"What's This Life For" is a song by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
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* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band
Creed
A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets.
Many Christian denominations use three creeds ...
. It is the third
single
Single may refer to:
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* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
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* "Single", by ...
and ninth track off their 1997 debut album, ''
My Own Prison
''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 April 14, 1997, and re-released by Wind-up Records on August 26, 19 ...
''. The song reached number one on the ''Billboard''
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...
chart in the U.S., becoming their first number one hit on this chart. It remained on top for six weeks.
Writing and recording
Writing sessions for ''My Own Prison'' would see Vocalist
Scott Stapp
Scott Stapp (born Anthony Scott Flippen; August 8, 1973) is an American singer and the lead vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Creed. He has also fronted the band Art of Anarchy and has released four solo albums.
Stapp has received severa ...
and guitarist
Mark Tremonti
Mark Thomas Tremonti (born April 18, 1974) is an American guitarist and singer, best known for his tenures with the rock bands Creed (band), Creed and Alter Bridge. He is a founding member of both bands, and has also collaborated with many other ...
have complete creative control over the lyrics and musical compositions. Stapp recounts in an interview with ''
Stereogum
''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine.
''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...
'' that "we were the driving force behind the music and made all the decisions." He also states that three of the album's four singles, "
My Own Prison
''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 April 14, 1997, and re-released by Wind-up Records on August 26, 19 ...
", "Torn" and "What's This Life For" immediately stood out to them and were the band's favourite songs from the album.
Stapp and Tremonti wrote "What's This Life For" about one of their friends who had died by
suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death.
Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
. The music and lyrics were written by Tremonti, while Stapp contributed the lyrics to the
bridge
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
portion of the song.
Prior to entering the recording studio, producer John Kurzweg stated that the songs were either all finished or 90 percent finished by the time the band entered "The Kitchen Studio", Kurzweg's home studio in
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Fl ...
to begin demo recording sessions. Recording sessions would continue at
Criteria Studios
Criteria Studios is a recording studio in North Miami, Florida, founded in 1958 by musician Mack Emerman. Hundreds of gold, platinum, and diamond singles and albums have been recorded, mixed or mastered at Criteria, for many notable artists and ...
in
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
with the band being on a pay-as-you-go agreement at the time, with each member pitching in around $100 a week and then entering the studio to continue recording. The music was recorded using a digital tape machine and after six months of recording and a mere $6,000 budget the band had finished recording the Blue Collar Records version of ''My Own Prison''. Creed would soon find themselves signed to
Wind-up Records
Wind-up Records, LLC (legally known as Wind-up Entertainment Inc. until 2004) was an American record label founded by Alan and Diana Meltzer in 1997. It was based in New York City and was distributed by BMG Distribution. Wind-up's best-selling ...
who wanted the band to re-record the entire album after finding out Kurzweg used an
ADAT's machine, however the band and Wind-up would eventually reach a compromise after realizing the recording process wasn't working out. The band instead was told to remix the album and were matched up with mixer Ron St. Germain, who along with Kurzweg, helped Creed remix the album at
Long View Farm Studios in
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
.
[
]
Music and lyrics
Inspired by the suicides of their friends, the lyrics, written by Tremonti and Stapp, deal with the difficulties in finding happiness
Happiness is a complex and multifaceted emotion that encompasses a range of positive feelings, from contentment to intense joy. It is often associated with positive life experiences, such as achieving goals, spending time with loved ones, ...
and meaning in the world. In an interview with Songfacts
Songfacts is a music-oriented website that features articles about songs, detailing the meaning behind the lyrics, how and when they were recorded, and any other available information.
The journalists who work for the site have interviewed thou ...
Tremonti said: "It's a song about suicide and kids searching for that meaning of life. It's tough sometimes for kids in high school, junior high school, to go through a lot of the depression he went through that led him to commit suicide. So I wrote about that."[ It is the only Creed song to use ]profanity
Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, or cussing, is the usage of notionally word taboo, offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion (such a ...
. The first half of the word "goddamn" is censored on the shortened 2004 ''Greatest Hits
A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...
'' album version. Musically, the song is a power ballad
A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...
