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| Alias =
| Alias =
| Origin = [[Image:Flag of Massachusetts.svg|25px|Flag of Massachusetts]] [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]], [[Massachusetts]], [[United States]]
| Origin = [[Image:Flag of Massachusetts.svg|25px|Flag of Massachusetts]] [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]], [[Massachusetts]], [[United States]]
| Genre = <!-- Please do not add a sub-genre to the infobox that is either covered in the article or talk page --> [[Heavy metal music |Heavy metal]]<br />[[Hard Rock]]
| Genre = [[Alternative metal]] <br>[[Heavy metal music|Heavy metal]]<br>[[Hard rock]]<br>[[Nu-Metal]]<br>[[Post-Grunge]]
| Years_active = [[1996]] &ndash; present
| Years_active = [[1996]] &ndash; present
| Label = [[Universal Records]]
| Label = [[Universal Records]]

Revision as of 15:01, 12 July 2007

For the Alice in Chains song, see God Smack (song).
Godsmack

Godsmack is a American grammy-nominated Heavy Metal band from Massachusetts formed in 1996. They have sold over 7 million albums in the US alone, have had two Number #1 albums ("Faceless" and "IV"), and have had eleven top ten singles as well as four #1 singles. They also have been nominated for three Grammys.

History

In February 1995, Sully Erna decided to start a new band as a lead singer after being behind the drums in his previous band. In 1996, his new band Godsmack started playing small bars in their hometowns of Lawrence, Massachusetts, and Salem, Massachusetts.

File:Godsmacklogo.gif
The Godsmack logo.

Early works

Robbie Merrill and Tony Rombola soon joined Godsmack and entered the studio, recording their first CD titled All Wound Up. The CD was recorded in just three days for $2,500.[citation needed] For the next two years, the band played throughout the Boston area with drummer Joe D'arco and earned a strong reputation and following. Eventually their CD landed in the hands of "Rocko", a DJ for Boston radio station WAAF. WAAF put Keep Away into heavy rotation and it quickly soared to the #1 spot at the station.[citation needed] Newbury Comics, a New England record store chain, agreed to sell the CD on consignment. Shortly after the success of Keep Away, Godsmack went back into the studio and recorded a single titled Whatever, which became the new local favorite on WAAF.[citation needed]

Said Sully, "We had been selling maybe 50 copies a month at the time WAAF picked up the album. All of a sudden we started moving over a thousand records a week. It was insane. Even crazier, I was doing all this from my bedroom. After years of grinding away, things finally started taking off."[1]

Discography

Godsmack

In the summer of 1998, Republic/Universal Records signed the band. D'arco was replaced by Tommy Stewart, and All Wound Up was re-mastered. The finished self-titled debut CD Godsmack hit the shelves six weeks later, leading to the band's first headlining tour, "The Voodoo Tour". [citation needed]

File:Godsmack - Awake.jpg
Cover of Awake.

After the CD's release the band hit the road playing club shows as well as playing Ozzfest and Woodstock '99 before a crowd of 100,000. They then supported Black Sabbath.

Awake

In 2000 Godsmack returned to the studio after the huge success of Godsmack to start recording Awake. The CD was a big success but not nearly as big as Godsmack, with the single, Awake. In 2002, Godsmack earned a Grammy nomination in Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the song "Vampires". [2]

With the release of Awake they toured Europe supporting Limp Bizkit

Sully said at the time"We've been touring nonstop since August of 1998, So most of Awake was written on tour while we were ping-ponging between America and Europe, building up the band. Ozzfest was actually the only big tour where we rode under someone else's wings; we did a lot of work on our own."[3]

Faceless

With Shannon Larkin (ex Ugly Kid Joe, Souls At Zero) replacing Tommy Stewart, Godsmack went back into the studio yet again to record a new album that was released in 2003 . Faceless debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 selling selling 211,000 copies [4] and later the CD would go on to sell over 1 million copies in the United States alone.

The lead single "Straight Out Of Line" received a Grammy nomination for "Best Hard Rock Performance".

Cover of The Other Side

The Other Side EP

On March 16, 2004 The Other Side an acoustic low priced EP was released. It includes several previously released songs re-recorded as acoustic versions, as well as three new acoustic tracks: "Running Blind", "Touché" which featured Godsmack's first guitar player Lee Richards and John Kosco who where in the band Dropbox who are the first band signed by Sully's Realign Records/Universal label[5], and "Voices". The song "Asleep" is actually the acoustic version of "Awake" off the band's second album of the same name. [citation needed]

In 2004, they were opening for Metallica's Madly in Anger with the World Tour, [citation needed] while headlining with Dropbox in the summer. Then they did acoustic shows for their newly released album The Other Side in the fall of 2004, while still opening for Metallica.

