Godsmack

Members: Sully Erna, Tony Rombola, Robbie Merrill, Shannon Larkin

Active: 1996 - present

HISTORY

Alice in Chains is believed to be the primary influence upon Godsmack. In early interviews, the band admitted they started off as a tribute band to Alice in Chains. Godsmack obtained their name from the Alice in Chains song "God Smack" from the album Dirt. 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." Other bands cited by Godsmack members as their primary influences typically include Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Rush, and Black Sabbath. 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." In that same interview, Erna offers an alternative explanation to the origin of their band name by stating, "It happened at rehearsal when our drummer came in with a big cold sore on his lip. I was making fun of him all day because we had a photo shoot coming up. And then the next day when I came in, I had a big cold sore on my lip. So my guitar player said, See, God just smacked you for making fun of him." Nevertheless, the comparisons to Alice in Chains are well documented. 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 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 Chain's first album Facelift. 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 Jar of Flies.

In 2002, Godsmack received a Grammy nomination in "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" for the song "Vampires" from the album Awake. In 2004, they were opening for Metallica, 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. In September 2004, Godsmack issued a live DVD titled "Changes," (it went gold, according to RIAA) which the band recorded earlier that year. That same month, the group also released "Batalla de los Tambores," a live cut available only via online services such as Apple's iTunes Music Store, Real and Napster. Their latest single "Speak" was released on February 14, 2006 and their album titled IV was released April 25, 2006. According to an interview with Sully a new international tour is slated to begin in June and touring in the states will begin in September. IV debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 211,000 of copies in its first week.

ALBUMS:

1998 - All Wound Up (released independently and remastered as the self-titled, Godsmack)

1998 - Godsmack

2000 - Awake

2003 - Faceless

2004 - The Other Side (EP)

2006 - IV

SINGLES:

1998 - "Whatever"

1999 - "Keep Away"

1999 - "Voodoo"

2000 - "Bad Religion"

2000 - "Awake"

2001 - "Bad Magick"

2001 - "Greed"

2002 - "I Stand Alone"

2003 - "Serenity"

2003 - "Straight Out of Line"

2004 - "Re-Align"

2004 - "Running Blind"

2004 - "Touch?"

2006 - "Speak"

GAME APPEARANCES:

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". Bring it On appears NFL Madden '06.