Shinedown wants fans to be loud about mental health: 'Worst thing you can do is be quiet'

Melissa Ruggieri, USA TODAY
Updated ·5 min read
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In its 20-year history, Shinedown has released 31 singles.

But the rock band’s hit, “A Symptom of Being Human,” might be its most crucial.

Over gentle acoustic guitar, swelling strings and piano, singer Brent Smith emotes in his rocker voice words that are heartfelt and relatable.

“You’ve always been slightly awkward, kinda weird. Upside down and not all here” before a surging chorus furthers the sentiment: “Sometimes I’m in a room where I don’t belong/And the house is on fire and there’s no alarm/and the walls are melting, too.”

When Smith and bassist Eric Bass wrote the song for Shinedown’s 2022 “Planet Zero” album, Smith says they were acutely aware of the tendency to become so preoccupied with the cacophony of life that “you forget to check in on yourself.”

In the midst of Mental Health Awareness Month, it’s also a timely reminder.

“I think people feel if they talk about the fact that they’re dealing with depression and anxiety, there’s something wrong with them,” Smith, 45, says. “But you don’t need to feel embarrassed or ashamed if you need to reach out to someone who can help you. If you can tell something is off, the worst thing you can do is be quiet and not listen to the person. And if you are having those emotions, we don’t want you to be quiet, either.”

Shinedown donated $150,000 to suicide prevention

Openly sharing struggles with depression isn’t new for Shinedown, which also includes drummer Barry Kerch and guitarist Zach Myers. The band’s 2018 album, “Attention Attention” was deeply influenced by Bass’ suffering from clinical depression, while “Planet Zero” also includes the scorching rocker “Dead Don’t Die,” which reiterates the power of resilience.

For more than a decade, Shinedown has worked with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, participating in national walks to bring awareness to the effects of depression and donating money to the organization.

The band just wrapped The Revolutions Live tour – they’ll play festivals this summer and headline a run with Papa Roach and Spiritbox in the fall – and generated $150,000 ($1 from each ticket sold) for the suicide prevention foundation

“A lot of times people think (if you’re depressed) you just want attention and that’s not the case,” Smith says. “The AFSP is good at knowing what to do and how to handle things.”

Shinedown (from left): Zach Myers, Eric Bass, Brent Smith and Barry Kerch have a crossover hit with the poignant "A Symptom of Being Human."
Shinedown (from left): Zach Myers, Eric Bass, Brent Smith and Barry Kerch have a crossover hit with the poignant "A Symptom of Being Human."

Shinedown goes to pop radio to reach widest mainstream audience

In addition to the importance of their music, Shinedown has quietly maintained a couple of notable Billboard chart records. The band has earned the most No. 1 singles in the 40-year history of the Mainstream Rock Songs chart with 18 and also holds the record for the most Top 10 songs on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart with 30, starting with 2003’s “Fly From the Inside.”

But while their rock bona fides are indisputable, and songs such as “Second Chance” crossed into the Top 40 in 2009, Smith and the band want “A Symptom of Being Human” to reach the widest possible mainstream audience.

“What makes ‘Symptom’ so unique is we decided not to work it at rock radio first. The goal was to start it at Hot AC (adult contemporary) with the foresight of moving it to Top 40,” Smith says.

The song is No. 22 on Billboard’s Adult Pop Airplay chart and is the second most-played song this week on SiriusXM’s The Pulse, whose core artists include Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Pink. But Smith’s strategy is about more than positioning, as he expresses frustration about the hindrances of pigeonholing genres.

“For whatever reason, there is this mentality that a ‘rock’ band can’t be played on ‘this’ format because that’s not what they are,” he says. “It should all be inclusive because at the end of the day, it’s about the song and if the song is necessary to the public. We’re trying to open the door to young rock bands too. Why is the barrier there?”

Shinedown singer Brent Smith said the closeness of the band is like a marriage.
Shinedown singer Brent Smith said the closeness of the band is like a marriage.

Why 'A Symptom of Being Human' is 'extremely necessary'

Smith likens the longevity of Shinedown to a marriage, and one in which “nobody goes to bed angry…we’ve been able to have 20 years of being in this band because we’ve never stopped talking to each other.”

That symbiosis also factors into the writing process. And with “Symptom,” Smith feels there were some signs of the universe at work, including hearing “November Rain” by Guns N’ Roses “popping up everywhere” and inspiring the opening lyric “I can still remember me and Miss November Rain.”

“When I look at the writing process of the song, I think Eric and I were more of a vessel for the song to be born. You get a gift every once in a while when writing an album. You have no idea where it came from, but the song presents itself to you and you have to hold on and write it,” Smith says. “We really feel ‘Symptom’ is extremely necessary for everyone.”

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shinedown 'Symptom of Being Human' promotes mental health