Godsmack is an American rock band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of founder, frontman and songwriter Sully Erna, guitarist Tony Rombola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Shannon Larkin. Since it's formation, Godsmack has released seven studio albums, one EP (The Other Side), four DVDs, one compilation album (Good Times, Bad Times... Ten Years of Godsmack). and one live album (Live & Inspired).
The band has had three consecutive number one albums (Faceless, IV, and The Oracle) on the Billboard 200. The band also has 23 top ten rock radio hits, including 17 songs in the top five place. The band's seventh album "When Legends Rise was released on April 27, 2018.
Since its inception, Godsmack has toured on Ozzfest on more than one occasion, and has toured with many other large tours and festivals, including supporting its albums with its own arena tours. Godsmack has sold over 20 million records in just over a decade. In honor of the band's success and the release of their sixth studio album, 1000hp, Mayor Marty Walsh declared August 6 as "Godsmack Day" in the city of Boston.
Faceless is the third studio album by the Hard Rock band Godsmack. The album was released on April 8, 2003. This is the band's first album with former Ugly Kid Joe drummer Shannon Larkin. The songs "Straight Out of Line" and "I Stand Alone" had Grammy nominations for 'Best Rock Song' and, 'Best Hard Rock Performance' respectively. It is the bands most successful album.
Martin Joseph "Marty" Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician from Boston, Massachusetts, A democrat, he is the 54th and current Mayor of Boston, having served in office since 2014, He was previously a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving in office from 1997 until 2014 and representing the Thirteenth Suffolk district.
Godsmack - Get Up, Get Out - 7/25/1999 - Woodstock 99 West Stage (Official) This track is located on the bands very first self titled album "Godsmack" Track 8, 3.30s
In February 1995, Sully Erna decided to start a new band as the lead singer after playing the drums for more than 23 years, including more than two years in the now defunct band "Strip Mind". His new band, The Scam, formed with Erna on vocals, Robbie Mernil on bass, local guitarist and friend Lee Richards on guitar, and Tommy Stewart on drums. The Scam, quickly changed its name to Godsmack, after recording one demo. The newly formed band started playing small bars in their hometown of Boston. Locally popular songs as "Keep away" and "Whatever" soon brought them to the top of the hit charts in the Boston/New England area.
Salvatore Paul "Sully" Erna Jr. (born February 7, 1968) is the American vocalist and guitarist for the American heavy metal band "Godsmack" He is also a harmonica player, percussionist and pianist, performing these on albums and at live shows. He was ranked 47th in the Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists by Hit Parader.
Boston is the capital city and most populous municipality of the commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city proper covers 48 square miles (124 km2) with an estimated population of 685,094 in 2017, making it also the most populous city in the New England region. Boston is also one of the oldest cities in the United States, founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers from England. The city also boasts many colleges and universities making it an international center of higher education.
Many people think the band's name stemmed from another band's song, but according to Erna, the band's name came from a small and personal incident. "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." In 1996, Tony Rombola and Joe D'Arco joined Godsmack as the guitarist and drummer, after Richards left upon learning he had a six-year-old child and Stewart left due to personal differences. In the same year, the band entered the studio for the first time, recording its first CD titled "All Wound Up. The CD was recorded in just three days for $2.600.
Tony Rombola (born November 24, 1964) is the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the band, Tony Rombola has been cited as 'an extraodinaire' in the guitar world, by "Guitar World" magazine, and is cited to be the only guitarist to keep an 'original soloing style' during the nu metal period. earning him the respect of the guitar industry. Rombola is also a guitarist for the side-project band "Another Animal", formed at the beginning of 2007, the band released their self-titled debut album in October 2007, and played shows, whilst frontman Sully Erna did a small solo tour.
For the next two years, the band played throughout the Boston area. Eventually Godsmack's CD landed in the hands of Rocko, the night-time DJ for Boston radio station WAAF (FM). The radio station put "Keep Away" into heavy rotation and the song rose to the number one spot at the station very quickly.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 (FM). In an interview Sully Erna stated, "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. I was doing all this from my bedroom. After years of grinding away, things finally started taking off."
