My Own Prison

''My Own Prison'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Creed, released in 1997. The album was released independently by the band's record label Blue Collar Records on June 24, 1997, but then was 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 album was distributed to Florida radio stations. The band wrote several songs trying to discover their own identity. In the early days of the band, the members of the band had jobs to make money while their bassist Brian Marshall got a degree. The band got a record deal with Wind-up Records and began recording music.

At the time of ''My Own Prison'' release, Creed were compared to several bands, including Soundgarden (especially the ''Badmotorfinger'' era), Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Hootie & the Blowfish, Metallica, and Tool. Influenced by heavy metal and 1970s stadium rock, ''My Own Prison'' music has been described as grunge, and "slightly heavy metal, slightly alternative". The album is a lot more heavy and a lot more than Creed's other albums. The lyrics on the album include topics like emerging adulthood, Christianity and faith, sinning, suicide, unity, struggling to prosper in life, and Creed singer Scott Stapp and guitarist Mark Tremonti said their early adulthood inspired lyrics to songs like the title track and "Torn". Stapp was inspired by music like U2 (particularly U2's album ''The Joshua Tree''), Led Zeppelin, and The Doors. Inspired by thrash metal bands like Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, and Forbidden, Tremonti brought heavy metal musical elements into Creed's music.

Creed released four singles for the album: the title track, "Torn", " What's This Life For", and " One". Despite only peaking at number twenty-two on the ''Billboard'' 200, strong radio airplay propelled ''My Own Prison'' to become a commercial success. All singles had music videos, except "One", that received a lot of airplay on MTV while also finding success on the Modern Rock Tracks and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts. ''My Own Prison'' was eventually certified sextuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and, as of 2009, sold over 6,000,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. ''My Own Prison'' received reviews ranging from negative to positive, 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. Together, the album was recorded for $6,000, which was funded by Hanson. ''My Own Prison'' was originally released independently on their own record label, Blue Collar Records, in 1997. The album 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. Creed singer Scott Stapp said that even though Creed were trying to find the band's creative stride, it took a while for the band to discover its musical style. Stapp 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." Stapp then said: "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." Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti said that in Creed's early days, he was working as a cook at Chili's and Stapp was working as a cook at Ruby Tuesday's. Creed drummer Scott Phillips was managing a knife store at a mall and Creed 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." When Creed got a record deal, the band got an advance and Tremonti quit his job and started working for about 3 weeks at the local guitar shop and then after that, Creed began touring. ''My Own Prison'' was originally released through Blue Collar Records, but was remixed by Wind-up Records and then released through Wind-up Records. Creed recorded the original version of the album in Kurzweg's house in Tallahassee, Florida. For the of the album, the band went to Long View Farm in Massachusetts.

Music and lyrics

''My Own Prison'' is a lot heavier and more grunge-oriented than other Creed albums. The lyrics on the album include themes like Christianity, faith, sinning, and The music on the album has been described as grunge, and heavy metal. Jon Parales of ''The New York Times'' compared the album to the ''Badmotorfinger'' era of Soundgarden. He also compared the album's music to Hootie & the Blowfish and compared the song "Unforgiven" to Metallica. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that "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". In 1997, when ''My Own Prison'' first brought Creed some attention from the mainstream, Bradley Bambarger of '' Billboard'' wrote that Creed sound "disconcertingly reminiscent of Alice in Chains". Justin Seremet of the '' Hartford Courant'' wrote that Creed "is essentially Alices in Chains without the bite" He compared singer Stapp's vocals to Alice in Chains deceased singer Layne Staley. He described the album as "scrunge", which he defined as "the adopted name for groups that rode the Seattle wave with a couple of hits and subsequently vanished -- bands like Silverchair, Sponge, Candlebox and so on." In a review of ''My Own Prison'', ''The Spokesman-Review'' described Creed as "slightly heavy metal, slightly alternative." ''The New Rolling Stone Album Guide'' described the album as being influenced by 1970s stadium rock, and wrote that the album includes "thundering metallic tracks and sweeping ballads". Phil Freeman of '' Stereogum'' wrote:

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Creed lead singer Scott Stapp was influenced heavily by U2's album ''The Joshua Tree'' and was also influenced by The Doors and Led Zeppelin. Despite being inspired by The Doors, Led Zeppelin and U2, Creed was compared frequently by critics to Tool, Soundgarden and, most frequently, Pearl Jam. In response to the Pearl Jam comparison, Stapp said: "It could be worse," he says. "They could be comparing us to some shitty band that no one has ever heard of, rather than the biggest band of the decade." Tremonti also was okay with the Pearl Jam comparison: "It doesn't bother me so much. They're one of the best bands to come out in the past 10 years." Stapp left his home when he was 17 years old to enroll in "the school of hard knocks," Stapp said, and it was in the latter days during this education that Stapp decided he will "take responsibility" for his actions. Stapp was inspired by this experience when he wrote ''My Own Prison'' title track. Stapp said the song relates his discovery that he "couldn't blame others for the walls constricting my life. 'My Own Prison' was the consequences for my bad decisions. It was my own fault that I did shitty in school, that I got fired from my job, that I was living in my car. I had to grow up." Stapp said about writing the title track: "One night I woke up about 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. from a dream and I just wrote it all down," Stapp said. "I didn't know it was a song at the time. A few days later I called uitaristMark remonti he had been putting together some music, and we sat down and got the song together in about 30 minutes." " What's This Life For" is about a best friend of Tremonti who committed suicide, and Tremonti described the song as "a song about suicide and kids searching for that meaning of life". " One", a more catchy and more upbeat-sounding song on ''My Own Prison'', is about unity and criticizes society's alleged lack of unity. "Torn" is about how Stapp was expelled from a Christian school, lived in an apartment, and wrote his thoughts on a piece of paper, becoming the basis of the song. Tremonti wrote "Torn". Prior to Creed's mainstream success, Tremonti had a couple of jobs to finance college, and he washed cars for 4 years and worked 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." Tremonti then said: "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," he explained.

