"Down With the Sickness" is a nu metal song that features an unusual "ooh-wah-ah-ah-ah" staccato noise from Disturbed's singer David Draiman at the end of the intro, which reappears before the last chorus. Draiman has stated the sound was made possible by effects on his vocal cords after receiving surgery for acid reflux, but he has dismissed the rumor the noise was actually caused by heartburn, further explaining, "I mean the song originally was written and just had a pause. Mikey's beat is just so tribal and you know it just made me feel like an animal... came out one day." Guitarist Dan Donegan has mentioned that the tuning for the guitar "is drop C-sharp... your bottom five strings are half a step down and your low string will be dropped to C-sharp." This is sometimes referred to as "E Drop D", the most common drop tuning for bands who play generally in E standard instead of E standard.
Lyrics
A spoken segment near the end of the song describes a child who is physically abused by his mother and who ultimately retaliates. This segment is somewhat controversial and music critics sometimes express a negative opinion of its inclusion in the song. For example, Leor Galil of the Chicago Reader opined, "Yet I still find it hard to believe that the megasingle 'Down With the Sickness,' with its vocal breakdown in which front man David Draiman crudely describes being beaten by his mom, guided the band on to a path that's resulted in four albums topping the Billboard 200." However, the band has disavowed that this song is about literal child abuse, and that it is instead about a metaphoric abuse. Lead singer David Draiman explained to the Phoenix New Times:
...the screamed psychodramas in metal hits like "Down With The Sickness"... are merely inspired by personal history, not a literal journal of his own tortured upbringing. "I'm really talking about the conflict between the mother culture of society, who's beating down the child yearning for independence and individuality, and the submission of the child."
The "abuse" segment is not included in the radio edit or the music video.
Music video
A music video composed oflive concert footage was produced for the song. The song is known for its segment which features a boy being attacked and abused by his mother, which was not featured in the music video. The music video was recorded at the "Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre" in Tinley Park, Illinois during Q101's Jamboree 2001.
In media
The song has been used often as entrance music in sports. Many college football and National Football League teams events. The Carolina Panthers have used the song as the team's entrance music for home games at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, and used the song as its entrance music in Super Bowl 50. The drumline of Brandywine High School's marching band sometimes plays this song during football games. The song is included in several films and video games, including Queen of the Damned, The One, Green Street, Rock Band 2, South Park, Guitar Hero Live, WWE 2K18 and as part of the Guitar Hero 5downloadable content library. The 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead used the song during the end credits and the piano accompaniment by Richard Cheese that is played throughout the film. It is currently the opening theme song on the Travel Channel show Paranormal Challenge. The song is used as the opening track to the J. T. the Brick Show featuring J. T. the Brick and Tomm Looney on Fox Sports Radio. An instrumental version is used in the opening video for Image Space Incorporated's game rFactor. The song was also used by professional wrestlers Chri$ Ca$h, Lizmark Jr. and numerous other wrestlers as their Theme Song. After Chri$ Ca$h died in a 2005 motorcycle accident, Combat Zone Wrestling annually run a memorial tribute event named Down With The Sickness. The song was featured in the season 11 premiere episode of the adult animated comedy South Park, titled "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson". The opening of the song was also featured at the end of Episode 17 of Season 6 of the police comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Accolades
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.
