Creed - My Own Prison

This project has been many things; a journey of discovery, an outlet for wankery, a further responsibility to avoid. And would you believe it, o my brothers and only friends: It has also been a support group, a safe corner where we can suffer our bitter defeat. The bad taste of days long past. A place where we can come together and say to each other: “Man, we liked some awful, irredeemable things, didn’t we?”

But I must confess that I have largely ignored some of the skeletons in my closet. I’ve also ignored the black spots of my music history. So I revisit a band which I was dedicated to in my preteens. I loved this band. I got Weathered within a week of its release and bought every album with my own money at a time when every dollar seemed to be worth so much more. Not only was there the money aspect but the time investment was incredible as well. One day I listened to that album back to back six times. I may as well start from the beginning, I mean if you’re going to be a masochist it’s worth doing properly right? You know, on the internet?

Creed are in kind of a funny place by the looks of things. They split up in 2004 and shortly thereafter front man Eddie Vedder Scott Stapp recorded a solo album (which sounds exactly like Creed) while the rest of the band formed Alter Bridge (which sounded like Creed found a cure for lockjaw). They then got back together and did a fourth album. At the moment the band is planning a fifth album whilst simultaneously touring with Alter Bridge in support of their third album which Stapp had nothing to do with. And Scott Stapp is writing a solo album. And the fifth Creed album is coming out next year. Is it just me or has this suddenly become more convoluted than the Skywalker family tree?

My relationship with the band ended pretty much when they did, signposting the metalhead phase of my teens. According to Wikipedia guitarist Mark Tremonti “promised that Creed would never return,” a statement which seems to double as a public apology. This album came out in a grim era. Grunge had just buried its popularity. Cobain was dead, Pearl Jam were washing out, Alice in Chains were effectively dissolved and Soundgarden weren’t far off. That’s all of them, right? Of course, popular music never has a quick death. Quick births happen all the time but the decline is always long and painful. The popular Van Halen style hair metal of the 80’s eventually turned into Poison (so titled because listening to it can actually kill you). Prog reached its height of self indulgence with Yes’ Tales From Topographic Oceans before being crushed by the steel caps of the Punk movement. What? ELVIS is evolving! ELVIS evolved into FAT ELVIS! So grunge declined with bands like Creed as the late nineties went into its ‘techno’ phase because we woke up to the fact that we were all living in the matrix.

The thing that really sticks out on this album is how appalling the lyrics are. So appalling in fact that I wish that one of the members was named Paul so that I could say it was appaulling and then make a joke about how that pun was still better than lyrics that say things like 

“Hang me, watch awhile
Let me see you smile as I die.”

While it’s not technically any deeper than Bob Dylan’s Positively 4^th Street it’s amazing how far you can create an illusion of shallowness through lack of subtlety alone. The lyrics are really the sticking point; they are awkwardly constructed and hollow. 

The political moment on the album comes at about the halfway mark. In America mentions abortion and the prostitution of religion. That’s why it fails in its purpose, it only mentions these ideas. Great political songs deeply involve you in the artist’s viewpoint. Imagine, hell, even American Idiot does this on some level. The religious element is a compelling idea, especially coming from a band who are devoted Christians... when they aren’t making sex tapes with Kid Rock and his groupies. A personal philosophy on this could have turned the album around into an enduring work of art. Alright, that’s an exaggeration, but a naive pile of shit with an interesting talking point is still an improvement.

The album is probably boring. I seem to remember how all of it goes because I grew up with it. It’s all etched in there somewhere but if I was listening to it for the first time now I’m not sure any of it would sink in except for the two main singles: What’s This Life For and My Own Prison which are actually good pop/rock singles. Very much ‘of their time’ and not multi-faceted masterpieces but they’re pleasant in their naivety.