Shinedown released Us And Them on October 4, 2005, following the touring cycle for their debut, Leave A Whisper. Their second album paired the original quartet with producer Tony Battaglia and included “Save Me,” the song that became their first No. 1 single.
The band had barely stopped touring before work began. Brent Smith told The Vindicator in 2006 that their label suggested two months off, but they took roughly two weeks. He worried that a longer absence would cost them the audience they had worked to build. With no new material prepared on the road, they completed the writing, recording, mixing and mastering and had the album in stores within six months.
Drummer Barry Kerch described the strain before the record even reached listeners. In a September 2005 interview with PureGrainAudio, now V13, he called the recording experience “like pulling teeth.” He felt the songwriting had improved and described a more stripped-down approach, but the deadline put the band under heavy pressure.
Those long stretches on tour also gave the album its subject. Smith told The Vindicator that its title referred to the relationship between Shinedown and their fans. Stories people shared with the band during the previous two years helped inspire the writing.
“Save Me” had roots that reached much further back. In a 2022 Metal Hammer interview, Smith said he had written the song at 16 after reading William Burroughs’ Junkie. He connected it to his own substance abuse, while explaining that the book helped him imagine someone facing a life of heroin addiction and trying to ask for help. His recollection gave the song both a personal starting point and a character’s perspective: he was drawing on his own troubles while imagining what that plea might sound like.
Battaglia shared the songwriting credit on the recorded version and co-wrote 10 of the album’s 13 tracks. The sessions took place in Jacksonville and Sanford, Florida, with Battaglia taking the producer’s role after Bob Marlette had produced the debut. He was already a familiar collaborator: his work with Smith included “45” from Leave A Whisper. In the same Metal Hammer interview, Smith remembered their writing session for that song as the moment he began to recognize his own identity as a singer and songwriter.
“Save Me” became Shinedown’s first No. 1, while “I Dare You” and “Heroes” also reached the top 10 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart. Us And Them was the final album by the original lineup of Smith, Kerch, guitarist Jasin Todd and bassist Brad Stewart. Todd and Stewart both left before the next album.
The experience also changed what Smith would accept when it was time to record again. Speaking to Always Acoustic in 2008, he recalled Atlantic chairman Craig Kallman asking whether another album could be completed in six months. Smith refused and asked for an open schedule for The Sound Of Madness. “I want no time limit,” he remembered telling Kallman. The label agreed, and the process took 18 months.
