Drowning Pool: The Tragic Death of Dave Williams & How ‘Bodies’ Became Huge
Drowning Pool: The tragic death of Dave Williams and the story behind Bodies from the album Sinner.
0:00 – Early Years
2:37 – Momentum Shift/Sinner
4:15 – Marketing Sinner
6:49- Radio ban
7:40 – Williams Death/Aftermath
Tripping Daisy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKEEoPGCgME
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#drowningpool #davewilliams #cjpierece
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I’ve had so many people request that I cover Drowning Pool on my channel and that time has finally come. . Hailing from Dallas Texas, much like the band Tripping Daisy who i covered a few months back, the link is down below to that video. Drowning Pool would sprout up in the mid 90’s, but wouldn’t gain national exposure until their hit single Bodies became one of the biggest hit songs of the summer of 2001. Two events though would almost derail the band’s career, one was the 9/11 attacks, and the other, was the death of one of their lead singer Dave Williams members. Today let’s explore what happened.
Drowning Pool was formed in Dallas, Texas in 1996 by Guitarist C.J. Pierce and drummer Mike Luce (Loose). The band took its name from the Ross MacDonald’s 1951 novel of which was eventually into a film starring Paul Newman.
CJ and Mike were originally from New Orleans and had played together for almost a decade together before deciding to move to Dallas. CJ would tell Designer Magazine that New Orleans was a difficult city to get gigs in because bar owners wanted bands to play cover songs and the pair wanted to perform their own original material. In addition to that they found it difficult to find like minded players CJ would tell Just a Rock and Roll Junkie Mike moved to Dallas for like two years and that’s where he met Stevie. Mike came back to New Orleans and we were looking for a bass player and a singer and Stevie was looking to put a band together as well and it just made sense to move to Dallas in 1996. The music scene was kicking ass with Pantera tearing it up” he’d remember
The band played with a few different frontmen before Dave Williams entered the picture around 1998. Williams himself was a veteran of the Dallas music scene having performed with numerous bands over almost a decade playing in outfits named Cheri Lane and Mister Lovedog. One of his friends early in his career was Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell who gave Williams the nickname “Stage”.
Drowning Pool’s influences would include a broad spectrum of old school rock rock bands including Iron Maiden, Motley Crue, Ratt, Van Halen, Guns N’ Roses, Skid Row, Cinderella,as well as Black Sabbath and more current acts at the time including local heroes Pantera. Of course there was another band the quartet liked as Williams would tell hiponline in 2001 “I think the one bonding question that brought us all together and that was if we liked Faith No More. After that, the rest is history and we’ve been together for three years” he’d say
Bassist Stevie Benton would tell Ghost Cult Magazine about how the band started out as just a fun project with no too much forethought
We had been a club band in Dallas for a couple of years before it all started, we never thought we would do anything more than that to be honest, we were just playing during the week-ends for beer money. All of the sudden more and more people were crowding in the venues where we were playing and then it felt almost like a blink of the eye.
Before the band even got their first major record deal, the band attracted the attention of german liquor company Jaegermister who sponsored the group . Williams would tell Billboard magazine “it boosted our confidence quite a bit because all of a sudden it was like wow somebody likes our band. It felt good and then right after that we signed with Wind Up so it was like the machine is rolling now. ”
Mike Luce would tell Designer Magazine what came next revealing “We did a demo at a friends house back in Dallas and we were just playing local gigs. Then one of the guitarists for sevendust was living in dallas, saw us and we just kept bugging him to let us do a couple of openers for them. We did three or four shows in a couple of states down south.” It wasn’t too long after these dates that Drowning Pool started touring with groups like Kittie and their demo they recorded to get radio airplay. It would be during

@rnrtruestories
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
lots of requests for drowning pool. Here's our request form if you want to submit ideas. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCQjTcPGrzUbG7H7t4toQehliwBS_Fcp78JeY_js4zZbX2jA/viewform
@CamaroAmx
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Dave died on my 19th birthday (a birthday I almost didn’t live through). Interestingly enough he was buried on my father’s birthday.
