Godsmack are a millionaire hard rock band who have sold millions of records in the last eight years. Their fourth album, “IV,” was released on April 25, 2006. It sold 211,000 copies in its first week in the USA to debut at Number One on the Billboard chart.
Several weeks previous, I had been solicited by Godsmack’s record label and publicist for press coverage. Ken Phillips, the band’s publicist told me on May 3, after the interview had been conducted, that he had “assumed that it would be a feature about the new cd, tour and what the band has been doing since the last release.” The latter is all that I was able to discuss with Godsmack frontman/lyricist/producer Sully Erna on Monday, May 1 by telephone before he hung up on me mid-sentence, and refused to answer any further questions over the following days.
Here is the full transcript of our conversation. — Jay Babcock (Editor, ARTHUR Magazine)
Feature article published in Arthur No. 23 (July 2006)
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW.
(Initial audio digitizing courtesy Bobby Tamkin!)
JAY BABCOCK of Arthur Magazine: Alright let me get the tape rolling here. How you doing?
SULLY ERNA of Godsmack: I’m good!
JAY: How was the Jimmy Kimmel show on Friday? You were outside playing, right?
SULLY: Yeah it’s always cool to do that because it’s so set up for musicians, you know. Big stage, live crowd. It’s not so like indoors with a camera rehearsals. It’s a lot easier.
JAY: Yeah. So you got to be back out in front of your fans.
SULLY: Yeah. It was good. It was fun.
JAY: What kind of people listen to your music, do you think?
SULLY: Ummm, I’ve seen ’em range as young as 8 and as old as 68. [chuckles]
JAY: Yup.
SULLY: So it’s…
JAY: Well, you’ve seen a lot more of ’em than I have, and I’m trying to get an idea of what it feels like when you’re out there–to you, on the stage. Do you think there’s a lot of teenagers in the audience? A lot of guys in their 20s? Chicks?
SULLY: Ah you know…
JAY: Is it a dude audience?
SULLY: I would say, if I had to guess what our age group is, it’s probably between 18 and 40.
JAY: Oh yeah?
SULLY: I would have to say that’s kind of where we’re at, maybe more, majority would be 18-30? But I, we definitely, we recruited a lot of new fans off of that acoustic record…
JAY: That did it, huh?
SULLY: …an older audience. And this record seems to be drawing in a different kind of audience as well, so. You know we’re just trying to continue to expand and not have a ceiling over our heads.
JAY: Right. You guys are still having a good time making music after all these years?
SULLY: Of course. We’re musicians, that’s what we do. It may not always be great music, but we love making it! [laughs]
JAY: Cuz music has a power…?
SULLY: Mmm hmm. It’s a universal language.
JAY: So what you say with it, and what you do with it, has an effect…?
SULLY: Of course.
JAY: Right?
SULLY: [emphatically] Of course.
JAY: So I notice you guys have been really involved with promoting the military. [1]
SULLY: Well, they actually came to us, believe it or not. Somebody in the Navy loves this band, because they used “Awake” for three years and then they came to us and re-upped the contract for another three years for “Sick of Life.” So, I don’t know. They just feel like that music, [laughs] someone in that place thinks that the music is very motivating for recruit commercials I guess. And hey, I’m an American boy so it’s not… I’m proud of it.
JAY: You’re proud of recruiting your fans into the military?
SULLY: Well, no. [laughs, then playfully] Don’t be turning my fucking words around, you!
JAY: Well, tell me what you mean. You said your music is powerful, it’s got an effect, like you said, and you’re letting the military use it. The military, who are they recruiting? 18-to-30-year-olds, right?
SULLY: I guess. I don’t know what their recruit age is. I know it’s at least 18.
JAY: Yeah, they do down in the high schools now.
SULLY: My thing is… Listen, here’s my thing with the military. I’m not saying our government is perfect. Because I know that we make some mistakes and we do shitty things BUT, BUT. You wouldn’t have your job, and we wouldn’t have our lives, if we weren’t out there protecting this country so we could lead a free life. So there’s kind of a ying and a yang to that. Sometimes it’s not always the best choices that we make, or we stick our noses in other people’s shit, but at the same time, we protect this place enough that we’re able to like pursue careers and do what a lot of people in other countries aren’t able to do. They’re kind of picked and they’re chosen to be whatever they become. I’m proud to be an American, I’ll tell you that.
JAY: So your country, right or wrong?
SULLY: Uh, no. Not right or wrong. But I’m proud to be an American. I love my country. I’ve seen the depressions and how people live in other countries and how they’re told what to be, and they don’t have the choices that we have. I do love that about our country. So, you know… And I actually sympathize with a lot of the soliders, and the military in general, that are trained to go out and protect FOR us, and what they have to go through, it’s really kind of shitty in a sense that these young kids have to go over there and die, sometimes, for something that isn’t our fucking problem. And that kind of sucks. So what I have to do is at least support them, because they don’t have the choice that we do.
JAY: They don’t have the choice because…?
SULLY: Because they’ve decided to fight for our country.
JAY: And they decided to do that because…?
SULLY: [laughs]…
JAY: Of your song…?
SULLY: Aw, come on. It’s not like that.
JAY: Well I have a quote from you here: “We’ve always been supportive of our country and our president, whereas a lot of people I thought” — and you said this in 2003, to MTV News, you said — “a lot of people I thought lashed out pretty quickly at what we did and I thought the government did everything pretty cleanly and publicly as possible.” [2]
SULLY: Yeah?
JAY: Well, what are you talking about?
