Creed - Behind the Music

VH1

"Can you take me higher? To a place were blind men see."

Narrator: "It's a musical movement with millions of faithful followers."

John Kurzweg: "They were the best hard rock band I'd ever seen in my life. It was almost like a religious experience."

Narrator: "And it all began as a solitary search for inner peace."

Scott Stapp:"Every Creed record, it's just been kinda a personal journey for me."

"What's this life for...?

Narrator: "Raised on religion, Creed front man Scott Stapp spent his childhood in a private purgatory, battling inner demons and pious parents."

"Hurray for a child that makes it through..."

Dr. Steven Stapp: "I didn't like rock music cause it's pretty perverted ya know particularly in the seventies and eighties and down right gross I thought."

Scott Stapp: "As a eight and nine year old I'm thinking in terms of live after death and heaven and hell."

Narrator: "At eighteen Scott broke with his family and abandoned his faith."

Scott Stapp: "I was trying; you know, acid, ecstasy, mushrooms, pretty much trying to kill all my brain cells."

Lynda Stapp: "Scott needed to find his way; it's like a bird in a cage that had to be let go."

Narrator: "Then in a midnight revelation, Scott found his calling."

"Should have been dead on a Sunday morning banging my head"

Scott Stapp: "A dream startled me and I woke up, I just felt compelled to write."

Scott Phillips: "When I started really keying in on what he was saying, it just- it blew me away."

Narrator: "But Creeds message was lost on critics and record execs."

Scott Stapp: "Everyone else just said awww no rock-n-rolls dead."

Mark Tremonti: "Creed stuff, that's past, that's old hat."

Narrator: "The band went on a mission to find believers, and built an army of disciples one show at a time."

"One step on your own and you walk all over me"

Ken Fermaglich: "I remember seeing kids with their arms in the air chanting the words to every song."

Mark Tremonti: "We've had people who say I had a gun to my head the only thing that could make me feel better was your songs."

Narrator:"Now the spiritual band that's raising sonic hell."

Scott Stapp: "There's bigger thing out there than sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll."

Narrator: "Creed-Behind the Music"

"I gave my last dollar, can I still come to your show?"

Narrator: "The gospel according to Creed. Heavy metal messengers presiding over a rock-n-roll revival."

Can you take me higher?"

Scott Stapp: "Passion breeds followers."

"To a place with golden streets."

Scott Stapp: "We get up there and we just show the passion that we feel about this band. No one's going to be able to turn away from us."

Narrator: "Critics have condemned the band as a Pearl Jam knock off. They call Creed the choirboys of Christian rock. But concert crowds seem swept away with an almost religious fervor.

Unknown: You can hear the people down in the front almost as loud as Scott just coming through his microphone."

Crowd: "don't have to settle no Goddamn score."

Ken Fermaglich: "Age ten to twelve all the way up to age thirty-five or forty, it crosses all boundaries."

Crowd: "Cause we all live under the reign....."

Mark Tremonti: "They're part of this 20,000 strong sing along where everybody knows the message of the song, takes it to that next level."

Narrator: "Creed is propelled by a dynamic force every night charismatic front man Scott Stapp bares his soul through his song."

"I cry out to God seeking only his decision Gabriel stands and confirms I created my own prison"

Narrator: "From the inner struggles of his faith to his fears of fatherhood."

"Well I don't know if I'm ready to be the man I have to be..."

Scott Stapp: "The songs don't have an intention on making anyone believe anything; you know it was more of my personal search for - for what I believed in."

Narrator: "It's a search that began very early in life for Scott Stapp. Born in August of 1974, he was raised by devout Christians in Orlando Florida."

Scott Stapp: "Church two times on Sunday, Church on Wednesday, Church on Friday."

Lynda Stapp: "I went there when he was six months old, and he went there until he left home."

Scott Stapp: "My whole young life revolved around the church, and that wasn't a decision that I made, I was a part of that family I was born into it."

Narrator: "Dr. Steven Stapp, a dentist, believed in raising his son with the teachings of the Bible, and a strong dose of tough love."

Dr. Steven Stapp: "I was not a Christian all my life, but I found the truth and I - because I love my son and love my children, I want them to know it."

Scott Stapp: "As a eight and nine year old, I'm thinking in terms of, you know, life after death and heaven and hell, and the Bible, and all these epic - you know - things that a normal nine year old is not going to be thinking about, asking God 'God if you're real, will you turn off my bedroom light?' "if you prove yourself to me and let me know that you're real, I'll do whatever you want."

