DISTURBED's DAN DONEGAN Doesn't Get Tired Of Performing Songs From 'The Sickness': 'It's Still Exciting To Play It'

DISTURBED guitarist Dan Donegan spoke to Australia's "Everblack" podcast about the upcoming 25th anniversary of the band's debut album, 2000's "The Sickness". He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's crazy. I remember when we were writing it, so to think that it's going on the 25th anniversary, we probably wrote it, though, in '96 when we first got together. So, yeah, it's crazy that it's got the staying power like that, all those songs. And every time we play it, I know a lot of people think, 'Oh, you ever get tired of playing it?' And I really don't, because when you hear the crowd reaction, the second it opens up with that drum beat, it's just that adrenaline and that blood flow gets going. It's still exciting to play it."

Asked if he remembers where he was when he first heard one of the songs from "The Sickness" played on a radio station, Dan said: "When we first started touring in 2000 — that came out in March of 2000 — when we hit the road and hearing it the first time outside of our hometown of hearing it on a local station and hearing it while we're on the road, going to like a Walmart on a day off to buy socks or something while we're on the road and going through the audio section of the electronic section of a store and heard — well, 'Stupify', at the time, was the first single off the album. So hearing it like out of state in a store was — yeah, I remember that very clear. That was a pretty proud moment."

Back in 2000, DISTURBED was scheduled to embark on "The Sickness 20th Anniversary Tour", but the entire trek ended up being canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2010, DISTURBED celebrated the tenth anniversary of the release of "The Sickness" by reissuing it with exclusive B-sides and expanded artwork, as well as a first-time-ever vinyl edition.

Released on March 7, 2000, "The Sickness" is DISTURBED's best-selling album to date, thanks to such hit singles as "Stupify", "Voices" and "Down With The Sickness".

Donegan told The Pulse Of Radio a few years ago that DISTURBED never expected "Down With The Sickness" or "The Sickness" to do as well as they did. "I think 'Down With The Sickness' was like the seventh most downloaded song that was recorded in the '90s," he said. "It was like in a list of like four Michael Jackson songs and NIRVANA's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and we were in the Top 10 of those songs. And I was just blown away by those statistics. Those are big numbers there. I mean, we're just overwhelmed to think that we could go from a garage band in the south side of Chicago to selling a lot of albums and having a fan base and making a career out of it."

Last month, DISTURBED garnered its 19th No. 1 on the Active Rock radio chart with "Don't Tell Me", the band's latest single, which features a guest appearance by Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee and HEART co-founder Ann Wilson. The song is DISTURBED's fourth No. 1 off the band's latest album, "Divisive".

This is the second time DISTURBED has earned four No. 1s on a single record, having previously accomplished the same feat on 2015's "Immortalized". Only nine rock albums since 1992 have been able to secure four No. 1 songs on the Mediabase Rock charts and two of them have been DISTURBED's.

Released in November 2022, "Divisive" was recorded earlier that year with producer Drew Fulk (MOTIONLESS IN WHITE, LIL PEEP, HIGHLY SUSPECT) in Nashville, Tennessee.

"Divisive" sold 26,000 equivalent album units in its first week of release, with 22,000 units via album sales. On the all-format Billboard 200 chart, "Divisive" debuted at No. 13.

DISTURBED has had five No. 1s on the all-genre chart, beginning with "Believe" in 2002.