Godsmack (album) - Reception and Sales

Reception and Sales

After playing the Boston area over the following two years with drummer Joe Darco, the band began to establish themselves a strong reputation of being a good live band. As Godsmack began drawing in bigger audiences into their live shows, their album began to circulate through the streets of Boston and eventually ended up in the hands of a DJ for a radio station in Boston.

The radio station began playing the single "Keep Away" and its success quickly soared the single to the number one spot on the station. After the success of "Keep Away", the band went back into the studio and recorded the song "Whatever" which became the new favorite on the radio station and helped the band to sell thousands of copies of their album per week.

"Whatever" was used in a commercial for one of the final Extreme Championship Wrestling pay-per-view events, Massacre on 34th Street.

Finally, after the demand for their album became too high, Republic Records/Universal Records stepped in and signed the band to their label in 1998. The band replaced Darco with Stewart and All Wound Up was remastered and released six weeks later as their self-titled debut album Godsmack.

"The first album we had a lifetime to write", Merrill said in an interview with the Sun-Gazette. "Then we toured for two years with the first record, so we basically had to write on the road for the second album. And at the same time we were dealing with becoming rock stars and all that."

According to the RIAA, by December 4, 2001, Godsmack's self-titled album has shipped four million copies in the United States and was certified 4× Platinum, making it Godsmack's most successful album to date.