SULLY: That was my opinion at the time. The whole war thing, and trying to keep us up to date like… If you remember, back in other wars, we didn’t have the opportunity to follow it through the media, and CNN, and the news, live updates and that kind of thing. And I thought that for the most part you know we were allowed to follow it as best we could through the media sources that were feeding us information.
JAY: [incredulous] You didn’t think the media was being controlled by the military?
SULLY: Well, it could be. I don’t know.
JAY: You didn’t look into it?
SULLY: Listen. Are you a fucking government expert?
JAY: I’m not telling people to go join the military and then not knowing what the military is doing.
SULLY: I don’t tell people to go join the military!!
JAY: You don’t think using your songs—the POWER of your music, which you were talking about—has an effect on the people that hear it when it goes with the visuals that the best P.R. people in the world use?
SULLY: Oh man, are you like one of those guys that agrees with some kid that fuckin’ tied a noose around his neck because Judas Priest lyrics told him to?
JAY: You were telling me how powerful your music was, and what age the people are that listen to it, and you must have thought, ‘Well the Navy sure thought it was useful,’ so you tell me.
SULLY: Hey, listen. The Navy thought… It’s the same reason why wrestlers work out to the music, and extreme motorcross riders listen to the music and do what they do. It’s ENERGETIC music. It’s very ATHLETIC. People feel that they get an adrenaline rush out of it or whatever, so, it goes with whatever’s an extreme situation. But I doubt very seriously that a kid is going to join the Marines or the US Navy because he heard Godsmack as the underlying bed music in the commercial. They’re gonna go and join the Navy because they want to jump out of helicopters and fuckin’ shoot people! Or protect the country or whatever it is, and look at the cool infra-red goggles.
JAY: You said to MTV, “We’re not a very political band but we’re supportive of the U.S. military and how they approach things.” [2]
SULLY: Listen. Someone turned that around. I never said “and how they approach things.”
JAY: Okay. So that’s a misquote. Or something–
SULLY [interrupting]: Wow, what?
JAY: What about this? In 2003 you did a show that started with video footage of Apache helicopters”honing in on a desert target interspersed with the words ‘We will prevail…Stronger than them all.”
SULLY: Say that again?
JAY: I’m reading from a Boston Globe review of a show you did at the Tweeter Center.
SULLY: Yeah.
JAY: In front of 13,000 people on May 22, 2003.
SULLY: Yeah, but tell me what it said again.
JAY: Yes sir. It said “Godsmack’s ferociously high energy 90-minute set started with video footage of Apache helicopters honing in on a desert target, interspersed with the words ‘We will prevail…Stronger than them all.” [3]
SULLY: Yeah…?
JAY: So you’re using military imagery with your music at your concerts?
SULLY: First of all, it was a COMPUTER image, a computer-animated helicopter that didn’t… There was no scene of a desert in there. It was a helicopter that rose up from the screen and scanned the audience. It was an EFFECT. And then it shot out missiles that hit the stage.
JAY: Uh huh…
SULLY: Because the intro to “Straight Out of Line” has the sounds of like, a war thing going on.
JAY [trying to decide if Sully is dissembling or just obtuse]: Oh I see. So it’s just sort of a concept thing. [pause] Well, you’ve done a lot to help out the guys who are in the military, who are stuck there now, whether they chose to be there or they got hoodwinked into being there. For whatever reason, they’re in the military. And they’re doing their job. You guys did a show for them at Camp Pendleton–
SULLY: Yup.
JAY: –called “Rockin’ the Corps.” And so you’ve been doing a lot of benefit shows…
SULLY: [interrupting] Well, like I said, Listen you know, there’s a lot of young kids that die for our country, man, and they don’t have the choice once they’re in there.
JAY: That’s right.
SULLY: So I just feel well you know whatever we can do to say “thank you for protecting our country” is what we try to do. I’m not trying to make this a big political issue.
JAY: Okay. Have you done anything to prevent people from joining the military?
SULLY: No.
JAY: To maybe educate them as to what’s in store for them?
SULLY: I don’t have enough education in the military to educate them in anything.
JAY: Would you let your music be used for anti-military recruiting advertisements?
SULLY: I don’t know, I’d have to see what that was about.
JAY: But you’d be open to it?
SULLY: We’re open to whatever, as long as it’s not a Maybelline commercial.
JAY: [laughs] Maybelline’s more offensive than the military…?
SULLY: No. That doesn’t quite go with what we do.
JAY: But the military does?
SULLY: Listen. Where are we going with this thing? Is this interview about the government–
JAY: Well, I’ve never seen such a pro-military–
SULLY: Sounds like this is a personal attack or whatever.
JAY: Well I’ve never seen such a pro-military band as you guys. [4]
SULLY: But we’re not! I think [chuckling] you’re making us out to be a little bit more. When we’re asked about something, we just answer the question. We don’t go spend 23 hours out of our day supporting the military and what they do.
JAY: Um hmm.
SULLY: We just simply, an opportunity came up, they wanted to use some music for a recruit commercial. What are we gonna say, no?
JAY: Yeah. How hard is it to say ‘no’?
SULLY: Why would we, though?!?
JAY: Because…
SULLY [interrupting]: Is it because you don’t feel the same way about the government that we do, makes you right and us wrong?
JAY: Yeah. What do you feel about the government? Tell me what–
SULLY: Aw, that’s crazy, man! That’s just an OPINION.
JAY: I can back my opinion up from here to tomorrow if you would like to talk to me all day long.
