A "Disturbed" Top Ten

Going off the back of a prompt provided at Vocal Writing Prompts, it brought me back to an idea I'd had a couple of years ago. A rock night, that caters exclusively to the patrons of that evening, with a centralized theme of one band, played throughout the night.

Make sense? If not, stay with me. Now upon entry, you provide your own personal top ten for the band in question. The votes are assigned a points value depending on their placing, and a top twenty list is created, made of the shared favourite songs of the people actually in attendance.

It may seem convoluted, but as a thought exercise the idea intrigues me, and I'm also curious to see how my list stacks up against people who share a similar passion. I picked the band Disturbed for this exercise as I feel they are one of the few bands that you could produce a top twenty list, even taking into account the opinions of other people, and still have little in the way of letdowns.

A top twenty also allows for songs that would normally be played on these nights, as only the most popular songs make the cut in an attempt to make everyone happy. As you'll see below there are some songs of mine that were never released as singles, as there probably would be on most peoples lists.

So, with little more ado, let's get on with the list making. A lot of thought has gone into the list below, especially with regards to the placing, but please note that this is subjective, what I like might not be what you like, and that's OK. That's why we have the point system.

10. Land of Confusion - Ten Thousand Fists

Disturbed have two well known covers in their discography, this is the second most popular, but gets nowhere near the love it deserves. Genesis' message in the 80's was just as relevant in the 2000's, and possibly even more so now. Not many covers get to be better than their originals, but Disturbed take what was great about the original and turn it up.

9. Stupify - The Sickness

Disturbed came out of the gate strong with their first album, and a couple of songs that will forever be synonymous with the band. In the early days, the Music of Disturbed was heavy and violent, and people loved it. I turned 18 in 2005, and this song was still a staple of the rock DJ playlist, getting played every week. More than any other song on this list, this song lives in my youth, and I have very fond memories of good nights out listening to it.

8. The Animal - Asylum

By 2010 I had stopped going out to rock clubs, and as such I wasn't really being exposed to the latest music. It's fair to say that I'd become disillusioned with the whole rock scene where I lived, the bands that I had grown up with had either retired, faded into obscurity, or changed up their style to the point that they weren't the same band that people fell in love with. This all combined to mean that I didn't catch Asylum when it was first released. For the most part, I wasn't too sad about that, but The Animal brought together the guttural and the melodic of David Drahmin's voice in a beautiful way.

7. A Reason to Fight - Evolution

As the name suggests, Evolution is a different sound to the work that came before it, and not everyone appreciates it. For myself, not many songs warranted consideration for the list, but it isn't a bad album, just unspectacular. There are of course exceptions, this being chief among them. The success of Disturbed's cover of The Sound of Silence showed the band that Drahmin had the sort of voice that could carry a ballad magnificently, so they went in on it here. A Reason to Fight explains how you have managed to pick yourself up when you have been the lowest you have ever been.

6. Awaken - Believe

Whilst not really having what could be called a headline track, for my money Believe is possibly the deepest album Disturbed has ever done, in that there isn't really a weak point on it. Awaken is a perfect example of the sort of track this album delivers, with vocal harmonics that reverberate inside you, twinned with a heavy guitar riff that fills you with energy.

5. Prayer - Believe

Oh, man! What a powerful tune. Honestly, everything about this song just makes me happy. From the opening riff to the overly powerful vocals to the video showing Disturbed playing through a crumbling city. Again, this song played a huge part in my youth, and could always be relied upon to get some deserved air time on my nights out.

4. Inside the Fire - Indestructible

Now we are really getting into the business end of the list. Funnily enough, it's easier working from the top down. From this point on I didn't even need to think about my selections, or what order they were going in. This is a song that carries a poignant, yet haunting message. The video is weird, but none of that matters. It's an awesome song.

3. Remember - Believe

This is all about the chorus, and the sound of David Drahmin's voice in it. Ballads are nice and all, but there is more raw, soul wrenching emotion in the final chorus of this song than any tear-jerker you could care to mention. There is a pain to the words that you really feel, and then that is paired with a distinctive sound to make a song worth listening to.

2. Stricken - Ten Thousand Fists

OK, so Guitar Hero 3 probably has its part to play in this, but this is an all round great tune. It comes out strong and keeps going for its entirety. There was a reason this song was selected for the Guitar Hero game, and deserves it's place among the pantheon of great Disturbed songs, and songs in general. If you don't know the song, I'm not going to explain, just go listen to it.

1. Decadence - Ten Thousand Fists

Back when I was 18 or 19, I was working a crappy job in some large, soulless call centre. It was grim, and I hated it. So I used to make sure that I took every single second of my allotted breaks, just so I didn't have to be there any longer than necessary. So I'd eat my lunch, and go for a smoke, then I'd spend the remaining 20 or 30 minutes walking around the corridors of the building, headphones in, listening to this song. Playing this 4 or 5 times back to back just about gave me the energy to get back in there and finish my day, rather than walking straight out of the door and not coming back. This song was my favourite for it's insane guitar and impassioned vocals. It is still my favourite because all these years later it still has the ability to pick me up, dust me off and send me back into the world.

So that's my little list. I'm aware that some of my favourites probably wouldn't make it very high on the theoretical top twenty I devised at the beginning of this piece, or maybe not on it at all. I'm also aware that certain big hits, are going to feature at the top whether I vote for them or not, songs such as Down With The Sickness, and that is OK too. The reason I chose Disturbed for this little thought exercise is that it doesn't matter what 20 songs make the cut, they're all going to be great, whether they made my list or not.