Creed - My Own Prison

Creed is having some viral success these days. It’s hard to tell sometimes if that’s ironic or legitimate - I kind of think it’s the latter, but it’s more of a guilty pleasure thing, like a vice that used to be taboo but now is socially acceptable.

Creed is melodramatic, without a doubt. (For the kids these days, they’re basically like the Hozier of the 90’s with distorted guitar and drums and a similar amount of church references/cringey moments.) They’re brooding, self-absorbed, and almost preachy. But can you really deny that it’s awesome pop rock? Their sound is just an evolution of the gloomy early 90’s alt rock and heavier pop rock and grunge, with a lead singer channeling his grunge and metal heroes, and those are all awesome things in their own right. Critics called it derivative, and I can’t argue that point too much, but I’d make the case that deriving a sound from the work of others is in itself not original. Not a positive, but also not a negative in and of itself.

The album was recorded for $6,000, released on the band’s own label, and sold over 6 million copies. It’s the embarrassing dad rock of my generation, and even if you pretend to hate it, I don’t believe you. Guess what - lying to yourself isn’t original, either.

From the roundup Greatest Albums of 1997.