SULLY: Well obviously you’ve done a lot of research and you’ve–
JAY [interrupting]: That’s right, because–
SULLY: –got a different opinion. We don’t know that stuff that you know, so–
JAY [impatient]: Why don’t you do some research before you get involved with these sorts of things? You’re talking about young kids’ lives. You’re talking about kids–
SULLY: [yelling] Would you rather not have us be protected so they can come and overrun our country?!?
JAY: Do you know what a “fool’s errand” is?
SULLY: I’m asking you a question!
JAY: No one is threatening–
SULLY [interrupting]: Would you rather us not be protected?!?
JAY: You know what I’d like, Sully? A Department of Defense, not a Department of Offense that attacks other countries — sovereign nations — who do things in a different way than us, who we have no right to go over and invade and change their governments. Would we want someone else to do that to us?
SULLY: I’m not saying —
JAY [interrupting]: How hard is that to think about?
SULLY: I’m not saying that we were right on every war that we’ve created. I know that we’ve been damn wrong at times about stuff–
JAY [interrupting]: When have we been wrong?
SULLY: [yelling] but they have also been wrong too!
JAY: When have —
SULLY [interrupting]: I don’t trust someone like fuckin’ Sadaam and Osama to come in here and try to control–
JAY: [interrupting, incredulous] When did Sadaam try to come in here and control our country?
SULLY: Dude, [yelling] WHY DON’T YOU GO LIVE IN IRAQ THEN IF YOU HAVE SUCH A PROBLEM WITH AMERICA? Why are you here?
JAY: Why am I here?!? This is the top country in the world, my friend!
SULLY: Well, why do you think so? Because it’s PROTECTED.
JAY: No, it’s not because it’s–
SULLY [interrupting]: –ruled our country.
JAY: No one is attacking us, my friend. Certainly not Iraq. Every first world nation suffers terrorist attacks. Get used to it.
SULLY: I am used to it. I don’t have a problem–
JAY: Get used to it.
SULLY: [laughs] Sounds like you do.
JAY: You’re the one that’s saying it’s alright to not know about stuff and then to send other people to die in our name.
SULLY: I never said that! Don’t put fuckin’ words in my mouth.
JAY: I’ve got it on tape, bro.
SULLY: You’ve “got it on tape, bro”?!?
JAY: Yeah.
SULLY: You got me saying it’s okay for us to attack other countries?
JAY: I got you on tape saying they’re protecting us by attacking, by going over there and taking out people.
SULLY: Listen, don’t fuckin’ turn my words around to make it to what you want it to be! That’s not what I meant and you know that.
JAY: Okay I’m sorry. Then tell me what you meant.
SULLY: Listen, I’m not gonna get into a political fuckin’ conversation with you. This was supposed to be an interview about the band. Where is this going?
JAY: We’re talking about the power of your music and what you’re using it for.
SULLY: What is this for anyway? Who are you working with?
JAY: I’m working for my own magazine, my friend.
SULLY: What’s it called?
JAY: [laughing in disbelief] What do you mean, what’s it called? Are you serious?
SULLY: Yeah, what’s the magazine called?
JAY: It’s called Arthur Magazine. You guys are the ones that set this up.
SULLY: Hey I was just told to do press today, man.
JAY: Hey man, you guys–
SULLY: I got a checklist in front of me, and I don’t have time for a lot of this bullshit.
JAY: Oh yeah?
SULLY: So write whatever the fuck you wanna write, because your magazine obviously is that popular.
JAY: It’s doing pretty good…
SULLY [interrupting]: Yeah I’m sure it is. All three thousand copies of it… [5]
JAY: On our own, without any corporate support.
SULLY: I wish you the best of– Why would you waste your time calling a band like us when you don’t even give a fuck?!?
JAY: I certainly do “give a fuck.” Cuz you know what?
SULLY: What is this about?!?
JAY: Because listen man! You know there’s 2,800 people, my brothers and sisters, have died over in Iraq?
SULLY: Yeah?
JAY: You know 30,000 Iraqi humans WHO NEVER DID SHIT TO US have died because of the attacks we’ve made over there? [6]
SULLY: [in disbelief] And that’s Godsmack’s fault?
JAY: Did you know that 78% of women in the military report cases of sexual harassment? [7]
SULLY: [sarcastic] And that’s Godsmack’s fault.
JAY: No, man–
SULLY [interrupting, sarcastic]: That has to do with our new record.
JAY: Okay, let’s talk about your new record.
SULLY: I can’t believe this. This is [inaud]
JAY: Let’s talk about that new record, my friend.
SULLY: Get a life. [hangs up]
JAY: Let’s talk about the new album…
AN AFTERWORD FROM JAY BABCOCK, SATURDAY MAY 6, REGARDING THIS INTERVIEW
Regarding the nature of the questions that were put to Sully: it was determined by what’s unique about this band, which is their public pro-military, pro-war stance and the extent of their involvement with US military recruiting campaigns. They’ve spoken about this stuff in public before, so there was no reason for me to think that they wouldn’t be willing to speak about it again. Thus, the interview.
After Sully hung up on me, I called back. The band’s publicist, Ken Phillips, told me that Sully had emerged from the room shouting at the top of his lungs, and he wasn’t sure if he could get him back on the phone with me so that we could talk about the album, Wicca, karma — all interests of Sully’s — that I had hoped to explore. Two days later I was told by Phillips that there would be no further interviewing and the band would rather the feature not run.
Why?
Who knows? Perhaps it’s the way Sully characterizes people who join the military as guys who want to jump out of helicopters and shoot people and use infrared goggles. That doesn’t really jibe well with them being “brave souls” or honorable freedom-protecting people, does it?
