Godsmack: A $2,600 Album, One Boston-Area DJ, and a Band That Owned Rock Radio
Photo: Stefan Brending (2eight) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2019_RiP_Godsmack_-_by_2eight_-_DSC1705.jpg
Godsmack's story is a radio story. According to Wikipedia, the Music Museum of New England and the band's biography on Musician Guide, the Lawrence, Massachusetts band recorded its debut in three days for $2,600 and put it out on its own label. They were selling about 50 copies a month until a Boston-area DJ started playing it. "All of a sudden we started moving over a thousand records a week," Sully Erna said. "I was doing all this from my bedroom." Godsmack have 3,818 plays on U-Rock®.
A drummer steps up front
Wikipedia says Erna had played drums for more than 23 years, including a stint in Strip Mind, when he decided in February 1995 to front a band as lead singer. That band, The Scam, had Erna on vocals, Robbie Merrill on bass, Lee Richards on guitar and Tommy Stewart on drums. It became Godsmack after one demo and started playing small bars around Boston.
The name, Erna says, has nothing to do with the Alice in Chains song. Musician Guide tells the same cold-sore story. "I was making fun of [our drummer at the time] who had a cold sore on his lip and the next day I had one myself and somebody said, 'It's a god smack.' The name stuck."
All Wound Up... and WAAF
Tony Rombola joined on guitar in 1996, Wikipedia says. That year the band recorded All Wound Up... at New Alliance Studio in Boston and released it in February 1997 on their own E. K. Records Company. Musician Guide and a 2000 HFStival band biography published by The Washington Post both credit WAAF, as does the Music Museum of New England, which calls Rocko "a deejay on Worcester-based WAAF." A copy reached Rocko, the night-time DJ at Worcester-licensed, Boston-area station WAAF, who put "Keep Away" into heavy rotation. It went to No. 1 at the station. The New England record chain Newbury Comics agreed to sell the CD on consignment. Next came "Whatever," another local favourite.
Going national
In June 1998, Universal/Republic signed the band. Wikipedia says the debut was lightly edited to remove unlicensed samples, remastered and given new artwork, and re-released as Godsmack on 25 August 1998. The band played clubs, Ozzfest and Woodstock '99 and supported Black Sabbath in Europe. The album entered the Billboard 200 at No. 22. It produced four singles, "Whatever," "Keep Away," "Voodoo" and "Bad Religion," and was certified 5× platinum by the RIAA in 2024. When some stores pulled it over its lyrics, the band added a Parental Advisory sticker. Erna told Rolling Stone the controversy only helped: "It's almost taunting kids to go out and get the record."
Three straight No. 1s
Wikipedia says Godsmack went on to release three consecutive No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200: Faceless, IV and The Oracle. They have notched 25 top-ten rock radio hits, 12 of them at No. 1. They have played Ozzfest more than once and headlined arena tours of their own. When their sixth album, 1000hp, came out, Boston mayor Marty Walsh declared 6 August "Godsmack Day." Their most recent album, Lighting Up the Sky, came out in 2023.
Today, Wikipedia lists Erna (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Merrill (bass) and lead guitarist Sam Koltun. Across their career they have released nine studio albums, an EP (The Other Side), a ten-year compilation, live albums and four DVDs.
Why it matters on U-Rock®
Godsmack are proof that independent radio can change a band's life. A self-released CD, a night-time DJ who believed in a song, and a local record shop willing to take a chance turned a bar band into one of rock radio's most reliable hitmakers. That's the kind of story U-Rock® exists to keep alive.
U-Rock® play data: 3,818 plays logged across the BROADCAST and CORE histories (2026-07-02 to 2026-10-12), using the higher of the two logs.
Sources 1. Wikipedia, "Godsmack" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godsmack 2. U-Rock® BROADCAST (AzuraCast) and CORE (airplay_spins) play logs 3. Musician Guide, Godsmack biography — https://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608002718/Godsmack.html 4. The Washington Post, HFStival 2000: Godsmack bio — https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-adv/specialsales/hfs2000/bio_godsmack.html 5. Music Museum of New England, Godsmack — https://www.mmone.org/godsmack/
