States with platinum and in Canada with gold awarded.

Emergence

The song was written jointly by the four then band members Dan Donegan , David Draiman , Steve Kmak and Mike Wengren . Wengren starts playing a tribal rhythm before Donegan's guitar starts in Dropped-C tuning . In the original version, the song had a short break after the intro. One day singer David Draiman arrived with a staccato-like cry ooh-wah-ah-ah-ah. He was inspired by Wengren's drumming, which made Draiman feel like an animal . The special sound of his voice became possible after Draiman's vocal cords had to be operated on for gastroesophageal reflux .

The song was recorded in November and December 1999 at Groovemaster Studios in Chicago . Producers were Johnny K (real name John Karkazis) and the band. The song was mixed by Andy Wallace, while Howie Weinberg did the mastering . The single version is around a minute shorter than the album or video version. A music video was shot directed by Nathan Cox .

content

The lyrics were written by singer David Draiman and were more inspired by his own story. It wouldn't be a literal interpretation of his upbringing. The text is about a mother's conflict with her child, with the mother standing for society . The child longs for independence and individuality and is "put down and subjugated" by its mother. Although Draiman wrote the text cryptically , he was surprised that many listeners took the text literally. Many teenagers would have thanked Draiman for using a topic like abuse , even though the song wasn't about that topic.

reception

Daniel Csencsics of the online magazine Stormbringer wrote that Down with the Sickness was the song that “most of the older listeners in the band associate with the musicians from Chicago, especially since it has everything that defines the band”. Down with the Sickness reached number five on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs . Singer David Draiman said in retrospect that Down with the Sickness had catapulted the career of his band . With the song things took "a significant, dramatic boost" because it resonated with a lot of people. The song became a "worldwide phenomenon" that brought the band to the top.

Loudwire and Louder Sound magazines each voted Down with the Sickness best Disturbed song. In addition, Loudwire readers voted Down with the Sickness 2016 as the best metal song of the 21st century. During the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020, the song saw another surge in popularity. The number of digital sales rose by 31 percent.

success

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Canada (MC)	-	gold1	-	50,000	musiccanada.com
United States (RIAA)	-	-	platinum1	1,000,000	riaa.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	silver1	-	-	200,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	silver1	gold1	platinum1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Chad Childers: 20 YEARS AGO: DISTURBED SPREAD 'THE SICKNESS'. Loudwire , accessed April 15, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Disturbed Dispelling The Rumor Behind Down with the Sickness. MTV , accessed April 15, 2020 (English). 
3. ↑ Daniel Csencsics: The Metal Museum: DISTURBED - The Sickness. Stormbringer.at, accessed on April 15, 2020 . 
4. ↑ Disturbed - Mainstream Rock Songs. Billboard , accessed April 15, 2020 . 
5. ↑ Chad Childers: Disturbed's 'Down With the Sickness,' At the Drive In's 'Quarantined' See Sales Spike During Coronavirus Pandemic. Loudwire, accessed April 15, 2020 . 
6. ↑ Eleanor Goodman: The top 10 best Disturbed songs. Louder Sound, accessed April 15, 2020 . 
7. ↑ Disturbed's 'Down With the Sickness' Wins Best Metal Song of the 21st Century in Metal Madness 2016. Loudwire, accessed April 15, 2020 . 
8. ↑ Chad Childers: 15 Best Disturbed Songs. Loudwire, accessed April 15, 2020 .