Perhaps it has to do with Sully’s attitude towards the Navy’s recruiting efforts. Essentially he is saying that the Navy wasted their money by licensing Godsmack music for their advertisements, since the music has no influence/impact — none, zero — on the viewers.
And so on.
I suppose to a degree it’s like shooting fish in a barrel, but… lives are on the line. People need to be held accountable. I’ve been trying to interview this band since 2003. I finally got my chance. It’s stimulated a ton of discussion — check out blabbermouth.net’s various threads, or the number of blogs and rock news sites that are now picking this up, or the comments below, or the endless barrage of juvenile hatemail we’ve been receiving — and it’s embarrassed the band into silence on the issue, which is better than the jingoism they’d been spouting previously.
Finally: Please keep in mind that Sully is a MILLIONAIRE living in a comfortable life. His band is using their music to help recruit poor, under-educated, foolish, impressionable kids into the military at a time of worthless, pointless war, the consequences of which we — all of us — will be feeling for the rest of our lives. If he doesn’t care to discuss this — all of this — he shouldn’t do interviews… especially with anti-war publications.
ENDNOTES
1. from MARCH 7 – 13, 2003 LA WEEKLY:
“Selling War: How the military’s ad campaign gets inside the heads of recruits” by Greg Goldin
The Navy’s tweaking of this theme is “Accelerate Your Life,” which promises
“adventure, travel, career, patriotism, technology, education, honor.” Set to
music from the band Godsmack, a voice-over intones, “If someone wrote a book
about your life, would anyone want to read it?”
2. from06.19.2003 – MTV.COM–<
While Metallica, Ozzy, Audioslave and others travel America, the Boston band will head oversees where the touring circuit isn’t quite as crowded. “We zig when they zag,” frontman Sully Erna said at Saturday’s KROQ Weenie Roast.
…They’ll return to the States for a headlining tour in the fall, which like the current outing will offer $10 tickets to U.S. soldiers.
…”We’ve always been supportive of our country and our president and stuff like
that, whereas a lot of people, I thought, lashed out pretty quickly at what we
did, and I thought the government did everything pretty cleanly and publicly as
possible,” Erna explained. “We have a lot of respect for the military and stuff
like that, and we just wanted to give them something back for what they did for
us, letting us live in a free country and that kind of thing. We’re not a very
political band, but we are supportive of the U.S. military and how they approach
things.”
3. from http://archive.unearthed.com/?news,2003,05,0000018118 – May 26, 2003
Steve Morse of the Boston Globe reviewed Godsmack’s homecoming concert at theTweeter Center on Thursday (May 22) before a crowd of 13,000. A large part of that crowd – 2,000 to be exact – were members of the military who had bought $10 tickets in the reserved section on the lawn. Godsmack have taken a pro-military stance this spring, and they loaned their song “Awake” for use in a Navy recruitment ad. Godsmack’s ferociously high-energy, 90-minute show started with video footage of Apache helicopters honing in on a desert target, interspersed with the words, ”We will prevail … stronger than them all.
From Godsmack fan:
“The show was May 23, 2003. I know, I was there. The video did have a military theme. Besides the helicopter there was images of fighter jets, stealths, and troops. Also not only did the words ‘WE WILL PREVAIL./STRONGER THAN THEM ALL.’ appear on the screen so did ‘UNITED WE STAND.’ “
From another Godsmack fan:
“Here is the EXACT way I saw the show start in 2003:
[digital video text starts]
[something about being in this time]
We, as Americans citizens, need to unite
Supporting our troops, our country, our freedom.
And, in the end, we will prevail and remain….
Stronger than all!!!!
[end digital text]
[pictures of a tank, jet fighters, troops jumping out of transports & out of helicopters fully armed, another fighter dropping bombs, bomb exploding on the ground, more bombs exploding, helicopters taking off]
[Shannon starts drum intro to Straight Out of Line]
[Helicopter in video shoots missles and pyro explodes on stage like the missles hit there]
[song starts]”
4. MTV News – Fat Joe, 3 Doors Down, Godsmack Speak Out About War In Iraq – JANUARY 22, 2003
“Unfortunately, there were some really bad things that happened [involving the Middle East], and I think if we don’t cut out the cancer while it’s still young, then it’s gonna grow to be this entity that we may not be able to defend ourselves against,” Godsmack frontman Sully Erna said. “I applaud the government and President Bush for doing what they’re doing, and I think our military are some of the bravest souls, much braver than I could ever be.”
5. Actually, it’s 50,000.
6. Although they have been criticized for grossly under-reporting civilian deaths caused by the initial U.S. bombing campaigns, Iraqbodycount.org is probably the best current source on how many Iraqis have been killed during the invasion and US occupation.
7. Source: Department of Defense 1995 Sexual Harassment Survey (Arlington, VA: Defense Manpower Data Center, December 1996) Available online in PDF.
THINKING ABOUT ENLISTING?
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE IN THE U.S. MILITARY IN IRAQ?
Arthur Magazine 
So what are you saying? Godsmack’s music makes people want to die? Or am I twisting your words around?
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Is the band name, Airheads still available?
No one ever said anyone had to make sense to make music.
On the other hand if you’re making political music then you’re obligated to know what you’re talking about, who it’s affecting, how and why.
Carry on,
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That was amazing and beautiful.
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And by “beautiful” I mean comedy fucking gold.