Sully Erna (Godsmack) interview - Sully talks about his solo work, what makes a good song, writing about his experiences, Your Own Drum, not pleasing everyone, music as a universal language, their 20-year anniversary, the new Godsmack record. First published 20th Sep 2017
Godsmack has been described as nu metal, heavy metal, post grunge, hard rock, and alternative metal. The band's primary influences include, Aerosmith, Alice in Chains, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Pantera, and Rush accordibg to Erna, Larkin, and Rombola. Erna has cited Layne Staley as his primary influence.
The overall sound of the band's first two albums sound similar to the sound of the Alice in Chains album "Dirt". However, Godsmack has 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"
Layne Staley (born Layne Rutherford Staley, August 22, 1967 – April 5, 2002) was an American musician known for being the lead vocalist, occasional rhythm guitarist and co-songwriter for the band. Staley's distinct vocal style etched deep into the bands creative sound as well as the harmonized vocals he and guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell produced. Unfortunately Staley became withdrawn and stayed away from the spotlight from mid 1996 onwards and he never performed again. He had struggled for much of his life with depression and drug addiction, these factors ultimately took his life, he was 34 years old.
Godsmack - Whatever - 7/25/1999 - Woodstock 99 West Stage (Official)
Erna's singing style has been stated as "the snarl of James Hetfield", and "composed of dark harmony that sounds a lot like Alice in Chains". Merrill's bass style has been described as "bulldozer bottom with occasional slap-bass reverb". Larkin's drumming is thought to "worship at the twin altars of Neil Peart and John Bonham. And Rombola's guitar playing style has been praised as "guitars that sound like percussion instruments".
Former members.
Lee Richards - Lead Guitar, backing vocals (1995-1996)
Tommy Stewart - drums, percussion (1995-1996) 1998-2002)
Joe D'Arco – drums, percussion (1996–1998)
Studio Albums
Godsmack (1998)
Awake (2000)
Faceless (2003)
IV (2006)
The Oracle (2010)
1000hp (2014)
When Legends Rise (2018)
Godsmack won Rock Artist of the Year in 2001 (Billboards Award)
Godsmack won in 2000 (Boston Music Awards) Act of the Year, Outstanding Rock Band, Sully Erna won, Male Vocalist of the year and Best Song/Songwriter.
In 2001 the album "Awake" won album of the Year, Godsmack also won Best Act of the Year, and Best Outstanding Rock Band for the (Boston Music Awards)
Metal Edge Readers'Choice Awards
2002 "I Stand Alone" Won "Song of the Year from a Movie Soundtrack.
Back Cover for "Awake" Enhanced CD Version
James Shannon Larkin (born April 24, 1967), is the current drummer for the band. He replaced the previous drummer Tommy Stewart in June 2002. Prior to Godsmack, his previous bands were, Amen, Candlebox, Ugly Kid Joe, and Souls at Zero (formerly Wrathchild America). James has played drums for the "Godsmack" albums Faceless, IV, their EP "The Other Side" The Oracle, 1000hp and their latest album "When Legends Rise". James started to play drums at the age of 10.
Robbie Merrill (born June 13, 1963) is an American bass guitar player for the band and he is also a founding member. He was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and began to play bass at the age of 14. He is a very dedicated musician who has only focused on bass guitar. Merrill crafts a sound that’s as soulful as it is cutting—gravelly, but with a clear high-end sheen. Some of that clarity comes from a relatively new technique at the fore of his tone equation:fingerpicking.
Tommy Stewart (born May 26, 1966) is an American drummer, currently for the rock band Lo-Pro, Stewart was the original drummer of "Godsmack" He joined Godsmack in 1995, left briefly, and returned in 1998 just before the band's debut album came out. He played with them for two multi-platinum selling albums, "Godsmack" and "Awake", He co-wrote the single "Bad Religion" for the band's self-titled debut album with Sully Erna.Stewart also plays on the Godsmack single "I Stand Alone" which was released on the Scorpion King soundtrack in 2002 and later appeared on the band's third studio album Faceless after his departure. He left the band in 2002 due to personal differences. The break-up has been described as amicable, but Erna, a drummer himself, who wrote the majority of drum parts and also recorded the drums on the debut album, admits that "I had a very set vision on where I wanted to go with music and after a while, in his defense, it just wore on him having no input in the band".
