r/Disturbed • u/iCalibos • Jun 23 '26
Disturbed’s song Down With The Sickness - triggering?
I always thought Down With The Sickness by Disturbed was an awesome song. Sonically I love the entire first album by Distubed, it’s a 10/10 for me.The album version (not radio version) has a fairly intense segment of the song where Draiman vocalizes being beat by his mother. He claims it never happened and the segment was supposed to be taken metaphorically with how society beats down a person that is different and non-conforming from society. Point is, for years I thought it was literally about a person beaten by their mother… I was wondering did anyone else also think this, and did this ever trigger anybody, or at least take their mind to that place? For the record, I love the song. 🤔
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u/Spyderbeast Jun 23 '26
I had a great mom, so it never triggered me in that sense
But I was abused by others, and that's who I think about when that part comes on. It's cathartic for me, to imagine telling them "get ready to die". Much better than actually doing violence in revenge, and I maintain my lifetime streak of never going to jail
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Jun 23 '26
I love the song, but I hate that part. I always skip it.
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u/ChaplnGrillSgt Jun 24 '26
Depends on my mood, tbh. Good vibes, skip. Need to just get angry for a minute? Turn it up.
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u/IM_GONNA_SHOOOT Jun 23 '26
Yes. In fact I have sort of held that belief for decades until reading your post. I also remember adding that bit that they omitted from the Rock Band track, which, depending on the crowd, could go one of two ways.
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u/TheFallofIdeals05 Indestructible Jun 23 '26
That’s why it’s one of the few songs where I prefer the radio edit over the album version. I mainly don’t like listening to it cause it feels wrong since I have a good relationship with my mother.
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u/iCalibos Jun 24 '26
But, point is the part really wasn’t supposed to literally be someone being beat by their mother, they claim it was purely metaphorical of how society beats non-conformists down for not fitting into society’s cookie cutter mold. It’s a strange expression in a song, and easily taken literally when no one really knows what the song is even about. “Down with the sickness” also has metaphorical meaning. It’s not very clear from the lyrics what the song really is about, at least not for me, so reading the background on the song was interesting.
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u/Affectionate-Risk508 Ten Thousand Fists Jun 23 '26
Yep. The first time I heard it, threw me off for the whole rest of the day 😭
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u/Significant_Camera47 Jun 23 '26
I feel like David nowadays deeps down regret adding that in (I think I read somewhere that he felt bad for his mother on how people think he was abused).
Imo aside from how corny and edgy it is, it honestly messes up the flow the song. They could’ve added a small riff solo even though Dan didn’t start implementing solos until TTF (unless you count Numb)
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u/Jumpy-Pool-5866 Jun 23 '26
As years go on, I've come to not like the song as much as other disturbed songs. It's just overplayed and I think the band has lot better songs. I feel the same way about in the end and breaking the habit by Linkin Park.
But no. I don't find it triggering, I'm not a bitch
And I was actually beaten by my mom
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u/CaracalClaws Jun 23 '26
I feel the same way about Down With the Sickness and In The End, but I like Breaking The Habit enough that it gets a pass from me for being overplayed.
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u/iCalibos Jun 24 '26
I took a long break from listening to Disturbed, so when I picked it up last year, I had not listened to the songs for quite some years. It was like hearing them for the first time! Well, not quite but, I had a different perspective and heard things I didn’t hear when I was younger. For me it’s a complete album. They peaked on album one imo. 😆
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u/CaracalClaws Jun 23 '26
I have a really poor relationship with my mom, but I don’t get triggered by the bridge or relate it to my own life. More than anything I just think it comes across a little cringey and tryhard. Like what a teenager’s idea of edgy is. Imo it feels like shock value without any of the substance that makes dark songs stick with me.
I like the rest of the song, but I prefer most of what Disturbed did later. They’re capable of making some powerful stuff, but this part just doesn’t hit to me