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I never could figure out why I stopped liking Godsmack once I shipped out to ol’ Babylon. I really liked ’em when I was in highschool – before I signed up – and even for a little while after. But it was as if someone flicked off a switch when my overseas orders came. I just chalked it up to the fact that so many other redneck hicks in the Corps were into them. Well, thanks for clearing the fog of war, and thanks for giving Sully a li’l bit o’ basic training!
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Dudes: YOU ROCK. You got huge stones. Great interview.
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Arthur 1, Godsmack 0, US Military -2800
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That was kind of a prick move. And I don’t want to be on Godsmack’s side.
On the other hand- Maybe if the military had been using Devendra Banhart songs in their ads, and had gotten a lot of free-folk fans to join the military, their wouldn’t be as many civilian casualties and cases of sexual harassment.
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OK, this is incredible!
I’ll admit that I’ve had reservations about artists using the “fame credit card” to promote their causes. Reading what Sully Erna had to say made me realize how sincere and intelligent people like Bono and George Clooney are.
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I liked a couple songs off their first album. Haven’t really listened since. Will make it a point to avoid them now. Think I’ll stick with Tool, Tori Amos, Pearl Jam, Neil Young and of course Floyd. Wow what a babbling, stuttering, lying prick that guy turned out to be.
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Give me a break … this guy clearly doesn’t have the balls to interview someone with a real point of view so he interviews Sully from Godsmack. Give the kids some more credit Arthur … I think you put way to much stock into the influence Godsmack’s music has on them.
Try interviewing someone that is directly involved.
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Well done Arthur Magazine and Jay Babcock! Brilliant interview! Poor Sully probably has PTSD. Well, maybe he can empathize now with those survivors of his musical sales pitch for war. Pity the fact that when marketing told him to parrot a pro-war opinion, they didn’t give him the tools to back it up. I guess that would have meant a brain transplant…
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Wow… what a amateur and immature interview. The condescending tone, the ambush, the selective use of out-of-context quotes… yup, those are the exact same tactics of Fox News and the Administration that you obviously despise. See, here in America it’s perfectly legal to sell your song to anyone you choose and you don’t really have to defend your actions to anyone, even if people disagree. Because it’s YOUR music.
I can’t stand Godsmack or the war or this pirate administration but “interviews” like this are the reasons communication fails and nothing ever changes. If you want to change the world, start by changing your attitude and biases.
How sad that this came out of a magazine I started reading because of Grant Morrison and his ability to trancend all the typical black and white thinking.
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Jay, you rock!
keep fight’n the good fight
john
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Obviously, signing a commercial deal with the Navy to promote recruitment with your music…you’d better be ready for bullshit like, this interview. Although, I don’t think Sully could back his viewpoint factually enough while being taken off-guard but, Remember Kids: It’s always better to attack people with a statistical cheat sheet in front of you. I don’t agree with Jay BobCock’s pussy tactic method of turning what Sully thought to be a “New Album” promo interview, into a political one but, that’s the sleaze that makes the frontpage so, BFD. If that was the type of interview that BOBCOCK wanted, then he should have been up front about it and not set Sully up the way he did. Sully fell into BOBCOCK’s trap and let himself get manipulated…poor Sully. He should have told him to fuck off earlier.
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I can’t believe people are actually defending Sully, or attacking Jay’s interviewing. The band ASKED for the interview, right? So they should be able to put up with this kind of drilling? And if Sully is to have such strong opinions (which their music does, regardless of his personal mediocre knowledge of US history or present international politics), he would have been able to counter Jay’s questions. Arthurmag is not a hard-journalism outlet. It’s a culture magazine. You know, the kind that writes album reviews and shit. And interviews crappy bands like godsmack. And they stand out from other outlets precisely for the tone and balls Jay showed in this interview.
Thanks. Consider my subscription renewed.
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Great interview. It is rare that you see a music journalist actually do some research and analysis of an artist’s work and its impact. Art truly leads and influences people. Artists need to take responsbility as leaders and not remain ignorant of the impact of their actions.
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Things turn heated as Babcock tells Erna “I’ve never seen such a pro-military band as you guys.” And Babcock handles it as beautifully as you’d expect from a righteous fool who could’ve had one hell of a career as a litigator but instead cross-examines for an increasingly necessary indie publication. It’s also hella funny.
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While I agree that Godsmack’s music is horrible, this interview was fucking stupid.
Way to save the world, hippy.
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It kind of follows that a moron like this would be fronting the #1 band in the US of A right now. Maybe he can be the next Republican President after all of the Bushes have had a go.
Kudos to Jay Babcock. I guess we won’t see hime reading the “news” on Fox TV anytime soon.
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wow, saving the world, by attacking one shitty group at a time.
get a life hippy. Learn to do an interview while you’re at it.
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right on Jay !
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What a load of crap.
The Village People did, “In the Navy”. Were they trying to get gays to enlist in the military? IS Godsmack the first band to use military imagery and themes? Nope.
Ambush interviews are the sign of a crap interviewer who cares more about shock and the exposure from that shock (oh boy you got them good). I’m not even for the war, but this stupidity turns my stomach. There is liberal and there is stupidity. I’m liberal, guess where YOU fall.
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Honestly? Is this how Jay expects to turn public sentiment around, by being snarky and playing “gotcha!” with Sully Erna? Because they have an Apache on a screen at their show? Jesus Jay, what are you, 17? Were you turned on to Noam Chomsky a few weeks back and had to lash out at the power structure, which for some reason you confuse with Sully Erna?
This interview and your bizarrely juvenile and combative interview makes you just as complicit as it does him.
