Whoa, hey I agree, on the most part. I love The Joshua Tree.
Herein lies the problem that many people have with Creed, though. Their songs are so structurally similar to one another as to be indistinguishable and/or unoriginal to some extent. I know I've heard the beginning of My Sacrifice come on the radio and thought, why on earth are they playing Take Me Higher? That song is so old! Those two songs are incredibly similar in both chords and lyrical tone. However, in my years as a U2 fan, I have never heard someone complain that all of U2's songs sound the same in the same way that people complain about Creed's songs.
Wait so, if song from an old album sounds similar to a song on the another album, there is something wrong there? Hmmmmmm... I see guilty parties to such actions, U2 (Go through ATYCLB and then go through their entire back catalogue), REM (Remember Daysleeper, Imitation of Life, or All the Way to Reno, etc...). Heck in U2's youth, you could make those comparisons with "Out of Control" and "I Will Follow" or "Rejoice"... should I go on? Also if the big boys are allowed that opportunity, why not Creed? They are the biggest band in America. Youmention chords and lyrical tone??? Everyone repeats chords and writes about what is near and dear to them. Bono and co. is guilty of that as well. Bono tends to repeat metaphors and images. His focus is on a she/God/love object... all of those being interchangeable...remember my water comment on the Joshua Tree... If you listened to the album you would think Bono lived at sea...
U2 gets love and Creed doesn't what can I say. They are the Rodney Dangerfields of music.
Okay, but if U2 can sound like U2, why can't Creed sound like Creed?
Even if you get past the fact that many people see Creed's music as one or two songs rehashed over and over, there's also the fact that Creed sounds like so many other bands. Stapp has this Eddie Vedder thing going on. The guitar riff at the end of My Sacrifice is a Led Zeppelin rip-off. Nothing they do sounds unique. It sounds familiar and cliche. As someone else once said, it sounds like they have raped the rotting corpse of grunge music one too many times. (I don't necessarily like the imagery of that statement, but it does make a good point.)
Sure and one can hear a several influences in U2. Stapp sounds like Vedder but what can he do? Thats the voice that he has. He doesn't sing like Vedder though. Maybe in a few songs but overall the way sings is much different. I didn't know Vedder had monopoly on deep baritone like voices in rock music. As for ripping rock riffs... Uhhhhmmmm, rock music is littered with borrowed riffs. Heck Led Zeppelin stole a lot of their riffs from various blues albums and U2 ain't innocent of a little pilfering either.
Creed didn't rape the corpse of grunge... stop making gross necrophilia metaphors to make a point.
And that, in my humblest opinion, is why Creed doesn't even stand in the shadow of the great rock n roll bands. There is no innovation, no groundbreaking creativity, nothing inspiring. U2 may always sound like U2, but it's always a slightly different, new, and fresh U2 sound with new ideas, new colors, and rarely a dull, deja vu moment.
And by the way, if you think it's great that Creed is being mentioned in the same sentence as U2, albeit in very unflattering and derogatory ways, more power to you. I love it when people say Creed doesn't compare to U2 too.
Actually no band can truly be like U2. U2 is one of kind IMO. Creed is striving to be like U2 but can any band do it, especially in today's environment? I doubt it. They can only try. Creed is trying aren't they? Besides maybe people should listen to all of Weathered without the U2 goggles.
Creed,hmmmmmm....I thought Creed was supported on this board since they're so earnest and singing from their heart that good old rock.
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~ "You can't resist her. She's in your bones. She is your marrow and your ride home. You can't avoid her. She's in the air; in between molecules of oxygen and carbon dioxide." ~ RC
[This message has been edited by Flying FuManchu (edited 02-21-2002).]