My Own Prison is the debut studio album by American rock band Creed, released in 1997. The album was issued independently by the band's record label, Blue Collar Records, on June 24, 1997, and re-released by Wind-up Records on August 26, 1997. Manager Jeff Hanson matched Creed up with John Kurzweg, and My Own Prison was recorded for $6,000, funded by Hanson. The band wrote several songs, trying to discover their own identity, and in their early days, the members had jobs, while bassist Brian Marshall got a degree. Creed eventually got a record deal with Wind-up and began recording music. After its release, the album was distributed to Florida radio stations.
Creed released four singles from the album: the title track, "Torn", "What's This Life For", and "One". Despite only peaking at number 22 on the Billboard 200, strong radio airplay propelled My Own Prison to become a commercial success. All singles were successful on rock radio in the United States and, with the exception of "One", had music videos that received airplay on MTV. My Own Prison was eventually certified sextuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and, as of 2009, sold over 6,000,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album received reviews ranging from positive to negative, complimenting its guitar riffs and music but criticizing its similarity to 1990s grunge bands.
Background, writing, recording, and production
For the band's debut release, manager Jeff Hanson matched them up with John Kurzweg, a producer friend who, with his unobtrusive production style and talents as a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, he felt was a great fit.[1] The album, funded by Hanson, was recorded for $6,000. My Own Prison was originally released independently on the band's own label, Blue Collar Records, in 1997. It was distributed to Florida radio stations, and their enthusiasm for the record helped it sell 6,000 copies in the first two months in Florida alone.[1] Vocalist Scott Stapp said that even though the band was trying to find their creative stride, it took a while for them to discover their musical style. He said: "I remember after Mark and I and the guys wrote our first five or seven songs and we hadn't found our identity yet. Then we wrote a song called 'Grip My Soul', which we never recorded or put out but I remember leaving band rehearsal and all of us felt the same way. Like, alright, we found ourselves. We found out who we are and then right after that is when 'My Own Prison' poured out of us". He added: "If I'm remembering correctly, those were essentially the next 10 out of 13 songs that we wrote after that initial 'find your identity' moment that I think every band has".[2] Guitarist Mark Tremonti said that in the band's early days, he was working as a cook at Chili's and Stapp was a cook at Ruby Tuesday's. Drummer Scott Phillips was managing a knife store at a mall and bassist Brian Marshall was the only one without a job, and, according to Tremonti, Marshall "was also the only one who ended up getting his degree before it was all said and done".[3] When Creed got a record deal, the band got an advance, and Tremonti quit his job and started working for about three weeks at the local guitar shop and then after that, Creed began touring.[3]My Own Prison was originally released through Blue Collar Records but was remixed by Wind-up Records and then re-issued. Creed recorded the original version of the album in Kurzweg's house in Tallahassee, Florida. To record the rest of the album, they went to Long View Farm in Massachusetts.[3]
Music and lyrics
Tremonti (pictured) cites thrash metal bands like Exodus, Metallica, Slayer, and Forbidden as influences.[4]
"The music on My Own Prison took ideas from grunge, which had mostly come and gone by that point, and filtered them through more mainstream hard rock and arena metal. Creed weren't interested in the punk rock energy of Mudhoney or Nirvana, but they were borrowing heavily from Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains, whose lugubrious style was a natural fit for Scott Stapp's baritone roar. Their tempos were slow and heavy, especially on the singles, but Mark Tremonti was a full-on shredder—the guitar solo on 'Pity for a Dime' could have come off a Dio album, and album tracks like 'Ode,' 'Unforgiven' and 'Sister' had a pleasingly thick-necked stomp. Lyrically, Creed were plainspoken—poetic, but free of abstraction, a legacy of Stapp's love of earnest frontmen like Jim Morrison and Bono."[3]
The vocals of Stapp (pictured) have often been compared to those of Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder.[14]
Stapp was heavily influenced by U2's album The Joshua Tree as well as by the Doors and Led Zeppelin.[12] The band was frequently compared to Tool, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam, in response to which, Stapp said: "It could be worse. They could be comparing us to some shitty band that no one has ever heard of, rather than the biggest band of the decade."[5] Likewise, Tremonti stated, "It doesn't bother me so much. They're one of the best bands to come out in the past 10 years."[14][12]
The track "What's This Life For" is about a best friend of Tremonti's who committed suicide, and the guitarist has described it as "a song about suicide and kids searching for that meaning of life".[15] "One", a more catchy and upbeat-sounding track,[2] criticizes society's alleged lack of unity.[16] "Torn", written by Tremonti, is autobiographical. Prior to Creed's success, the guitarist held various jobs to pay for college, including washing cars and working as a cook. "One day, I came home from work at about 3 in the morning," he said. "I was all dirty and stinky and hating my life, so I just wrote a song about what it's like being a kid in between 18 and 23, when you haven't graduated from school yet and you don't know what you're doing with your life." He added: "It's about how hard that period of time is, when you're broke, you have to work two jobs to go to school. I was at a hard point in my life, so I wrote a song about it".[17][14]