Narrator: "He would wait years for the answers to his questions but by the time Scott was eight, he knew that he loved to perform. His minister told Scott he had a gift, and with it he would one day touch people's lives."

Lynda Stapp: "He said dad, he said mom, that he knew that he had a call on his life, that he was to be a singing evangelist, can you believe that? He was sorta a ham bone."

Scott Stapp: "I never really had a fear of performing in front of people."

Narrator: "But Scott's father instilled a deep fear of the wages of sin."

Scott Stapp: "The set of rules my parents had on me, uhh, were very different than - you know - the rules my friends had."

Thad Thompson: "We wouldn't see him for like a week cause he'd be on restriction cause he didn't brush his teeth good enough one night, ya know."

Narrator: "The rules even extended to music. When Scott brought home a Def Leppard album at the age of eleven, the record was quickly confiscated."

Dr. Steve Stapp: "I didn't like rock music cause it's pretty perverted - ya know - particularly in the seventies and eighties and it was down right gross I thought and obviously I didn't want him exposed to that."

Scott Stapp: "I didn't like my parents; I didn't understand what they were doing."

Dr. Steven Stapp: "You don't put rules on children to harm them, you're not trying to keep them from having fun, you're just trying to protect them."

Narrator: "As penance Scott was made to study the scriptures."

Scott Stapp: "Sometimes when I would be punished I would copy the Bible I've probably written Proverbs about three times, I've probably written Psalms once or twice."

Narrator: "But conforming to his father's standards at home made Scott a misfit at school."

Thad Thompson: "He'd wear his tie and carry his briefcase [laugh] and walk around the halls."

Scott Stapp: "I got made fun of alot, it just kinda pushed me down in my hole and made me a little more, uhhhh, isolated."

Narrator: "Socially Scott struggled through high school, but at Lake Highland Prep he did manage to find a kindred spirit: Mark Tremonti."

Mark Tremonti: "Well I pretty much kept to myself at school. I think Scott did too, he had is little group of friends and I had mine."

Narrator: "Born and raised in Detroit, Mark got his first guitar at eleven. He started a band and even recorded a demo tape but when Mark turned fifteen his father uprooted the family and moved to Orlando."

Mark Tremonti: "My friends went from listening to Metallica, Anthrax, and all this heavy metal stuff, to my new friends in Florida listening to Mili Vanilli, CCMusic Factory - you know - needless to say nobody played any instruments."

Narrator: "By the age of sixteen Scott was desperate for more freedom. He got his first taste of it in a car that was older then he was."

Ben Cole: "It was this orange, I guess Datsun, it must have been a 1970 or something."

Mark Tremonti: "He probably had the worst car in school."

Ben Cole: "I mean I didn't know how the thing ran."

Thad Thompson: "But the kid was so proud of that car because I guess it was his first piece of freedom that he ever experienced he actually could get in his car and leave and get away from it all."

Dr. Steven Stapp: "It did give him a certain level of freedom. And I don't know whether even today I don't know whether it was a good thing."

Narrator: "Scott had spent his childhood as a devout believer and obedient son, but by the middle of his senior year he had grown into a rebellious teen, consumed by doubt."

Scott Stapp: "I was dealing with so many issues, you know, trying to figure out whether I believed in it because it was my decision or whether it was just pressed on me."

Dr. Steven Stapp: "Any kid wants to call their own shots but it's got to have parameters that everybody can live in and live by, and we can't have a maverick doing his own thing."

Narrator: "But Scott was determined to make his own rules so late in the fall of 91 he fled his parents home in the dead of night."

Scott Stapp: "It was just like the movies man, I crawled out my window, put my car in neutral, let it roll down the drive way, pushed it down the street, turned it on and split."

Lynda Stapp: "Scott needed to...find his way it's like a bird in a cage that had to be let go."

Scott Stapp: "They had just hoped that they had instilled in me enough good and enough morality not to kill myself, or make some terrible decisions - which I went and did."

Narrator: "Scott didn't run far or stay away from home long, but the boy with a gift had made a break, now he was in search for his own path to glory."

Narrator: "Next Scott discovers there's no turning back."

Scott Stapp: "You made a mistake, you know, go away, no food, no money, ya know, have a good life."

