Whatever

Album: Godsmack (1997)
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Songfacts®:

  • Godsmack lead singer Sully Erna and guitarist Tony Rambola wrote "Whatever." Rambola explained: "That's Sully's answer to his girlfriend when we were going through the whole struggle between rehearsing five nights a week, playing on the weekends and trying to keep a relationship going at the same time. We were really starting to take off, and it's hard to go through a relationship with a girl and have a band take all your time, plus we worked regular jobs, so there was probably 10 minutes of the day for them." >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Nick - Paramus, NJ
  • This was Godsmack's first single. The band got a lot of exposure when a disc jockey at WAAF, a radio station in Massachusetts, started playing this on his show. Godsmack had a following from their club shows, but had never gotten airplay before.
  • This was the longest-running song on the US Active Rock Top 10 chart. It was there for 33 weeks.
  • Godsmack's record company didn't think this album needed an explicit content warning sticker, so it shipped without one. Since it didn't have the sticker, Wal-Mart and K-Mart both carried it, but they pulled the album after some customers complained that it was offensive.
  • Godsmack didn't record this until their demo album, All Wound Up, was already finished, so it didn't make it on the original pressings. But the band came up with a creative solution to get the song on the streets. Erna explained in a Pandora Stories feature: "We printed the single onto a CD and then we elastic-banded it to the record and that's how we started to get a bigger buzz going."
  • In 2001, the album was certified 4x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling four million copies in the US.
  • The song got its nondescript name one night when the band included the then-untitled track on their setlist and had to come up with a name on the fly. Erna scribbled down "Whatever" and they never changed it.
  • The pierced and tattooed model on the album cover is Toni Tiller, who was shocked to see the image on display in a record store's window. "I didn't know anything about this until my face was on sale," she explained in a 2021 interview with the YouTube channel I Ask No One.

    The photo was taken in 1994 when the 19-year-old model posed for her photographer friend, Dale May, to show off the new tattoo on her arm. She had been out all night partying and went straight to the Brooklyn-based studio in the morning to sit for a quick snap. She was even still wearing the previous night's makeup.

    Before the image landed in Godsmack's hands, it was stolen and redrawn for a pornographic comic book, which resulted in a lawsuit. It was also used to promote a well-known piercing parlor. Tiller had forgotten all about the photo by the time May, who started working with bands, showed his portfolio to Godsmack.

    Since she signed a release on the photo years earlier, Tiller didn't receive any compensation for being the band's cover girl, but she doesn't mind. "It has more than paid for itself in entertainment. I have had a really good time having this be a part of my history," she said. Tiller re-created the look when she appeared in the band's video for "Greed" in 2000.

Comments: 10

  • Dave from Greer, ScWhen the gas station attendant says "I thought you quit drinking"
  • Casey from Glendale, AzTo Pat Malloy: The only change to the Nirvana song Rape Me was on the back cover where "Waif" was put instead of "Rape", the lyrics were not changed at all. Just the title
  • Zero from Nowhere, NjI wish they would close thier shows with this song instead of I Stand Alone.
  • Francesca from Bath, United KingdomThis is pretty much my new way of thinking when it comes to my job. I used to hate it, didn't want to be there coz all the f--king customers treated me like s--t simply coz I'm at a checkout. Now I've just decided my job isn't so bad, and that some of the customers are ok, even nice sometimes. But there is a certain f--king type of persons who keep coming and this is my song to them.
  • Anthony from Orange Park, Flyeah and also they didnt like the back of In Utero with the babies in fetuses and stuff like that so they made them zoom up, Pat malloy
  • Teresa from Lorain, OhThis song gives me a headace every time i listen to this song but it's worth it.
  • Rich from Hoffman Estates, IlGodsmack truly rocks,there powerful sound with there clever lyrics does not burn me out,I can listen to any song they have over and over,and ya know I do.
  • Lalah from Wasilla, AkThis is what plays in my mind when the stress levels hit critical mass, (stress: the confusion when one's mind overrides the body's basic desire to choke the living sh*t out of some a**hole who desperately deserves it). My stress levels decreased when I moved away from Boston.
  • Matt from Salisbury, MaWaaf is actually located in Boston...It might have been in worcester at the time but im positive the station is now located in Boston.Also godsmack's home...Definitely the best city.
  • Pat Malloy from Aurora, IlPErsonally that whole sticker idea is aload of crap, and im glad they didn't have one, and who cares about Wal-mart they were offended by Nirvana-rape me, so they made them change the lyrics and song title to *waif me* if i remember correctly.
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