IV

Their first release from the album IV, "Speak" was released on February 14, 2006, and their album IV was released April 25, 2006. The band will continue performing on their IV tour in May and June 2007. IV debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, selling 211,000 copies in its first week. IV has since gone Gold.[citation needed]

Box Set

Later this year to celebrate 10 years as a band, Godsmack plan to release a box set with the 10-year celebration of their first album they plan to included their four studio albums, as well the acoustic EP "The Other Side" and a DVD featuring mini-documentaries about the making of each album. There will also be some live footage and they plan to add the group's 2004 acoustic performance in Las Vegas as well.

Speaking with billboard.com Shannon says "We're just gonna try to make it really special, Basically Universal, who we've been with since day one, said to us, 'You tell us what you need and we'll write the check. We want this to be special, too.' We wanted to make it a road case, but as we were doing some research we saw that Metallica made one of their box sets look like a road case, so that's out. If anyone has any suggestions, we're open..." He also went on to say they don't have much in the way of unreleased material but has been taping all of its concerts since 2004, so it may expand some of the albums with appropriate live material. [6]

DVDs

Smack This

On April 9 2002, Godsmack released Smack This. It was filmed over a period of 5 years, during which Godsmack released 2 albums and went on 10 different live tours. The film is a compilation of candid interviews, rowdy backstage antics, and concert performances including "Now or Never," "Stress," and "Voodoo".

File:Godsmackchanges.jpg
Changes DVD Cover

Godsmack - Live

On January 8th 2002, Godsmack - Live hit shelves. It was filmed on March 2, 2001 from the Worcester,Massachusett's Centrum Center. The DVD featured the songs Awake; Sick of Life; Vampires; Bad Magick; Bad Religion; Mistakes; Greed; Trippin'; Get Up, Get Out!; Spiral; Keep Away; Voodoo; and Whatever.

Changes

In September 2004, Godsmack issued a live DVD titled Changes (it went gold, according to RIAA) which the band recorded earlier that year mixing a documentary and live footage. That same month, the group also released Batalla de los Tambores a drum dual between Shannon and Sully, available only via online services such as Apple's iTunes Music Store, Real, Napster, and the Zune Marketplace. [citation needed]

Influences

Alice in Chains is believed to be the primary influence upon Godsmack and it is speculated that the band got their name from an Alice in Chains song of the same name. Tony was previously in the New Hampshire based cover band 'Crushed Tomatoes' which kept up on the latest music from bands of the early 90's such as Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, as well as classics from Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and Ozzy Osbourne.[2] In an interview with MTV upon the death of Alice in Chains lead singer Layne Staley, Godsmack frontman Sully Erna stated that Staley "was single-handedly the guy that got me to start singing."[7] [citation needed] Other bands cited by Godsmack members as their primary influences typically include Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Metallica, Judas Priest and Black Sabbath.[citation needed]

Comparisons to Alice in Chains

There are many examples of comparisons to Alice in Chains. Sully Erna's style of singing mirrors that of Layne Staley's while the overall sound of the band's first two albums sound incredibly similar to the sound of the Alice in Chains album, Dirt. The logo of Godsmack is similar to the sun logo of Alice in Chains. Godsmack also released an album titled "Faceless" which is similar in name to Alice in Chains' first album Facelift. The band's name is identical to the title of an Alice in Chains song from the album Dirt, being God Smack. In their video, "Keep Away," a boy dressed and wearing a haircut very similar to Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley is seen as the main "character" of the video, though his face is never seen. The band even transcended from their heavy sound to a more mellow acoustic sound on their album The Other Side in the same manner Alice in Chains did in Sap and Jar of Flies. More recently, Godsmack have attempted to distance themselves from the Alice in Chains comparison with Erna stating in an interview with Matt Ashare, "I've just never really heard that in our music."

Band name

There has been much debate to how the band obtained their name. It is believed that Godsmack obtained their name from the Alice in Chains song God Smack from the album Dirt. However, Sully Erna, the lead singer for Godsmack, has stated otherwise: "That's where we picked the name from. I was making fun of somebody who had a cold sore on his lip and the next day I had one myself and somebody said, 'It's a godsmack.' The name stuck. We were aware of the Alice in Chains song but didn't really think much about it. It's a cool song and the name had meaning for us".[8] However, many believe that this was part of Godsmack's attempt to distinguish themselves from the band that they have been compared to most frequently.[9]. Robbie Merril, the bassist for Godsmack, in the home video DVD "Smack This" stated "we stole it from Alice in Chains".