"I Stand Alone" was used for the American historical fantasy film "The Scorpion King" that was released in 2002. Directed by Chuck Russell and starring The Rock, Kelly Hu, Grant Heslov, and Michael Clarke Duncan. In this image Sully Erna meets "Dwayne Johnson" AKA "The Rock"
The soundtrack to The Scorpion King was released on March 26, 2002, just before the film was released on April 19. It is filled with various bands performing either previous released tracks or their b-sides. The album has been certified Gold by the RIAA, "I Stand Alone" is the very first track, written by Sully Erna and is 4.05s long. From the album Faceless, Track 5 which is 1 second longer.
After leaving Godsmack, Stewart briefly joined ex-Van Halen and Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone's band "Tribe of Judah" as a touring drummer.In 2002 he joined vocalist Pete Murray and guitarist Neil Godfrey and Ultraspank to form Lo-Pro. Lo-Pro was signed to Staind and Aaron Lewis's record label 413 records (a subsidiary of Geffen Records) but the band was dropped after one album. In January 2005 he played drums on the CD Ain't No Good Life by Rusty Wright Blues. The CD was released in August 2006 and it features 13 songs in a blues/southern rock style. Tommy and Rusty were old band mates from much earlier projects, but this was the first time doing the blues genre.
Gary Francis Caine Cherone born July 26, 1961) is an American rock singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as the lead vocalist of the Boston rock group Extreme, as well as his short stint as the lead vocalist for Van Halen on their 11th Album "Van Halen III and subsequent tour. In recent years he has released solo recordings. In 2007, he reunited with Extreme. In his teenage years, Cherone turned to singing in local bands and was heavily influenced by the reigning rock frontmen of the day, most notably Roger Daltrey of The Who, Stephen Tyler of Aerosmith, and Queen's Freddie Mercury.
Godsmack - Greed - Released on October 31st 2000, Taken from the bands second album "Awake" Track Three, 3.29s
Stewart joined Portland rock band "Everclear" in August of 2008, replacing Brett Snyder on drums.[16] Stewart departed from Everclear in 2009 after the recording of their 2009 release "In A Different Light" when most of the band lineup was jettisoned by Art Alexakis. By mid-2009, he began working with Lo-Pro again to finish up, and tour in support of, their two releases, the Letting Go EP, And The Beautiful Sounds of Revenge.
Tommy's current project is S.U.N. (Something Unto Nothing) with vocalist Sass Jordan, bassist Michael Devin, and guitarist Brian Tichy. Marty O'Brien replaced bassist Devin in 2012.
Stewart was a touring drummer for Godsmack's album "All Wound Up" (1997).
He was drummer for the album "Awake" (2000) AND "I Stand Alone" which was a single released in (2002)
S.U.N. features lead vocalist SASS JORDAN, drum veteran Brian Tichy (WHITESNAKE, OZZY OSBOURNE, FOREIGNER, LYNCH MOB) on guitar, drummer Tommy Stewart (ex-GODSMACK, FUEL, EVERCLEAR, LO-PRO), and bassist Marty O'Brien (DISTURBED, STATIC-X, TOMMY LEE/METHODS OF MAYHEM).
Tommy does casual dates with Rusty Wright as guest drummer. With little activity by Lo-Pro after touring behind their debut album, Stewart did some shows with Pennsylvania-based alternative rock band "Fuel" as a replacement drummer in mid-2005 after the band parted ways with their longtime drummer Kevin Miller. He also helped guitarist and chief songwriter Carl Bell and bassist Jeff Abercrombie audition singers after Brett Scallions' departure in 2006. Stewart was unable to participate in the recording of the Fuel album "Angels & Devils" due to other commitments, but was invited to join the band after the CD was completed, but not yet released. Stewart toured with the band in support of their latest album from May 2007 until early 2008.Since Fuel had not been touring for a while,
Everclear is an American rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1991. The band was formed by Art Alexakis, He is the band's songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist, For most of the band's popularity members consisted of Craig Montoya (Bass Guitar) and Greg Eklund (Drums). After the limited release of their independently released album, "World of Noise" the band found success with their first three albums on Capitol Records (Sparke and Fade) (So Much for the Afterglow) and (Songs from an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How To Smile), These albums were all certified platinum in sales, However, the following two albums (Songs from an American Movie Vol Two: Good Time for a Bad Attitude and (Slow Motion Daydreamer were not as well received, and as sales suffered, Montoya and Eklund left the band shortly after 2003. After a brief stint of solo performances, Alexakis decided to push forward with the Everclear name, finding new musicians to perform with and releasing two more albums, Welcome to the Drama Club, and Invisible Stars. Starting in 2012, Alexakis has also started up a 1990s nostalgia tour, called the Summerland Tour, that occurs every summer with Everclear and other 1990s alternative rock bands. In April 2015, the band released a ninth studio album entitled "Black is the New Black".
