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"What's This Life For" is a song by American rock 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) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The ea ...
. It is the third single and ninth track off their 1997 debut album, '' My Own Prison''. The song reached number one on the ''Billboard''
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...
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 and guitarist Mark Tremonti 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 award ...
'' 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", "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. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
. The music and lyrics were written by Tremonti, while Stapp contributed the lyrics to the bridge 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 to begin demo recording sessions. Recording sessions would continue at Criteria Studios in Miami with the band being on a pay-as-you-go agreement at the time, with each member pitching in around $100 dollars 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 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 Long View Farm Studios was a music recording studio located in North Brookfield, Massachusetts which was founded in 1974 by Gilbert Scott Markle, a professor at Clark University, on his farm property. It was the location of recordings from many w ...
in Massachusetts.


Music and lyrics

Inspired by the suicides of their friends, the lyrics, written by Tremonti and Stapp, deal with the difficulties in finding happiness and meaning in the world. In an interview with Songfacts 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. The first half of the word "goddamn" is censored on the shortened 2004 '' Greatest Hits'' album version. Musically, the song is a power ballad, written in the key of G major 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 genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
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 Ramaa Devi Mosley (born October 29, 1981) is an American filmmaker, director, and writer based in Los Angeles. She began directing commercials, music videos, and documentaries at 16-years-old. She is also an activist, known for raising national ...
, who would also direct the video for the band's breakthrough single "
Higher Higher may refer to: Music * The Higher, a 2002–2012 American pop rock band Albums * ''Higher'' (Ala Boratyn album) or the title song, 2007 * ''Higher'' (Ezio album) or the title song, 2000 * ''Higher'' (Harem Scarem album) or the title song ...
". The official version of the video was filmed in southern Los Angeles near Joshua Tree National Park. 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 release. The third version is a live performance of the band from February 18, 1998, at Lee's Palace in Toronto. This is also the same show where the band filmed the music video for their previous single "Torn".


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 to involve all four original members since 1979's ''Dynasty.'' While touted as a band effort, Peter Criss only played drums on the Ace Frehley-penned trac ...
" by Kiss on October 31. The song also managed to reach the top ten on the Alternative Airplay chart and number six on the Canada Rock/Alternative ('' RPM'') 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. Robby Krieger, guitarist of the Doors, also played the song with the band, as well as two cover songs of the Doors, " Riders on the Storm" 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. "Roadhouse Blues" charted i ...
".


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