Artwork and packaging
Prior to releasing the album on their own independent label, Creed recruited Daniel Tremonti, Mark's brother, to become their creative director. Stapp described Daniel as a "super soulful guy with the heart and talent of a true artist". They picked a photo that Daniel had taken for a photography class as the cover for the record. The image was of a man named Justin Brown, a friend of the band, depicting him kneeling shirtless in a corner with his hands on top of his head. Stapp claimed the artwork "captured him to the core" and that it reflected the isolation, conflict, and torture that was driving him as well as seeing hope and feeling that he was like the man in the artwork, "who had been beaten down but could now get up". Looking to have a professional-looking final product, the band acquired a loan from bassist Brian Marshall's father and went to a one-stop company to package and manufacture the record. They ordered five thousand copies and took them to major outlets in Tallahassee. All five thousand were sold within the first month.[18][19]
The original Blue Collar Records version featured the band's original logo, a wordmark inside a roundel, situated to the top right just over Justin Brown, with the album title at the bottom. The Wind-up version featured an updated band wordmark logo in a Mason Serif Regular font, now situated on the top left, with the album title just below that, to the right. The band's updated logo would go on to become their permanent logo, although the font would eventually become slightly more extended on future releases.
Promotion, release, and commercial performance
"It all came true in an instant. Within a year of that record coming out we were essentially playing arenas in some places. So that album will always have a special place in my heart because it changed my life forever and launched my life and career in the music business."
Stapp on Creed's sudden mainstream success with My Own Prison.[2]
Creed released four singles from My Own Prison: the title track in 1997, "Torn" in early 1998,[2] "What's This Life For" later that year, and "One" in early 1999.[20] All four singles had success on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with all except "Torn" also performing well on Modern Rock Tracks.[20] Because they were not initially sold in the United States, the singles were ineligible for the US Billboard Hot 100. However, by the time "One" was released, that restriction was lifted, and the song became Creed's first to chart, reaching number seventy. "My Own Prison" and "One" also managed to peak at numbers 54 and 49 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay, respectively. The videos for the singles also received airplay on MTV.[21] The Blue Collar release of My Own Prison was on June 24, 1997,[8] and the Wind-up version came out on August 26, 1997.[22]
My Own Prison peaked at number 22 on the Billboard 200 on May 2, 1998, staying on the chart for 112 weeks.[23] The album also peaked at number one on the Heatseekers Albums chart on November 8, 1997.[24] On January 22, 2000, the album reached number one on the Catalog Albums chart, remaining there for 157 weeks.[25]My Own Prison was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on August 25, 1998. It went triple platinum on February 26, 1999, 4× platinum on November 3, 1999, 5× platinum on December 4, 2000, and 6× platinum on August 26, 2002.[26] On January 2, 1998, MTV reported that the album had sold 175,000 copies in the United States.[5] On September 18, 1998, The New York Times stated that My Own Prison had sold 2,200,000 copies nationally.[6]Time reported on October 18, 1999, that the record had sold nearly 4,000,000 copies.[27] On January 3, 2002, Rolling Stone wrote that, according to Nielsen SoundScan, My Own Prison sold 5,700,000 copies in the US.[28] As of 2009, the album had sold more than 6,000,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[29]My Own Prison sold 15,000,000 copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful debut albums of all time.[30]
My Own Prison received mixed reviews from critics. AllMusic wrote: "Creed don't have an original or distinctive sound—they basically fall into the category of post-Seattle bands who temper their grunge with a dose of Live earnestness—but they work well within their boundaries. At their best, they are a solid post-grunge band, grinding their riffs out with muscle; at their worst, they are simply faceless. The best moments of My Own Prison suggest they'll be able to leave post-grunge anonymity behind and develop their own signature sound."[8] Trevor Miller of Music Critic described the album as "overall, an excellent first album".[31]
Jon Pareles of The New York Times, with an article entitled "Grunge Gets Religion, and It's Not Pretty", criticized My Own Prison and wrote: "Convictions aside, Creed's weakness is its music. The band's imitation of Soundgarden circa 1991 is a clumsy one."[6]The Spokesman-Review wrote: "I like the CD. I like the band, but there is room for improvement."[10] Justin Seremet of the Hartford Courant panned My Own Prison, stating: "Just as the Warrants and Slaughters of the world hung around long after their brand of music had gone to the grave, so will Creed. Let's move on, folks."[7]
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