Human Clay

This article is about the album. For the band, see Human Clay (band).
Human Clay
Studio album by Creed
Released September 28, 1999
Recorded Late 1998–early 1999
Genre
Length 56:22
Label Wind-up
Producer John Kurzweg
Creed chronology
My Own Prison
(1997)		 Human Clay
(1999)		 Weathered
(2001)
Singles from Human Clay
  1. "Higher"
    Released: August 24, 1999
  2. "What If"
    Released: January 2000
  3. "With Arms Wide Open"
    Released: April 24, 2000
  4. "Are You Ready?"
    Released: August 2000
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Robert Christgau(C)[2]
Entertainment Weekly(C-)[3]
Rolling Stone[4]
Rock Hard (de)9/10[5]

Human Clay is the second studio album by American rock band Creed, released on September 28, 1999 through Wind-Up Records. This was the final album until 2009's Full Circle to feature Brian Marshall on bass guitar; he departed from the band shortly after the tour for the album in August 2000. The album has sold over 11.5 million copies in the United States alone and over 20 million worldwide, making it the best selling album of Creed's career and one of the best-selling albums in the United States. At approximately 56 minutes long, it is the longest studio album by Creed.

Overview

Human Clay is the only Creed album without a title track. According to Mark Tremonti, the album cover represents a crossroad which every man finds himself at in his life and the man of clay represented "our actions, that what we are is up to us, that we lead our own path and make our own destiny." The title of the album comes from a lyric in "Say I" ("The dust has finally settled on the field of human clay"), a song which carries the same message. The album had three videos created for it: "Higher", "What If," and "With Arms Wide Open."

During the summer of 2000, bassist Brian Marshall began a spiral into alcoholism and addiction. While under the influence, Marshall threatened to beat up Tremonti, began missing band obligations, and attacking Stapp both verbally and online. The band had a meeting with management to discuss Marshall's future. Stapp and Tremonti supported Marshall going to rehab and attempted to talk Marshall into going, but at that point, Marshall was too far gone to recognize he needed help. Brett Hestla of Virgos Merlot was initially contacted to "fill in" while Marshall went to rehab, but that never happened. Initially, the public thought Marshall was let go because he criticized Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder in a radio interview with KNDD in June 2000, claiming that Scott Stapp is a better songwriter, and criticized Pearl Jam's recent albums for "having songs without hooks."[6] Stapp later distanced the rest of the band from Marshall's comments and stated, "Yes, we get tired of the PJ question, but there is no excuse for the arrogance and stupidity [of Marshall]. I ask you all not to judge Creed as a band, because the statements made were not the band's feelings, they were Brian's. I'm sorry if Brian offended anyone, and he has already apologized for his comments."[7] Although it was reported Marshall left Creed "on friendly terms," he didn't. Tremonti and Stapp were concerned for Marshall and their collective friendships, but soon after the controversy, Marshall formed a new band called Grand Luxx with his old Mattox Creed band mates. Marshall was temporarily replaced by touring bassist Hestla.[8] Stapp stated Marshall's leaving was his choice and was unrelated to the Pearl Jam comments.[9] Mark Tremonti filled as the bassist on their third album, Weathered, while Brett Hestla became their touring bassist. However, the band has since reunited with Marshall.

Critical reception

Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album 4 stars out of 5, concluding that "it may not be the kind of thing that knocks out critics or grunge purists, but it does deliver for anyone looking for direct, grunge-flavored hard rock."[10]

Commercial performance

The album was the band's first to hit #1 in the U.S., where it debuted with first week sales of 315,000, and stayed on top for two weeks.[11] Human Clay has been certified 11x platinum and Diamond by the RIAA, and is the 54th best-selling album of all time in the United States (as of February 2007).[12] It ranks as the eighth best selling album in the U.S. since the advent of Nielsen SoundScan in 1991.[13] It has also been certified 6 times platinum in Canada, 5 times in Australia and 7 times in New Zealand and 4 times in Switzerland among others, selling an estimated 20 million copies worldwide.[14] The album has spent a record 104 weeks on the Billboard chart survey.[15] As of October 2014, it has sold 11,690,000 copies in the United States alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[13]

Legacy

In 2001, the fourth single "With Arms Wide Open" won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.[16] In 2005, Human Clay was ranked number 422 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[17] Human Clay was ranked #5 on Billboard's 200 Albums of the Decade in 2009.[18] VH1 listed "Higher" as one of the greatest hard rock songs of all time in 2009. The music video for "With Arms Wide Open" was voted the 92nd best music video of all-time by VH1 who also ranked it #4 on its "25 Greatest Power Ballads" list.[19]

Track listing

All lyrics written by Scott Stapp, all music composed by Mark Tremonti.

