[MUSIC] THE SAVAGE ANIMAL "The Videography of Godsmack"
04.25.12
BY MIKEY MIGO
Godsmack has always been a band I can get behind. They’re generally not my normal tastes, but good rock is good rock. Godsmack is just a really solid band. They came out when nu-metal and boy-band pop was still reigning supreme. I always thought of them as “post-grunge metal”. They didn’t have dreds, synths, or rappers on board. It was just balls out rock. It was accessible because it wasn’t too growly or vulgar, but it still balanced on that toilet rim that is “commercial shit”. To me, Godsmack makes accessible hard rock. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just there aren’t too many bands out there like that. They’re leaps and bounds better than a watered down shit fest like Nickelback or Staind or Three Doors Down that were emerging at the time. Yet to be fair, they’re not nearly as “out there” as a System of a Down or Slipknot.
I think because of my age, I am more open to them. I was in high school with the ever-so-bad-ass “Whatever” came out off their debuting self-titled. I’d never claim them as my “favorite” band, but they were always a band I wanted to hear and hear more from. I’d end up casually having their first four or so CDs and I had the pleasure of seeing them live about five or six years ago. They were a GREAT live act. I’ve been to more shows than I can remember, but I’d honestly rank their performance in the Top Ten for sure. If you get a chance to see them live, go for it. In the meantime, let’s check out their videos…
Track: "Whatever"
Album: ”Godsmack”
Year: 1999
Director: Michael Alperowitz
I remember hearing that opening riff for the first time. I was taken back by the band and was instantly enthralled. The “ECfnW” shirt in the front row always stood out to me too. The video doesn’t do too much. It’s a live concert clip mixed with candid backstage stuff. The video doesn’t feel right to me. It’s a good song, but the video doesn’t have nearly enough raw aggression and energy. It looks good and all of that, but it just doesn’t make me want to rip someone’s head off like it should. I remembered it being way cooler. Rating: 6.0
Track: "Keep Away"
Album: ”Godsmack”
Year: 1999
Director: Peter Christopherson
This video is leaps and bounds better. The band rocks out in an isolated room by themselves. The greenish lights and slightly trippy effects work well. This is all cut with shots of a teenage kid getting into some trouble and running away from an abusive father. He continues his journey and starts getting weird looks and chastised by everyone he encounters. We never see the kid’s face as he’s arrested at the end. Spooky. On the flipside, this video is better than I remembered. Rating: 7.0
Track: "Voodoo"
Album: ”Godsmack”
Year: 1999
Director: Dean Karr
This song is the reason a friend of mine has had weak ribs for over ten years. This has to be one of the best “satanic sounding” sounds to come out since Black Sabbath. It just makes you feel like a snake is going to appear out of nowhere and strike you dead. This video is remarkable and I’m surprised it’s not heralded in higher status. We see the inside of a creepy church with lit candles as people in black marsh inside. The band performs on a stripped down cornfield with tons of fog and fire surrounding them. The camera cadence is in a slow motion that reminds me of the “Queen of the Damned” movie. Weird dead white zombie guys come from the waters. I think the people in the church made them rise. The creepy goddess woman dancing is hot. Towards the end, we see some sword play and what appears to be a sacrifice or something. A wolf appears. I’m pretty certain I’ve never seen this video. If I had I’d of been talking about it A LOT more. This video is bad ass. Rating: 9.0
Track: "Awake"
Album: ”Awake”
Year: 2000
Director: Troy Smith
We see what appears to be an abandoned prison. It cuts to te band rocking out in what appears to be the WWE’s “Hell In The Cell” cage. It cuts back and forth between the band rocking out to prison situations like carving on the wall, freaking out in the cell, and casually eating food in a dining hall. The prisoners end up going ape shit and rioting. They all end up crowing around the band in their “cell” and continue to go ape shit. More and more prisoners escape and more and more rocking out ensues. The video ends as the band fades and it’s revealed at the prisoned closed in 1966… Eerie. This video was sorta corny. It’s also a bad message. I’m sure the power of their rock freed some pretty horrible criminals. It was well done, but there was a good minute or so left when I found myself looking at the time to see if it was almost over yet. That’s never a good sign. I stuck it out because of the song. Rating: 7.0
Track: "Greed"
Album: ”Awake”
Year: 2001
Director: Troy Smith
A sleazy guy shows up and asks for rent. He pounds on doors as the band members deal with water not working and electricity being shut off. The band plays in the cover of one of these small apartments. It’s a nice little spot though. Meanwhile the sleazy dude continues to be an asshole. The band is now performing in a metal vault. The asshole sleazy dude leaves and goes home. His wife takes his money so he goes into his secret vault. He counts his money and is all over the top greedy about it. He goes back to the apartment where everyone is yelling at him to go yell at the band for being loud. They close the door on his face and that somehow knocks him out. The people then loot him and the band smiles and walks away. Yikes. This video was hokey as hell. I enjoyed the shots and look of it, but the tone and the story was just kind of lame. Rating: 6.0
Track: "I Stand Alone"
Album: ”Faceless”
Year: 2002
Director: The Brothers Strause
