If you know only two Disturbed songs, you know Down With The Sickness and you know their cover of The Sound Of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel. The video for that cover version has been viewed over 400 million times on YouTube, and to be fair, it is a stunning reworking of a classic. So stunning, in fact, that they’ve just repeated the trick with their equally dramatic take on former Police frontman Sting’s If I Ever Lose My Faith In You.
But did you know that David Draiman and co. have covered quite a few songs in their time? Some of which are better than others. Here we count down the band's seven different covers in order from worst to best.
8. I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (originally by U2)
Disturbed turn U2’s earnest, gospel-inflected ballad into a chugging, rock-radio song. The riffs from the second verse onwards sound weirdly out of place, as does the mid-song solo. Plus, there’s only one monkey noise in it.
7. Fade To Black (originally by Metallica)
A live version on the Music As A Weapon II compilation showed Disturbed could do pretty good Metallica karaoke, David even doing a throaty, Hetfield rasp. They added nothing new to The Four Horsemen’s song, though.
6. Living After Midnight (originally by Judas Priest)
This song featured on a covermount CD that came with this very magazine. Again, it remains largely faithful to the original version, Disturbed paying tribute to some of the legends that inspired them.
5. Midlife Crisis (originally by Faith No More)
The best bit about this cover is the round that starts up towards the end. School assemblies would have been a lot more interesting if they’d let us sing this instead of the usual twee classics.
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4. Shout 2000 (originally by Tears For Fears)
From new romantic to nu metal. The vocal delivery of the original lent itself to David’s staccato technique, and the industrial guitar lines added a welcome 90s twist. The risk paid off, and showed they weren’t afraid to have some fun.
3. If I Ever Lose My Faith In You (originally by Sting)
After the megasuccess of their cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s The Sound Of Silence, the band clearly figured: “If it ain't broke, don't fix it.” Cue this equally restrained take on Sting’s 1993’s hit. David sensibly swaps out the original’s nutsack-in-a-vice vocal pitch for something deeper and more mature, transforming it into a quietly powerful reimagining.
2. Land Of Confusion (originally by Genesis)
The defining feature of this is surely David’s startling, punctuating barks, completely at odds with Phil Collins’ original style. By adding moshpit-bounce to the riffs, Disturbed elevated the song from dad-rock hit to metal banger.
1. The Sound Of Silence (originally by Simon & Garfunkel)
Toning down their theatrics in favour of a more subtle approach, Disturbed added a piano part and swelling orchestration, and let David’s deep vocals take centre stage. A successful Trojan horse into the mainstream.
How many Disturbed songs are covers?
Disturbed have released eight cover versions over the course of their career. These include:
Shout – Tears for Fears
Fade to Black – Metallica
Land of Confusion – Genesis
Midlife Crisis – Faith No More
Living After Midnight – Judas Priest
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For – U2
The Sound of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel
If I Ever Lose My Faith In You – Sting
What did Paul Simon think of Disturbed?
Paul Simon gave a thumbs up to Disturbed's cover version of the duo's 1964 single and described it as a "wonderful rendition". Simon saw the band perform the song on Conan in 2016 and emailed David Draiman, writing: "Really powerful performance on Conan the other day. First time I’d seen you do it live. Nice. Thanks."
Did Disturbed cover Zombie?
Bad Wolves covered The Cranberries classic and released the song shortly after the death of singer Dolores O’Riordan. She was due to record vocals for the song, but died on the day she was due to enter the studio. The band revealed that they would donate the proceeds from the single to her three children.
What is Disturbed's number one song?
Disturbed's most popular song is Down With the Sickness, the second single taken from their 2000 debut The Sickness. A perennial rock club favourite, it's notable for it's crunching riff and vocalist David Draiman's "ooh, wah-ah-ah-ah!" line. The track has been streamed on Spotify over 588 million. Their cover of The Sound of Silence, however, has been streamed over 632 million times.
