Human Clay
Studio album by
Creed
ReleasedSeptember 28, 1999 (1999-09-28)
RecordedLate 1998 – early 1999
Genre
Length56:28
LabelWind-up
ProducerJohn Kurzweg
Creed chronology
My Own Prison
(1997)		 Human Clay
(1999)		 Weathered
(2001)
Singles from Human Clay
  1. "Higher"
    Released: August 24, 1999
  2. "What If"
    Released: January 31, 2000
  3. "With Arms Wide Open"
    Released: April 24, 2000
  4. "Are You Ready?"
    Released: August 7, 2000
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
Christgau's Consumer GuideC[3]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]
Entertainment WeeklyC−[5]
Los Angeles Times[6]
Rolling Stone[7]
Rock Hard (de)9/10[8]
The Phantom TollboothReview 1: [9]
Review 2: [10]

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 three music videos created for it: "Higher" and "What If" in 1999, and "With Arms Wide Open" in 2000.

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.[11] Human Clay has been certified 11× Platinum and Diamond by the RIAA, and is the 54th best-selling album of all time in the United States (as of February 2007).[12] 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.[13][14] 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.[15] The album has spent a record 104 weeks on the Billboard chart survey.[16] As of October 2014, it has sold 11,690,000 copies in the United States alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[13]

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."[17]

Legacy

The album's third single, "With Arms Wide Open", won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 2001.[18] At the 28th Annual American Music Awards, Human Clay won the American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Album.[19] At the 2002 Billboard Music Awards, the album won the award for Catalog Album of the Year.[20] Human Clay was ranked number 422 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time in 2005.[21] Human Clay was ranked number 5 on Billboard's 200 Albums of the Decade in 2009.[22] 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.[23]

Track listing

Original release

All lyrics are written by Scott Stapp; all music is composed by Mark Tremonti

No.TitleLength
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
US edition[24]
No.TitleLength
12."With Arms Wide Open" (strings version) (hidden track)3:55
Total length:60:23
European edition[25]
No.TitleLength
12."Young Grow Old"4:43
Total length:61:11

Deluxe edition

Two-disc deluxe edition (With "Young Grow Old" on Disc 1)[26]
No.TitleLength
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

Personnel

Charts

Certifications

Sales certifications for Human Clay
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[60] 4× Platinum 280,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[61] Gold 25,000*
Canada (Music Canada)[62] 6× Platinum 600,000^
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[63] Gold 25,000^
Germany (BVMI)[64] Gold 150,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[65] 5× Platinum 75,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[66] Platinum 50,000*
South Africa (RISA)[38] 3× Platinum 150,000*
Sweden (GLF)[67] Gold 40,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[68] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[69] 11× Platinum 11,690,000[70]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments 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

