Human Clay

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.

This article is about the album. For the band, see Human Clay (band).

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]

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)[61] 4× Platinum 280,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[62] Gold 25,000*
Canada (Music Canada)[63] 6× Platinum 600,000^
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[64] Gold 25,000^
Germany (BVMI)[65] Gold 150,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[66] 5× Platinum 75,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[67] Platinum 50,000*
South Africa (RISA)[38] 3× Platinum 150,000*
Sweden (GLF)[68] Gold 40,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[69] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[70] 11× Platinum 11,690,000[71]

* 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
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