“It’s time you realised that you have something in you more powerful and miraculous than the things that affect you and make you dance like a puppet.”
“Guarded” was a promotional single from Disturbed‘s third album, Ten Thousand Fists. More of a teaser than a proper single, it was released on 28 June 2005, no doubt in an effort to drum up fan anticipation.
Disturbed had made a name for themselves with The Sickness (2000), and Believe (2002). The latter debuted at number one on the Billboard albums chart, which was impressive given the decline in heavy music on rock radio at the time. They had risen to the top of the nu-metal heap with the success of singles like “Stupify,” “Voices,” “Down with the Sickness,” “The Game,” and “Prayer.” The bandmembers — frontman David Draiman, Dan Donegan (guitar), and Mike Wengren (drums) — had seen original bassist Steve “Fuzz” Kmak depart in late 2003. He was replaced with John Moyer, formerly of The Union Underground.
Disturbed were never one-trick ponies, with a level of instrumentation that I always felt was a little above average when compared to many of their aggressive, detuned peers. Lyrically, The Sickness was largely a collection of diatribes raging against shattered lives and wicked women. Believe saw Draiman and the band move away from this, after 9/11, to meditate on all manner of philosophical ideas, including redemption and hypocrisy.
With Ten Thousand Fists, Disturbed seemed to move things further. Musically, the album saw them go in a more thrash-inspired direction, while Draiman delved even deeper for inspiration. “Guarded” seemed to sit comfortably in the middle of everything the band had put out at the time. It could appeal to fans of the heavier sound associated with The Sickness while not trying to relive former glories.
The track concerns itself with shutting oneself off from the outside world, or being “guarded,” as a means of self-preservation. Being a public figure has more than its share of demands. What does one do when they feel like they have no secrets left? Just because an artist addresses an audience, does this mean their privacy is waived? Can they not have one place where they can just be a private citizen? How is one supposed to feel?
First-world problem? Maybe, but these artists are still people at the end of the day. Putting up the walls and “guarding yourself” is one defence mechanism against all the chaos happening around them.
“Guarding yourself from the love of another
Left you with nothing tonight
Why does it sound like the devil is laughing
Leaving me haunted tonight.”
Humans are social animals, no matter the scale of bells and whistles that come with the job. Challenges in forming relationships are a common lyrical subject in popular music. How can you tell if one is being sincere? Not just romantic relationships, but those who you would call friends. What happens when that hit single is gone and you’re not somehow the beneficiary of unlimited free money? How do you respond when that groupie acts like you’re a loser when your home in the hills doesn’t have enough spare bedrooms for all her groupie and drug dealer friends? As someone who’s never been through it, I can only guess.
Feelings of betrayal, the loss of trust, and the cost of being vulnerable. These are the feelings commonly associated with an environment where one is constantly scrutinised and evaluated, seemingly for everything and nothing.
“Do not build a fortress to protect yourself,” Robert Greene cautions in The 48 Laws of Power. “Isolation is dangerous.” So it was for Draiman. For all the hurt and betrayal that is felt in “Guarded,” there is also a feeling of hope, a sense of defiance.
“Well, then, I can’t allow this to become another
One of those times that I’m left in the cold dead”
Like with “Prayer,” There’s a sense of standing strong against adversity.
“Our inward power, when it obeys nature, reacts to events by accommodating itself to what it faces — to what is possible,” Marcus Aurelius wrote. “It needs no specific material. It pursues its own aims as circumstances allow; it turns obstacles into fuel. As a fire overwhelms what would have quenched a lamp. What’s thrown on top of the conflagration is absorbed, consumed by it—and makes it burn still higher.”
There is a tendency to think of hardship in terms of either resisting or submitting to it. But there is another way — work with it. In a weird way, you can make the most of situations like Draiman describes in “Guarded.” For all the hurt and struggle associated with it, it can be the catalyst for growth and resilience.
Easier said than done, but always a possibility. It’s what the Stoics wrote about extensively, so there must be something to it.
That’s how I figure “Guarded,” and a good chunk of Disturbed’s catalogue as well. I know Draiman was educated in religion and philosophy growing up. I imagine an alternate universe where I have journalistic credentials and have the privilege of sitting down to talk with him. Even if it’s just going back-and-forth, I think it would be a pretty awesome conversation.
“Guarded” is not a track that comes up often on my playlists, but when I do put it on, I wonder why I don’t do so more often.
Lawrence Deveney 