BarbieI don't listen to heavy metal much these days. Perhaps this is just another sign that I'm getting old. Regardless, years ago I was involved in a relationship which lasted only a short while. She was a very short girl and drove a very large pickup truck. Everytime I climbed into the passengers seat and strapped myself in, she would start up the truck and just then, I would lose another 2% of my hearing. The truck wasn't the problem, it was the monkey sounds followed by heavily distorted music blaring out of that poor factory stereo system (which I can't beleive made it through that summer). The first time I heard David Draiman making the monkey sounds on Down With The Sickness, I couldn't believe that this was popular music. To make matters worse, was the Tears For Fears cover of Shout, Shout 2000. When I first heard this I cringed, thinking to myself "does she even realize this is a cover?". Then I cringed a bit more, thinking "why can't these bands stop ruining great songs?". And as the song progressed, my cringing progressed with it. To add insult to my audible injuries, everytime she drove we listened to that album. I never told her I didn't like it becuase the relationship was too new and I was too young and foolish to tell her how I really felt. After hearing that album a number of times, however, something I never saw coming happened; I started to like it. This more or less subconscious realization made riding in her truck much better. Then, one day while working at the record store I pulled a copy off the shelf and popped it into the overhead systems CD player. My coworkers looked at me with confused expressions which I managed to extinguish by telling them that it reminded me of my girlfriend. Then, she broke-up with me. It wasn't a big emotional break-up, it just wasn't going anywhere and we both knew it. Shortly after our relationships demise, I bought the Disturbed CD. Normally I would have done this because I missed the girl, but this was the first time I did it because I missed the music. I still don't think that it is a great album, but it did grow on me and I do like it (except for Shout 2000). Moral of the story: sometimes you walk away from a relationship with something that you didn't have going into it. For some it's a feeling of loss while for others it's an STD. Luckily for me, all I got was Disturbed.