You know how it goes – a band gets huge and all of a sudden everyone "hates them." Except that band is still selling tons of tickets and generally doing just fine. Outside the dudes in Nickelback, nobody knows it better than Creed.
In an interview with Consequence, Creed frontman Scott Stapp said he's viewing the band's reunion and warm reception from a place of positivity and not from a place of vindication. Stapp said despite all the hate Creed got over the years, it seemed to be mostly media-generated, as the fans were still showing up and buying records..
"I think the initial backlash, some of it was just part of being so big, so fast — eight straight number one singles. I mean, we were all over the radio. You couldn't escape us. I think the initial narrative was completely created by kind of the elite, critical media, kind of the cool guy club, who liked bands that didn't sell a lot of records. So it was a narrative that was kind of generated by that niche of the media and then propagandized out there to make people think that that was the voice of the people.
"And as that narrative was being put out there, we were selling out multiple nights of arenas, releasing diamond records, and had stadiums on hold. So it didn't even line up at all with the masses. Again, it was a media-generated narrative. And once that kind of gets out there and just gets hammered home, you'll always have the fringes that come out on both sides, but it didn't represent the people, and Creed has always been a people's band.
"And that's what meant so much to us, were the awards and the recognition that we got that the people chose, and that the numbers said, and that the concert tickets said. So that's really my perspective on it, from a thousand-foot view, but at the time it definitely kind of caught all of us off-guard. We didn't understand because we went from being on the cover of magazines that said, 'Creed's the savior of rock ‘n' roll' to all of a sudden the most hated band by the media, not by the public, by the media. So, it was just kind of like, 'Hey, this doesn't line up with our rock ‘n' roll dream. What's going on?'
Stapp continued, noting that of course Creed wasn't thrilled about being disliked at the time: "Being that young age, of course there was some frustration, anger, hurt. But being where we are now, we kind of know that that's just what comes with it. It's just part of the deal. I mean, it happens in pro sports. Mark and I were doing an interview the other day, and he was talking about how this has happened with LeBron James. He goes from King James and then now he gets hate. He's one of the most hated players in the league, and it's all because of how dominant and how successful he is. And so it's just par for the course. It just comes with the territory, and being more mature and older now.
"All that matters is the fans, and all that matters is riding on the positivity and then just trying to deliver to the fans every night and focus on what's good, and just let all that stuff go. It doesn't hurt anymore."
Creed has an insane amount of tour dates coming up for the rest of the year. Tickets are available here.
w/ Switchfoot & Finger Eleven
7/17 Green Bay, WI Resch Center
7/19 Monticello, IA Great Jones County Fair
7/20 Walker, MN Moondance Jam
7/23 Simpsonville, SC CCNB Amphitheatre at Heritage Park
w/ 3 Doors Down & Finger Eleven
7/24 Charlotte, NC PNC Music Pavilion
7/26 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
7/27 Virginia Beach, VA Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach
7/30 Toronto, ON Budweiser Stage (w/ Big Wreck, no 3 Doors Down)
7/31 Clarkston, MI Pine Knob Music Theatre
8/2 Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
8/3 Burgettstown, PA The Pavilion at Star Lake
8/6 Bridgeport, CT Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater (w/ Tonic, no 3 Doors Down)
8/7 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
8/9 St. Louis, MO Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis, MO
8/10 Indianapolis, IN Ruoff Music Center
8/13 Nashville, TN Ascend Amphitheater (w/ Tonic, no 3 Doors Down)
8/14 Pelham, AL Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
8/16 Tinley Park, IL Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
8/17 Welch, MN Treasure Island Amphitheater
8/20 Gilford, NH BankNH Pavilion (w/ Tonic, no 3 Doors Down)
8/21 Boston, MA Xfinity Center
8/23 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium
8/24 Saratoga Springs, NY Broadview Stage at SPAC
8/31 San Bernardino, CA Glen Helen Amphitheatre (Summer of '99 And Beyond Festival w/ 3 Doors Down, Daughtry, Finger Eleven, Fuel, Vertical Horizon & The Verve Pipe)
9/1 Wheatland, CA Toyota Amphitheatre
9/4 Phoenix, AZ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
9/6 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre
9/7 Denver, CO Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre
9/10 Rogers, AR Walmart AMP (w/ Daughtry, no 3 Doors Down)
9/11 Dallas, TX Dos Equis Pavilion
9/13 San Antonio, TX Frost Bank Center
11/2 Oklahoma City, OK Paycom Center
11/3 Little Rock, AR Simmons Bank Arena
11/6 Kansas City, MO T-Mobile Center
11/8 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
11/9 Biloxi, MS Mississippi Coast Coliseum
11/12 Corpus Christi, TX American Bank Center Arena
11/13 Fort Worth, TX Dickies Arena
11/15 Austin, TX Moody Center ATX
11/16 Bossier City, LA Brookshire Grocery Arena
11/19 Grand Rapids, MI Van Andel Arena
11/20 Detroit, MI Little Caesars Arena
11/22 Cleveland, OH Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
11/23 Baltimore, MD CFG Bank Arena
11/25 Montreal, QC Bell Centre (w/ Mammoth WVH & Finger Eleven)
11/27 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena (w/ Mammoth WVH & Finger Eleven)
11/29 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
11/30 Bangor, ME Cross Insurance Center
12/2 Allentown, PA PPL Center (w/ 3 Doors Down)
12/4 Atlanta, GA State Farm Arena
12/5 Orlando, FL Kia Center (w/ 3 Doors Down)
