Reception and musical style Of Creed

Reception and musical style
Creed was one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the late 90s and early 2000s, having sold an estimated 35 million records worldwide. Their first three studio albums, My Own Prison, Human Clay, and Weathered, have all gone multi-platinum in the United States, selling 6 million, 11 million, and 6 million copies respectively. The band won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song for the song "With Arms Wide Open" in 2001. For many years, Creed collaborated with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), allowing many of their songs to be played for promotions. In addition, many of the band's songs have been featured in film and television soundtracks.
Despite enormous commercial success, Creed was poorly received by professional critics such as Robert Christgau, Rolling Stone magazine, and Allmusic. The band is often criticized for being too derivative of the band Pearl Jam. Rolling Stone stated, "Creed resembled a ham-handed version of early Pearl Jam", while SPIN magazine stated that "Creed was an unremarkable, plodding muscle-bound reworking of Pearl Jam, with all of that older band's warmth and psychological intensity replaced by chest-beating bravado and blandly messianic lyrics". Apparently fed up with these comparisons, bassist Brian Marshall angrily attacked Eddie Vedder, claiming Scott Stapp is a better songwriter, and criticized Pearl Jam's recent albums for "having songs without hooks". Stapp later distanced the band from Marshall's comments, and stated, "Yes, we get tired of the PJ question, but there is no excuse for the arrogance and stupidity [of Marshall]. I ask you all not to judge Creed as a band, because the statements made were not the band's feelings, they were Brian's. I'm sorry if Brian offended anyone, and he has already apologized for his comments". Marshall was fired from Creed soon after the controversy, however Stapp has stated his firing was unrelated to the incident. Other sources state that Marshall left the band on his own free will due to personal issues with Stapp.[citation needed]
In an interview with PopMatters, Jerry Cantrell, guitarist for the band Alice in Chains, described being on tour with Creed as "stale". Cantrell stated, "I was on tour with them for fuckin' ever and I still hadn't even met 'em. When you spend two months together, you generally find some time to fuckin' say hello or whatever. It was really kinda weird in that respect. I'd never been on a tour that was that fuckin' stale on a personal level." Interviewer Michael Christopher derided Creed's neglect of Cantrell throughout the tour, stating that "the arena rockers owe a major part of their existence to the influence of Alice in Chains."
Due to the influence of Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam, Creed's music is generally considered to be post-grunge. Ann Powers of Rolling Stone magazine notes guitarist Mark Tremonti's delicate, minimal technique is influenced by Jerry Cantrell's style. Allison Stewart describes singer Scott Stapp as having Eddie Vedder-like mannerisms such as "the great, emotive growl, and the hair-tossing solemnity". Stewart also notes Creed's music has "Zeppelin-style riffage married to melodic Top 40 hooks". In addition to Eddie Vedder, Scott Stapp's vocals have also been influenced by the late Jim Morrison of The Doors. Andrew Leahey and Steve Huey of Allmusic describe Creeds music as hard rock, alternative pop/rock, and post-grunge.
Creed is sometimes labeled a Christian rock band due to the fact that their first three albums focus on questions of faith, Christianity, and eternity. The band was never signed to a contemporary Christian music label, nor did it perform in Christian music venues or get any widespread regular play on Christian radio. However, the band's name itself denotes a popular Christian theological concept, of absolute individual belief, usually monotheistic. Also, themes within their musical titles such as "Higher", "My Sacrifice", "What's This Life For", "My Own Prison", "With Arms Wide Open", and "One Last Breath" contain allusion to Christian theology, though it hasn't been confirmed that the songs were meant to be Christian songs. The band, however, has stated that while members may be Christians, they are not a Christian band.
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 in Chicago.[citation needed] The lawsuit was later dismissed.[citation needed]
Scott Stapp contemplated committing suicide sometime in 2003 after drinking a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey. According to Rolling Stone he was convinced that anyone involved with Creed wanted him dead so he would become a "Kurt Cobain martyr-type" and increase record sales. "I had crazy thoughts going through my head," he said.
In a 2004 Guitar World reader's poll, Creed was voted second worst band of the year.