It’s the end of an aesthetically questionable era for metal band Disturbed, as singer David Draiman has revealed to German news outlet Deutsche Welle (via Stereogum) that he has removed his weird chin piercings. For decades, the otherwise unassuming Draiman has used his chin piercings (which typically look like weird face claws) to provide random passersby with a clear indication that he’s in a metal band, as a regular person would not have things like that in their face. As for why he decided to finally tone down his edgy look, Draiman explained that the piercings are “kind of a pain in the butt” and that “it just felt kind of weird walking around like a 45-year-old Hot Topic kid.”
Truly, there must come a day when all of us must outgrow Hot Topic, whether it’s because we no longer recognize the characters on the anime shirts, because we no longer fit in the tight black jeans, or because we’re in our 40s and it no longer seems cool to freak people out with weird face hooks. Sometimes you just want to go to the grocery store without having everyone wonder if you’re the guy from Disturbed, and now the guy from Disturbed is free to do that. This may seem like sad news, but it’s good to try and find things that are good in life—even when it comes to stories about the stuff in the guy from Disturbed’s face.