  1. ↑ 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.
  2. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (September 28, 1999). "Human Clay Review". AllMusic. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  3. ↑ Christgau, Robert (October 15, 2000). "Creed". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishing. ISBN 9780312245603.
  4. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9780857125958.
  5. ↑ Morgan, Laura]] (October 8, 1999). "Human Clay". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  6. ↑ Weingarten, Marc (September 25, 1999). "Record Rack". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  7. ↑ Powers, Ann (October 28, 1999). "Creed: Human Clay: Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 2, 2007. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
  8. ↑ Schnädelbach, Buffo. "Rock Hard review". issue 149. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  9. ↑ Spencer, Josh (1999). "A Review by the Phantom Tollbooth". The Phantom Tollbooth. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  10. ↑ Duckworth, Adam (2000). "A Review by the Phantom Tollbooth". The Phantom Tollbooth. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  11. ↑ Mancini, Robert (October 13, 1999). "News - Articles - 1427609". Mtv.com. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  12. ↑ "RIAA - Recording Industry Association of America". Riaa.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  13. 1 2 Banas, Erica (August 1, 2021). "'Metallica' & The 9 Other Best-Selling Albums During the SoundScan Era". Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  14. ↑ "Top Ten". People. December 28, 2009. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Interview: Mark Tremonti on Creed's 2012 full albums tour". MusicRadar.com. April 4, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Human Clay - Creed". Billboard.com. October 16, 1999. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  17. ↑ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Human Clay". AllMusic.
  18. ↑ Creed's Scott Stapp on his 2001 Grammy win. January 19, 2014. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021 – via YouTube.
  19. ↑ "28th Annual American Music Awards". DigitalHit.com. January 8, 2001. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  20. ↑ Susman, Gary (December 10, 2002). "Ashanti, Nelly clean up at Billboard Music Awards". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved November 2, 2021.
  21. ↑ Best of Rock & Metal - Die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten (in German). Rock Hard. 2005. p. 41. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
  22. ↑ "Music Albums, Top 200 Albums & Music Album Charts". Billboard.com. December 31, 2009. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  23. ↑ "Creed: "With Arms Wide Open" (25 Greatest Power Ballads)". YouTube. Archived from the original on January 10, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  24. ↑ "Amazon.com: Human Clay: Creed: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.
  25. ↑ "Creed - Human Clay - Amazon.com Music". Amazon.
  26. ↑ "Human Clay (Bonus Disc)".
  27. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Creed – Human Clay". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  28. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Creed – Human Clay" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  29. ↑ "Creed Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard.
  30. ↑ "Danishcharts.dk – Creed – Human Clay". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  31. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Creed – Human Clay" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  32. ↑ "Creed: Human Clay" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  33. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Creed – Human Clay" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  34. ↑ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Creed". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  35. ↑ "Charts.nz – Creed – Human Clay". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  36. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Creed – Human Clay". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  37. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
  38. 1 2 "Mi2N: Music Divas & Rock Bands Top South African Certifications". Music Industry News Network. May 2, 2002. Archived from the original on May 31, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  39. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Creed – Human Clay". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  40. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Creed – Human Clay". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  41. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  42. ↑ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company.
  43. ↑ "Creed Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
  44. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 1999". Recorded Music NZ. Archived from the original on December 3, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2021.
  45. ↑ "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.
  46. ↑ "Canada's Top 200 Albums of 2000". Jam!. Archived from the original on August 12, 2004. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  47. ↑ "Top Selling Albums of 2000". RIANZ. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  48. ↑ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2000". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 10, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
  49. ↑ ARIA Charts - End of Year Charts - Top 100 Albums 2001. Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  50. ↑ "Jahreshitparade Alben 2001". austriancharts.at (in German). Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  51. ↑ "Canada's Top 200 Albums of 2001 (based on sales)". Jam!. Archived from the original on December 12, 2003. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  52. ↑ "Chart of the Year 2001" (in Danish). TOP20.dk. Archived from the original on September 29, 2011. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
  53. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts 2001". GfK Entertainment (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
  54. ↑ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2001". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 3, 2015. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
  55. ↑ "Canada's Top 200 Alternative albums of 2002". Jam!. Archived from the original on December 4, 2003. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  56. ↑ "Top 100 Metal Albums of 2002". Jam!. Archived from the original on August 12, 2004. Retrieved March 23, 2022.
  57. ↑ "The Year in Music 2002 – Top Pop Catalog Albums". Billboard. Vol. 114, no. 52. December 28, 2002. p. YE-86. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved June 1, 2022 – via Google Books.
  58. ↑ "ARIA Top 100 Albums of the 00's". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  59. ↑ "The Decade in Music - Charts - Top Billboard 200 Albums" (PDF). Billboard. December 19, 2009. p. 162. Retrieved November 14, 2021 – via World Radio History. Digit page 166 on the PDF archive.
  60. ↑ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2001 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  61. ↑ "Austrian album certifications – Creed – Human Clay" (in German). IFPI Austria. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  62. ↑ "Canadian album certifications – Creed – Human Clay". Music Canada. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  63. ↑ "Danish album certifications – Creed – Human Clay". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  64. ↑ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Creed; 'Human Clay')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  65. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – Creed – Human Clay". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  66. ↑ "IFPI Norsk platebransje Trofeer 1993–2011" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  67. ↑ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2001" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 17, 2011. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  68. ↑ "British album certifications – Creed – Human Clay". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  69. ↑ "American album certifications – Creed – Human Clay". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
  70. ↑ Caulfield, Keith (October 10, 2014). "Adele's '21' Surpasses 11 Million In U.S. Sales". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved March 28, 2021.
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