Saturday, May 21, 2022

SONG OF THE WEEK: 5/22/22




SONG:  "1000HP"

ARTIST:  Godsmack

ALBUM:  "1000HP"

YEAR:  2014

PLACE OF ORIGIN:  Lawrence, Massachusetts

YEARS ACTIVE:  1995 - present



WHAT I THINK THE SONG IS ABOUT:

"1000HP" is a biographical song for Godsmack. It basically tells the story of when they were scraping and clawing in the streets of Boston, trying to be heard. Then one day they broke through and they've been riding that wave of success and steaming full speed ahead. It's a celebration of the band and it's fans.

GODSMACK DISCOGRAPHY (Full length albums only):

1998 - Godsmack (Universal/Republic Records)
* peaked at #22 on the Billboard 200 on 5-29-99
* certified 4X platinum

2000 - Awake (Universal/Republic Records)
* peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 on 11-18-00
* certified 2X platinum

2003 - Faceless (Universal/Republic Records)
* peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200 on 4-26-03
* certified platinum

2006 - IV (Universal/Republic Records)
* peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200 on 5-13-06
* certified gold

2010 - The Oracle (Universal/Republic Records)
* peaked at #1 on the Billboard 200 on 5-22-10
* certified gold

2012 - Live & Inspired (Universal/Republic Records)
* peaked at #19 on the Billboard 200 on 6-2-12

2014 - 1000hp (Universal/Republic Records)
* peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 on 3-23-14

2018 - When Legends Rise (BMG Records)
* peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200 on 5-12-18

MY THOUGHTS ON GODSMACK:

Godsmack formed as a band back in 1995, hailing from Lawrence, Massachusetts. For a very short time they were called The Scam before settling on the name Godsmack. They recorded a demo album in 1997 called "All Wound Up" which served as the basis for their proper debut album, 1998's "Godsmack". The band was pushed hard by local Boston radio station WAAF who put their songs "Keep Away" and "Whatever" in heavy rotation. Local buzz soon crept throughout the nation and Godsmack's debut album would eventually be certified 4X platinum! Their follow up, 2000's "Awake" was also a huge success for the band, certified 2X platinum. Godsmack's next three albums all reached #1 on the Billboard 200 charts. 2003's "Faceless" was a monster, featuring hit singles like "Straight Out Of Line", "I Stand Alone" and "Re-Align". The band dropped a nice acoustic EP called "The Other Side" in 2004. The band featured a heavy sound to begin with, but 2010's "The Oracle" was considered by the band to be their heaviest effort to date. 2014's "1000hp" ended the band's relationship with Universal/Republic and the band is now signed with BMG. Their most recent album was 2018's "When Legends Rise". Sully Erna has confirmed that the band's next album has been completed and should be released in mid to late summer 2022. Godsmack is a hard rock/metal band at heart. You can hear a grunge influence in their sound. Sully Erna has often been compared to James Hetfield of Metallica and Layne Staley of Alice In Chains vocally. Erna has kind of tried to veer away from those comparisons but they are pretty obvious when you hear their music. My first experience with Godsmack was the song "Whatever" off their debut album. I love this song. It's just got a real cool vibe to it. Excellent pit song!! I really like Godsmack's first three albums then I wasn't totally as in to them from "IV" on. I got all of their albums and still listen from time to time but I listen to those first three way more often. Not saying those newer albums aren't good, maybe I just grew out of them for some reason. I think there are a lot of hard rock bands that came out after those initial grunge bands of the 90's and there are many good ones, I just never thought any of them rose to the heights of those bands. Maybe that's a bad comparison because I'm not so sure I consider Godsmack a grunge band. They have grunge like tendencies with metal influences but then, you could say that Alice In Chains and Soundgarden were grunge but had metal influences as well. Who knows what the fuck I'm saying?!!  Anyway, Godsmack is a cool band and in the end, I gotta give props to my Massachusetts homies!

SIMILAR ARTISTS:

Drowning Pool
Breaking Benjamin
Stone Sour
Staind
Seether

TEN GODSMACK SONGS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT:

1. Whatever
2. Awake
3. I Stand Alone
4. Re-Align
5. Running Blind
6. Bulletproof
7. Speak
8. Rocky Mountain Way (Joe Walsh cover)
9. 1000hp
10. Whiskey Hangover


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