It's time to talk about Creed -- wait really?!?!

early Creed is about as good of mainstream 90s radio rock as there was - because most of us had no idea it was Christian rock 

Growing up in Eastern MA in 1980s and 90s - you didn’t know Christian Rock existed 

I grew up on pop music and all kinds of Hard Rock - 70’s Rock, Glam Rock, elements of Heavy Metal, Grunge, etc — never EVER knew that Christian Rock was a thing.

I eventually became very aware of and immersed in hip-hop. I was aware of Disco, and Country Music and the genre the eventually became known as Yacht Rock — and never EVER knew that Christian Rock was a thing 

Heard Creed live at River Rave in 1998 — and sonically it was excellent

Quasi-Car ride game: How long does it take you to realize a song is about Jesus? Because with Creed it took like 3 years! 

A lot of times the musicianship in a Christian Rock song is very very high level. 

So, if you’re predisposed to liking Rock music — and the musicianship is great — you find yourself saying oh I like this… and then at some point by the 2nd chorus you’re like “A-HA!” this is song is about Jesus (which is fine) … but as Catholics we just really have a fire wall between Songs about God and songs we listen to about everything else

But with Creed - I go back an listen to their first album and I still don’t necessarily feel that there is an obvious reveal — and I know it’s there

So, I ask you “how great is Creed” musically on those first records?

Also, they essentially made me aware of a genre existing - but nobody seems to be anywhere close to Creed in terms of crossing over into pop rock zeitgeist 

And yes, they became a cartoon of themselves like most amazingly successful bands eventually become — but those are real rock songs from their first album

One thing I don’t like about country is the heavy literal story telling of the lyrics… I feel like a lot of Christian Rock relies on that same structure… Creed didn’t do that on their early hits in my opinion — they left room for interpretation … which is what makes most Pop/Rock Songs so great in my opinion