― keith, Tuesday, 11 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Pearl Jam offered salvation through suffering - I know, when I was 17 and 18, I felt soothed listening to Eddie villify himself and The World. In a sense, he was dying for my sins, absolving me of my mistakes and faults by sticking my nose in the doo-doo. (Once a Catholic, always a Catholic.) Creed offer a guilt-free epiphany - doesn't matter what you did, or how bad you were, because you're free now. Hell, "My Sacrifice" manages to completely gloss over the messy sacrifice part; it just skips to the holy hossanas and the glorious light beaming through stained glass windows. It's the same sort of escape offered by any pop act, but it's couched in this portentious rhetoric, and offered via grandiose musical gestures that signify significance (or, at the very least, importance, in that BOOMING VOICE OF GOD manner).
Whether the band MEANS any of it or not is immaterial - the SONGS mean it. Pearl Jam's long since given up on the tortured messianic path to riches, but listening to _Ten_ nowadays (speaking as someone who was there when it happened), the power's still there.
― Daver, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Clarke B., Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― maura, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Step One: Write down the first contextless sentense fragment that comes to your mind. (For example "With Arms Wide Open"); Step Two: Record yourself repeating the phrase incessantly, without clarifying what you are referring to, preferably in a parody of the singer from Jars of Clay pretending to be the singer from DC Talk pretending to be a very boring version of Eddie Vedder...on Thorazine. Step Three: Record a dull corner-bar band with HORDE aspirations doing listless, sleepy "anthemic", "passionate" "riffage" behind the prerecorded vocal. Step Four: Subtly insert a few subliminal messages advertizing Tim LaHayes new apocalyptic book "The Turner Diar....Left Behind." Step Five: Payola Payola Payola. Step Six Six Six: Sings the praises of Mammon for you new found wealth and "critical acclaim" from such respected musical experts such as the cast of the 700 Club.
― Lord Custos X, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― John Darnielle, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Become rockist aged 14
Start defending prog aged 16
Give up and Get the Gold Ultradisk Box Set of Michael Bolton at age 18.
It is waaaaaaaaaaay too long, though- more than 5 minutes. If you edited it down to 2:30, it would be a much better song, since it's not really strong to stand up to itself before it starts getting ridiculously repititous by the end. Actually, end it at 2:52, right at the end of the chorus, and you'd have a cute little pop song.
With Arms Wide Open, on the other hand, sounds like it took all the lousy parts of Higher, slowed them down & muffled them, and then stirred an extra bit of blandness.
I can't believe I'm defending Creed here, but all the "it just sucks" answers were ticking me off.
― lyra in seattle, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Andrew, Wednesday, 12 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Clarke B., Thursday, 13 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
that creed video where they are 3D animated angelic/spartan warriors in some sort of bad fantasy scape, battling some weird alien lobster creatures with long swords and crazy kung fu skillz
― geeg, Saturday, 15 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Kris, Saturday, 15 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Melissa W, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― John Darnielle, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ronan, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Bobby D. Gray, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
1. their sound is an amalgam of traits pilfered from bands i like. scott stapp's voice is so affected, like the worst moments of scott weiland filtered through days of the new, with a dash of layne stayley. he's more histrionic than mariah carey. plus, the guitars sound awful, compressed to hell and run through the most irritatingly banal fuzz box ever made (possibly the DOD Metal pedal?). basically, they take the worst sonic qualities of grunge and make them even more irritating than that. 2. nothing they are doing is particularly interesting in the way that, say, chart pop is interesting to me. i like that brandy single because it's funky in a weird way, and i like songs about wronged lovers. on the other hand, i can't figure out what the hell creed songs are about, and they aren't interesting on any musical level. they simply take what others have done, and make it worse.
― Dave M., Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Thorrific, Wednesday, 29 January 2003 15:25 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 15:35 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Vinnie (vprabhu), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 15:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
WILL NO-ONE COMMENT ON THE BRILLIANCE OF THIS NAME? Mr. Darnielle, we have a winner.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 January 2003 15:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
but creed still sux
― Tad (llamasfur), Thursday, 30 January 2003 08:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
But any self-respecting trailer-trash mullethead would not like Creed when they have their Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Metallica, and AC/DC.
I just see the trailer trash mullethead kids breaking beer bottles on the side of a junked-out double-wide saying, "TOOL IS THE FUCKIN SHIT!" instead of "CREED IS THE FUCKIN SHIT!"
Creed is pop music for "Ordinary Fucking People."
― Donkey Hote, Friday, 31 January 2003 05:07 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Tad (llamasfur), Thursday, 5 June 2003 22:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 5 June 2003 22:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
you know anthony, if yer gonna like cheese we gotta get you to like higher-quality cheese not cheez-whiz like creed!
― Tad (llamasfur), Thursday, 5 June 2003 22:59 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jrvision (visionjr), Thursday, 5 June 2003 23:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Geir H0ngr0, Thursday, 5 June 2003 23:41 (twenty-one years ago) link
― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 6 June 2003 03:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 6 June 2003 19:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 6 June 2003 19:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
I'd say this is almost true.
― earlnash, Friday, 6 June 2003 20:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 6 June 2003 20:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
And how wrong you are.
The new Matchbox Twenty stuff is shockingly fun to listen to.
They have a new album?
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 6 June 2003 20:40 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 6 June 2003 20:44 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 6 June 2003 21:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
― David R. (popshots75`), Saturday, 7 June 2003 03:09 (twenty-one years ago) link
― James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 7 June 2003 03:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 7 June 2003 15:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 17:30 (nineteen years ago) link
Anyway, I will go on record as saying that I like "Higher". I wasn't listening to the radio or watching music videos when the song first hit, so I only ever heard it in shops or taxis and thus never had the chance to get sick of it. Divorced of its settings, it's a perfectly acceptable pop-metal song.
― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 18:03 (nineteen years ago) link
― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 18:06 (nineteen years ago) link
-- Tad (llamasfu...), January 30th, 2003
god this band are shite
-- Tad (llamasfu...), June 5th, 2003
SUCKS!
-- Eisbär (llamasfu...), April 5th, 2005.
― Masked Gazza, Wednesday, 6 April 2005 02:22 (nineteen years ago) link
― irrigation can save your people (irrigation can save your peopl), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 03:41 (nineteen years ago) link
I mean, lots of folks assume that blues/jazz should be in the same bin b/c Sam Goody puts them in the same dark corner (pun intended) of the store, so why shouldn't they pay more attention to Creed b/c they used to be on giant posters in the front window?
I think Creed is an interesting study in what manu-pop, pop, and popular bands have as their key characteristics.
― Big Loud Mountain Ape (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 22:35 (nineteen years ago) link
This saddens me so much.
― The Ghost of The Weepiest Baritone (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 17 August 2005 18:14 (eighteen years ago) link