Music
AUXbituary: Disturbed (1995–2011)
by Tyler Munro
July 26, 2011
Sometimes the biggest stories go unnoticed. That’s why, today, we report with regret that Disturbed has called it quits… more or less, announcing that they’re now on an indefinite hiatus. We probably should have seen it coming. In their final days as Disturbed the band was not what it once was. When David Drain Man decided to hide his bent-nail chin piercings behind a conformist soul patch, we should have seen it as a sign of the times. And what about when Dan Donegan started adding in guitar solos? Listen, buddy, but there’s no place for that within the sickness. Disturbed as we knew and loved them were clearly no more. This hiatus just confirms that.
There’s no coming back from this. And, for Disturbed, maybe that’s a good thing. It’s been over a decade since they stupefied fans with their uniquely punishing brand of butt rock, but even in their later stages and even with their compromises and selfish guitar flourishes, Disturbed is a band that left at the top of the game. “Retire from the mountains with eyes on those you’ve inspired,” I always say. Pain heals, chicks dig scars and glory lasts for fucking ever. In your departure you leave behind a legacy, one that cannot be easily or concisely quantified with anything other than ten thousand fists in the motherfucking air.
Of their covers it is not possible to pick a favourite. “Shout 2000,” put a heavy spin on a Tears for Fears classic and their version of Eleanor Rigby…wait, that was Godhead. “Land of Confusion”? You made that shit your own and if Phil Collins doesn’t like it, well, uh, too bad. He can try to cover one of your songs, I guess, but if he knows what good for him he’ll leave the classics untouched.“Inside the Fire,” “The Animal” and other such hits are yours and yours alone.
You are gone, maybe forever, but not soon forgotten.
Ooh wah-ah-ah-ah.
