Song · Godsmack
“Keep Away” by Godsmack
From the album All Wound Up… (1997)
“Keep Away” by Godsmack appears on 26 radio countdowns from 15 stations between 1999 and 2025. It was first released in 1997 on the album All Wound Up…. Its best result is #8 on the K-Rock Top 92.3 Songs of 2000. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #77 alternative song of 2000 and #2,066 alternative song of all time.
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"Keep Away" was one of the songs that first put Godsmack on the map, a promotional single that reached rock radio in June 1999 and got the band's climb under way. It's all menace: guitars that drive like a jackhammer, Sully Erna's vocal low and sinister, then a chorus that comes at you swinging. Erna, who also produced, has said it's really about hope, namely the hope of getting a particular someone out of his life, which puts that snarl in a different light.
The song has had a long afterlife: an acoustic take turned up on the band's 2004 EP The Other Side, a live version landed on the Woodstock '99 album, and it even plays over the closing moments of "The Fly", the sixth episode of FX's Alien: Earth.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Classic Rock
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 50 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1999 | 106 |
| 1999 | 61 | K-Rock New York, NY | K-Rock Top 92 Songs of 1999 | 92 |
| 1999 | 79 | 89X Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON | 89X Top 89 Songs of 1999 | 89 |
| 1999 | 97 | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 1999 | 101 |
| 2000 | 66 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2000 | 107 |
| 2000 | 56 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2000 | 105 |
| 2000 | 8 | K-Rock New York, NY | K-Rock Top 92.3 Songs of 2000 | 93 |
| 2000 | 57 | 103.3 The Edge Buffalo, NY | 103.3 The Edge Top 103 of 2000 | 103 |
| 2000 | 39 | WBCN Boston, MA | WBCN Top 104 Songs of Y2K | 102 |
| 2000 | 78 | Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart) | Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2000 | 100 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 981 | KISW | KISW Top 1000 of All Time (1999) | 998 |
| 2000 | 102 | 103.3 The Edge | 103.3 The Edge Top 103 New Rock Songs of the Millennium | 103 |
| 2000 | 92 | The Edge | KEDJ Countdown 2000 (106 songs) | 106 |
| 2001 | 186 | WBRU | WBRU Modern Rock Top 500 (2001) | 500 |
| 2002 | 572 | KISW | KISW Top 999 of All Time (2002) | 999 |
| 2014 | 338 | 94.3 WCYY | WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2014) | 500 |
| 2015 | 360 | 94.3 WCYY | WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2015) | 500 |
| 2019 | 383 | 94.3 WCYY | WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2019) | 500 |
| 2020 | 132 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2020) | 420 |
| 2021 | 138 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2021) | 420 |
| 2022 | 164 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2022) | 420 |
| 2023 | 245 | 105.9 The X | 105.9 The X July 420 (2023) | 420 |
| 2023 | 364 | 94.3 WCYY | WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2023) | 500 |
| 2023 | 59 | 94.1 WJJO | WJJO Frequent Rocker Top 100 Songs of 2023 | 100 |
| 2024 | 350 | 99.1 PLR | 99.1 PLR Top 400 of the Last 40 Years (2024) | 400 |
| 2025 | 276 | 99.1 PLR | 99.1 PLR Top 400 of the Last 40 Years (2025) | 400 |
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