ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
I'm a 16 year old guy, and I write all the time. [March 2001]
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (2) Belonging (Essays) An essay about the human struggle to belong. [560 words] [Psychology] The Price Of Freedom (Essays) An essay on what the price of freedom is to people around the world and what freedom really means. [1,029 words] [Psychology]
Creed: A Tribute Matt Laubenstein
For all all of you active rock radio worshippers, Creed's got one heck of a salute for you!
From the sound of Creed's sophomore effort Human Clay, a combination of Alice In Chains, Stone
Temple Pilots, and Led Zeppelin, you'd never believe that frontman Scott Stapp wasn't allowed to
listen to rock'n'roll until he rebelled against his fundamentalist parents in his late teens. Human Clay
plays out like Stapp has been feinding on rock and role for his entire life. You must have had one foot
in a cave and another in the grave if you missed Creed's unbelievable selling debut, 1997's My Own
Prison, a hard rock record that fleshed out spiritual dilemmas in the lyrics and deep baritone of
Stapp. Stapp's parents were people who despised the evil powers of rock and roll. The religiousness who reared him turned him into the responsible rocker he is today. Human Clay, however, doesn't really pick up where My Own Prison left off. Instead, the album finds the Florida boys turning its metal thermostat up a couple of notches. The riffs are bigger, better, faster, and more abundant. Creed's second coming is a lot like its first, except way more apocalyptic. These young and optimistic
rockers view life as a weighty struggle, and their music reflects that. Especially when singer Scott
Stapp vocalizes about troublesome things like, "Forked tongues in bitter mouths." On paper, their lyrics can
seem like overblown, intensely worded bad music, but somehow Stapp & Co. make it work on disc. When
the band varies its musical approach, and sings, "With Arms Wide Open"which is a tribute to Stapp's newborn son, Jagger, or sings the moving song that broke box office records, "Higher," the group surely finds its way to the promised land.
Creed isn't rienventing rock in all of it's forms, but it is deffinetely adding a new excitement to it. This is shown by Scott Stapp himself when he said, "I think my songwriting is very direct and understandable, people can relate to that, so that's something I didn't want to move away from. At the same time, we're a little bit older and more mature now and we've been through a lot in the past two years, so we were looking to put things across in a way that reflected that." Despite the fact that the guitar work by Creed
has distinct Alice in Chains similarities, songs like, "What If" seem to be seperating Creed from these superb rock bands in a ver good way. Throughout the album, "Human Clay," Stapp proves he's got a gorgeous, yet
gruff set of pipes that not only sings the words written on sheets, but also proves that Stapp has a uniquely beautiful voice that carries Creed all the way to Billboard charts history. Scott Stapp is both
soulful and emotional, two qualities not often seen in a rock and roll singer. In the beginning song of their latest album, "Human Clay," the band performs, "Are you ready," to me a superb choice as a beginning song because it prepares you for the pure art that is to follow. Creed's music on this album is solid and hard without being too heavy. The single "Higher," destined to be
one of the greatest songs in Creed's soon large collection, has defined this great band as magnificent!
Despite Stapp's religious background, he hasn't made Creed a band of ol' bible thumpers, and in their last cd,
Creed spends less time confronting religious issues than they did in their debut album. Yet they still make references to important issues in this world like life, death, and God. And with "Human Clay," Creed gave the public a manufactured series
of radio smashes silenting the complaining of unbelievers and critics. Of course, you already know this if your a true Creed fan, or if you went to their concerts in Saginaw and Detroit on April 3rd, and 5th. During these two very special concerts, Creed trully rocked the house, and made thousands of Creed fans like I shead a tear for their profound influence on rock. Their music was hard-core as it always is, and the singing left me with thrilled emotions, and heart pumping excitement. In my opinion, Creed is the best band of all time despite their fairly short lived fame, surpassing even Pearl Jam who has been around with the same sort of music for a longer time. Surpassing even the grungy band, Nirvana who has possibly the best song of the 90's with, "Smells Like Teen Sprit." In my most sure opinion, Creed has done an amazing job of stepping up to the microphone, and replacing the missed memories of voids that bands of the early 90's left in all our music loving hearts.
READER'S REVIEWS (3) DISCLAIMER: STORYMANIA DOES NOT PROVIDE AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWS. ALL REVIEWS ARE PROVIDED BY NON-ASSOCIATED VISITORS, REGARDLESS OF THE WAY THEY CALL THEMSELVES.
"I found this essay to be extremely interesting since I, too, am a huge fan of Creed. However, there are a few things that I'd suggest to make this a slightly better essay. First, it begins talking about Scott Stapp, the lead vocalist, but it does not mention that he is the lead, nor does it mention the other members of the band. The essay is about "Human Clay" and Scott Stapp, not so much Creed as a whole. I like the focus and commentary about their second album, but to do this, maybe an opinion of the first will help a reader to understand why you think the way that you do. Do a little bit of comparison of the 2 albums, based on lyrics, the instruments, the emotional connotations in the music, etc. The last thing I would suggest is to provide more information on how far the band has come together-from the beginning days of each member, to how they came together, to what they've accomplished so far, and finally, what they hope to do for the future. This will keep the reader interested in your opinion, as well as possibly keeping their attention to the band in the future and anticiapting their tour, album, or other promotion that is in their sights. Other than these few, slight suggestions, I liked the essay and am always willing to read more about a great band that knows how to keep thier fans entertained!" -- Amanda, IL, USA.
"If you want to compare Creed and Pearl Jam you should wait until Creed gets good." -- Ty.
"I felt that your essay on Creed was very entertaining. You did a good job of keeping interest throughout the whole thing by the way wrote for your audience. I also like the way you focused on the second album. It gave it a more direct approach this way. " -- Kristina Saxon.
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