Using Christian Themes in Music - Creed

Creed is a band that rose to fame in the late 1990's and remained popular for much of the early 2000's. They released 3 multi-platinum albums in that time and have been ranked as the ninth best selling band of the 2000's. They have many hits with Christian-themed messages in them such as With Arms Wide Open, Higher, My Sacrifice, and One Last Breath. The band is named after the Christian concept of a creed which can loosely be defined as a system of Christian belief. With all of this in mind, it must be assumed that Creed is considered to be a Christian-Rock band right? Wrong.

While much of Creed's music is based on Christian themes, they have never been signed to a Christian-Rock label nor have they been embraced in the Christian community. This is for good reason. There is much controversy that surrounds Creed. Their lead singer, Scott Stapp, has a history of drug and alcohol abuse and has been arrested on multiple occasions. In 2003, Stapp was on the verge of suicide after a drug and alcohol induced panic attack, he wanted to go out like a martyr to boost sales of his bands records, just like Kurt Cobain did a decade earlier. Creed's problems eventually led to the bands break up in 2004.

We learned in this past weeks readings of 3 models of Christian themed lyrics in music as proposed by Brian Shills: Separationist, Integrationist, and Transformationist. Despite the adversity and lack of recognition that Creed experienced as a band, it can still be argued that Creed was very much an Integrationist Christian band. They used Christian themes in their music while still sticking to the popular music model to try and advance their sales.

Creed doesn't claim to be a Christian group but Stapp is an admitted Christian whom believes heavily in the faith. Above is a tattoo Stapp got on his arm in the late nineties signifying his faith as well as his bands importance in his life. Stapp was the primary lyricist in all the songs which have a heavy Christian undertone, and he states that they are meant to be seen as metaphors of situations he was having in his life at that point in time. Creed never wanted to be labeled as a Christian-rock band as they did not want to limit their music. It was just at that point in time that they were using Christian themes in their lyrics.

Their music was well received despite their internal controversies, this can be evidenced by their record sales and multi-platinum albums as stated above. However, there always seemed to be a ridiculing body saying something negative about the band. This was due in large part to the fact that part of the public had an issue in fully accepting a band with such religious undertones into the main stream.

I have personally always liked Creed, their music has gotten me through some tough times in my life and will always be something I remember. Christian theme or not, their music does portray a message to the listener. This message is different for everyone, and this I feel was Stapp's point when he stated that their music, despite the Christian themes, was meant to be seen as a metaphor his own personal struggles. I leave you with my favourite song by Creed - My Sacrifice.