Artwork and packaging

Prior to releasing the album on their own independent label, Blue Collar Records, the band recruited Daniel Tremonti, brother of guitarist Mark Tremonti, to become the band's creative director. Stapp described Daniel as a "super soulful guy with the heart and talent of a true artist." The band decided to settle on a photo that Daniel had taken for a photography class as the cover art for the record. The image was of a man named Justin Brown, a friend of the band, which depicted 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 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, who worked as a physician, and went to a one-stop company to package and manufacture the record. The band ordered five thousand copies and took them to major outlets in Tallahassee, Florida. All five thousand copies were sold within the first month.

The original Blue Collar Records version featured the band's original logo, a wordmark inside a roundel, which was situated to the top right just over Justin Brown and the album title at the bottom of the cover. The Wind-up Records version featured an updated band wordmark logo in a Mason Serif Regular font now situated on top left and 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

Creed released four singles for ''My Own Prison'': the title track, "Torn", "What's This Life For", and "One". The title track was released in 1997 and "Torn" was released in the spring of 1998. "What's This Life For" also was released in 1998, and "One", the last single, was released in early 1999. All four singles had success on the Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts. Because all four singles were not initially sold in the United States, they 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 song that charted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, charting at number 70. "My Own Prison" and "One" also managed to peak at number 54 and 49 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Airplay respectively. The title track, "Torn" and "What's This Life For" all had music videos, with the title track's music video receiving a lot of airplay on MTV. The Blue Collar release of ''My Own Prison'' was on June 24, 1997 and the Wind-up version was released on August 26, 1997. Soon after the release of ''My Own Prison'', the title track began being played on the locals only radio show in Tallahassee, Florida. Another radio station in a nearby city in Georgia started playing the album's song "Pity for a Dime". The band were asked to perform a show there and there were around 5,000 to 6,000 people. Pretty soon, the title track began playing on radio outside the Georgia and Florida area.

''My Own Prison'' peaked at number 22 on the ''Billboard'' 200 on May 2, 1998, being on the chart for 112 weeks. The album also peaked at number 1 on the Heatseekers Albums chart on November 8, 1997. On January 22, 2000, the album peaked at number 1 on the Catalog Albums chart, remaining on the chart for 157 weeks. ''My Own Prison'' was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on August 25, 1998. It was certified triple platinum on February 26, 1999, 4× platinum on November 3, 1999, 5× platinum on December 4, 2000, and on August 26, 2002. On January 2, 1998, MTV reported that ''My Own Prison'' sold 175,000 copies in the United States. On September 18, 1998, ''The New York Times'' reported that ''My Own Prison'' had sold 2,200,000 copies in the United States. ''Time'' reported on October 18, 1999, that ''My Own Prison'' sold nearly 4,000,000 copies. On January 3, 2002, ''Rolling Stone'' reported that, according to Nielsen SoundScan, ''My Own Prison'' sold 5,700,000 copies in the United States. As of 2009, ''My Own Prison'' sold more than 6,000,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. ''My Own Prison'' sold 15,000,000 copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful debut albums of all time.

Critical reception

''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." Trevor Miller of Music Critic described the album as "overall, an excellent first album".

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." ''The Spokesman-Review'' wrote: "I like the CD. I like the band, but there is room for improvement." Justin Seremet of the ''Hartford Courant'' panned ''My Own Prison'': "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."

Track listing

Blue Collar Records version

All tracks are written by Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti.

Wind-up Records version

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes.

;Creed
*Scott Stapp – lead vocals
*Mark Tremonti – guitar, backing vocals, co-lead vocals on "My Own Prison"
*Brian Marshall – bass
* Scott Phillips – drums

;Additional musician
*John Kurzweg – keyboards

;Artwork
*Mark Droescher – art direction, art design, cover
*Creed – art direction
*Daniel Tremonti – cover, cover photography
*Justin Brown – cover photography
*Cece Wren, Judd Allison – additional photography

;Production
*Jeff Hanson – executive producer
*John Kurzweg – producer, engineer
*Chris Carrol – assistant
*Andrew Roshberg – digital engineering
* Ron Saint-Germain – mixer
*Fran Flannery – assistant mix engineer
*Jessie Henderson – assistant mix engineer
*Howie Weinberg – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

References

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Creed (band) albums
1997 debut albums
Wind-up Records albums
Grunge albums