Narrator: "And later Creed has to rise above rejection."

Mark Tremonti: "You know Marilyn Manson is freaking big, Nine Inch Nails is freaking big. Creed's stuff, that's past, that's old hat, no that's not going to do well."

Narrator: When Behind the Music continues."

"Well I just heard..."

Narrator: "It's a rare day off for Creed as the band spends it in the desert outside Albuquerque, New Mexico at the ruins of the Abo Mission."

"I spent some time with nature...

Scott Stapp: "This was like the Church, that's where the altar was."

"To remind me of all that's real...

Narrator: "The structure was built nearly four centuries ago by Spanish Missionaries hoping to convert Native Americans to Christianity."

Scott Stapp: "We are all the same inside. I think there is a spiritual side to all of us. It's not Christianity, it's not a religion, it's a search for truth in life and in living."

"Again I stand - Lord I stand against the faceless man....."

Narrator: "Scott pours the pain and promise of his life's journey into every Creed performance, but only a few short years ago there was no telling where his search would take him."

Narrator: "At 17 Scott ran away from home while still a senior in high school. Desperate to escape a strict religious upbringing."

Scott Stapp: "For a while there I pushed everything away and I wanted to be able to make choices and decisions based on my own mind and my own thought process and not what someone else was telling me was the right way."

Narrator: "Scott stayed at a friends house for a month before agreeing to come home, but his relationship with his family would never be the same."

Thad Thompson: "He ended up having to work as a janitor at school to pay for his last semester of it because he had done something that his parents didn't agree with and they refused to pay for it."

Dr. Steven Stapp: "He, he was attracted, like most kids are, he was attracted to the glamour and the glitter and fun so to speak. He had to get out there and try things out and I realized that and that's why I probably cut the umbilical cord for Scott because I had to let him go, I couldn't control him."

Narrator: "In the fall of 1992 Scott left home and almost everything and everyone he knew including his friend Mark Tremonti."

Scott Stapp: "To be honest with you I never thought that I would see Mark Tremonti again."

Narrator: "Scott wanted to please his father so he enrolled in a Christian college, Lee University in Cleveland, TN. Lee was no wild party school but suddenly Scott was confronted with once forbidden temptations."

Scott Stapp: "I was a baby looking kid, ya know, I went from no female attention to my freshman year in college all of a sudden there are these beautiful women who want to hook up and I didn't know what to do, you know what I mean?"

Garry: Whitfield: "He learned a lot in a short period of time, about women, about booze, about pot and all that."

Narrator: Garry Whitfield was a senior living in the dorms. He and Scott found a common bond on the basketball court and in their deeply religious upbringing."

Garry Whitfield: We both were tormented with fundamentalism in a way. He just struck me as a kid that, ya know, seemed to be glad to be away from home.

"Your life has just begun....Are you ready, are you ready, for what's to come........."

Narrator: "Scott's life had just begun but his college career would be short lived."

Scott Stapp: "This is so weird to talk about cause this is college ya know, I went out and smoked a little pot and someone told on me, ya know, most people don't have to deal with that in their lives."

Garry Whitfield: "Somehow the school found out about it, called him in and said: 'Hey Scott were you doing this?'"

Narrator: "Scott had been taught all his life to be forthright. That honesty leads to forgiveness, but at Lee University he confessed and got expelled."

Scott Stapp: "It was a confusion for me because you are being taught that there's God's love and God's forgiveness and that we all make mistakes and God will forgive you and then when I'm in a position to where I made a mistake in their grounds, um, I'm expelled, I'm not forgiven."

Dr. Stephen Stapp: "I got mad and I told him if you came home we would have the same rules we had before you left you know what they are. He didn't want that."

Narrator: "Feeling forsaken by his family and betrayed by his beliefs Scott turned his back on the Church."

Scott Stapp: "That was my last experience with the Church, ya know, see ya later you made a mistake, ya know, go away, no food, no money, ya know have a good life."

Narrator: "With no place else to go, Scott hid out for weeks in the university dorm room of his friend, Garry Whitfield."

Scott Stapp: "I would like sleep in Garry's room like in the closet. They found out I was doing that, the police escorted me out and said alright see ya later."

Narrator: "Desperate for help Scott asked his grandparents for money. They sent all they could, just enough for a deposit on a cheap apartment near the campus."

