Why Did Half The Country Hate The Band Creed?

If you are over the age of 25, you probably remember Creed’s music. You probably also remember hearing the phrase “I hate Creed” come out of somebody’s mouth on a weekly basis, as well as hearing a very exaggerated impression of the lead singer’s voice.

There’s maybe a half dozen theories as to why that was the case. I examine some of them here: [Warning: I espouse some sociopolitical views in this post]

1. They sing about Jesus and their music videos are loaded with Jesus references. As a non-Christian, I can admit that this is annoying. The lyrics can almost always be interpreted in both a religious and non-religious way though. Nevertheless, some people felt that the main purpose behind Creed was to serve as an advertisement for the Christian faith. This may have been wicked cool 500 years ago, but in the modern age religion is just not that interesting to people. Religion represents, to many, the promotion of clean living, and an adherence to rules contained within a holy book written thousands of years ago. Modern society is much more interested in widely available casual sex and everyone-for-themselves mentalities.
2. They sound like the band Pearl Jam. To some people, it seemed entirely obvious that Scott Stapp modeled his voice after Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. This is the reason that some Apple snobs are permanently turned off by the idea of buying a Samsung phone, for example. They’re copy cats, so these people think. It is better to be the original, instead of just piggybacking off of someone else’s success. Etc., etc. I strongly believe that any similarities in the two men’s voices is merely incidental (a coincidence). I know enough about Scott Stapp of Creed’s personal life to know that Pearl Jam was not a major influence on his music. Jim Morrison of The Doors, however, was an immense influence for Stapp. Thus, it is more likely that a combination of Stapp Floridian accent, and a purposeful modeling of his voice after Morrison that serves as an explanation.
3. Lead singer Scott Stapp is a tool/douchebag. This is a good one. Is there some merit to this idea? Yes. Stapp grew up in a very weird family situation. His adopted father was a super Christian, and forced Stapp to hand copy pages out of the bible as punishment. He was also (according to Stapp), very often physically abusive towards him. Do you think this is sufficient to mess someone up as an adult? I think so. Stapp has admitted frequently getting into bar fights (maybe not these days, but in his 20s anyway), and in these cases he would often challenge multiple men at the same time. The typical outcome was that he got his ass kicked. This is the sign of a big and undeserving ego. There’s also internet stories about how, despite singing about God and Jesus Christ, someone filmed Stapp and Kid Rock receiving oral sex from groupies on a tour bus. Pretty hypocritical, especially considering that at points in Creed’s career they either prohibited the sale of alcohol at their shows, or instructed the beer stands to close early. Thus, this hypocrisy turned a lot of people off.
4. Scott Stapp sings like he is constipated. There is no denying that Stapp has a unique voice. In life, ‘different’ seems most often to mean bad. I tend to think that this is because there are a lot of closed minded people in the world. It seems like most people want the same ‘ol same ‘ol all the time. BORING! However, we also live in a culture (hear me out) that increasingly prefers the feminine over the masculine. Hillary Clinton recently exclaimed that “the future is female”, and there is plenty of hard data to back this up (Women in their 20s earn more than 20s aged men, Women are earning more college degrees, and girls are doing better than boys in school). Also, women often get a slap on the wrist for crimes that would send a man away for years. And there is a sense from many that men are not as ‘manly’ as they used to be. The end result? People hear Scott Stapp’s uber masculine voice piping through the speakers, and it turns a lot of people off. A lot of people would rather listen to a vocalist where it is unclear whether a woman or a man is singing (I’m looking at you, emo genre). That’s the society we now live in.