Vinyl Edition[20]
No. Title Length
1. "Are You Ready?"   4:45
2. "What If"   5:18
3. "Beautiful"   4:20
4. "Say I"   5:15
5. "Wrong Way"   4:19
6. "Faceless Man"   5:59
7. "Never Die"   4:51
8. "With Arms Wide Open"   4:38
9. "Higher"   5:19
10. "Wash Away Those Years"   6:04
11. "Inside Us All"   5:39
Total length:
 56:28

Personnel

Additional musicians

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (1999–2000) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[24] 2
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[25] 1
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[26] 4
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[27] 9
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[28] 35
UK Albums (OCC)[29] 29
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[30] 5
US Billboard 200[31] 1

Decade-end charts

Chart (2000–2009) Position
U.S. Billboard 200 5

Sales and certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[32] 4× Platinum 280,000
Austria (IFPI Austria)[33] Gold 25,000
Canada (Music Canada)[34] 6× Platinum 600,000
Germany (BVMI)[35] Gold 150,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)[36] 5× Platinum 75,000
Norway (IFPI Norway)[37] Platinum 50,000
Sweden (GLF)[38] Gold 40,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[39] Gold 100,000
United States (RIAA)[40] 11× Platinum 11,690,000[13]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1999 "Higher" U.S. Billboard Hot 100 7
U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
2000 "What If" U.S. Billboard Hot 100 102
U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 3
"With Arms Wide Open" U.S. Billboard Hot 100 1
U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks
"Are You Ready?" U.S. Billboard Hot 100 125
U.S. Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks 4
Preceded by
The Fragile by Nine Inch Nails		 Billboard 200 number-one album
October 16–29, 1999 		Succeeded by
Supernatural by Santana

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Thomas, Stephen (1999-09-28). "Allmusic review". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  2. ↑ "CG: Creed". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  3. ↑ Morgan, Laura (1999-10-08). "Human Clay Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-03-18.
  4. ↑ Powers, Ann (1999-10-28). "Creed: Human Clay : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2007-10-02. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  5. ↑ Schnädelbach, Buffo. "Rock Hard review". issue 149. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  6. ↑ David Basham (June 19, 2000). "Creed Bassist Disses Pearl Jam In Radio Interview". CMT.
  7. ↑ Archived March 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  8. ↑ Steve Huey. "Creed". Allmusic.
  9. ↑ Joe D'Angelo (August 9, 2004). "Scott Stapp Breaks His Silence". MTV.
  10. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Human Clay". AllMusic.
  11. ↑ Mancini, Robert (1999-10-13). "News - Articles - 1427609". Mtv.com. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  12. ↑ "RIAA - Recording Industry Association of America". Riaa.com. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  13. 1 2 3 Caulfield, Keith (2014-10-10). "Adele's '21' Surpasses 11 Million In U.S. Sales". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2014-10-11.
  14. ↑ "Interview: Mark Tremonti on Creed's 2012 full albums tour". MusicRadar.com. 2012-04-04. Retrieved 2012-09-03.
  15. ↑ "Human Clay - Creed". Billboard.com. 1999-10-16. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  16. ↑ Creed's Scott Stapp on his 2001 Grammy win. 19 January 2014 – via YouTube.
  17. ↑ [...], Rock Hard (Hrsg.). [Red.: Michael Rensen. Mitarb.: Götz Kühnemund] (2005). Best of Rock & Metal die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten. Königswinter: Heel. p. 41. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
  18. ↑ "Music Albums, Top 200 Albums & Music Album Charts". Billboard.com. 2009-12-31. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  19. ↑ "Creed: "With Arms Wide Open" (25 Greatest Power Ballads)". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  20. ↑ "Creed - Human Clay [Vinyl] - Amazon.com Music".
  21. ↑ "Amazon.com: Human Clay: Creed: MP3 Downloads".
  22. ↑ "Creed - Human Clay - Amazon.com Music".
  23. ↑ "Human Clay (Bonus Disc)".
  24. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Creed – Human Clay". Hung Medien.
  25. ↑ "Creed – Chart history" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Creed.
  26. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Creed – Human Clay". Hung Medien.
  27. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Creed – Human Clay". Hung Medien.
  28. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Creed – Human Clay". Hung Medien.
  29. ↑ "{{{artist}}} | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
  30. ↑ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
  31. ↑ "Creed – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Creed.
  32. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2001 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association.
  33. ↑ "Austrian album certifications – Creed – Human Clay" (in German). IFPI Austria. Enter Creed in the field Interpret. Enter Human Clay in the field Titel. Select album in the field Format. Click Suchen
  34. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Creed – Human Clay". Music Canada.
  35. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Creed; 'Human Clay')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  36. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – Creed – Human Clay". Recorded Music NZ.
  37. ↑ "Norwegian album certifications – Creed – Human Clay" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway.
  38. ↑ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2001" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
  39. ↑ "British album certifications – Creed – Human Clay". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Human Clay in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
  40. ↑ "American album certifications – Creed – Human Clay". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
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