Scott Stapp: "I didn't have enough money to turn on the electricity or the phone or tv or anything like that I just had a roof over my head. I had no furniture, uh, and I was sleeping on like a bed of towels."

Narrator: "Facing four empty walls and an uncertain future, he began writing down his feelings and frustrations."

Scott Stapp: "I just wrote and wrote and wrote. I didn't know they were songs at the time, but they were just lyrics and when I look back and I read over them they are like in a song kinda way."

"Torn...I'm filthy."

Garry Whitfield: "Just some deeply spiritual troubling things going on the kid's head."

"Born in my own misery..."

Garry Whitfield: "When it comes right down to it he's being damned to his own personal hell because, because he's a kid, because he's a, ya know, he's an 18 year old male growing up in the early 90's wanting to experience things that he heard about were of the devil and it was, it was just sad, very sad."

Narrator: "Next the chance reunion that sparks the super group."

Scott Stapp: "He's just starting to wail all these metal riffs, ya know, and I'm like okay I'm not really into that right now but you're all I got."

Mark Tremonti: "We just jammed and it was kinda like the guy was a brand new life. "

"With Arms Wide Open"

Narrator: "And later the number one hit that came from the heart."

Scott Phillips: "The guitar part was perfect, and the vocals were perfect and the lyrics were perfect and it was just kind of like a magic moment."

Narrator: When Behind the Music continues."

Narrator: Mesa DelSol Arena, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Minutes before taking the stage Creed's lead singer Scott Stapp is transforming himself from reflective father."

Scott Stapp: "Rock on Creed."

Jagger Stapp: "Rock on Creed."

Scott Stapp: "Yeah."

Narrator: "To rocks reigning voice of conscious."

Scott Stapp: "Let's do it, let's do it, let's do it. You guys see that audience? Boom!"

Ken Fermaglich: "One of the things that you get a sense of from Scott, he understands the ability to move people."

"One step on your own and you walk all over me."

Ken Fermaglich: "They can take him somewhere else."

Narrator: "Scott is now making believers of millions with songs he wrote at a time of great doubt."

"You believe..........."

Narrator: "In the fall of 92 18 year old Scott was broke, directionless and estranged from his family."

Scott Stapp: "My relationship with my father was virtually nonexistent, you know there might have been a two year period there where we didn't speak. To have a child that did what I was doing was an embarrassment."

Lynda Stapp: "It broke my heart he lived in an apartment, couldn't even get his electricity on."

Dr. Steven Stapp: "It's making a man out of him - he's learning what it takes to survive."

"When I'm all alone and no one else is there........."

Scott Stapp: "I was trying; you know, acid, ya know I was trying ecstasy, I was, I was a lot of hallucinate mushrooms, I was smoking pot and just pretty much just trying to kill all my brain cells."

Narrator: "In the summer of 93 Scott moved the party back to Orlando but he kept his distance from his father."

Scott Stapp: "That's when I really started getting into music. I was dating this girl, she just kind of opened a whole new world that I had not really experienced."

Narrator: "Scott was sucked in by the world of Classic Rock n Roll. Tuned in to and turned on by bands like Led Zeppelin and The Doors, he experienced an epiphany about his life."

Scott Stapp: "I was like, ya know, I want to do this, I can do this, ya know. I just didn't know how and I was reading a book on The Doors and it had mentioned that Jim Morrison lived in Tallahassee and so for some reason in my mind I thought that if I go to Tallahassee then there's just going to be musicians growing off trees."

Narrator: "In the summer of 95 Scott moved to Tallahassee soon afterwards while visiting a friends house he found his old high school pal Mark Tremonti jamming on a guitar."

Scott Stapp: "He's just starting to wail all these metal riffs, ya know, and I'm like okay I'm not really into that right now but you're all I got."

Mark Tremonti: "I had been writing music, ya know, for my whole life so I played some stuff that I had written, he'd sing over it, I think we might have written one or two songs the first night we played together."

Narrator: For Scott, songwriting quickly became a way to express the search that had consumed his life."

Scott Stapp: "It was like my therapy, ya know, just dealing with issues of spirituality and God and how He fit into my life and if He did fit into my life."

Narrator: "Scott and Mark decided to form a band, practicing at the home of a drummer they knew. Then one day 23 year old Scott Phillips came by for a visit sat in when Scott Stapp and the drummer took a break."

Scott Stapp: "All of a sudden I hear someone wailing on the drums and Mark playing and they are jamming like Living Color and I kind of peeked my head in the door and I look at Mark."

