Down with this sickness

I’ve never known a musician who regretted being one. Whatever deceptions life may have in store for you, music itself is not going to let you down.

–Virgil Thomson

I think it’s an understatement to say that I love music. I have, however, on occasion, been aggrieved that the behaviour of some musicians detracts from the beauty of their art. While this may have tarnished their brand and reputations, I could never bring myself to hate the art they created.

Michael Jackson and Ted Nugent come immediately to mind, but there are a few others, although I can’t think of them right this minute. I lost all respect for Jackson after those sexual allegations, and Nugent, of course, rubs me the wrong way because of his hateful right-wing beliefs. Still, I definitely don’t hate them, and I love their music.

Hate is not something I do. Despise, yes, hate no.

I try to confine my displeasure to the artist, rather than the art, and hope that other artists don’t follow in their missteps. Unfortunately, as Pulitzer-winning musician and critic Virgil Thomson observed, life is full of deceptions, and artists may let you down, but not their music.

In the early 2000s, I discovered the American heavy metal band Disturbed, which soon became a firm favourite. Their debut album featured Down With The Sickness, which is probably their biggest hit. More recently, after not producing anything of note, they released a cover of the Simon & Garfunkel hit Sounds of Silence which also became very popular.

Just this week, I discovered to my utter dismay that the lead singer of Disturbed, David Draiman, is not the person I had imagined him to be. Draiman, it turns out, is a staunch Zionist who’s also an apologist for Israel and supports the vengeful slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. Worse, he has made his hatred clear by signing bombs that the IDF drops on hapless Palestinians, mainly killing women and children.

I’d heard rumblings about his conservative libertarian political leanings before, but took no real notice. I had no idea he was a hateful warmonger like US politician Nikki Haley, who wrote “finish them” on an Israeli bomb in 2024. Writing messages or signing an object of death and destruction, especially one that is used indiscriminately to cause as much carnage as possible, is not only obscene but unbelievably depraved.

At last week’s farewell concert for Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, Draiman, who was a supporting act, was booed by the pro-Palestinian section of the audience, undoubtedly for his pro-Israel stance and the bomb-signing episode. In response to news of the booing, one enterprising commenter on Facebook remarked hilariously that he could only imagine why “Sharon Osbourne booked the war pig.”

This was apparently a justified dig at Ozzy’s wife, who, herself, is no stranger to bigotry and various controversies over the years. Sharon Osbourne managed Ozzy’s solo career and would have been instrumental in booking the support acts for the farewell concert. It also points to Draiman’s stark lack of awareness about how he is enabling war crimes, as it’s such an astute reference to the Black Sabbath hit War Pigs which is an anti-war song.

Musicians, like everyone else, are entitled to their opinions, but never to the bigoted conduct that arises from such. Genocide apologia is morally repugnant as well as disturbing, and I’m pretty sure that every decent human being’s mantra should be  down with that sickness.