Down with the Sickness

"Down with the Sickness" is a song by American heavy metal band Disturbed. The song was recorded in 1999 and was released as the second single from their debut studio album, The Sickness. The song is one of Disturbed's best-known songs and is a concert staple, usually played as the last song. This was their first single to be certified platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America.^[1]

A music video composed of live concert footage was produced for the song. The music video excludes the "abuse" segment as does the radio edit of the song.

It also features an iconic staccato scream from singer David Draiman at the end of the intro, which reappears throughout the song; the now famous "Ooh-wah-ah-ah-ah" noise, which they (as explained on the Decade of Disturbed documentary) got inspiration for during a visit to a Chicago Zoo.

Chart positions

Personnel

• David Draiman – vocals
• Dan Donegan – guitar, electronics
• Steve Kmak – bass guitar
• Mike Wengren – drums, percussion, programmer
• Johnny K – producer, engineer
• Andy Wallace – mixer
• Howie Weinberg – mastering

In media

The song has been used often as entrance music in sports. Professional football teams, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, the Delaware Blue Hens and the Houston Texans have played it as the players enter the field, and mixed martial artists, Steve Cantwell, Rousimar Palhares, and Mark Bocek have entered to the song at various Ultimate Fighting Championship events.

The song is also included on the soundtrack of the film Queen of the Damned, featured in Rock Band 2 and as part of the Guitar Hero 5 downloadable content library (both with the Uncensored "abuse" segment intact), and sung with piano accompaniment by Richard Cheese throughout the film and the during the end credits of Dawn of the Dead (2004). It has also been used on the first episode of the eleventh season of South Park. It is currently the opening theme song on the Travel Channel show Paranormal Challenge.

Covers

• Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine recorded a cover of "Down with the Sickness" for their 2002 album, Tuxicity, which was featured in Zack Snyder's 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic used the song in his polka medley, "Angry White Boy Polka", on his 2003 album Poodle Hat.

References