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Wow…tough questions are fair when it’s obvious Godsmack had no qualms about military using their music…they should then be able to vigorously defend it.
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I love how people like this talk about how we should just let people in “countries that do things different” fucking rot. Are you going to go tell someone whose father was tortured to death, sister raped & murdered by Sadams government that we aren’t going to do anything about it because they “do things different”? You must be happy as hell that were just leaving all those souls in darfur to their fate. How much does it piss you off that we stopped the holocaust? Why was it any of our business right? I know, I know, were not doing anything in darfur because we don’t have any interests there but Iraq, oil, yadaydada… That’s not what your argument is though, you argument is that it’s none of our business. So would you like to tell some 12 year old girl that’s been raped and is about to be stoned to death for it that “it’s none of our business”?
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You know, if you substitute “Jay Babcock” with “Sean Hannity/Bill O’Reilly” and “Godsmack” with “Pearl Jam/Neil Young/Dixie Chicks” and reverse the war references (oh, and instead of saying 2800 in Iraq! with 3100 at WTC!), you get pretty much the same thing.
You’re using the far-rights tactics to bully an ignorant subject in your grandstanding attempts. Fortunately, because of this one interview, the war has ended. Oh, wait, it actually hasn’t, because you’ve refused to engage anyone on anything more than a remarkably childish level. Pretty lame, Jay.
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Yo first of all that was an interview. Secondly, if Sully’s warlock, candle burning, wannabe druid, fake rocker ass actually watched his own music on the Navy commerical and didn’t realize it was propaganda, he is a retard.
To Sully: I copyright infringed your music off the internet then I trashed it cause it sucks, but not before I let a couple thousand people download it from me first. Have a nice afterlife, what ever hell there are for makebelieve pagans?
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This is the most offensive article I have ever seen. Sully Erna from Godsmack has done nothing but shore support for our troops. Face it people, WAR happens. You thing terrorists will just bow down to us and say we want peace. So what if Sully allowed them to use their song? My cousin is in the military and you know what, he saw this interview and coulden’t believe some magazine clown actually has the nerve to say Godsmack is to blame for enlistment. He said he and the people he knows listed because they wanted to! Did you hear that? They wanted to! Its thanks to people like him that you can talk on the phone and trash a band that has shown support for this country. If you don’t like it, Get out! We won’t miss you. You baited Sully from the begining, you diden’t even have the guts to tell Godsmack’s PR manager that you wanted to talk about Godsmack’s opinion on war. You went beyond influence and straight into idiocy. Grow up, I’ll be sure to tell everyone I know (I’m top PR director at a major corportation to avoid your publication.)
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i still don’t understand why so many of you idiots keep saying things like, “they’re just supporting the troops!” why not support them by ensuring that they’re not misused? why not do some research before you allow your music to be used to back up a position you have admitted you don’t even understand? in their ignorance, sully & co are part of the big manipulative machine that’s sucking up our kids, brainwashing them, and spitting them out in a war zone that shouldn’t even exist. that’s all the interviewer was trying to point out. apparently some people can’t handle thought-provoking questions very well.
and btw Steve Johnson ~ war doesn’t “happen.” it’s planned and executed very carefully. and this current war was planned by people who really don’t give a shit about our troops. and for the record, the biggest threat to our “freedom” right now comes from the current administration, who breaks laws and undermines our civil liberties everyday in the name of fighting “terrorism.” you’re all so distracted by foreign “terrorists” that you’re completely blind to what’s happening in your own backyard.
go read something.
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Sully obviously wants to support the troops, and he feels playing for them and letting his music be used by the Navy and US Military is OK. He obviously respects the institution of the US Military. If the interviewer does not, that is an entirely separate debate. Maybe Sully has friends/family who have served.
From his comments, it seems Sully knows his initial faith in the President and the reasoning for war was probably misplaced. This is a hard thing for a lot of Americans to deal with, being lied to by the President they trusted. Riding the good faith of 9/11, many, many Americans trusted that man. And so they say things like “don’t you want to be protected?” “better then them coming over here” and what not.
It seems if we, as liberals, want others to respect us when we say we support the troops and not the war, we should be willing to accept those on the other side of the spectrum who want to support the troops and not the war, even if they supported it at the outset. They may still hold the entire Military in an esteem(that sometimes borders on a fetish, if you ask me) that makes us uncomfortable, but that is beside the point. We aren’t here to mock them for liking the Military.
This interview was an ambush. And it’s easy to mock and ridicule the military after your grandfathers have defeated all of your enemies for you.
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Well, given the amount of technical work and coordination required to pull off a war, actually war *doesn’t* just happen. I mean, it takes weeks, sometimes months, of intensive, expensive hard work to set up a movie shoot for a weekend with a crew of ten people and three actors. Thirteen people. There are thousands stationed all over Iraq.
War happens? Are you kidding? War is done to people, and it takes a lot of hard work. It is not something beyond our control as human beings.
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>> You baited Sully from the begining, you didenÄôt even have the guts to tell GodsmackÄôs PR manager that you wanted to talk about GodsmackÄôs opinion on war.
Sure, like they’d say “Bring it on!”… The level of the Godsmack argument is exposed by the wonderful “Dude, [yelling] WHY DONÄôT YOU GO LIVE IN IRAQ THEN IF YOU HAVE SUCH A PROBLEM WITH AMERICA? Why are you here?”, exactly the kind of “America, love it or leave it” crap that people used to trot out in the 60s and 70s to avoid questions about the Vietnam War. I somehow doubt they had a lot of carefully thought-out ripsotes waiting for a more lenient interviewer.
