Creed (band)
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Creed was a Post-grunge group that became one of the best selling rock bands of the late '90s and early 2000s. While the original grunge groups were experimenting with new sounds at the time, Creed adapted grunge into a radio-friendly style, selling millions of albums with it. Despite their commercial success and widespread popularity, Creed was slammed for their formulaic sound and accused by critics of being derivative of famed Seattle grunge band Pearl Jam, as some believe Creed lead singer Scott Stapp's vocals imitate those of Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder. Notably the band inspired a slew of copycats like Puddle of Mudd that embraced the commercial grunge sound.
Creed has been dubbed a Christian rock band by some, though frontman Scott Stapp has disagreed with the label: "No, we are not a Christian band. A Christian band has an agenda to lead others to believe in their specific religious beliefs. We have no agenda!" Indeed it would seem unlikely that Creed was meant to be a Christian band, considering that the only band member known to have strong Christian beliefs is Stapp himself.
History
Creed originally came together in Tallahassee, Florida in 1995 as Naked Toddler when Stapp and guitarist Mark Tremonti, former high school friends, got together, and started writing songs. They soon added bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips, and changed their name to Creed on Marshall's suggestion.They then found work at a live music bar, where they impressed the owner Jeff Hanson enough to let them play at one of his bigger stores. Hanson liked the band so much in fact that he convinced producer John Kurzwegg to produce the band. Their first album My Own Prison was independently released, and distributed to Florida radio stations. This drew the attention of several labels that agreed to see the band, only to pass. Dejected, Creed was playing a small gig when Diana Meltzer from Wind-Up Records heard the group. She had heard their independent album, and after hearing them live, signed the band to her label. After a remix to make it more radio friendly, My Own Prison was re-released by Wind-Up Records across the country.
Meanwhile backlash against Creed was mounting, and they were becoming one of the most notorious bands in America. Marshall particularly enraged many when he criticized Pearl Jam on a radio station. He was soon kicked out of the band, and Brett Hestla (Virgos Merlot, Dark New Day) took over on their Human Clay tour, and subsequent tours. Around that time, Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit verbally attacked Stapp at a festival where they were both performing.
In the fall of 2001, "My Sacrifice," the first single off of Creed's last album Weathered, was used as an inspirational song for an Undertaker promo for the WWE pay-per view SummerSlam, more famously as the backing for a Sting promo also. The song went on to be one of many inspirational songs to become huge in a post-9/11 America. They also had "Young Grow Old," a b-side to the 1999 release Human Clay, featured as the official theme song for World Wrestling Entertainment WWE's Backlash pay-per-view event in April 2002. In early 2002, "Bullets" was released as a single, along with a costly, special effects-laden video. The song and video were possibly Creed's least successful since achieving mainstream success. However, Creed rebounded quickly, with one of the summer's biggest hits, "One Last Breath".
Stapp got into a car accident in April 2002. It seemed that their planned tour wasn't going to happen, but Stapp recovered in time to make up the last shows. "Don't Stop Dancing" was a minor hit for Creed in late 2002/early 2003.
Creed was sued in 2003 by four concert goers who claimed Scott Stapp "was so intoxicated and/or medicated that he was unable to sing the lyrics of a single Creed song" at a December 29, 2002 concert. The lawsuit was later dismissed.
On June 4, 2004, it was announced that Creed had broken up. Stapp had recorded a solo album, The Great Divide, collaborating with Roadrunner Records recording artist Goneblind, while the other band members (including former bassist Brian Marshall) have formed a new band, Alter Bridge, with Myles Kennedy. Touring bassist Brett Hestla has since joined the band Dark New Day.
Both Alter Bridge and Scott Stapp solo have had mild success, but neither Scott's or Alter Bridge's debut albums sold as well as any of Creed's albums. Alter Bridge's debut album has been certified gold, while Scott's debut album has been certified platinum, making his new career the more successful of the two.
Band members
Accomplishments
Album Sales
- All 3 albums released went multi-platinum.
- My Own Prison went 6x platinum in the US.
- Human Clay went 11x platinum in the US.
- Weathered went 6x platinum in the US.
- The Greatest Hits went platinum in the US.
- Human Clay is on the list of the top 100 selling albums of all time.
- Creed has sold 23 million albums in the US, making them one of the top selling artists ever in the US, although their World sales are much greater.
Records and Accomplishments
- Creed was the first rock act ever to have 4 #1 singles from a debut album.
- The song "Higher" topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts for 18 weeks, a record.
- Creed had 7 consecutive #1 hits, a record.
- Their album "Weathered" debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts and stayed there for 8 weeks, a record which they share with the Beatles.
- The video for "With Arms Wide Open" is declared the 92nd Greatest Video ever by VH1.
Awards
• Billboard 'Rock Artist of the Year' (1998)
• Billboard 'Rock Artist of the Year' (1999)
• Billboard 'Rock Artist of the Year' (2000)
• Grammy for 'Best Rock Song "With Arms Wide Open" (2001)
• Radio Music Award for 'Rock Song of the Year' - "With Arms Wide Open" (2000)
• Radio Music Award for 'Rock Group of the Year' (2000)
• VH1 award – 'Welcome To The Big Time' (Best Newcomer) (2000)
• VH1 award – '2 for 2' (2 hit albums in a row) (2000)
• VH1 award – 'Group of the Year' (2000)
• VH1 award – 'Song of the Year' – "Higher" (2000)
• American Music award – 'Favorite Pop Album' (Human Clay) (2001)
• American Music award – 'Favorite Alternative Artist' (2001)
• American Music award – 'Favorite Alternative Artist' (2003)
• American Music award – 'Favorite Pop/Rock band/Duo/Group' (2003)
• People’s Choice award for 'Favorite Group' (2003)
• Billboard Catalog 'Artist of the Year' (2001)
• Billboard Catalog 'Album of the Year' (2001)
• Billboard 'Rock Track of the Year'- "One" (1999)
• Billboard 'Duo/Group of the Year' (2002)
• Catalog 'Artist of the Year' (2002)
• Catalog 'Album of the Year' (2002)
• VH1 Award – 'Album of the Year' (2002)
• NARM Awards – 'Best Selling Rock Records' – Human Clay album (2001)
• NARM awards – 'Best Selling Chart-making Recordings – Human Clay (2001)
Discography
- My Own Prison - 1997 album #22 US (RIAA: 6 Million), #78 AUS
- * "My Own Prison" - 1997 single
- * "Torn" - 1997 single
- * "What's This Life For" - 1998 single
- * "One" - 1998 single
- Human Clay - 1999 album #1 US (RIAA: 11 Million), #29 UK, #2 AUS
- * "Higher" - 1999 single #47 UK (2000 release), #64 UK, #16 AUS (2001 re-release), #7 US
- * "What If" - 1999 single
- * "Are You Ready" - 2000 single
- * "With Arms Wide Open" - 2000 single #1 US, #13 UK, #4 AUS
- Weathered - 2001 album #1 US (RIAA: 6 Million), #48 UK, #3 AUS
- * "My Sacrifice" - 2001 single #4 US, #18 UK, #11 AUS (2002 release)
- * "Don't Stop Dancing" - 2002 single #28 AUS
- * "Weathered" - 2002 single
- * "Bullets" - 2002 single #50 AUS
- * "One Last Breath" - 2002 single #6 US, #47 UK, #14 AUS (double A-side with "Bullets" in the UK)
- Greatest Hits - 2004 album #15 US (RIAA: 1 Million)
See also
External links
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