Human Clay
Human Clay | ||||
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Studio album by Creed | ||||
Released | September 28, 1999 (1999-09-28) | |||
Recorded | Late 1998 – early 1999 | |||
Genre |
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Length | 56:28 | |||
Label | Wind-up | |||
Producer | John Kurzweg | |||
Creed chronology | ||||
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Singles from Human Clay | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Christgau's Consumer Guide | C[5] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Entertainment Weekly | C−[7] |
Los Angeles Times | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rolling Stone | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Rock Hard | 9/10[10] |
The Phantom Tollbooth | Review 1: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Review 2: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Human Clay is the second studio album by American rock band Creed, released on September 28, 1999, through Wind-up Records. Produced by John Kurzweg, it was the band's last album to feature Brian Marshall, who left the band in August 2000, until 2009's Full Circle.
The album earned mixed to positive reviews from critics and was a massive commercial success, peaking at number one on the US Billboard 200 and staying there for two weeks. The album spawned two singles that peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100: "Higher", which peaked at number 7, and "With Arms Wide Open", their only number one single. The album sold over 11.5 million copies in the US 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.
Overview
Human Clay is the only Creed album to not have a title track. The album had four music videos created for it: "Higher" and "What If" in 1999, "With Arms Wide Open" in 2000, and “Are You Ready?” in 2024.
Title and artwork
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 cover artwork was designed by Mark Tremonti's brother Daniel, who had previously done the artwork and photography for My Own Prison. 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."
Release and reception
Commercial performance
The album was the band's first to hit number one in the US, where it debuted with first week sales of 315,000, and stayed on top for two weeks.[13] Human Clay was certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on July 16, 2001 for selling 10,000,000 copies, was later certified 11x platinum on January 29, 2004, and is the 54th best-selling album of all time in the United States (as of February 2007).[14][15] It ranks as the tenth best selling album in the U.S. since the advent of Nielsen SoundScan in 1991, and the ninth best-selling album in the U.S. in the 2000s.[16][17] It has also been certified 6 times platinum in Canada, 5 times in Australia, 7 times in New Zealand, and 4 times in Switzerland among others, selling an estimated 20 million copies worldwide.[18] The album has spent a record 104 weeks on the Billboard chart survey.[19] As of October 2014, it has sold 11,690,000 copies in the United States alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[16]
Critical reception
The album received mixed to positive reviews from critics. 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."[2]
Legacy
The album's third single, "With Arms Wide Open", won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 2001.[20] At the 28th Annual American Music Awards, Human Clay won the American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Album.[21] At the 2002 Billboard Music Awards, the album won the award for Catalog Album of the Year.[22] Human Clay was ranked number 422 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time in 2005.[23] Human Clay was ranked number 5 on Billboard's 200 Albums of the Decade in 2009.[24] 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 number 4 on its "25 Greatest Power Ballads" list.[25]
Track listing
Original release
All lyrics are written by Scott Stapp; all music is composed by Mark Tremonti.
No. | Title | Length |
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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" | 5:16 |
10. | "Wash Away Those Years" | 6:04 |
11. | "Inside Us All" | 5:39 |
Total length: | 56:28 |
No. | Title | Length |
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12. | "With Arms Wide Open" (strings version) (hidden track) | 3:55 |
Total length: | 60:23 |
No. | Title | Length |
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12. | "Young Grow Old" | 4:43 |
Total length: | 61:11 |
Deluxe edition
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "To Whom It May Concern" | 5:11 |
2. | "Roadhouse Blues" (live; featuring Robbie Krieger) | 5:51 |
3. | "What's This Life For" (acoustic) | 4:23 |
4. | "With Arms Wide Open" (acoustic) | 3:56 |
5. | "Is This the End?" | 6:15 |
Total length: | 86:48 |
25th Anniversary Edition
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
12. | "With Arms Wide Open (strings version)" | 03:56 |
13. | "Young Grow Old" | 04:47 |
14. | "To Whom It May Concern" | 05:12 |
15. | "Is This The End? (Scream Edit)" | 06:18 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Are You Ready?" | 04:30 |
2. | "Ode" | 05:11 |
3. | "Torn" | 06:27 |
4. | "Beautiful" | 04:35 |
5. | "Illusion" | 05:54 |
6. | "Say I" | 06:03 |
7. | "My Own Prison" | 05:37 |
8. | "What If" | 05:09 |
9. | "With Arms Wide Open" | 05:24 |
10. | "Faceless Man" | 06:42 |
11. | "What's This Life For" | 06:54 |
12. | "One" | 05:28 |
13. | "Higher" | 06:05 |
Personnel
Creed
Additional musicians
| Technical personnel
|
Charts
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
|
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA)[62] | 4× Platinum | 280,000^ |
Austria (IFPI Austria)[63] | Gold | 25,000* |
Canada (Music Canada)[64] | 6× Platinum | 600,000^ |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[65] | Gold | 25,000^ |
Germany (BVMI)[66] | Gold | 150,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ)[67] | 5× Platinum | 75,000^ |
Norway (IFPI Norway)[68] | Platinum | 50,000* |
South Africa (RISA)[40] | 3× Platinum | 150,000* |
Sweden (GLF)[69] | Gold | 40,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[70] | Gold | 100,000^ |
United States (RIAA)[72] | 11× Platinum | 11,690,000[71] |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Appearances
- The song "Wrong Way" was featured on the soundtrack to the film End of Days in 1999.