, written in the key of G major
G major is a major scale based on G (musical note), G, with the pitches G, A (musical note), A, B (musical note), B, C (musical note), C, D (musical note), D, E (musical note), E, and F♯ (musical note), F. Its key signature has one sharp (music ...
with Tremonti playing in G5. Like most of the tracks on the album it borrows heavily from the Seattle grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...
scene as well elements of a more mainstream hard rock and arena metal sound.[
]
Music video
Three music videos were made for the song and were all directed by Ramaa Mosley, who would also direct the video for the band's breakthrough single " Higher". The official version of the video was filmed in southern Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
near Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, US National Park located in southeastern California, straddling north-central Riverside County, California, Riverside County and part of southern San Bernardino County, ...
. Mosley, who had a fascination with weather, looked to capture the power and mystery of it by pitting "men against the forces of nature". Mosley said: "I had this tremendous fascination with weather and trying to capture this on film. Weather is very mysterious and powerful and I wanted to make a video that set men against the forces of nature. I wanted the video for Creed to feel that the music and the band had performed so passionately that a storm approached."[ The video features the band performing the song in the desert plains along with scenes of various disaffected people trying to escape their lives. Each band member can be seen in each one of the scenes watching on as the alienated people struggle to cope with their discontent. As the band begins playing the song people can be seen wandering into the desert to join them. When the second chorus kicks in a sudden wind storm hits causing the desert sands to fly all around the band and the spectators. This effect was created using giant fans. During the bridge, the video shifts over to a nighttime setting. At this point the various people from each scene also begin to join the band in the desert where they all exult under a rain shower and falling snow. The rain effect was created using a rain machine while the snow was made using soap flakes.]
A second version was made for the film '' Halloween H20: 20 Years Later''. It features many of the same scenes from the official version and incorporates scenes from the film as well. However, this video also features the extended guitar intro of the Blue Collar Records version of "What's This Life For" that was eventually cut from the Wind-up Records
Wind-up Records, LLC (legally known as Wind-up Entertainment Inc. until 2004) was an American record label founded by Alan and Diana Meltzer in 1997. It was based in New York City and was distributed by BMG Distribution. Wind-up's best-selling ...
release.[
The third version is a live performance of the band from February 18, 1998, at ]Lee's Palace
Lee's Palace is a rock concert hall located on the south side of Bloor Street West east of Lippincott Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The two-floor facility in The Annex neighbourhood has a long history prior to being adapted in September 19 ...
in Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
. This is also the same show where the band filmed the music video for their previous single "Torn".
Actress and comic Melinda Hill appears in the music video as "the blonde girl in the Creed video."
Release and reception
Released on June 9, 1998, as the third single from ''My Own Prison'', "What's This Life For" would peak at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for six consecutive weeks from September 19, 1998, to October 24. It was the band first number one song on the chart, and was eventually knocked off the top spot by "Psycho Circus
''Psycho Circus'' is the eighteenth studio album by American rock band Kiss and the first and only album to involve all four original members since 1979's ''Dynasty.'' While touted as a band effort, the album was recorded using largely session ...
" by Kiss
A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...
on October 31. The song also managed to reach the top ten on the Alternative Airplay
Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...
chart and number six on the Canada Rock/Alternative (''RPM
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines.
One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...
'') chart.
Appearances in media
The song appeared in the 1998 film ''Halloween H20: 20 Years Later''.[ Creed also performed "What's This Life For" as the closing song to their setlist at ]Woodstock '99
Woodstock 1999 (also called Woodstock '99) was a music festival held from July 21 to July 26, 1999, in Rome, New York, United States. After Woodstock '94, it was the second large-scale music festival that attempted to emulate the original 1 ...
. Robby Krieger
Robert Alan Krieger (born January 8, 1946) is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits " Light My Fire", " Love Me Two Times", " Touch Me", and " ...
, guitarist of the Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...
, also played the song with the band, as well as two cover songs of the Doors, "Riders on the Storm
"Riders on the Storm" is a song by American rock band the Doors, released in June 1971 by Elektra Records as the second single from the band's sixth studio album, '' L.A. Woman.'' It is known for being the last song that Jim Morrison recorded p ...
" and "Roadhouse Blues
"Roadhouse Blues" is a song by the American rock band the Doors from their 1970 album '' Morrison Hotel''. It was released as the B-side of " You Make Me Real", which peaked at No. 50 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 41 in Canada. " ...
".
Chart performance
Year-end charts
References
{{Authority control
Creed (band) songs
1997 songs
1998 singles
Songs written by Mark Tremonti
Songs written by Scott Stapp
Wind-up Records singles
Songs about suicide