Motorcycles in the dessert… check! A creepy woman telling Sully Erna that the “prophecy is upon us”… check! A scorpion appearing and biting him… check! The Rock… Huh?! I completely forgot this song was attached to the Scorpion King movie. I never saw those movies, but I’ve heard this song a billion times thanks to promo ads. I think its over-exposure is the reason I’d deem this song their most annoying. The video cuts from desert with the bike riding and the band rocking out in front of computer generated ruins. This is all mixed up with non-descript shots from the movie. Sulley ends up encountering an army of skeletons, and creepy crypts. There is a lot of fancy CGI here and the shots do look really good, but it just doesn’t feel genuine in the tone of the “bad-assness” the song presents. I forgot this song even had verses and a bridge. Rating: 6.5
Track: "Straight Out of Line"
Album: ”Faceless”
Year: 2003
Director: Dean Karr
The same director from that awesome “Voodoo” video is brought back. The band walks in a dark cavernous warehouse-looking area as the music builds. By the time the song breaks the band is at their instruments rocking out. Sully gets there just in time too. Just when he steps up, it’s his time to sing. We cut to nondescript shots slowly revealing a pale man with lots of scars in a lone bath tub. The odd looking man lurks and slowly goes down a dark hallway. This lurking man ends up writing in a circle all around him. It’s kind of unsettling. It kept my attention for four minutes and I’m pretty sure I’ll remember it in the morning. Not bad at all. Rating: 7.0
Track: "Serenity"
Album: ”Faceless”
Year: 2003
Director: Sully Erna
I think this was around the time the band started doing some acoustic stuff more often. My favorite track by Godsmack is the acoustic “touché”. Sadly, there’s no video for that. This is probably the closest. I know a lot of us fans joked and called this “Voodoo 2” because of the melody and the down tempo creepy vibe from it. The video isn’t all that special. We get candid backstage stuff from the band mixed in with live footage. It looks like an MTV Unplugged set. It’s from something called “Pepsi Smash” though. Whatever. The song is decent, but the video is boring. There is nothing about it that really compliments the song. I wish it wasn’t, but I gotta be honest. Rating: 4.5
Track: "Speak"
Album: ”Faceless”
Year: 2006
Director: Wayne Isham
This was probably around the time I started to fall a little out of touch with the band. The video starts with the band showing up somewhere in various overcompensating vehicles. Thre is some fancy wheelies on motorcycles with random hot chicks smiling and enjoying being hot chicks. It does look like everyone was having a great time on the shoot. This is all cut in with shots of the band playing at night. The visuals and the cuts are great, but there just doesn’t feel like anything is going on here other than motorcycle stunts. There is a Norton/BSA shop in my family so I can appreciate it, but it does nothing for the song at all. DMX videos have better tricks anyway. Rating: 6.0
Track: "Good Times Bad Times"
Album: ”Faceless”
Year: 2007
Director: Rocky Schenck
Wow… a cover! It opens with a wide shot of a city and then it roams Boston as the local fans go nuts for the band. They all arrive in limos and rock in them idle of the city. Candid tour stuff is cut in. This song is way too happy and smiley for this band. It’s just weird seeing Sully and the duded’s smiling as they rock. The video is actually pretty cool looking and the cuts are good. For another “candid shot” video, it’s the best of the bunch. I just wonder if there was a better song they could have covered to get the same vibe and emotion out there. It does the original justice and all, but feels a little weird. It’s like I missed a transformation or something. Yeesh. Rating: 6.5
Track: "Cryin' Like a Bitch!"
Album: ”Faceless”
Year: 2010
Director: Paul Harb
This sucks. The song is lame. “Cryin’ Like a Bitch!”? Really? Let’s not actually use a metaphor or anything. Generic shit like the title of this song is probably why the band has a hard time getting the respect they most certainly deserve. Little gems of commercial “sell out” type of stuff comes out. I’m not one to harp on “selling out”. I think that shit is nonsense, but there is just some really artificial about songs like this. Godsmack is a way better band than this and every other track proves it. The song isn’t bad at all, it’s just the title and chorus that takes it from being a good rock out to being cheesy. It’s like that “Crush’Em” track by Megadeth from the late 90’s/early 00’s. The video is all MMA bullshit too. I’ve never been a fan of that stuff so I’m not going to appreciate this album at all. Visually, it looks nice… but still. Rating: 5.5
VERDICT
I enjoyed this. For a casual fan, about 11 Godsmack songs in a row is a perfect amount of Godsmack. I enjoyed this one. I’ve not really sat down with this band in a very long time. Some of these songs are really great and should be on anyone’s list as “modern hard rock” goes. The majority of the videos weren’t amazing, but the attitude and essence of these dudes is clear in this collection of videos. I like the gritty, to the point, rock outs. I’m always going to be partial to the song “Whatever” because it’s what brought me to the band, but their acoustic and live stuff is superb and massively underappreciated. I hear people complain that there isn’t any good old fashion rock and roll out there anymore. Godsmack is just that, albeit harder rock. I’d like to see them have another big break out with a video that we can all unanimously deem their best video to date. Voodoo is their best video by far, but if you want to really experience the vibe of this band you MUST see them live. I wish one of their videos would have captured that kind of magic.
BLOGS
- DLP News - The Savage Animal - Random Movie Review - rant/n/rave - PreView:ReView - Worst Case
Scenario