Tommy Stewart used these Drums with "Godsmack"
DW Ebony Satin Oil Finish
20" × 18" Bass drum
14" × 4½" Solid Maple Snare
10"-12" Toms
16" Floor Tom
Cymbals: Zildjian
14" Remix Crash
14" A Mastersound Hi-Hats
Zil Bel Large
18" Z Custom Crash
10" EFX Splash
22" Z Custom Mega Bell Ride
20" A Crash/Ride Brilliant
18" Z Custom Rocker Crash
20" A China High
Electronics:
10" ddrum pads
Vic Firth drumsticks
DW pedals and hardware
Similar Drums to Godsmack DW Drums Collector's Serie Ebony satin oil finish
Alice in Chains is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who then recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne Staley. Starr was replaced by Mike Inez in 1993, William DuVall joined the band in 2006 as co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, replacing Staley, who died in 2002. The band took its name from Staley's previous group. the glam metal band "Alice N' Chains".
Although widely associated with grunge music, the band's sound incorporates heavy metal elements, Since it's formation, Alice in Chains has released five studio albums, three EPs, three live albums, four compilations. two DVDs, 31 music videos and 30 singles. The band is known for it's distinctive vocal style which often included the harmonized vocals between Staley and Cantrell and later between Cantrell and William Duvall. Cantrell started to sing lead vocals on the 1992 acoustic EP "Sap, and his role continued to grow in the following albums, making Alice in Chains a two-vocal band.
Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. (born March 18, 1966)[1] is an American musician, singer-songwriter and guitarist, He is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist and main songwriter for the band. He also has a solo career and released the albums "Boggy Depot" in 1998 and "Degradation Trip Volumes 1 & 2 in 2002. Cantrell started to sing lead vocals on Alice in Chains' 1992 EP "Sap" after Staley's death in 2002, Cantrell took the role of Alice in Chains' lead singer on most of the songs from the band's two albums without Staley, (Black Gives Way to Blue) 2009, and (The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here, 2013, with DuVall harmonizing with him in the new songs and singing Staley's vocals in the old songs in live concerts. Cantrell has also collaborated and performed with, Heart, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, Pantera, Circus of Power, Metal Church, Gov't Mule, Damageplan, Pearl Jam, The Cult, Stone Temple Pilots, Danzig, Glenn Hughes, Duff McKagen, and Deftones too name a few.
Boggy Depot is the debut solo album by Jerry Cantrell, The vinyl edition of the album was released on March 31, 1998, and the CD was released on April 7, 1998 through Columbia Records. Boggy Depot debuted at No. 28 on the Billboard 200 album chart and spent 14 weeks on the Top 200. The tracks "Cut You In" "My Song" and "Dickeye" were released as singles to promote the album. "Cut You In" peaked at No. 5. on Billboards Mainstream Rock Charts, "My Song" reached No. 6 and "Dickeye" peaked at No. 36. The 12 track album has a total playing time of 62:34s and all songs were written by Cantrell.
Jerry Cantrell - Cut You In
Cantrell was born in Tacoma, Washington on March 18th 1966 to Gloria Jean Krumpos and Jerry Fulton Cantrell, He grew up in Spanaway and is the oldest of three children. His father is a career army and his mother was an amateur organist and melodica player who worked as an administrative assistant for the Clover Park School District in Pierce County, Washington.His maternal grandmother was from Norway and his maternal grandfather was from Czech Republic. He picked up a guitar for the first time when he was in sixth grade, At that time he played clarinet and his mother was dating a guitar player who handed his guitar to Cantrell and taught him a couple of chords. Cantrell picked it up very quickly, impressing his mother's boyfriend who suggested that she should buy her son a guitar, so she bought him an acoustic guitar.
Tacoma is a mid sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound (A complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins) 32 miles (51km) southwest of Seattle (of which it is a satellite city, 31 miles (50km) northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and 58 miles (93km) northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397 according to the 2010 census.Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget sound area and the third largest in the state, Tacoma also serves as the center of business activity for the South Sound region, which has a population of around 1 million.
