Do read the comments: How Shinedown picked “GET UP” to be a single

ABC/Randy HolmesShinedown's new single "GET UP," which frontman Brent Smith wrote about bassist's Eric Bass' battle with depression, has given the band another hit: It reached number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart. But as Smith tells ABC Radio, Shinedown never intended to release it as a single.

Originally, the band had planned to release "KILL YOUR CONSCIENCE" as the second single from their new album ATTENTION ATTENTION, following the lead track "DEVIL." However, about two months after the release of the album, Smith decided to look on YouTube to see what tracks the fans were listening to.

"There's 500,000 listens here, there's 78,000 listens here, there's 300,000 listens here," Smith explains. "And then all of the sudden I see 2.8 million, and it's 'GET UP.'"

Then, Smith did something that's almost always a bad idea: He read the comments.

"The first 40 comments were all teenagers," Smith remembers. "And a lot of it was, 'I don't even know who this band is but this song literally may have just saved my life.'"

The response was so overwhelming that Shinedown knew "GET UP" was the right choice. And in addition to introducing new fans to the band, Smith feels that the song represents Shinedown's artistic mission.

"I think it may have reinforced the fact that this band will never phone anything in," Smith says.

"We're never going to just do what we think we should do because we think our core audience is not gonna buy it or they're not gonna like it if we don't, you know, make the Sound of Madness record over and over again." 

Shinedown will give "GET UP" its national TV debut this morning during Live with Kelly and Ryan. Check KellyandRyan.com for local listings.

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