10 Perfect Songs From Terrible Bands

It would be easy to just blame every single thing wrong with Creed squarely on Scott Stapp. Though you can get over the preachy lyrics in a song like Higher if you wanted to, the foundation of what would become Alter Bridge tended to get neutered whenever Scott opened his mouth, sounding like a poor man's Eddie Vedder and trying to sell it in tight leather pants. Creed always had a heavier side than songs like With Arms Wide Open, and their third album Weathered actually sounded like it was going to kick ass from the very first track.

With Mark Tremonti taking the reins with the main riff, the opening is about as metal as Creed would ever get, harkening back to the days of My Own Prison with how vicious some of the guitar licks sound. Just when you think that everything's going to start going downhill when Scott opens his mouth, the snarling sound of his voice combined with some clever audio effects actually makes the song a lot more intriguing, almost serving as an entrance to the rest of the record while the drums beat the snot out of you coming out of the chorus.

There are even a few moments where you get a sort of glimpse of what Alter Bridge was going to be a few years later, with Tremonti pulling out some of his flashiest guitar licks up to this point and Scott even trying out his higher register every now and again. Creed have always been known for going a little over the top in places, but a song like this sounds like it should be playing over the credits of an early '00s action movie in the best way possible.