This Album RULED 2009… And Then Became Grocery Store Music
The story of how one band went fro a band struggling to having 6 Number 1 Singles from one record. We’re of course talking about Shinedown’s album The Sound of Madness.
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What happens when a band is falling apart, the label is breathing down their neck, and the only two guys left are staring at each other in a studio wondering if it’s over? For Shinedown, the answer came in the form of a brutal ultimatum from a legendary producer: write forty songs, or don’t even bother.
This is the story of how a band on life support got pushed past their breaking point and came back with The Sound of Madness.
After their platinum debut Leave a Whisper, Shinedown rushed out their second record, Us and Them. The label wanted a quick turnaround, and Brent Smith later admitted it left him burned out and unhappy. The album leaned into a more Southern, bluesy feel that some fans liked, but others didn’t, and behind the scenes the band was cracking.
Touring was rough. Bassist Brad Stewart was out. Guitarist Jasin Todd was spiraling, battling substance issues alongside Smith. Fights were constant, and drummer Barry Kerch later said the band was “falling apart.” Todd’s exit became public after a highly publicized arrest, but the decision had already been made. Smith himself was wrecked, physically and mentally, and needed time off just to feel human again.
Their musical identity was shaky and their lineup gutted. When Smith went to Atlantic president Craig Kallman, the first question he got was whether they’d deliver another record in six months. Smith flatly said no and asked for no time limit at all. Surprisingly, the label backed off. Around this time, he reconnected with Ashley, an old friend who’d helped get Shinedown signed in the first place. They started dating, she became central to his recovery, and when he learned she was pregnant, it forced a hard reset. He chose to get sober.
With Stewart and Todd gone, Shinedown was down to Smith and Kerch. They started rebuilding. Zach Myers, who’d been a touring rhythm guitarist, became a permanent member. Then they went to Charleston to work in the studio of producer Eric Bass. At first, Bass thought the band’s drama was too much. But as the songs took shape, he got pulled in. After the writing was done, they begged him to join as bassist. Bass wasn’t just a player; he was a songwriter and producer who would become the glue of the new Shinedown.
With a rebuilt lineup, they needed a producer who could match the scale of what Smith wanted: the biggest, heaviest record of his life, with pianos, synths, even a full orchestra. The demos landed on Rob Cavallo’s desk—the guy behind Green Day’s Dookie and American Idiot, My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade, and more. Cavallo came to them and said he wanted to do it.
His first move wasn’t booking an orchestra. It was setting the challenge: don’t bring me twelve songs, bring me forty. From that mountain, they’d carve out the best possible record. For a fragile band with new chemistry, it could’ve killed them. Instead, it focused them. The studio became a lab where Smith poured his addictions, fears, politics, and new fatherhood into songs like “Devour,” “Second Chance,” and “If You Only Knew.”
The result was The Sound of Madness: an album born from collapse, rebuilt lineup, and one insane demand—write until there’s nothing left, then keep going.
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@rnrtruestories
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Anyone like Butt Rock?
@GhostAntagonist
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Divorced dad rock.
@Merle1987
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
I had to look them up even though I knew their name and the guy's voice. I only like the first single, but they at least had a good work ethic.
@WattzMusicTV
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Still waiting for that Barely Breathing story my guy.
@chrisconny2285
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Went to a well known club in Buffalo to see them when they first started. I was out front smoking 🚬 and ended up talking to another dude ,come to find out during the show it was Brent, very cool dude. 🍻🍻
@mpashalian7650
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
A few inaccuracies. ALL of the singles on the album were actually written with the bands original guitarist, Jasin Todd. When he was kicked out Tim Pierce re-recorded everything slightly different. Some of the songs had a more southern rock feel like those on Us and Them. There’s actually video of the band performing all of the singles live on YouTube, including an acoustic version of “Crow and the Butterfly,” at a radio station over a year before the album was released.
@zarc0n
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
I'm 42 and huge rock n metal fan my whole life,
I've never heard a Shinedown song. And I'm not talking shit, I'm just curious how I've never heard a song or no one ever recommended them to me
@Livingthefllife
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
I used to be a huge fan of Shinedown when Leave A Whisper came out. That was their best album. Us and them was pretty good and SOM had some great songs. Everything else after that is a fart noise.
@robwalsh9843
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
I'm not angry, I'm just saying LMAO 🤣
They're straight up Monster Energy rock, but they've done well for themselves.
@steelcurtain187
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Nothing will top 45 for me 😎 they have lots of good stuff
@arnieslab
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Shinedown had a glow up
@mack1305
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
😂 I remember my friends 17 yo daughter coming to me and saying listen this band. I still remember her face when I said "yeah Shinedown is great". I don't think she was expecting "someone my age" to know anything about this new band 😂
@ktothec24
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Apparently, Rick Beato produced one other albums. I just heard him mention that the other day , I had no idea.
@tysonsutton9621
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Shinedown is the butt rockiest butt rock band that ever butt rocked.
@matraz10
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
…and yet where are their awards? None..
@IAmStripped-w4g
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Not a big fan of this band…but at least they aren’t nearly as bad as Theory Of A Deadman or Buckcherry. 😂
My favorite 2000’s Post-Grunge bands though are Creed, Three Days Grace, Breaking Benjamin, Early Nickelback, Early 3 Doors Down, Early Puddle Of Mudd and Early Trapt.
@BB-dr2zs
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Planet zero is heavily underrated and underappreciated, also second chance isnt nor has ever been my favorite. I think atlas falls and daylight and call me are way better personality
@gp2917
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Being Human wasn’t a number one hit?? Crazy.
@diegomazzaron9191
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
I think also Us and them is a great record anyway 🤷♂️
@bLackmarketRadio
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Shinedown played in my buddies basement when they were just getting big. They won a radio contest and they rennovated their basement and broadcast the show live from my buddies basement.
@Hemibuck95
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
This album is not only of my favorites by them, it's also the album I listened to the most after the death of my father and my divorce (within two months). I believe this album saved my life because those were some dark days.
@andrewvelasquez79
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
Poster boys for the forgettable cookie cutter rock bands of the 2000's.
@Macbethkneedeep
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
I met Shinedown when they played a show at my base during my second tour. I think I still have a copy of that week’s Stars and Stripes somewhere, I’m rocking out front row in the front page picture.
@adamrivera2499
May 12, 2026 at 5:46 am
The music video for second chance was playing on my last day of being a foster kid while I was packing to go be with my real family in California I believe it was 2008 when I left I was kinda sad cause they were amazing foster parents but like the song says sometimes goodbye is a second chance
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