Creed

When Creed released their debut album, My Own Prison, in 1997, grunge was in its death throes: Nirvana and Soundgarden were gone, Pearl Jam were mellowing out and Alice in Chains were AWOL. So leave it to a band of Christians to make it feel born again. With My Own Prison, the Tallahassee quartet brought the brooding early-‘90s Seattle sound back to the top of the charts (to the tune of six million albums sold) by giving its angsty attitude a spiritual spin. For all his Vedder-esque teeth-gnashing, strapping frontman Scott Stapp trembled with a God-fearing vulnerability—on the album’s harrowing title track, he uses a courtroom metaphor to depict a sinner nervously awaiting judgement from his creator. With their even more successful 1999 follow-up, the 11-million-selling Human Clay, Creed perfected the art of translating personal religiosity into universal, life-affirming anthems that both secular and devout audiences could embrace. You need not have faith to get swept up in the skyward surge of “Higher” and “Arms Wide Open”, songs that recast grunge as the new gospel and crowd-surfing as a baptism ritual. Weathered (2002) didn’t dare mess with a winning formula: Powered by muscular yet melodic singles like “My Sacrifice”, the album spent eight consecutive weeks at No. 1. But Stapp’s worsening addictions prompted the band’s dissolution in 2004, after which the singer went solo and guitarist Mark Tremonti formed the more metal-leaning Alter Bridge. Of course, no Christian-rock saga would be complete without a second coming: Creed reunited for 2009’s Full Circle, an emboldened expression of faith and fury. And though the band once again entered an extended hiatus following a 2012 tour, millions of true believers will be there to greet Creed’s next resurrection with arms wide open.