It was March of 2016 and the United States had yet to understand how close it was to outright, unabashed kleptocracy. Forbes Richest List is released, with Bill Gates at the top with $75 billion. Peyton Manning retires from professional football. President Obama nominates Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court before being the first US president to visit Cuba since 1928. Elon Musk was perceived to be a businessman trying to improve cars in an effort to tackle global warming, and was not yet the richest man in the world.
Ah, those blissful days, before we knew better.
In fairness, most of us suspected the inherent depravity, misogyny and racism of our society. But later that year it would be confirmed without the shadow of a doubt. A lifelong criminal would be democratically elected to the highest office in the land, and virtually every improvement from the Obama era would be stripped, stopped or undone. Access to the presidency would be sold, a million Americans would needlessly die in a pandemic and an army of thugs would stage a failed coup that would ultimately be rebranded as a tourist event as sane people watched in disbelief.
When I try to quantify the percentage of my life that has been affected by the ignorant bullshit of fools, felons and imbeciles, it makes me want to cry. What could we, as a species, accomplish if we weren’t always obstructed by the most base members of our society? What could we achieve if religious nutjobs and money-grubbing crooks and fascists would fuck off?
Knowing what we know now makes the rendition of this cover even more powerful. Disturbed’s classically trained vocalist, David Draiman, was reportedly suffering from a flu and a fever of 102 degrees when he sang this, which is why he was seated during the performance. Singing while seated is hard enough without the extra degree of difficulty that this performance commands, but if he was also sick? It’s mind-blowing.
With that, travel back to March 28th of 2016, on the set of Conan O’Brien’s show of all places, to hear one of the most haunting and powerful covers ever recorded.
