In the late 90’s and early 2000’s, it was virtually impossible to escape Creed.
Their first three studio albums, My Own Prison, Human Clay, and Weathered were all massive, multi-platinum success stories that helped them become the ninth best-selling artist of the 2000’s (moving 53 million albums was and still is a pretty big accomplishment).
But if you’ll remember, Creed’s rapid ascension was incredibly short-lived. They imploded (the first time) in 2004, just a few short years after taking off. Five years later they gave it a second go-round, only to last three more years before calling it a day again in 2012.
In a recent interview with comedian Theo Von that has been transcribed by The Pit, vocalist Scott Stapp peeled back the curtain on what caused both of the band’s break ups.
First, Scott gives some context on just how big the band really was in the early 2000’s, responding to Theo’s claim that Creed was arguably the biggest band in the world at the time:
“I tell you- during our peak we were doing back-to-back nights at arenas and had just started putting stadiums on hold when we went our separate ways the first time.”
When pressed to explain why a band as massive as Creed would simply walk away, Stapp explains:
“You know, it’s so complicated. I mean, for me, it was exhaustion from the run to get there mixed with just some poor decisions in order to keep the machine going, thinking I was taking one for the team and not understanding and knowing the consequences of those actions.
And then, people grow apart and everyone’s dreams may not be fulfilled at that moment in time. But we got back together in 2009 and made a new record [Full Circle], and it did really well and had a good run until 2012, and then [we] went on hiatus again.
When asked if there were any major differences in each of the two runs of the band, Stapp explains:
“Most definitely. The first experience was, you know, we were family, we were brothers. We were in college together, we did holidays together. We were all we had. The second experience – everyone’s successful, wealthy, and… egos have grown. And people change and people grow, and people grow apart.”
Given how massively successful Creed’s career has been, Theo ends the part of the conversation about Creed by asking Scott if success is really all it’s cracked up to be. He shared:
“It [success] created new problems and metastasized old ones. And then the pressure of maintaining [success]- knowing that every show rested on my ability to go out on stage and sing. Of course, we were a band and everyone had to be present to be there, but I felt such a pressure.”
That weight on me and not having a support system in place to help me took its toll, and I didn’t make all the right decisions. But hey who does when they’re 24 and 25? I don’t beat myself up over it anymore.
At present, Creed remains broken up, on hiatus, whatever you want to call it, really. Will they ever return? Time will tell. For now, you can watch Stapp explain his time with Creed in his own words to Theo below: