Creed

Creed were the ninth best-selling musical act in the United States in the 2000s and, at the same time, the easiest joke of that decade. Twenty-five million records at home, fifty-three million worldwide, one album certified diamond, one Grammy, and a press that used them as shorthand for everything wrong with radio rock. Both things are true and they happened at once. What explains the contempt is not that they were bad musicians, but that they arrived with grunge still warm — Kurt Cobain had been dead for three years — and took from that sound precisely what the critics valued most: the irony, the distance, the suspicion of oneself. In their place they put faith, redemption and choruses to sing with a fist in the air. And then it all came down for reasons that had nothing to do with the critics.

Tallahassee, 1994

Creed formed in 1994 in Tallahassee, Florida, with Scott Stapp on vocals, Mark Tremonti on guitar, Brian Marshall on bass and Scott Phillips on drums. There was a fifth, rhythm guitarist Brian Brasher, who left in 1995. Stapp and Tremonti knew each other from school and wrote together: one man's deep, declamatory voice over the other's dense riffs.

My Own Prison came out on 26 August 1997 and is the proof that the phenomenon was built on the radio before it was built in the press. Four of its singles reached number one on the American rock charts and the album ended up sextuple platinum. Nobody had announced it as the next great record: it simply did not stop selling. The sound was recognisable instantly, and that was part of the problem for their detractors: down-tuned guitars, wide structures, lyrics about guilt and salvation, and a voice that held nothing back. There was no possible wink. It was all literal.

Human Clay, diamond and seventeen weeks

Human Clay was released on 28 September 1999 and it is the album that turns a big band into a phenomenon of another order. It is certified diamond by the RIAA, eleven times platinum, a category very few rock albums reach. Out of it came "Higher", which spent seventeen weeks at the top of American rock radio, a record at the time.

The other single was "With Arms Wide Open", and that one did reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Stapp wrote it on finding out he was going to be a father, and it gave Creed their only Grammy: Best Rock Song, at the 2001 ceremony. It is, probably, the exact point where the band was furthest from all their contemporaries and closest to their audience.

Weathered arrived on 20 November 2001, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and stayed eight weeks in that position, with "My Sacrifice" and "One Last Breath". It is also sextuple platinum. Three albums, twenty-five million copies in the United States and not one kind review anybody remembers.

The bass player left and the singer collapsed

Brian Marshall left the band in 2000 over problems with alcohol. It is a fact that tends to be mentioned in passing and is worth not skipping, because on Weathered the bass was recorded by Tremonti — the guitarist doing both jobs — and live it was covered by Brett Hestla. The best-selling band of the moment was already working with one piece missing.

Creed split up in June 2004. Tremonti formed Alter Bridge with Myles Kennedy, a band the critics treated with a respect they had never given Creed, with practically the same musicians. Stapp entered a difficult decade that he himself has talked about in some detail.

The worst came in November 2014. Stapp appeared in a video on Facebook saying he was penniless and living in a motel, in a state of severe paranoia. He has since described it as a psychotic episode brought on by alcohol and drug abuse, with delusions and hallucinations. He entered a dual diagnosis centre, where he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and he has followed drug treatment and a twelve-step programme ever since. This is not a bit of colour: it is the reason Creed did not exist for years.

The vindication came through baseball and through TikTok

There was a first return in 2009, with Marshall back and the album Full Circle, which did reasonably well and petered out in a second hiatus in 2013. The real return was another one, and nobody in the band organised it. In 2023 the Texas Rangers adopted "Higher" as a locker-room anthem during their season, and in parallel TikTok filled up with twenty-year-olds discovering Creed without any of the prejudices of 1999. The mockery had lapsed for want of witnesses.

The band announced their reunion in July 2023 and in 2024 filled stadiums with the Summer of '99 tour. For 2026 the Summer of '99 & Beyond festival was programmed sharing the headline with Limp Bizkit, with Nickelback in the same orbit of bands that sold millions while serving as examples of bad taste. Stapp, besides that, released his fourth solo album, Higher Power, on 15 March 2024.

What to remember

The story of Creed is not that the audience beat the critics, because that happens all the time and explains nothing. It is more uncomfortable: Creed sold fifty-three million records without almost anybody admitting in public that they listened to them, and twenty years later the same people sing them with no trouble. What changed was not the music. What changed was the social cost of liking it.

What the band leaves behind are facts nobody disputes: a diamond album, a Grammy, seventeen weeks of "Higher" at the top of rock radio, and songs that thousands of people attached to the most serious moments of their lives. And it leaves a less comfortable reminder, that of Scott Stapp recounting in the first person how alcohol and drugs led him to a psychotic episode in 2014 and how he came out of it with a diagnosis and treatment. If anyone in Chile recognises something of their own in that account, SENDA's Drugs and Alcohol helpline, 1412, answers free of charge and in confidence, and asking for help in time is exactly what cost him a decade.

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Sources

Creed are an American post-grunge band formed in 1994 in Tallahassee, Florida, by Scott Stapp (vocals), Mark Tremonti (guitar), Brian Marshall (bass) and Scott Phillips (drums), with rhythm guitarist Brian Brasher, who left the group in 1995. They have sold more than twenty-five million records in the United States and fifty-three million worldwide, and were the ninth best-selling musical act of the 2000s in the United States. "My Own Prison" was released on 26 August 1997, is sextuple platinum and placed four singles at number one on the American rock charts. "Human Clay", released on 28 September 1999, is certified diamond by the RIAA (eleven times platinum); its single "Higher" remained seventeen weeks at number one on American rock radio, a record at the time, and "With Arms Wide Open" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the Grammy for Best Rock Song at the 2001 ceremony; Stapp wrote it on learning he was going to be a father. "Weathered" was released on 20 November 2001, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and remained eight weeks in that position; it is sextuple platinum and included "My Sacrifice" and "One Last Breath". Brian Marshall left the band in 2000 over problems with alcohol; Mark Tremonti recorded the bass on "Weathered" and Brett Hestla filled that post live. Creed split up in June 2004; Tremonti formed Alter Bridge with Myles Kennedy. In November 2014 Scott Stapp suffered an episode that he himself has described as a psychotic episode brought on by alcohol and drug abuse; he entered a dual diagnosis centre, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and has since followed drug treatment and a twelve-step programme. The band reunited in 2009 and released "Full Circle" that year, entered a second hiatus in 2013 and announced a new reunion in July 2023, with the Summer of '99 tour in 2024; the 2026 edition of the Summer of '99 & Beyond festival shared the headline with Limp Bizkit. Their return coincided with the use of "Higher" by the Texas Rangers in 2023 and with a reappraisal on social media. Scott Stapp released his fourth solo album, "Higher Power", on 15 March 2024. Profile compiled for Rebobinados with fact-checking; interpretations of the meaning of the work are offered as the author's reading. No song lyrics are reproduced, for copyright reasons. Information drawn from Billboard, Wikipedia, Rolling Stone, People and other coverage.