Creed released four singles from the album: the title track, "Torn", "What's This Life For", and "One". Despite only peaking at number 22 on the Billboard 200, strong radio airplay propelled My Own Prison to become a commercial success. All singles were successful on rock radio in the United States and, with the exception of "One", had music videos that received airplay on MTV. My Own Prison was eventually certified sextuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and, as of 2009, sold over 6,000,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album received reviews ranging from positive to negative, complimenting its guitar riffs and music but criticizing its similarity to 1990s grunge bands.
For the band's debut release, manager Jeff Hanson matched them up with John Kurzweg, a producer friend who, with his unobtrusive production style and talents as a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, he felt was a great fit.[1] The album, funded by Hanson, was recorded for $6,000. My Own Prison was originally released independently on the band's own label, Blue Collar Records, in 1997. It was distributed to Florida radio stations, and their enthusiasm for the record helped it sell 6,000 copies in the first two months in Florida alone.[1] Vocalist Scott Stapp said that even though the band was trying to find their creative stride, it took a while for them to discover their musical style. He said: "I remember after Mark and I and the guys wrote our first five or seven songs and we hadn't found our identity yet. Then we wrote a song called 'Grip My Soul', which we never recorded or put out but I remember leaving band rehearsal and all of us felt the same way. Like, alright, we found ourselves. We found out who we are and then right after that is when 'My Own Prison' poured out of us". He added: "If I'm remembering correctly, those were essentially the next 10 out of 13 songs that we wrote after that initial 'find your identity' moment that I think every band has".[2] Guitarist Mark Tremonti said that in the band's early days, he was working as a cook at Chili's and Stapp was a cook at Ruby Tuesday's. Drummer Scott Phillips was managing a knife store at a mall and bassist Brian Marshall was the only one without a job, and, according to Tremonti, Marshall "was also the only one who ended up getting his degree before it was all said and done".[3] When Creed got a record deal, the band got an advance, and Tremonti quit his job and started working for about three weeks at the local guitar shop and then after that, Creed began touring.[3] My Own Prison was originally released through Blue Collar Records but was remixed by Wind-up Records and then re-issued. Creed recorded the original version of the album in Kurzweg's house in Tallahassee, Florida. To record the rest of the album, they went to Long View Farm in Massachusetts.[3]
Stapp was heavily influenced by U2's album The Joshua Tree as well as by the Doors and Led Zeppelin.[11] The band was frequently compared to Tool, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam, in response to which, Stapp said: "It could be worse. They could be comparing us to some shitty band that no one has ever heard of, rather than the biggest band of the decade."[5] Likewise, Tremonti stated, "It doesn't bother me so much. They're one of the best bands to come out in the past 10 years."[13][11]
Prior to releasing the album on their own independent label, Creed recruited Daniel Tremonti, Mark's brother, to become their creative director. Stapp described Daniel as a "super soulful guy with the heart and talent of a true artist". They picked a photo that Daniel had taken for a photography class as the cover for the record. The image was of a man named Justin Brown, a friend of the band, depicting him kneeling shirtless in a corner with his hands on top of his head. Stapp claimed the artwork "captured him to the core" and that it reflected the isolation, conflict, and torture that was driving him as well as seeing hope and feeling that he was like the man in the artwork, "who had been beaten down but could now get up". Looking to have a professional-looking final product, the band acquired a loan from bassist Brian Marshall's father and went to a one-stop company to package and manufacture the record. They ordered five thousand copies and took them to major outlets in Tallahassee. All five thousand were sold within the first month.[17][18]
The original Blue Collar Records version featured the band's original logo, a wordmark inside a roundel, situated to the top right just over Justin Brown, with the album title at the bottom. The Wind-up version featured an updated band wordmark logo in a Mason Serif Regular font, now situated on the top left, with the album title just below that, to the right. The band's updated logo would go on to become their permanent logo, although the font would eventually become slightly more extended on future releases.
"It all came true in an instant. Within a year of that record coming out we were essentially playing arenas in some places. So that album will always have a special place in my heart because it changed my life forever and launched my life and career in the music business."
My Own Prison peaked at number 22 on the Billboard 200 on May 2, 1998, staying on the chart for 112 weeks.[22] The album also peaked at number one on the Heatseekers Albums chart on November 8, 1997.[23] On January 22, 2000, the album reached number one on the Catalog Albums chart, remaining there for 157 weeks.[24] My Own Prison was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on August 25, 1998. It went triple platinum on February 26, 1999, 4 platinum on November 3, 1999, 5 platinum on December 4, 2000, and 6 platinum on August 26, 2002.[25] On January 2, 1998, MTV reported that the album had sold 175,000 copies in the United States.[5] On September 18, 1998, The New York Times stated that My Own Prison had sold 2,200,000 copies nationally.[6] Time reported on October 18, 1999, that the record had sold nearly 4,000,000 copies.[26] On January 3, 2002, Rolling Stone wrote that, according to Nielsen SoundScan, My Own Prison sold 5,700,000 copies in the US.[27] As of 2009, the album had sold more than 6,000,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[28] My Own Prison sold 15,000,000 copies worldwide, making it one of the most successful debut albums of all time.[29]
Hanson booked the group with producer John Kurzweg and self-funded their recording sessions starting in 1995. My Own Prison was released independently in 1997 and initially distributed to radio stations in Florida, resulting in about 6,000 copies sold. Later in 1997, the group was signed by Wind-Up Records and the album was remixed for further distribution.
Once it caught on, My Own Prison became a charting hit world wide as well as being one of the top 200 selling albums of all time in the US. The group soon began developing material for their second album. Human Clay in 1999, which would bring Creed even more success.
Creed cover art courtesy of Atom Splitter PRCreed's multi-Platinum-selling debut album, 'My Own Prison,' set for 25th anniversary vinyl reissueSubmittedTue, Oct 25th 2022 03:30 pmOn wax for very first time, album will be available in variety of limited-edition colors at select retailers
In addition to a wide release on classic black wax, fans can also find the album in a variety of limited-edition, exclusive variants, including opaque orange (via Revolver), metallic silver (Walmart), and root beer vinyl, available only on Craft Recordings official webstore.
As we know now, Creed became one of the biggest selling rock bands of the late '90s and early 2000s, but their rise to the top was anything but assured. However, on Aug. 26, 1997, the band's journey to releasing their first album finally came to fruition and My Own Prison wasted no time in becoming a major breakout smash for the band.
The grassroots start began paying dividends, but things really started to take a turn with the release of the My Own Prison album in August of 1997 and the arrival of the title track at radio. "Pretty soon after My Own Prison, the song was getting played on the locals only radio show in Tallahassee. Another radio station in another city nearby in Georgia started playing another single or another song, not a single but they started playing a song called 'Pity for a Dime' off that record," Stapp told me. "They asked us to do a show in their town and I remember showing up and there was maybe five or six thousand people there. I remember looking at Mark and we both just smiled, and we knew that it was on, that our dreams were coming true. I'll never forget that show because it was literally like we went from playing in front of three to five hundred people to five to six thousand in like, two weeks. I'll never forget that feeling of awe and just like, 'Oh my god, I can't believe this is happening.' I'll never forget that."
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