Creed falls squarely into the pantheon of bands that music nerds like myself love to hate.
Too mainstream to be Christian rock, too vaguely Christian to be cool, they exist, in my mind, alongside groups like The Fray, Imagine Dragons, and U2. Bands that, although sonically quite different from each other, have all committed the mortal rock and roll sin I call “bombastic earnestness.”
But, as Creed’s lyrics repeatedly insist, and Scott Stapp’s life is a testament to, redemption is possible…