Mark Tremonti: "Ya know Scott I've got to talk to you, you know this is the guy, not the other guy."

Scott Stapp: "And that's how we found Scott, ya know it was kind of an accident."

Narrator: "Creed then recruited bassist Brian Marshall, with the groups lineup complete the band started out with the unlikely name 'Naked Toddler'."

Scott Stapp: Naked Toddler was this little newspaper article that, that Mark carried around in his wallet."

Mark Tremonti: "I thought 'Naked Toddler' was pretty funny."

Scott Stapp: "It kind of scared people away."

Narrator: "Brian had been in a band called Maddux Creed, he pushed for something similar."

Scott Phillips: "Stapp's Creed or Phillip's Creed or Marshall's Creed or Tremonti's Creed or whatever it was like dude it just sucks-it's not gonna work."

Scott Stapp: "Creed - let's use the word Creed because ya know I don't think they were really in tune with my lyrics yet and the word ya know is a belief or a following or something you believe in, and that's what I was in search for and so the name was perfect for me."

Narrator: "From day one Stapp's unbridled ambition would drive the band."

Scott Phillips: "If I was 10 or 15 minutes late for practice he was chappin my ass right off the bat."

Scott Stapp: "So like what's this psycho guy yelling at me about for being 10 minutes late for band practice or why is he taking everything so seriously, ya know, it was my way out, ya know, I had finally found my way out and nothing was gonna stop me from, from going through that door."

Narrator: "Within six months Creed landed a gig at Floyd's Music Store, a bar known for drawing national acts. It was here they found their first true believer."

Jeff Hanson: "One of my bartenders called me at home at like one in the morning one night he said 'you gotta come see this band,' so I got up up out of bed."

"Torn..................."

Jeff Hanson:"They weren't the greatest band in the world it was obvious they had only played a couple of shows, but there was just a charisma that Scott had."

Narrator: "Jeff Hanson called Creed personally to book them for their next gig at his club a few shows later the band asked him to be their manager. On a leap of faith Jeff sold his business' and embarked on a brand new career."

Jeff Hanson: "Little did I know at the time that I had 999 thousandths chance of failure out of a million. At the time I didn't know that."

Narrator: "Jeff Hanson's first mission was to get Creed into the studio. Musician turned producer John Kurzweg was recruited to help make an album at $30.00 an hour.

John Kurzweg: "They'd show up and, and hand me cash and stuff."

"See the sea of people all their faces look the same."

John Kurzweg: "Sometimes I wouldn't hear from them for a few weeks and then they'd call me again and go okay we've got some money and we're gonna come in and do some guitars and do some vocals and what not."

"A court is in session...a verdict is in."

Narrator: "The first song they worked on was "My Own Prison" a ground breaking composition that began as a revelation in the middle of the night."

Scott Stapp: "A dream startled me and I woke up it was like three or four in the morning and I sat down and I just felt compelled to write."

"Here there is no penance my skin begins to burn...."

Narrator: "A mixture of Christian imagery and critical self-examination, My Own Prison proved to be a breakout for Scott Stapp."

Scott Stapp: "I woke up the next morning and I was kinda taken back, wow ya know, where did this come from?"

Dr. Steven Stapp: "When I read the words I thought it was poetry and I thought is was very spiritualistic significant."

"I cry out to God seeking only his decision, Gabriel stands and confirms I've created my own prison."

Dr. Steven Stapp: "He was sharing things a lot of things that young people go through. He was also taking the blame for his mistakes. He said I made my own prison."

"Gabriel stands and confirms I've created my own prison."

Scott Phillips: "That was actually one of the factors that really drew me in even closer to the band, was substance to the lyrics, when I started really keying in on what he was saying it just, it blew me away."

Narrator: "But just as they got into a groove, Creed hit a wall. When Scott invested all the bands savings in a get rich quick scheme."

Scott Stapp: "I was just trying to do the band a favor, ya know, I thought I'd take this money and I'd turn it around real quick and make the band more money so we don't have to keep putting money in from our paychecks."

Narrator: "Scott was suckered into a pyramid scam within weeks he had lost all the money the group had managed to scrape together for recording. Desperate the band turned to their manager to keep their dream alive.

Jeff Hanson: "The guys called me up and said Hanson we are out of money, we are stalled in the studio we've got half the material done I said so let me give a listen to it."

