Disturbed is a rock band from Chicago, Illinois. The group was formed in 1996 when musicians Dan Donegan, Steve "Fuzz" Kmak, and Mike Wengren hired singer David Draiman in Chicago, Illinois. Originally classified as a nu metal band, Disturbed is now regarded by some music critics as hard rock or heavy metal, although others now regard them as alternative metal. However, the band's genre is still being debated. When asked about die-hard metal fans not finding Disturbed heavy enough, frontman David Draiman stated: "We probably have too much melody going on or we're not quite as turbulent or caustic. While I really love that type of music, it's not what we try to do. If we have to place things in context, we're more hard rock than heavy metal these days."
Around 1998, Disturbed recorded two separate demo EPs, "Stupify" and "Perfect Insanity", which the band then sent out to different record companies. The band sent two to show the record companies that the band was dedicated to its music and that the first EP wasn't a fluke. [citation needed] The band broke out in 1999 with its single "Stupify" and subsequent album The Sickness.
The album launched the band into stardom. The song "Down with the Sickness" became extremely popular from the album and was later used in many film soundtracks and still is used a lot to this day. Soon after the release of The Sickness, Disturbed released a revamped cover version of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's theme music for the WWE called "Glass Shatters". Disturbed headlined Ozzy Osbourne's Ozzfest tour in 2001 alongside Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Black Label Society, and Crazy Town. Afterwards, the band started their own tour, called Music as a Weapon. The bands Adema, Drowning Pool, Stereomud, and Systematic were featured on the tour alongside Disturbed.
Before joining Marilyn Manson's 2001 European tour, former bassist Steve "Fuzz" Kmak was unable to play with the band due to a shattered ankle. Fuzz shattered his ankle by falling out of a fire escape outside Disturbed's rehearsal hall in Chicago a few days before Christmas. He took the fire escape to exit the building while the lift was being used to move their equipment downstairs. After a successful operation, doctors highly recommended that he skip the tour to avoid more severe damage to his foot. But he did perform with the band on January 11th and 12th, 2001 at Disturbed's show in Chicago. A bass player named Marty O'Brian was recruited and filled Fuzz's spot until Fuzz was able to play again.
In September 2002, Disturbed released their second studio album titled Believe, which debuted at #1. The songs "Prayer", "Liberate" and "Remember" became very popular and many fans were impressed with Disturbed's new album, despite it being less aggressive then their previous album. Disturbed's frontman, David Draiman, recorded the vocals for "Forsaken", a track written and produced by Jonathan Davis of Korn for the Queen Of The Damned Soundtrack. In 2003, the band once again participated in the Ozzfest tour and started another one of their own tours named "Music as a Weapon II". The bands Chevelle, Taproot, and Unloco toured with them.
Fuzz left the band in early 2003; as singer David Draiman puts it, "When Kmak was with the band, Disturbed wasn't totally clicking; musically or personally." The band tells fans that he left for personal reasons. He was replaced with Matt Konopinski and then later with John Moyer.
Disturbed toured with 10 Years and Ill Niño in support of their third album Ten Thousand Fists, released worldwide on September 20th, 2005, which also debuted at #1 in the U.S. Ten Thousand Fists had five B-side tracks that were not released on the album, but rather on various singles and other albums. Currently the track "Hell" can be found on the "Stricken" single (a second version of this single has the studio version of the track "Dehumanized", which was originally featured as a live track on the "Music as a Weapon II" live album and DVD). The track can also be heard on the band's Myspace page. The track "Monster" was originally released as part of an iTunes pre-order package for the first people who pre-ordered the album Ten Thousand Fists. Afterwards, the track was very hard to find. But, it can now be found on the "Tour Edition" of Ten Thousand Fists (along with the track "Two Worlds"). The track "Sickened" can be found on the "Land of Confusion" single. The fifth and final B-side track "Criminal" has currently not be released to the public. A month after the release of Ten Thousand Fists, Disturbed headlined the Jägermeister tour along with Bloodsimple.