It would not be until the age of 17 that he began seriously playing an electric guitar. Cantrell learned to play guitar by ear emulating his idols. He bought his first guitar, a Korean-made Fender Stratocaster from a swap meet in his mid teens. His maternal grandmother, Dorothy Krumpos, died of cancer in October 1986, and his mother died of pancreatic cancer at age 43 in April 1987, when he was 21 years old. Friends recalled that Cantrell fell into depression and became a completely different person after losing both his mother and grandmother within a short span of time.
Cantrell noted in an interview that he was "raised on Country Music as a youth and that he admires the emotion conveyed in the genre. He also considers himself "half Yankee and half redneck. However, hard rock music caught Cantrell's interest predominantly. He would later cite guitarists such as Jimi Hendrix, Ace Frehley, Tony lommi, Angus Young, Jimmy Page, Glenn Tipton, K.K. Downing, David Gilmour, Nancy Wilson, and Eddie Van Halen and Soundgarden as major influences, as well as Elton John and bands Fleetwood Mac, Heart and Rush as his early songwriting idols.
Squier HM Stratocaster - Korean made - 1980's with pointy headstock, A typical example of a Fender Stratocaster from the 80's.
The Fender Stratocaster is a model of electric guitar designed in 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carsen, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously manufactured the Stratocaster from 1954 to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar with an extended top "Horn" shape for balance. Along with the Gibson Les Paul and Fender Telecaster, it is one of the most often emulated electric guitar shapes, Stratocaster and "Strat" are trademark terms belonging to Fender.
Leo-fender-photo-courtesy-of-clangandclatter-com, Born August 10, 1909 – March 21, 1991)
Alice In Chains - Grind (Video)
This track is the opening track and the lead single from their album "Alice in Chains" (1995), The single spent 16 weeks on Billboard's mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and peaked at no 7. Jerry Cantrell sings lead vocals on the song with Layne Staley harmonizing with him, Grind was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1995. "Grind" addresses the various rumors that surrounded the band at the time. The opening lines, "In the darkest hole, you'd be well advised/Not to plan my funeral before the body dies", address the rumors that the band had broken up and the many rumors of vocalist Layne Staley's death that had occurred frequently around this time. In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection, Jerry Cantrell said of the song:
That was pretty much at the height of publicity about canceled tours, heroin, amputations, everything, thus it was another "FUCK YOU for saying something about my life" song. Any single rumor you can imagine, I've heard. I've been dead a few times, Layne's been dead countless times and lost limbs. I get on the phone every time I hear a new one, "Hey Layne, radio in New York says you lost two more fingers." "Oh really? Cool." I'd spoof "The Six Million Dollar Man" "Since technology's moved on it only cost us 2 million to put Layne back together and we got better parts.
Fender 60th Anniversary American Vintage 1954 Stratocaster (2-Colour Sunburst)
The Fender Stratocaster was the first guitar to feature three pickups and a spring tension vibrato system, as well as being the first Fender with a contoured body. The Stratocaster's sleek, contoured body shape (officially referred to by Fender as the "Comfort Contour Body") differed from the flat, slab-like design of the Telecaster. The Stratocaster's double cutaways allowed players easier access to higher positions on the neck.Starting in 1954, the Stratocaster was offered with a solid, deeply contoured ash body, a 21-fret one-piece maple neck with black dot inlays, and Kluson tuning machines.
The color was originally a two color sunburst pattern, although custom color guitars were produced (most famously Eldon Shamblin's gold Stratocaster, dated 6/1954). In 1956, Fender began using alder for sunburst and most custom color Stratocaster bodies; Ash was still used on translucent blonde instruments. In 1960, the available custom colors were standardized, many of which were automobile lacquer colors from Dupont available at an additional 5% cost. A unique single-ply, 8-screw hole white pickguard held all electronic components except the recessed jack plate—facilitating easy assembly.
Bill Carson in the mid-1950s. Born July 8th 1926 - February 15th 2007, Born in Meridian, Oklahoma, Carson was a California Western swing guitarist for whom Leo Fender originally designed the Fender Stratocaster electric guitar in the early 1950's. Carson has documented his close relationship to the Strat in his autobiography, Bill Carson – My Life and Times with Fender Musical Instruments (co-written by Willie G. Mosely). In reference to the Stratocaster's "Custom Contouring", he once said, "It fits better to your body like a well tailored shirt should."