The mainstream music press rarely asks any difficult questions of people like this, which is why they’re taken aback when someone doesn’t only want to know what kind of guitar pick they used. Godsmack have every right to support who they want and license their music the way they want but acting like petulant 13-year-olds when someone asks simple questions about that support and licensing makes them look rather foolish.
Respect to Jay and Arthur for asking necessary questions of these people. If Jay wasn’t doing it, who else would be?
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Way to go Jay. Your comments and questions were intelligent and backed up with facts. Maybe Sully will now think before selling his music to the war machine. Probably he won’t, but maybe.
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He’s a war profiteer whether he realizes it or not.
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Steve Johnson: Terrorists didn’t come from Iraq, pal. Keep producing those illusions, top guy.
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I’m sure Mr. Babcock is shaking in his boots, Steve.
Honsetly, the argument that the kids in Iraq are “protecting my freedom” is a load of shit. It can’t possibly hold up to scrutiny. I mean, the Councilof Foreign Relations was publishing article after bi-partisan article in the lead-up to the war, which plainly refuted the Al-Queda-Saddam “connection.” They also managed to outlie the extreme possibility of sectarian violence, after the centrifugal force that had been holding the country together was removed. That force was Saddam, and he was admitedly brutal. But none of that has ANYTHING to do with America’s security.
So please Äî don’t bother to tell another American that those soldiers currently getting RPG’d in Babylon are protecting our freedom. In fact, GWB’s war only continues to endanger it.
Those thinking about enlisting might want to look more closely at America’s foreign policies before enlisting. The info is available. No fucking excuses. Unless you just like to shoot at shit. In which case, go for it.
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While I’m strongly against the war and the policies of the Bush administration, I’m not sure that having a scream-fight with an foolish, ill-informed Scott Stapp sound-alike is the best way to expose the problems we’re facing. I agree with Mr. Babcock’s politics, but his method of attack is too similar to that of a right-wing pundit.
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Hilarious. All the Godsmack fanboys furiously typing away, trying to defend the obviously moronic frontman of a crappy band. Here’s a hint, kiddies: You’d better start thinking real hard about the ins and outs of what’s going on in Iraq, because every day that passes is another day closer to signing up with Selective Service. Right now you can afford to play BF2 with Godsmack cranked, and think that you could kick serious ass in Iraq if you were just old enough or if your parents would sign the permission form. But let’s be honest: None of you chickenhawk hatchlings aren’t going to get within 100 yards of a recruiting office, let alone Baghdad or Fallujah. Not without a draft. And as far as supporting the troops goes, which is the ultimate lameass trope for pretend patriots to roll out, talk to any combat vet–the only support they care about is fire support. They couldn’t give less of a s*it about preteens pumping their fists to Godsmack and repeating the same tired lines about ‘protecting our freedoms’ and ‘go live in Iraq if you don’t like it.’
Which is the stupidest thing this moron said. We ‘liberated’ Iraq, ‘member? Everything’s so much better now that we’ve flattened a couple cities. Nevermind the ongoing insurgency. Ignore the daily car bombs.
But hey, you could easily prove me wrong. http://www.goarmy.com. Go on and sign up, big talkers. Show everyone how much of a superpatriot you are. Your l33t Xbox skills will come in handy, I’m sure.
And Steve Johnson, please contact me. I’m looking for a top PR director at a major corporation who has the grammatical and argumentative skills of a junior high schooler. LMFAO.
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now, i may just be a naive hippy, but it seems to me that our media could use a healthy dose of “journalists” that step outside the lines of polite banter. i wouldn’t mind some more punches pulled on the regular. in reality babcock wanted to talk about this issue and not the record. this is an issue that pisses him off-as it should and it shows. i like that, its honest. yeah, he didn’t follow the rules…but i get to read papers that follow the rules everyday. i enjoyed it!
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babCOCK, you’re a real class act, lets attack some band who has nothing to do with what military and the government does. If your so pissed do something about it, fag
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For all the crap people might want to give an opinion like Erna’s…we can all find plenty of musicians and actors who’ve expressed oppossing views…and probably 10x as ignorant. Listening to what famous people say about politics is generally ill-advised. I agree, the interview was the equivilant to some of crap we see/hear on talk shows and radio. If you use the same tactics of your enemy to defeat your enemy (that you’ve decried when they do it), what have you accomplished?
I think ‘war profiteering’ is a bit harsh. But, an interesting argument. Worth some thought, for sure. The interview certainly lacks…well, alot. Going in honestly about the subject would have been much more constructive. Encouraging this type of work only adds fuel to the fire. Rise above.
There was alot of potential in this subject: really getting people to think in depth about these topics. Instead? The divide widens. Congrats.
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Great interview!! Bands like Godsmack are the late 90s/early 00’s equivalent of Styx, Kansas, etc. Corporate garbage. Way to make that clown look like a fool!! Good for you!
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Way to go! Hallelujah. This is how-to-do-an-interview-after-doing-your-homework that EVERY reporter should follow. Unfortunately, Sully Erna is emblematic of too many stupid Americans who don’t know what the hell is going on in our country and even worse, don’t even care. I hope Erna is mad as hell, but at himself for being such a dumbshit. What a smackdown, Babcock, you were superb.
