Creed’s diamond-selling (or, if you prefer, 11-times platinum) second album catapulted the Tallahassee foursome to US superstardom (and the UK Top 30, not that anyone had time to notice). It’s not hard to see why they struck gold: they merged grunge’s squall with classic heavy riffing, Scott Stapp’s Eddie Vedder-style croon and, in and the sombre American chart-topper , the melody-drenched hit singles that still define them. A quarter of a century on, it’s augmented by a 1999 live show from Texas featuring much of and the debut .
It sizzles from the moment Stapp bellows: “Are you ready to rock?” The digital version adds slightly different mixes of the singles, a reworked, acoustic , a perfunctory cover of ’s , and a pumping live version of where they’re joined by guitarist Robby Krieger and the audience do much of the vocal work. Even then, it felt like it couldn’t get any better for Creed. And so it proved, as members slipped into addiction and acrimony before the inevitable reunions.
, though, was their moment. As well as Classic Rock, John Aizlewood currently writes for The Times, The Radio Times, The Sunday Times, The i Newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and Mojo amongst others. He’s written four books and appears on television quite often.
He once sang with Iron Maiden at a football stadium in Brazil: he wasn’t asked back. He’s still not sure whether Enver Hoxha killed Mehmet Shehu..
. "This sort of seat-of-the-pants indulgence .