Original Stratocasters were manufactured with five tremolo springs, allowing the bridge set up to "float". In the floating position, players can move the bridge-mounted tremelo arm up or down to modulate the pitch of the notes being played.As string gauges have changed, players have experimented with the number of tremolo springs, and as the average gauge has decreased over the years, modern Stratocasters are equipped with three springs as a stock option in order to counteract the reduced string tension. While the floating bridge has unique advantages, the functionality of the "floating" has been accepted and disputed by many musicians. As the bridge floats, the instrument has a tendency to go out of tune during double-stop string bends. Many Stratocaster players opt to tighten the tremolo springs (or even increase the number of springs used) so that the bridge is firmly anchored against the guitar body: in this configuration, the tremolo arm can still be used to slacken the strings and therefore lower the pitch, but it cannot be used to raise the pitch (a configuration sometimes referred to as "dive-only").
Alice In Chains - Rooster (PCM Stereo) Rooster is a power ballad, Simon Frith, the British sociomusicologist and former rock critic, identifies the origins of the power ballad in the emotional singing of soul artists, particularly Ray Charles, and the adaptation of this style by performers such as Eric Burdon, Tom Jones, and Joe Cocker to produce slow-tempo songs often building to a loud and emotive chorus backed by drums, electric guitars, and sometimes choirs.According to Charles Aaron, power ballads came into existence in the early 1970s, when rock stars attempted to convey profound messages to audiences.
Chris-Cornell-by-Jeff-Lipsky
"I'm so selfishly sad that I'll never get to see you again, never play with you again, never feel the bask of your approval..."
This track is featured on the bands second album "Dirt" released in 1992. The song was released as the fourth single from the album in 1993. It is the fifth song on the original pressing of the album and sixth on others. "Rooster" spent 20 weeks on Billboard's mainstream Rock Chart and peaked at no 7."Rooster" was recorded at Eldorado Studios on Los Angeles' Sunset Boulevard, co-produced by Alice in Chains with Dave Jerden. In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection, Songwriter Jerry Cantrell said of the song: "I think there's some darts on the demo that maybe we didn't get here (on Dirt), but this has something all of its own... quality, for one thing."
The song was written by Jerry Cantrell for his father, Jerry Cantrell Sr, who served with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. "Rooster" was a childhood nickname given to Cantrell Sr. by his great-grandfather, because of his perceived "cocky" attitude and his hair, which used to stick up on top of his head like a rooster's comb.The "Rooster" nickname is often mistakenly attributed to a reference to men carrying the M60 machine gun, ("Walking tall machine gun men"), the muzzle flash from which makes an outline or pattern reminiscent of a rooster's tail. It is also often mistakenly attributed to the 101st Airborne Division - in which Cantrell's father served - who wore shoulder sleeve insignia on their arms featuring a bald eagle. As there are no bald eagles in Vietnam, the closest thing to which the Vietnamese could draw a comparison was the chicken, thus leading to the pejorative "chicken men." Cantrell wrote the song while living at Chris Cornell and Susan Silver's house in Seattle at the start of 1991. Silver is Alice in Chains' manager. Alone, late at night, Cantrell kept thinking about his father and the psychological scars from his time in the Vietnam War that contributed to the breakdown of his family. Cantrell wrote the lyrics from the standpoint of his father.
The Stratocaster features three single coil pickups,with the output originally selected by a 3-way switch. Guitarists soon discovered that by jamming the switch in between the first and second position, both the bridge and middle pickups could be selected, and similarly, the middle and neck pickups could be selected between the 2nd and 3rd position.[11] When two pickups are selected simultaneously, they are wired in parallel which leads to a slight drop in output as slightly more current is allowed to pass to the ground. However, since the middle pickup is almost always wired in reverse (and with its magnets having opposite polarity), this configuration creates a spaced humbucking pair which significantly reduces 50/60 cycle hum. In 1977 Fender introduced a 5-way selector making such pickup combinations more stable.