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i dont really care for godsmack, but 9/11 is directly involved with the muslim war against christianity and therfore going to iraq is completly legitimate, furthermore the USA army isnt only protecting america, its protecting peace and democracy all over the world, if you just sit at home and protect your own ass, other asses might get fatter and destroy you eventually.
if USA didnt do anything in WW2 and the nazis would have won the war they might have destroyed the USA aswell.
so an american that goes against his Army (which just gets its order from the goverment that was chosen by the people) is either a fool or a traitor.
sully is clearly not a politician so he was an easy target, but in his naive way he was right all along.
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wow. godsmack is a good band. they have never done a thing to hurt anyone in the military. godsmack went to a concert to perform in front of the military, to help those guys that godsmack respects through a hard time. and now, since godsmack’s song is used in a military commercial, a high-energy song that soldiers must like for them to use that song, that means that godsmack likes kids to die? since godsmack donated their time and music to the military, that makes them killers?
that is bs. you are just here to stir the pot and make an innocent man/band look bad. because they are popular and you don’t like them, you did this just to get a few people on the internet to join the anti-godsmack bandwagon. fuck that. godsmack isn’t corporate. these guys have been playing music since they were teens, and when they got their chance, they took it. they deserve everything they get. and they took time out of their lives to go to iraq and support the military.
when was the last time you went to iraq? and why are you so against godsmack…because they have more money than you? they have more fans than you?
i HOPE someone replies to this comment, because, to me, this bab-cockface is a moron, only out to get sully because he is disrespectful and doesn’t like godsmack. he is bitter at someone he doesn’t know anything about, just because bab-cockhead is an angry, lonely man with an independent magazine/website.
so i hope you enjoy your time in the internet-nerd spotlight, because godsmack’s music will never die.
and another thing.
it seems that your personal agenda (to get people pissed at godsmack) has prevailed in your interview over the agenda of the military.
you shroud your personal thoughts with “THE GOOD OF THE NATION/MILITARY/18-30 YEAR OLDS”…well i’m not buying it. you are either one or a combination of a)strongly against the war b)strongly against godsmack or c)strongly wanted cheap attention.
and i think it was all 3. sully erna is a good man, he has owned up to his mistakes in life and has tried to make everything better. he worked for decades in music before he got his shot at stardom. even then, he found time to go to iraq and play for the armed forces.
and you want to use against him the fact that he allowed the US military to use one of his songs…but if he hadn’t, people would have said he was ANTI-MILITARY.
and sully is right. nobody will join the military just because the commercial has a godsmack song on it. and sully isn’t a killer. not everyone, but some iraqis are. and that is why we are at war right now. NOT because a military commercial has a godsmack song on it.
so babcock
keep trying to stir the pot. you aren’t fooling me. and i wouldn’t be surprised if most/all of that interview was altered. i want to hear the actual tape.
later babcocksucker…
-k
ps
please reply…babcock, you can email me, anyone else, you can reply to this.
if this is even allowed to stay printed by babcockmaster…
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Babcock,
Take your anti-war bullshit somewhere else. I read this bullshit “interview” and it was nothing more than you acting like a complete jackass. You twisted Sully’s words around and made a stink over how YOU feel about the war. Fuck you. If you don’t like it then get the fuck out. Go live in Iraq you fucking cocksucker. We’ll be playing some Godsmack while watching you on TV crying to be set free while the hooded terrorist kidnappers are cutting your fucking head off. Fuck you!
Good thing Sully wasn’t there in person. I am sure he would’ve beaten your ass to a pulp. What a jag-off.
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Like dude, that wasn’t cool. Like we just want to party and play music dude. Like chill out dude.
Like why are you so upset dude. Like don’t harsh our mellow dude.
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Flies to shit! All of us. Darkly amusing. Keep on truckin’…
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Ha! Awesome interview. Horrible generic band with a horribly stupid lead singer apparently.
Also gotta love how pissed off people get about this and how saying shit how Sully would have kicked your ass, cause of course that would prove he’s right and would prove how great his music is.
Also the anti-war stuff really started after Sully started getting pissed off about neutral questions just debating whether they’re a pro-millitary band or not and then got to this:
YEAH. HOW HARD IS IT TO SAY ÄòNOÄô?
Why would we, though?!?
BECAUSEÄî
Is it because you donÄôt feel the same way about the government that we do, makes you right and us wrong?
YEAH. WHAT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT? TELL ME WHATÄî
___
Sully cut him off and started asking him if this has to do with his political opinion, along with going off topic and mentioning the gov’t over and over continuing the subject.
Also, great line Sully:
Dude, [yelling] WHY DONÄôT YOU GO LIVE IN IRAQ THEN IF YOU HAVE SUCH A PROBLEM WITH AMERICA? Why are you here?
Not even Merl Haggard uses that one anymore hahaha.
It was a simple interview, but Sully’s a hot headed jackass who’s used to getting his ass kissed since he’s one of the big cock rockers on MTV. A lot of other people could have kept level headed through it, but clearly Sully can’t take criticism or questioning of his views. Not every interview’s just going to be praising you for your crap, and not every person who doesn’t like it or questions you on something is anti-Godsmack. I think Godsmack’s music is crap a long with a lot of other bands, but I’m not anti-bands.
And no I don’t listen to heavy metal, pop-punk, Britney Spears, or anything else or follow any scenes. And I’m not a liberal.
Once again, this clearly WASN’T targeting Sully to spread anti-war views. Look at it objectively, the first part of it is just questioning Godsmack’s view on the military since he denies being pro-Military.
And the war has nothing to do with a Christian-Muslim war. You can call Osama Bin Laden an asshole all you want and not believe a word he says, but if you’re going to create an objective view on this shit read what he actually says.
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