John Kurzweg: "At the time I think we had about 15 or 16 songs maybe."

Jeff Hanson: "Two of the songs I heard were My Own Prison and Torn which ultimately became number one rock singles, and uh I just couldn't believe it so that night I went to a friends house and borrowed $3,000 more dollars."

Narrator: "Creed had new life and while they finished recording, Hanson convinced the local radio station to play a demo version of My Own Prison."

"Should have been dead on a Sunday morning banging my head."

Robby Robb (DJ WXSR 101.57):"The reaction was instant, uh the phone were ringing before the song was over. People wanted to know who that was, where they could see them."

Scott Stapp: That's when everything just kind of exploded."

Narrator: "Encouraged the band decided to put out the record on their own, selling the CD's after their shows they managed to move 5,000 copies of My Own Prison in less than 6 weeks. It was the spring of 97 and Creed was convinced the big time was right around the corner."

Scott Stapp: I thought there's no way we're not gonna get a record deal and sell three million records, ya know I just thought that's just what happened.

Scott Phillips: "Ya know it wasn't like that at all and quickly we learned, ya know, the way the record business really works."

Narrator: "Next the darlings of radio bang heads with the recording industry."

Scott Phillips: "A lot of these major labels seemed to be looking at us with dollar signs in their eyes. When it came down to crunch time nobody was willing to commit."

Narrator: "And later the once wayward son has a son of his own."

Scott Stapp: "Jagger has changed my life forever. He gave me a whole new perspective, a whole new set of eyes to see the world."

Narrator: When Behind the Music continues."

"Now Creed, Scott Stapp vocals."

Narrator: "Creed's Scott Stapp living out a fantasy standing in for his idol, Jim Morrison and belting out Light My Fire with the surviving members of The Doors."

"You know that it would be untrue, you know that I would be a liar"

Robby Krieger: "You get almost a shiver down your spine when you hear his voice at first, cause its right exactly like Jim's."

"Come on baby light my fire."

Narrator: "For Scott it's more than a chance to jam with music's elite, it's a tribute to Jim Morrison the man who inspired Scott to seek his rock and roll destiny."

"The time to hesitate is through."

Scott Stapp: "At the times like ya know, I want to do this. I can find somebody and start a band and make my way to LA just like Jim did."

"Come on baby light my fire. Come on baby light my fire."

Narrator: "The invitation to join The Doors on VH1's Storytellers is a testament to just how far Scott has come in three short years."

Narrator: "Back in the summer of 97 Creed was just still getting by. Sending their independent CD's to record labels and about to get a hard lesson in the business of rock and roll."

Scott Phillips: "Everyday we were sending out a CD to a new label. We were thinking it's gonna be a huge multi-million dollar deal we're the biggest thing ever."

"Only in America we're slaves to be free."

Narrator: "The band thought several record companies were interested but when they got to New York to close the deal they found the doors to rock stardom being shut one by one."

Scott Stapp: "Everyone just said aww no rock and roll's dead and ya know we don't think you guys are going to sell any records."

Mark Tremonti: "You know Marilyn Manson is freaking big, Nine Inch Nails is freaking big. Creed's stuff, that's past, that's old hat."

Narrator: "In the end the only deal offered was by an upstart independent label called Wind-Up Entertainment."

Mark Tremonti: "Wind-Up put a deal right on the table, said we'll give you this, we'll give you this, we're going to put a record out now. You are our main concern."

Narrator: "That's because Creed was to be Wind-Up's only concern; their first ever clients."

Mark Tremonti: "It was really scary cause you didn't know, we thought if we sign with Atlantic we've got a chance."

Scott Phillips: "What happens if the label drops the ball or if we drop the ball or whatever, we are locked into this, we just signed our fate."

Narrator: "But to Scott Stapp the chance to sign on the dotted line was proof-he had found his true calling."

Scott Phillips: "It was Stapp, it was like I'm signing it in blood, it's my life. So they get like an old knife that's laying around this place and trying to jab their finger."

Scott Stapp: "I'll have you know Mark did not cut his finger. Mark's very very fearful of things like that."

Mark Tremonti: "I'm like no way, I'm not, I'm not cutting myself to sign in some blood. Him and Brian signed their names in blood, me and Scott just signed our names."

Scott Phillips: "You're gonna get hepatitis, you're gonna die; we're never gonna have a record deal cause you guys are gonna be dead, you're idiots."