Godsmack's songs "I Stand Alone" and "Straight Out of Line", were used as the theme songs for the 2004 Ubisoft game, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within: In Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, "I Stand Alone" plays without the lyrics when the Prince is being chased by the "Dahaka". It also appears when you are fighting, but not every single battle. Instead, in the boss fights, more traditional music plays. "Straight Out of Line" appears in the credits. Their song "Moon Baby" from their self-titled album appears in Championship Motocross for the PlayStation. "Bring it On" appears in Madden NFL 06.

An instrumental version of "I Fucking Hate You" was used in the 2003 television trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The commercial featured brief action secquences, primarily explosions, synchronized to the beat of the song.

The song "I Stand Alone" appeared in the movie The Scorpion King. The song "Straight Out of Line" appeared in the movie A Man Apart. The song "Why?" appeared in the movie Any Given Sunday. The song "Bad Religion" was background music in Quad Power Racing 2.

WWE Summerslam used "The Enemy" as one of the theme songs for the 2006 event. It also features on the soundtrack of the PS2,PSP & Xbox 360 game, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007. "Touché" was featured as one of the themes for WrestleMania XX.

MTV's Fear used "Voodoo" as the theme song.

The song "Awake" was used in an advertisement for the United States Navy. When they stopped using "Awake", the Navy then started using the song "Sick of Life" in it's commercials.

VH1 Rock Honors

On May 25, 2006, Judas Priest (along with KISS, Queen and Def Leppard ) was inducted into the "VH1 Rock Honors." Televised on May 31, their presentation was preceded by Godsmack (whose album "IV" debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 chart), performing a medley of the Priest classics Electric Eye, Victim of Changes and Hell Bent for Leather.

Current members

Former members

  • Lee Richards - Guitars (1996-1997)
  • Joe D'arco - Drums (1996-1997)
  • Tommy Stewart - Drums (1997-2002)

Discography

Albums

Album Cover Date of Release Title Label US Billboard Peak US sales
File:AllWoundUp.jpg
 July 28, 1997 All Wound Up (released independently and remastered as the self-titled, Godsmack) EK N/A N/A
August 25, 1998 Godsmack Universal #22 5x Platinum
File:Godsmack - Awake.jpg
 October 31, 2000 Awake Universal #5 2x Platinum
File:Faceless cover.jpg
 April 8, 2003 Faceless Universal #1 Platinum
March 16, 2004 The Other Side (EP) Universal #5 Gold
File:Godsmackivcover.jpg
 April 25, 2006 IV Universal #1 Gold [3]

Singles

Year Song US Hot 100 US Modern Rock US Main- stream Rock UK singles Album
1998 "Whatever" - 19 7 - Godsmack
1999 "Keep Away" - 31 5 - Godsmack
1999 "Voodoo" - 6 5 - Godsmack
2000 "Bad Religion" - 32 8 - Godsmack
2000 "Awake" - 12 1(1) - Awake
2001 "Bad Magick" - 28 12 - Awake
2001 "Greed" - 28 3 - Awake
2002 "I Stand Alone" - 20 1(4) - Faceless
2003 "Straight Out of Line" 73 9 1(2) - Faceless
2003 "Serenity" - 10 7 - Faceless
2004 "Re-Align" - 28 3 - Faceless
2004 "Running Blind" - 14 3 - The Other Side
2004 "Touché" - 33 7 - The Other Side
2006 "Speak" 85 10 1(5) - IV
2006 "Shine Down" - 31 4 - IV
2006 "The Enemy" - - 4 - IV

Soundtracks

Track Soundtrack Year
"Keep Away" Woodstock 99 1999
"Why" Any Given Sunday 2000
"Time Bomb" Scream 3 2000
"Goin' Down" Mission: Impossible 2 2000
"Sweet Leaf" Nativity in Black II 2000
"Goin' Down" MTV Return of the Rock 2' 2000
"I Stand Alone" The Scorpion King 2002

References

  1. ^ http://smackfans.com/biography
  2. ^ http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/2002/grammys.htm
  3. ^ http://www.godsmack.com
  4. ^ http://ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/godsmack_iv_hit_charts_at_number_i.html
  5. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1488133/20040603/dropbox.jhtml
  6. ^ Godsmack Celebrating 10th Birthday With Boxed Set at [1]
  7. ^ He Got Me To Start Singing MTV.com;retrieved on October 27 2006
  8. ^ http://www.nyrock.com/interviews/1999/godsmack_int.asp
  9. ^ article on Godsmack at Subvulture.com;retrieved on October 27 2006
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