Creed: Greatest Hits

iTunes Review

Creed: Greatest Hits reminds us that the band had many viable radio hits and were also one of the hugest rock acts during the late-‘90s and early-‘00s. When Eddie Vedder and company stopped playing stadium grunge to embark upon artistic evolution, Creed were the ones best at delivering a proven formula to a population of people who preferred familiarity to change. Creed: Greatest Hits starts back in 1997 with the eerie “Torn,” from their debut My Own Prison and the album’s title-track: two semi-ballads that introduced a proficient band borrowing Vedder’s elongated vowel inflections, Alice In Chains’ tortured lyrics, Soundgarden’s Sabbath-inspired riffs, and Stone Temple Pilots’ commercial appeal. True fans will be pleased to find “With Arms Wide Open” here; the suicide-based ballad was the band’s first number-one hit. And bookending with 2002’s “Weathered” makes sense lyrically, as singer Scott Stapp’s haggard sentiment sounds both earnest and honest.