Disturbed supplied the song "Stricken" for WWE's New Year's Revolution 2006. In April 2006, the band completed an Australian tour supporting Korn and sharing the tour with 10 Years and Hatebreed. In mid 2006, a European tour was scheduled but had been moved twice due to the band's frontman having troubles with his voice.
"I had been taking Prevacid for about four years and my body built up a resistance to it, to the point where it wasn't doing anything anymore," he told MTV.com. "I had a night of drinking in London followed by a full day and night of drinking on a day off in Dublin, because what else is there to do in Ireland but drink? That, coupled with a show where I had monitor problems, and I pretty much trashed my voice." - David Draiman
In late 2006, Draiman went to undergo surgery for his voice. It was successful, and ever since then, Draiman has stopped drinking. [citation needed] Disturbed headlined Ozzfest 2006 along with Ozzy Osbourne, System of a Down, Dragonforce, Avenged Sevenfold, Lacuna Coil, and Hatebreed. The band also went on the European tour that had been previously moved twice earlier in 2006. Disturbed headlined another one of their own tours named "Music as a Weapon III"; the bands Flyleaf, Stone Sour, and Nonpoint toured with Disturbed on this tour.
Disturbed's frontman recently became involved in the music filesharing controversy by publicly speaking out against the RIAA's lawsuits against filesharing individuals, despite the fact his record label is a member of the RIAA.
"This is not rocket science. Instead of spending all this money litigating against kids who are the people they're trying to sell things to in the first place, they have to learn how to effectively use the Internet. For the artists, my ass... I didn't ask them to protect me, and I don't want their protection." - David Draiman
Draiman also told NYRock:
"[I'm] Very positive about the internet, Napster. I think it's a tremendous tool for reaching many more people than we ever could without it. When you release music you want it to be heard by people. Artists really want to have their music heard. They want to have their creation heard by people. Nothing is going to do that better than Napster. I can't tell you how many kids have come up to me and said, 'I downloaded a couple of tunes off Napster and I went out and bought the album.' Or they say, 'I want to come see you play.' I don't really make money off of record sales anyway." - David Draiman
Disturbed completed the "Music as a Weapon III tour" in late 2006. On their last stop of the tour, which was in Madison, WI., the band stated that they were going off the road to start working on their fourth album. [citation needed] The title and release date of the new album has yet to be disclosed to the public.
On June 13, 2007, the band was honored as "Ballsiest Band" at the 2007 Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards, defeating the other finalist, Lamb of God, via a nationwide vote. They accepted the award live and dedicated it to members of the United States military, specifically to a unit which has used Disturbed's music to get pumped up going into battle. .
A new track titled "This Moment" was released on the soundtrack to the movie Transformers. It is currently unknown if the song will be on their next album.
According the the band's MySpace page and official website, Disturbed has been busy writing new songs for their fourth studio album. They are hoping to record the new album within a few months and are aiming for an early 2008 release.
In a recent interview with "The Big Rock Show", Disturbed's guitarist stated that their new album is going to be a lot "ballsier" then their previous albums.[citation needed]
Album information
The Sickness
Believe
Ten Thousand Fists
Year
Title
Chart Positions
Album
US Billboard Hot 100
US Mainstream Rock
US Modern Rock
US Pop 100
Canadian Singles Chart
"Stupify"
#12
#10
The Sickness
"Voices"
#16
#18
The Sickness
"The Game"
#34
The Sickness
"Down with the Sickness"
#5
#8
The Sickness
"Prayer"[10]
#58
#3
#3
#14
Believe
"Remember"[10]
#6
#22
Believe
"Liberate"[10]
#4
#22
Believe
"Guarded"[11]
#7
#28
Ten Thousand Fists
"Stricken"[11]
#95
#2
#13
#89
Ten Thousand Fists
"Just Stop"[11]
#4
#24
Ten Thousand Fists
"Land of Confusion"[11]
#100
#1
#18
Ten Thousand Fists
"Ten Thousand Fists"[11]
#7
#37
Ten Thousand Fists
