50 Fun Facts About Godsmack

Godsmack got its name after Sully Erna mocked a bandmate's affliction and woke up with which one himself?

A cold sore appeared on Erna's lip the day after he teased the band's drummer about his, and someone called it a god smack. The name replaced the group's first one after a single demo.

Time spent with which pop superstar inspired Sully Erna to write Godsmack's piano ballad Under Your Scars?

Lady Gaga, a friend of Erna's, made him see that everyone carries wounds they hide. The ballad was the first Godsmack single built on piano, and it topped the rock radio chart in 2019.

Godsmack wrote its chart-topping single I Stand Alone for which Dwayne Johnson desert epic?

The Scorpion King's director was a Godsmack fan who asked to reuse an older hit, so Erna offered a new song about the film's lonely warrior hero instead. It was 2002's most played Active Rock track.

Godsmack's songs Awake and Sick of Life were the soundtrack to recruiting commercials for which US military branch?

The Navy ran the songs under its adverts through the 2000s after a fan in the service asked permission. Erna agreed, though he stressed that the band was not endorsing any war.

Which city's mayor declared August 6 'Godsmack Day' to honour the band as its album 1000hp was released?

Boston mayor Marty Walsh made the declaration in 2014 for a band that had built its following in the city's small bars. 1000hp went on to debut at number three on the Billboard 200.

Godsmack filmed its Awake video, staged riot and all, at the Ohio prison best known from which film?

The Shawshank Redemption used the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield for most of its scenes. Godsmack produced the Awake video itself, playing in a fenced-off part of the exercise yard.

Which retail giant pulled Godsmack's debut album from its shelves after a father complained about his son's copy?

Walmart dropped the album in 1999 over its lyrics and the pentagram in its liner notes, so the band added a Parental Advisory sticker. Erna said the fuss only made kids more curious to hear it.

Which game earned Sully Erna more than $300,000 for a runner-up finish at a 2007 Bellagio tournament?

Poker is Erna's serious sideline: he was also the last celebrity standing in the World Series main event in both 2006 and 2007, outlasting actor Tobey Maguire the second time.

Before Godsmack took off, guitarist Tony Rombola and bassist Robbie Merrill both earned a living in which trade?

Carpentry paid the bills for both men, and Rombola has said he would still be doing it if the band had not worked out. He never took a guitar lesson, learning instead from guitar magazines.

What do Sully Erna and Shannon Larkin stage as a set piece of Godsmack's live show?

A drum duel is a staple of the live show, with the singer on bongos and a large kit of his own. Erna was a drummer long before he sang, having first picked up sticks at the age of three.

Godsmack shares its name with a song by which Seattle band, a link Sully Erna says is not the source?

Alice in Chains had already recorded a song of the same name, and critics have long compared the two bands' sound. Erna says the group knew of the song but thought little of it.

Godsmack opened across Europe and North America on which metal giants' world tour, launched in late 2003?

Metallica took Godsmack across America and Europe on the Madly in Anger with the World tour. One Godsmack single, Speak, grew out of a riff the band was jamming backstage on those dates.

Which faith did Sully Erna practise early in Godsmack's career, an influence on songs such as Spiral?

Wicca shaped the band's early imagery, including the pentagram in its debut's liner notes. Erna later said he did not want to be the poster boy for witchcraft and now calls himself simply spiritual.

Sully Erna has sung the national anthem at home games of which NFL team, whose trophy closes a Godsmack video?

New England Patriots home games in Foxborough have heard Erna's anthem many times. The video for When Legends Rise mixes live footage with big football moments and ends on the team's Super Bowl trophy.

Who joined Godsmack by the hundred in the 2020 video for Unforgettable, filmed in a New Hampshire arena?

Middle schoolers, more than 400 of them from schools across the region, learned the song and played it with the band. Twenty students had already sung on the chorus of the studio recording.

Which touring festival, played in 1999 and 2000, did Sully Erna call the only big tour that carried Godsmack?

Ozzfest aside, Erna said, Godsmack did the work on its own, touring nonstop from August 1998 and writing most of the album Awake on the road.

Godsmack's album IV was engineered by Andy Johns, famed for his work on which band's own fourth album?