In the liner notes of 1999's Music Bank box set collection, Jerry Cantrell said of the song:It was the start of the healing process between my Dad and I from all that damage that Vietnam caused. This was all my perception of his experiences out there. The first time I ever heard him talk about it was when we made the video and he did a 45-minute interview with Mark Pellington and I was amazed he did it. He was totally cool, totally calm, accepted it all and had a good time doing it. It even brought him to the point of tears. It was beautiful. He said it was a weird experience, a sad experience and he hoped that nobody else had to go through it.
The "quacky" tone of the middle and bridge pickups can be obtained by using the pickup selector in positions 2 and 4. This setting's characteristic tone is not caused by any electronic phenomenon—early Stratocasters used identical pickups for all positions. This "in between" tone is caused by phase cancellation due to the physical position of the pickups along the vibrating string. The neck and middle pickups are each wired to a tone control that incorporates a single, shared tone capacitor, whereas the bridge pickup, which is slanted towards the high strings for a more trebly sound, has no tone control for maximum brightness. On many modern Stratocasters, the first tone control affects the neck pickup; the second tone control affects the middle and bridge pickups; on some Artist Series models (Eric Clapton) and Buddy Guy signature guitars. the first tone control is a presence circuit that cuts or boosts treble and bass frequencies, affecting all the pickups; the second tone control is an active midrange booster that boosts the midrange frequencies up to 25 dB (12 dB on certain models) to produce a fatter humbucker-like sound. The Stratocaster is a versatile guitar, usable for most styles of music and has been used in many genres, including country, reggae, rock, pop, folk, soul, rhythm, and blues, jazz, punk, and heavy metal.
Eric Clapton
In a 1992 interview with Guitar for the Practicing Musician magazine, in response to the question "Do you feel you communicated with [your father] with this song?", Cantrell responded:
Yeah. He's heard this song. He's only seen us play once, and I played this song for him when we were in this club opening for Iggy Pop. I'll never forget it. He was standing in the back and he heard all the words and stuff. Of course, I was never in Vietnam and he won't talk about it, but when I wrote this it felt right...like these were things he might have felt or thought. And I remember when we played it he was back by the soundboard and I could see him. He was back there with his big gray Stetson and his cowboy boots — he's a total Oklahoma man — and at the end, he took his hat off and just held it in the air. And he was crying the whole time. This song means a lot to me. A lot.
Cantrell said of the song in a 2006 interview with Team Rock:
That experience in Vietnam changed him [his father] forever, and it certainly had an effect on our family, so I guess it was a defining moment in my life, too. He didn’t walk out on us. We left him. It was an environment that wasn’t good for anyone, so we took off to live with my grandmother in Washington, and that’s where I went to school. I didn’t have a lot of my father around, but I started thinking about him a lot during that period. I certainly had resentments, as any young person does in a situation where a parent isn’t around or a family is split. But on Rooster, I was trying to think about his side of it – what he might have gone through. To be honest, I didn’t really sit down intending to do any of that; it just kinda came out. But that’s the great thing about music – sometimes it can reach deeper than you ever would in a conversation with anybody. It’s more of a forum to dig deeper. It felt like a major achievement for me as a young writer. When I first played it to my father, I asked him if I’d got close to where he might have been emotionally or mentally in that situation. And he told me: ‘You got too close – you hit it on the head'. It meant a lot to him that I wrote it. It brought us closer. It was good for me in the long-run and it was good for him, too.
Alice In Chains - Over Now, This track is the final song on the band's third album, Featuring mostly voval work of Cantrell, with lead vocals provided by Layne Staley who only hamonizes in the chorus. While the song was written by Jerry Cantrell about a failed relationship, many fans see this song—which features a traditional bugle quote of "Taps" as an eerie foreshadowing of the band's ultimate demise because it is the closing track of their final studio album with Staley.