Mark Tremonti: "The contract comes back because anything written in red is void so it was all for nothing, man it was pretty funny."

Narrator: "But the band quickly learned that there was a big difference between having a deal and having it made."

Scott Stapp: "We thought that the day we got a record deal that it was Playboy bunny's dancing around everywhere."

Scott Phillips:" Just, ya know all of a sudden you've got a Rolls Royce in the driveway."

Scott Stapp: "Rolling around in money and that was it, our lives were changed forever."

"And I said oh........."

Narrator: "Wind-Up agreed to release My Own Prison but after marketing and production costs there wasn't much money left for the band members."

Scott Stapp: "Signing day is okay your in debt, here's a van, here's a trailer, go tour and uh and let's see if we can make some money doing this."

Narrator: "Just days after signing with Wind-Up Scott turned 23. While celebrating his birthday in a Tallahassee club he met the woman that would change his life."

Hillaree Stapp: "The first thing out of his mouth was 'so when are we going out?' You hear all these stories about how rock musicians, how they act and things that go on and I just didn't want to deal with that."

Narrator: "But Scott wouldn't take no for an answer."

Hillaree Stapp: "I basically told him that if he wanted to be with me and he wanted a serious relationship that he couldn't, ya know, take all the risks that he did."

Narrator: "Hillaree's ultimatum set the tone for Creed's first national tour. Scott abandoned the dark side of rock and roll once and for all, inspiring the rest of the band to clean up their act as well."

Scott Phillips: "We all used to do like a couple of shots of Jaeger before we'd go on then listen to tapes and we are like God we can't do that we suck."

Narrator: "There would be no more heavy drinking or drug taking, no late night partying."

Mark Tremonti: "The rock and roll lifestyle as you hear it, I can't understand how those bands, with the reputation that they have, could perform night after night without just getting obliterated after every show. I just couldn't imagine."

"Think I'm, think I'm unforgiven to this world."

Narrator: "The spiritual band with the thunderous sound set out to conquer the world of rock, bur at first nobody paid any attention after all Creed had no videos, no magazine covers, and no publicity machine behind them."

Scott Phillips: "Unless it was a local paper that was either gonna say Creed's coming to town or they'd chap us after we left because they'd blow us off as a Pearl Jam rip off or a Christian band or you know whatever it was. Nobody seemed like they want to like us."

John Kurzweg: "You've got a new band, a new label, a new producer and a new manager. Now all of these people are unheard of."

Narrator: "Club owner turned manager Jeff Hanson quickly mapped out a touring strategy that would play to Creed's strength; their power packed performances."

"We believe........."

Jeff Hanson: "We're gonna pick 20 or 30 markets that seem to have a good rock history and we're gonna go back to those markets three times in the first year. And it was amazing 'cause the first time we went to all the markets there'd be 100 people at the show. The second time there was a 1,000 people at the show. By the third time we were going back to these places we were playing the biggest venues of the market."

Ken Fermaglich: "I remember seeing 1,500 kids with their arms in the air chanting the words to every song."

"What's this life for......"

Ken Fermaglich: "And I remember thinking this is what's to come around the rest of the country."

"What's this life for? What's this life for?"

Narrator: "Mesmerized by their concerts, fans bombarded radio stations with requests for Creed songs and soon My Own Prison was an underground hit. Despite negative reviews and complete dismissal by the media and the music industry, CD sales began to skyrocket."

Scott Phillips: "We went from like 3 and 4,000 a week to 10 or 15,000 a week up to about 20 to 25,000 a week. It took us two or three months to sell 5,000 in our hometown. No were' doing ya know five times that all over the country every week."

"Peace is what they tell me."

Narrator: "Creed was on a roll driven in large part by Scott Stapp and his single minded determination."

Scott Stapp: "When I set my mind to something it's like a 100 miles an hour non stop and if you're not coming along with me then get out of here."

Jeff Hanson: "It seems like all of it is fate. Bunch of knuckleheads get together and decide to do something, make a connection with their fans without the help of the press. Everything the kids ever predicted would come true has come true."

"Lies are what they tell me....."

Narrator: "For the members of Creed it was the ride of a lifetime and Scott wanted Hillaree to join him."

Hillaree Stapp: "Scott proposed to me on the tour bus actually and the next day he called his mom and told her that we were engaged."