@dougp7545
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
WE MISS YOU DAVE ALWAYS
@lXxGhostxXl
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
🩵💜🩵
@weskarp7643
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Dave and I were good buddies in high school. He was very dedicated to his band. Cool guy. R.i.p.
@sinansakic6838
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Band with Dave was anomaly in time. Totaly different and unique.
@Massattack1982
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
i was at the LAST concert….the next day i saw him dead
@vermili0n
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Rip Dave. I really think if he didn't die drowning pool would have been one of the greatest metal bands ever
@geec5636
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
I was at Ozzfest in 2000, and I loved the band then.
@jamallhayden2512
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
🕊️
@danielkowalski7527
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
it became famous because its been used in "idziemy expic" vid 😉
@Jaachi-Aaron-C
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Rest in peace, Dave Williams of The Drowning Pool I hope You’ll never get the chance to play the vocals again & Better yet, You are going to be forgotten. 🤘🏾😔🤘🏾
@michaellee8815
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
I’m not a huge pool fan, I don’t dislike them just never got into them. But I saw them open for Flyleaf at Stone Pony in like 2013 or so, and MAN WHAT A SHOW they put on. I saw the new singer in the crowd afterwards and talked for a few and told him how they had a new fan now, he was a really nice dude
@joeygarcia6647
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Still listen to tear away at least a few times a week
@JasperKalace1997
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
I’ve been thinking about this comparison based on what I watched on the dvd about Dave , his personality reminded me a lot of Layne Staley’s personality not only based on his peers telling everyone that he was a sweet and kind individual but also based on the pranks dimebag pulled on Dave and his sense of humor
@FrIcKeFrEsH02
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Dave is by far one of the best metal vocalist of all time. Passed away way too soon. Rip Dave.
@Sullivan_S_2004
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
R.I.P. 🙏🙏
@milkman5894
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
classic band
@LilyKittyCatto
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
This was the first ever band i loved. The first time i heard a song and understood what music meant to people and how special it is was when i heard “all over me” by drowning pool. I must have been about 7 years old and i was instantly hooked on metal and rock. It breaks my heart dave died so young, if he had gone on to release more albums I guarantee drowning pool would be a bigger name than ACDC or metallica or black sabbath or any other band. His voice worked perfectly with their style of music, the entire sinner album is ironically like a gift from god its so perfect. I genuinely sit and think of what drowning pool could have been if dave hadnt died pretty often, i love this band so much. They deserved so much more. RIP Dave
@rockk9753
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
How bodies became huge? I remember and it was because it's a damn good song
@spiritof1977
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
This band deserves a special place in hell for the worst song i can think of in my life that lives on like a case of herpes. This band is absolute bullshit
@BroNoo-z2x
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Should have changed the band name cuz there is no Drowning Pool without Dave it's another band
@justinerickson5486
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Sinner is still my favorite album of the early 2000s. Followed swiftly by Toxicity, Meteora and Believe
@SCOODAMcGOODA
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
ABSOLUTELY THE BEST NU METAL SINGER AT THAT TIME. HOLY COW WAS HE TALENTED. 30 YEARS OLD? 😢
@hitcher82
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Dave seemed like a good dude. I remember him defending Creeds music to Juliya on Fuse's Uranium show. Its hard to believe its been over 20 years since his passing. Seems like just yesterday the bad news of it came out.
@MarkOrgan-h3c
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Ware a rubber and don't do drugs ! It's not that hard
@BrentWelch-z8i
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
R.I.P. Dave.
@jayrocksxxasap1273
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
Omg…here we go… old mcdonald..e i ei ei oooohhhh…hurry up and do it slow… Instead of yes they all said nooo…god them cowboys really blow😅😅😅
@user-hg4cp7bk4l
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
RIP BRUVA🤘🤪
@realsliver01
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
ryan is a good singer for the band
@PrashantSharma-mv6be
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
I used to write “SINNER” on my hand in high school too 😊
@ryancollinsvideo
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
The album "Sinner" doesnt MISS
@fine93
April 27, 2026 at 11:10 pm
womp womp