The Sickness is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Disturbed, originally released on 7 March 2000 through Giant and Reprise Records. The album peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard 200 and spent 106 weeks on the chart. In 2018, it was certified five-times Platinum by the RIAA, with over five million copies sold in the US, making it the band's most successful album. Recorded after the band's formation in 1994, The Sickness marked the culmination of years of hard work on the Chicago club circuit. Reflecting on those early years, frontman David Draiman explained that the band's success was anything but overnight. For several years, Disturbed relentlessly promoted themselves, handing out cassettes, stickers and T-shirts while strategically building a loyal following across Chicago's south side. At a time when the city's music scene was dominated by alternative rock rather than metal, the band often found themselves blacklisted from venues, forcing them to carve out their own path before finally breaking through with their landmark debut.
