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It's Time to Stop Hating Creed

They're reuniting, but listen before you groan

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 21, 2009 11:29 AM CDT

(Newser) – Creed is back—the once ubiquitous (and “ubiquitously loathed”) rock group is releasing a new album later this month and going on tour. But “if your impulse on hearing that it has reunited is to groan, stifle it long enough to locate a copy of Creed's 2004 Greatest Hits collection,” writes Jonah Weiner for Slate. “It's a fantastic baker's dozen of first-rate schlock-rock, courtesy of one of the most underrated and unfairly maligned groups in pop history.”

Though the band was dismissed from the start “as derivative blowhards with a self-righteous Christian agenda,” it has sold 26 million records in the US to date—and now that it's been off the scene for a few years, “it's hard to reconcile the animus against the band with the music,” Weiner continues. “One of the surprises involved in returning to Creed with a fresh pair of ears is how rocking, exciting, and, yes, moving, the songs can be.”

[Images (4)]

[Quotes (3)]

Creed bassist Brian Marshall, guitarist Mark Tremonti, drummer Scott Phillips, Guinness World Records official Gareth Jones and singer Scott Stapp display world record certificates Sept. 25, 2009. (Dave Einsel / AP Images for ROCKPIT)

Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti of Creed perform after the medals ceremony at the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Getty Images)

Portrait of the American rock group Creed, 1990s. L-R: Scott Phillips, Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti, 1990s. (Getty Images)

The cover of Creed's new album is shown. (Amazon)

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Creed was formulaic, but that's only an insult if the formula doesn't work. - Jonah Weiner

'Higher' might turn out to be the nu-grunge 'Don't Stop Believing': dismissed by cognoscenti on arrival as bludgeoning and gauche but destined for rehabilitation down the road as a triumphant slab of ersatz inspirationalism. - Jonah Weiner

Creed seemed to irritate people precisely because its music was so unabashedly calibrated towards pleasure: Every surging riff, skyscraping chorus, and cathartic chord progression telegraphed the band's intention to rock us, wow us. - Jonah Weiner

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It's Time to Stop Hating Creed