"Speak" is a single by the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Godsmack Godsmack is an American Rock music, rock band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is currently composed of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Sully Erna and bassist Robbie Merrill. Since its formation, Godsmack has released eig ...

from their fourth album '' IV''. It reached number one on the U.S.

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

chart and number ten on the

Modern Rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

chart.

Song origin

Tony Rombola Tony Rombola (born November 24, 1964) is an American musician who had been the lead guitarist for the Boston-based rock band Godsmack from the mid-1990s until April 2025. He has been cited as "an extraodinaire" in the guitar world by ''Guitar Wo ...

wrote the music for "Speak". He recalled: "While on tour with

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

, Robbie, Shannon and I were jamming in the dressing room.

Sully Erna Salvatore Paul Erna Jr. (born February 7, 1968) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter, best known as the vocalist and rhythm guitarist for rock band Godsmack. He is also a harmonica player, drummer, and percussionist, performing these ...

popped his head in the room 'cause he really liked the riff we were playin' and he pretty much wrote the melody and finished the song right then and there." "The chorus opened up in a way that I would never have thought to write", said Erna.

Music video

The music video for the song (directed by

Wayne Isham Wayne Isham (born December 2, 1958) is an American film director and music video director who has directed films and music videos of many popular artists. Early life and education Isham was born on December 2, 1958 in Vinita, Oklahoma. He at ...

) shows people performing stunts on cars, motorcycles, etc. with clips of the band playing. The video also features Danny Koker from Count's Kustoms, who would later go on to star in ''

Counting Cars ''Counting Cars'' is an American reality television series shown on History Channel and produced by Leftfield Pictures. The series, which was the third spin-off of '' Pawn Stars'', was filmed in Las Vegas, where it chronicled the daily activitie ...

''. Sully Erna told

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

.com that he wanted to keep things simple when it came to the video: "No bank-breaking special-effects wizardry — not even a single explosion. We didn't want the clip to correlate in any way with the song's lyrics. We just wanted it to emphasize power, because we feel it's a powerful song". The end result, according to Erna, is "basically the white, rock and roll version of the 'bling' video, but instead of using Escalades and pimped-out Mercedes Benzes, we brought in some awesome

muscle cars A muscle car is an American-made two-door sports coupe with a powerful engine, marketed for its performance. In 1949, General Motors introduced its 88 with the company's OHV Rocket V8 engine, which was previously available only in its lux ...

and a bunch of my buddies from

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

that do these amazing stunts on motorcycles, and it just became about fast cars, hot rods, burnouts, wheelies and rock and roll." "We hung out for the day, nothing was choreographed. It was really cool. We just got to light up the tires all day long. And as a band, the first half of the day, we got to hang around and watch these people go off on these killer machines and do the most insane stunts we've ever seen live", Erna said.

Track listing

Speak axi Single

Speak it Pack

Chart positions

*"Speak" had a six-week run at number one on the ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Personnel

– vocals, rhythm guitar, production *

– lead guitar *

Robbie Merrill Robbie Merrill (born June 13, 1963) is an American bassist, best known as a founding member of the rock bands Godsmack and Another Animal. He was featured in the '' Behind the Player'' interactive music video. Biography Born in Lawrence, Mass ...

– bass *

Shannon Larkin James Shannon Larkin (born April 24, 1967) is an American musician, best known as the former drummer of the rock band Godsmack. He replaced the band's previous drummer Tommy Stewart in June 2002, and played on six of their studio albums: '' Fac ...

– drums *

Andy Johns Jeremy Andrew Johns (20 May 1950 – 7 April 2013) was a British sound engineer and record producer who worked on several well-known rock albums, including the Rolling Stones' '' Exile on Main St.'' (1972), Television's '' Marquee Moon'' (1977), ...

– production

References

External links

* {{Godsmack 2006 singles Godsmack songs Songs written by Tony Rombola Songs written by Sully Erna Music videos directed by Wayne Isham