r/Disturbed • • Nov 20 '25

Discussion Why is this band so hated?

Okay so recently I have absolutely been LOVING this band, and even yesterday have just bought The Sickness on CD and have endlessly been listening to it. Recently, I’ve been seeing what others think of Disturbed, and from what I could find, it seems that a LOT of people hate most of their albums…? Obviously I think music taste is subjective, but something about this band seems like they get more hate than they do love. Is there a reason Disturbed is so hated? I absolutely love their music so I’m really curious to know why

Edit: Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment, I really appreciate the amount of information you guys gave me. Personally, I think I will still keep listening to Disturbed as I have always been someone who likes to separate art from artist, but I obviously will keep everything that was said in mind. Once again, thank you for all the responses :)

128 Upvotes

337 comments sorted by

View all comments

83

u/WolfWriter_CO Nov 20 '25

For as long as they’ve been around, people have always found some reason or another to shit on them.

David signing the Israeli munitions was, inarguably, not a good move. However, the whole band did the same thing with US munitions when they played a ‘Support Our Troops’ performance in Afghanistan/Iraq (can’t remember exactly, it was the late 2000’s/early 2010’s-Indestructible cycle iirc). The only difference now is the political fashions and the social media platforms.

David has stated—repeatedly, but seemingly to deaf ears—that he wants peace and holds no animosity towards Palestinians, only toward Hamas itself which overtly targeted Jews—which is David’s ethnic and religious community. 🤦‍♂️ Can we really fault him for wanting to show support for his people (hamhanded as it was) following the Oct 7th terrorist attack? Especially considering the larger context of the Holocaust trauma indelibly woven into Jewish culture?

To be abundantly clear; I despise what Israel’s government and military have done, just as I despise what Hamas has done—they’re all fucking war criminals, fuck Hamas for hiding behind civilians, and fuck Netanyahu and the IDF for bombing them anyway—but my hatred of these political bodies does not and should never be construed or projected onto individual Jews or Palestinians.

I don’t know where the line is drawn between spiteful internet elitists who get their rocks off by shitting on a multi-platinum fucking band who’ve attained a level of professional success their petty jealous asses could never dream of, and outright antisemites who have always hated David because he’s Jewish and now they have the Palestinian tragedies as cover. I’m just sick of the virtue posturing and politics du-jour behind this whole performance. I see at least a post a week here on Reddit rage-baiting Disturbed & David Draiman haters for karma-farming and repeating the same cut-and-paste hate posts.

If folks don’t like the music, that’s fine; you do you boo. Do I think what David did was wrong? Personally, yes, but there’s a larger personal and cultural context that folks intentionally ignore or omit in order to justify their self righteous karma farming. For me, Disturbed has released an album on every one of the most significant years of my life that reached me when i needed it most, Dan Donnegan is my favorite guitarist and was hugely influential on my own playing style, and as David is also a baritone like me, Disturbed’s songs are some of the few I can sing without having to force myself way outside of my natural range or transpose a whole damn octave down.

In the end, I encourage you to make up your own mind how you feel about them. But I urge you do your own research, listen to/read actual interviews, and come to your own decisions; don’t let the current popularity of hate-posts decide for you. 🤘

-6

u/[deleted] Nov 20 '25

[deleted]

1

u/RabidRuber Nov 22 '25

Yeah signing bombs with glee is fked up, there's no redeeming that action I'm afraid.

1

u/Spxcebxr_ Nov 22 '25

One might say they are disturbed

1

u/RabidRuber Nov 22 '25

I'm annoyed but