in the liner notes of the 1999 box set, Cantrell said "A lot of deep shit in there, a big epic number. Plus you can get away with a hugely long tune near the end of a record." The song is written in open C# tuning, and marks the band's first time experimenting with it. "Over Now" peaked at number four on the BMainstreamRC and 24 on the BModernRC. Steve Huey regarded the song "among the band's best work
The music video for "Rooster" was released in February 1993 and was directed by Mark Pellington.The music video featured real Vietnam War documentary/news footage as well as some very realistic, graphically re-enacted combat scenes. Jerry Cantrell's father was a consultant on the video, as it explores Cantrell Jr.'s interpretation of his father's war experience.The "Rooster" character (played by James Elliott), was based on Alice in Chains' guitarist/vocalist, Jerry Cantrell's father (Jerry Cantrell Sr.), whose lifelong nickname was "Rooster." Cantrell Sr. served two combat tours in Vietnam, and also appears in the music video talking about his war experiences. Cantrell Sr.'s scenes were filmed on what was then Cantrell's great uncle's property and is now the site of Jerry Cantrell's family ranch in Atoka, Oklahoma. Cantrell Sr.'s scenes, filmed in stark black & white, show him hunting in the woods as an older man, while having "flashback" memories of his youthful Vietnam combat experiences (which are shot in full color). The uncut (more graphic) version of the video is available on the home video release Music Bank: The Videos "Rooster" was the last music video to feature original bass player Mike Starr, who is pictured on the cover of the single.
The intense combat scenes for the video were actually filmed on location in Angeles National Forest in January 1993 and have been favorably compared to Oliver Stone's classic Vietnam War film Platoon, VN Veteran and Military Technical Advisor Dale Dye served as advisor on both the "Rooster" video and on Platoon, among many other projects in Hollywood. Actor James Elliott (Southland, Entourage, Mafia II, ETC.portrayed the title role of "Rooster", the Team Leader of a Long Range Recon Patrol (LRRPs) in the combat scenes. Elliott, who is right-handed, had to learn how to handle multiple combat weapons left handed for the production in order to match the real Cantrell Sr.'s footage (Cantrell Sr. is left handed and holds his knife/rifle that way in the video). The military weapons and gear used and worn by the actors in the video are not all period-authentic. The M16A2 is used (which was not used until the 1980s), as well as the Nomex flight gloves which were not used until well into the Vietnam War. Dale Dye provided Elliott with some of his own personal combat gear which Dye had actually worn during multiple tours in Vietnam, including his military watch and map light, among other items.
Jerry Cantrell Snr on stage with "Alice In Chains".
Other actors who appear in the video include Casey Pieretti (well known real-life amputee actor/stunt performer); and popular character actor Jon Gries (Naploeon Dynamite, Lost etc). Pieretti, who walks/runs extremely well with a prosthetic leg, performed a very graphic and difficult scene in which his leg was "blown off" by a land mine and Elliott's "Rooster" character offers life-saving medical aid on the battlefield. Jon Gries's character is shown being shot in the chest during intense combat with North Vietnamese infantry troops and dying in the arms of Elliott's "Rooster" character in the final emotionally charged combat scenes of the video. Also featured are scenes of a group of children playing with bubbles.
Alice in Chains - I Can't Remember - The album (Facelift) was released on August 21, 1990, Being the band's very first album release, This track is located at no 5 on the album and is 3.42s long, Written by Staley and Cantrell. This is the only song with lyrics written both by guitarist Jerry Cantrell and vocalist Layne Staley. Cantrell credited "I Can't Remember" for helping the band find its sound.
FACELIFT (album cover) - 36" x 36" (acrylic on canvas)
Real life combat veterans have often commented about how moving and realistic these scenes were, yet MTV initially pulled the controversial video from rotation due to complaints about the graphic nature of the war scenes. This upset the band a great deal, especially Jerry Cantrell, who has stated how much of a foolish double standard existed at the time, as "Rooster" simply portrayed actual history with realism, yet MTV routinely showed gangsta rap and other violent videos in which gratuitous violence/death/killing was portrayed and clearly glorified. At the time the video was also the longest music video ever aired in full on MTV (running approximately 7 minutes long).Jerry Cantrell often introduces his father on stage before playing the song at Alice in Chains' concerts.
Incidentally the track was also used in the 2009 American military science fiction movie "Terminator Salvation". The movie was directed by
Joseph McGinty Nichol (McG) and written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris. The film stars Christian Bale and Sam Worthington, with Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood, Bryce Dallas Howard, Lonnie Corant Jaman Shuka Rashid Lynn Jr, Michael Ironside and Helena Bonham Carter in supporting roles. It is the fourth installment of the franchise. The track can be found at 15 being the last track on the disc being the only featured song. The soundtrack for the movie was composed by Danny Elfman.
Guns N' Roses - You Could Be Mine ( Terminator Salvation Motominator Scene)