Shinedown is a Hard Rock band that originated in Jacksonville, Florida. Shinedown was formed in early 2002 by Brent Smith, Jasin Todd, Brad Stewart, and Barry Kerch. They were signed by Atlantic Records in 2002.

On July 13, 2003, the band released their debut album Leave A Whisper. The album sold the populal singles "Fly From The Inside" and "45." Leave A Whisper was re-released on June 15, 2004, to capitalize on the strength of a new single: A cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Simple Man". The re-release also featured an acoustic version of "45", and a new mix of "Burning Bright", which was to be the fourth single from the album. During 2004, the band notably opened for the Classic Rock band Van Halen. On September 21, 2005, Leave A Whisper was certified as platinum. On August 23, 2005, the band released a live DVD called Live From The Inside that contained a full-length Shinedown concert held at the House Of Blues in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

On October 4, 2005, the band released their sophomore album called Us And Them, backed by the single "Save Me". Save Me maintained a #1 position on active rock charts for twelve weeks. The song became the theme song for WWE No Mercy 2005. The follow-up single, "I Dare You", also did respectably, and became one of the theme songs of WWE's WrestleMania 22 and was also performed on American Idol by Chris Daughtry. There are currently three versions of Us And Them: the regular thirteen-track version, a limited edition with three bonus acoustic tracks, and a store-specific edition with two bonus tracks: "Break" and "Carried Away". In 2006, the band co-headlined the SnoCore Tour with Seether, Flyleaf, and Halestorm, which was followed by the Equinox Tour in which Shinedown co-headlined with Trapt. Shinedown played their first overseas concert at the London Astoria on June 6, 2006, supporting Alter Bridge. In the late summer of 2006, the band opened for Godsmack and Rob Zombie on their North America Tour.

On December 12, 2006, Shinedown played in Knoxville, Tennessee at The Tennessee Theatre which was filmed for an upcoming untitled DVD the band will be releasing.