Narrator: "And they were married in January of '98. In that spring as My Own Prison went platinum, Hillaree told Scott he would soon be a father. The news would sent Scott back to his notebooks to craft Creed's biggest tune to date."

"With arms wide open."

Narrator: "Next the birth of a son and a song."

Mark Tremonti: "It's one of those moments were it just all came together."

Scott Phillips: "I think it was really very emotional for all of us."

Narrator: When Behind the Music continues."

" With arms wide open."

"Should have been dead on a Sunday morning banging my head."

Narrator: "By the summer of '98 Creed's My Own Prison had produced four number one singles, a record for a debut album. Now facing the pressure of a follow up and of fatherhood Scott Stapp poured his emotions into a song."

Scott Phillips: "I remember Scott writing down lyrics during the sound check."

Mark Tremonti: "It was one of those moments where it just all came together."

Scott Phillips: "The guitar part was perfect, and the vocals were perfect and the lyrics were perfect and I think it was really very emotional for all us of."

"Well I just heard the news today, seems my life is gonna change."

Narrator: "The song that emerged was called With Arms Wide Open a hopeful ode to an unborn son."

Scott Stapp: "I didn't want him having the inner struggles and the conflicts that I had in my mind, you know I didn't want him to have the heaven and hell conflicts at six years old and all the guilt and the pressure and the stress that, that religion, not spirituality, but religion had brought on me as a child."

"With arms wide open, under the sunlight, welcome to this place I'll show you everything, with arms wide open."

Narrator: "In summer '98, Creed performed the song for the first time in concert as a surprise for expectant mother Hillaree Stapp."

Hillaree Stapp: "He had written a song for his unborn child and for me. It made me cry. I had no idea. It was so special to me."

Andrew Weiss: "When they played it live for the first time, just dropped the audience ya know, just stopped them cold."

"If I had just one wish, only one demand, I hope he's not like me, I hope he understands."

Narrator: "Now the song and the son are the ultimate show stoppers. Little Jagger is the bands latest inspiration."

Hillaree Stapp: "My baby goes up there and they are together, they look so much the same and then people start singing even more."

Mark Tremonti: "It's funny he looks exactly like Stapp when he brings him out on stage he looks like a little mini me."

Scott Phillips: "I'm grooming him to be a drummer. He's a little rocker man."

Scott Stapp: "Jagger has changed my life forever. He gave me a whole new perspective, a whole new set of eyes to see the world."

Narrator: "Having a son has done more than give Scott a new appreciation of life. It's also helped to heal his relationship with his own father once and for all."

Dr. Steven Stapp: "I don't think there is any way for children to really understand what a parent goes through until you become a parent yourself."

Scott Stapp: "It's neat to see my father down on his hands and knees playing with my son. Looking back ya know, I know that they loved me and uh and what they thought that they were doing was the right thing."

Narrator: "These days Jagger is a regular on the road and although bassist Brian Marshall left the band in mid-2000 the family Creed seems stronger than ever."

Narrator: "In September '99 Creed released their much anticipated second album. Human Clay was spearheaded by Higher one of the record of seven consecutive number one singles. Altogether the band has now sold more than 13 million records in less than five years."

"Can you take me higher?"

Narrator: "As always the key to Creed's appeal is their exhilarating live shows."

"Can you take me higher?"

Narrator: "With searing licks and spiritual lyrics the band has established a celestial connection with their fans."

Crowd: "One oh one, the only way is one."

John Kurzweg: "Today in the beginning to me, we were a little green and then I saw them almost a year later, they were the best hard rock band I'd ever seen in my life."

Crowd: "I feel angry I feel helpless want to change the world yeah."

John Kurzweg: "Excuse the expression it was almost like a religious experience."

Mark Tremonti: "We'd have people who say I had a gun up to my head, the only thing that could make me feel better was your songs."

Narrator: "To the band fame and fortune are less important than their message of hope and unity. And no one is a greater example of that hope than one of their own. A once troubled teen who has finally found meaning in his life."

"Well I just heard the news today, it seems my life is gonna change."

Lynda Stapp: "I believe that he is touching more lives as a rock star than most evangelists. Scott is doing truly what God wants him to do."

"Then tears of joy stream down my face."

Scott Stapp: "I know one day we won't be the biggest rock band in the world. As long as the legacy I leave behind is something that I'm proud of it doesn't matter when it ends and uh, I'll be happy either way."

Wide open......"