Led Zeppelin classics such as Stairway to Heaven passed through Johns's hands. Godsmack recorded IV in Los Angeles and, for the first time, without a tour or a deadline pressing.

Godsmack played which huge festival the summer after its debut album, landing Keep Away on the official live record?

Woodstock '99 is remembered for fires and riots, yet its two-disc live album gave Godsmack a slot among 32 acts. Keep Away had been the band's first local radio hit.

Godsmack's Serenity was inspired by a motorcycle travel memoir by which rock drummer, a childhood hero of Sully Erna?

Neil Peart wrote Ghost Rider about the long ride he took after losing his daughter and his wife. Erna asked him to play on the track; touring kept him away, but he sent the band his blessing.

Godsmack's Faceless debuted at number one in April 2003, knocking which Linkin Park album down to second place?

Meteora had sold over 800,000 copies in its own first week only a fortnight earlier. Faceless was the first of three straight Godsmack studio albums to open at number one.

Friction on which band's 2009 festival tour helped inspire the lead single from Godsmack's The Oracle?

Mötley Crüe headlined Crüe Fest 2, which Erna called the most dramatic tour of Godsmack's career. He never named the song's target, saying only that he was fed up with rock-star prima donnas.

Godsmack's 2017 single, drawn from the covers disc of Live & Inspired, was a version of which Beatles song?

Come Together sat on the 2012 set for five years before it went to radio. The same bonus disc has Erna working a talk box on a Joe Walsh classic.

Which 2023 album did Sully Erna announce in advance as Godsmack's final studio record?

Lighting Up the Sky was billed as the band's last studio album, though Erna stressed that Godsmack would keep touring. He co-produced it with Mudrock, the producer of the band's first two records.

Which country star turns up alongside Sebastian Bach in Godsmack's ten-minute comedy video for Bulletproof?

Billy Ray Cyrus makes a guest appearance as the band auditions directors for its video, finally hiring Sully Erna's supposed cousin from Italy. The song still spent five weeks at number one on rock radio.

Sully Erna co-wrote and sang a TV theme song for which Las Vegas magician, a close friend?

Criss Angel used the Erna song MF2 as the new theme for his series Mindfreak, and the singer appeared in several episodes. Godsmack's drummer joined them both in the music video.

Which Godsmack hit got a sequel on the 2006 album IV?

Voodoo, the tribal-sounding single from the debut, returned as Voodoo Too. The original closes the first album and hides a bonus track after two minutes of silence.

Which early Godsmack single did Sully Erna write about a girlfriend who resented the hours the band took?

Whatever came from a time when the members rehearsed five nights a week, played weekends and held day jobs. It was recorded after the first album and added to later pressings.

Godsmack's I Stand Alone and Straight Out of Line were licensed for Warrior Within, a 2004 game in which series?

Prince of Persia took a darker, grittier turn with Warrior Within, and the two Godsmack tracks were licensed to sit beside its original score.

Godsmack's When Legends Rise was the official theme for WWE events from 2018 to 2020 held in which country?

Saudi Arabia hosted the shows, and WWE kept the song for three years running. The 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards also played it over a Movie of the Year montage.

About how much did Godsmack spend recording All Wound Up, the three-day session later reissued as its major-label debut?

$2,600 covered the whole session at a local studio, paid by the band itself. Once a major label picked the album up, the remastered version went on to sell in the millions.

Shannon Larkin drummed for which 1990s rock band, whose guitarist Dave Fortman later produced Godsmack's The Oracle?

Ugly Kid Joe had Larkin behind the kit from 1994 until its 1997 split. Erna liked working with Fortman, Larkin's old bandmate, enough to vow to record with him again.

After its 1998 debut album, Godsmack toured Europe as support for which heavy metal pioneers?

Black Sabbath took the newcomers around Europe after a summer of American festival dates. Erna counts the group among Godsmack's main influences, and the first song Tony Rombola learned was one of theirs.

Godsmack shared the headline slot at the fourth annual Mayhem Festival, in 2011, with which hard rock band?

Disturbed co-headlined the 2011 tour, the first Mayhem to rotate its main-stage opening slot among three bands. Godsmack followed it with a live album and a spring tour with Staind.

Which instrument does Sully Erna play during the bridge of Godsmack's 2006 single Shine Down?

