“Awake” by Godsmack

"Awake" is the title track and lead single from Godsmack's second studio album, sent to radio in June 2000, and it's built on one of the nastiest riffs of its day: Loudwire later ranked it among the best metal riffs of the decade. Sully Erna wrote it and co-produced with Mudrock, and Tony Rombola, Robbie Merrill and Tommy Stewart pound it into shape behind him.

Underneath the chest-beating, it's a breakup song. Erna called it his way of getting closure on an old relationship, waking up to the fact that he could stand on his own after fearing he'd come apart without them. It became the band's first number one on the Mainstream Rock chart and hung around for 53 weeks, and the US Navy used the song in its "Accelerate Your Life" recruiting ads, with Keith David doing the voiceover.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.