- The song "What If" was featured in both the movie and on the official soundtrack for Scream 3 in 2000, while the song "Is This the End?" was only included on the album.
- The song "Higher" was featured in the films The Skulls in 2000, 22 Jump Street in 2014 and The Beach Bum in 2019, in trailers for the movie Titan A.E. in 2000, and as downloadable content for the video games Rocksmith 2014 in 2014 and Rock Band 2 in 2018.
- The song "Young Grow Old" was featured on the album WWF Forceable Entry in 2002.
- The song "To Whom It May Concern" was featured on the soundtrack to the film The Scorpion King in 2002.
- The song "Are You Ready?" was featured on the albums NASCAR: Full Throttle in 2001 and Harley-Davidson: Ride in 2005.
- The song "With Arms Wide Open" was featured in the movie Dark Waters in 2019; it was also included as downloadable content for the video games Rocksmith 2014 in 2014 and Rock Band 4 in 2020.
See also
References
- ^ Cailey Lindberg (September 28, 2015). "Scott Stapp Talks Creed Reunion, Guitarist Mark Tremonti Not Ready". Music Times. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
Stapp's out of control behavior eventually led to a Creed break-up 10 years after the band released Human Clay, which sold a record 11.7 million copies with its blend of post-grunge musical aesthetics and Christian beliefs.
- ^ a b Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Human Clay". AllMusic.
- ^ Winkelmann, Marc. "Mehrheitlich solide Rocksongs, aber nur wenige echte Höhepunkte". Laut.de (in German).
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (September 28, 1999). "Human Clay Review". AllMusic. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (October 15, 2000). "Creed". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishing. ISBN 9780312245603.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958.
- ^ Morgan, Laura]] (October 8, 1999). "Human Clay". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
- ^ Weingarten, Marc (September 25, 1999). "Record Rack". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
- ^ Powers, Ann (October 28, 1999). "Creed: Human Clay: Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 2, 2007. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
- ^ Schnädelbach, Buffo. "Rock Hard review". issue 149 (in German). Retrieved May 20, 2013.
- ^ Spencer, Josh (1999). "A Review by the Phantom Tollbooth". The Phantom Tollbooth. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
- ^ Duckworth, Adam (2000). "A Review by the Phantom Tollbooth". The Phantom Tollbooth. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
- ^ Mancini, Robert (October 13, 1999). "News - Articles - 1427609". Mtv.com. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
- ^ "Recording Industry Association of America". RIAA. Retrieved July 1, 2024.
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- ^ a b Banas, Erica (August 1, 2021). "'Metallica' & The 9 Other Best-Selling Albums During the SoundScan Era". Retrieved March 9, 2022.
- ^ "Top Ten". People. December 28, 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
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- ^ Creed's Scott Stapp on his 2001 Grammy win. January 19, 2014. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ "28th Annual American Music Awards". DigitalHit.com. January 8, 2001. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
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- ^ "1999 The Year in Music – Top Billboard 200 Albums". Billboard. Vol. 111, no. 52. December 25, 1999. p. YE-45. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved May 31, 2022 – via Google Books.
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- ^ "Austrian album certifications – Creed – Human Clay" (in German). IFPI Austria. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
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- ^ "Danish album certifications – Creed – Human Clay". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
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- v
- t
- e
- Scott Stapp
- Mark Tremonti
- Brian Marshall
- Scott Phillips
- Eric Friedman
- Brian Brasher
- My Own Prison (1997)
- Human Clay (1999)
- Weathered (2001)
- Full Circle (2009)
- Greatest Hits (2004)
- With Arms Wide Open: A Retrospective (2015)
- Creed Live (2009)
- Higher (1999)
- "My Own Prison"
- "What's This Life For"
- "One"
- "Higher"
- "What If"
- "With Arms Wide Open"
- "Riders on the Storm"
- "My Sacrifice"
- "Bullets"
- "One Last Breath"
- "Hide"
- "Don't Stop Dancing"
- "Weathered"
- "Overcome"
- "Rain"