Harmonica went on the track because Erna kept jamming on one around the studio. Shannon Larkin recalled that the band did not even know about the part when the song was first worked up.

Sully Erna says Re-Align is about falling ill whenever Godsmack plays which city, where he believes a past life ended?

New Orleans, by Erna's account, is where he was killed in a previous life, and he blames evil spirits for the sickness. An acoustic take of the song later appeared on The Other Side.

Godsmack's The Enemy was the official theme song of which WWE pay-per-view in 2006?

SummerSlam took the song as its theme, and it also featured in a SmackDown vs. Raw video game. Erna wrote it about a former friend who used the band's name to hold court in club VIP rooms.

What is the title of Sully Erna's first solo album, a 2010 release that took seven years to finish?

Avalon swapped Godsmack's heavy riffs for hand drums, cello and piano, with a Dead Can Dance percussionist among the players. Erna called it a huge departure from anything he had done.

Sully Erna's Sicilian-born father plays which instrument, heard on the solo track Turn It Up?

Trumpet rehearsals in the family basement were Erna's first taste of music as a small boy. Decades later his father played on the Hometown Life album and joined him on stage for the song.

Godsmack's Going Down, a song cut from the band's debut, appeared on the soundtrack of which action blockbuster?

Mission: Impossible 2 took the song in 2000, the same year a re-recorded version reached the album Awake. The track had been dropped from the major-label debut to make room for a newer single.

Godsmack bassist Robbie Merrill got his first bass at fourteen by trading in which childhood possession?

His train set went in exchange for the instrument after he watched his guitarist father and bassist uncle play. Though right-handed, he plays left-handed because he cannot move one finger on his left hand.

Which spoken-word track from Awake earned Godsmack its first Grammy nomination, for Best Rock Instrumental Performance?

Vampires dates back to the sessions for the debut album. Erna later called the instrumental an accident and admitted he was baffled to be nominated beside the likes of Joe Satriani.

Which drummer left Godsmack twice, the second time making way for Shannon Larkin in 2002?

Tommy Stewart quit before the first album was recorded, returned in 1998 shortly before the major-label deal, then left again over personal differences. Erna drummed on the debut himself.

Godsmack's live album Live & Inspired was recorded in 2007 at the Fox Theatre in which city?

Detroit got the nod because Erna felt the venue had a special kind of fan base. The show predates The Oracle, so nothing from that album appears, though the set came out two years after it.

Which Godsmack single made Clear Channel's list of songs for its stations to avoid after September 11, 2001?

Bad Religion appeared on the memo of songs the radio giant suggested its stations might not want to play. A year earlier it had been the fourth and final single from the self-titled album.

Which actor refused to let Godsmack keep a sample of his film dialogue on the debut album track Moon Baby?

Gary Oldman would not clear a clip from his 1995 film Murder in the First, so it was cut from the end of the song when a major label reissued the self-released album.

Under which name did Sully Erna's new band record its first demo in 1995 before becoming Godsmack?

The Scam lasted for exactly one demo. Erna had just stepped out from behind the kit after more than two years drumming in a signed band that soon fell apart.

Shannon Larkin says he titled a 2010 Godsmack single after seeing which NFL quarterback cry on the sideline?

Philip Rivers was playing for the San Diego Chargers, and Larkin, a Raiders fan, admitted the jab might sound cruel. The song itself took aim at rock stars who push people around.

Which record store chain sold Godsmack's self-released debut CD on consignment as local radio play took off?

Newbury Comics, a regional chain, took the CD just as a local station put Keep Away into heavy rotation. Sales jumped from about 50 copies a month to more than a thousand a week.

Godsmack's Speak video, full of muscle cars and stunt riders, features which future star of TV's Counting Cars?

Danny Koker of the Las Vegas shop Count's Kustoms appears in the clip years before his own series began. Erna wanted no effects or explosions, just fast cars, burnouts and wheelies.

Leftover music from Godsmack's IV sessions became which 2007 side project fronted by singer Whitfield Crane?

Another Animal united Tony Rombola, Robbie Merrill and Shannon Larkin while Erna fought writer's block. Its first single reached the rock radio top ten, and original Godsmack guitarist Lee Richards soon joined.