Human Clay

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

Human Clay
Studio album by Creed
Released	September 28, 1999 (1999-09-28)
Recorded	Late 1998 – early 1999
Genre	Post-grunge [1] hard rock [2] alternative metal [3]
Length	56:28
Label	Wind-up
Producer	John Kurzweg
Creed chronology
My Own Prison (1997) Human Clay (1999) Weathered (2001)
Singles from Human Clay
"Higher" Released: August 31, 1999 "What If" Released: January 31, 2000 "With Arms Wide Open" Released: April 18, 2000 "Are You Ready?" Released: August 7, 2000

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	C [5]
Cryptic Rock	5/5 [6]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[7]
Entertainment Weekly	C− [8]
Los Angeles Times	[9]
Rolling Stone	[10]
Rock Hard	9/10 [11]
The Phantom Tollbooth	Review 1: [12] Review 2: [13]

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 Creed's debut album, My Own Prison (1997). 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."^{[ citation needed ]}

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. ^[14] 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 11× platinum on January 29, 2004, and is the 54th best-selling album of all time in the United States (as of February 2007). ^{[15] [16]} 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. ^{[17] [18]} 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. ^[19] The album has spent a record 104 weeks on the Billboard chart survey. ^[20] As of October 2014, it has sold 11,690,000 copies in the United States alone, according to Nielsen SoundScan. ^[17]

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. ^[21] At the 28th Annual American Music Awards, Human Clay won the American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Album. ^[22] At the 2002 Billboard Music Awards, the album won the award for Catalog Album of the Year. ^[23] Human Clay was ranked number 422 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time in 2005. ^[24] Human Clay was ranked number 5 on Billboard's 200 Albums of the Decade in 2009. ^[25] 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. ^[26]

Track listing

Original release

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

No.	Title	Length
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 ^[27]

No.	Title	Length
12.	"With Arms Wide Open" (strings version; hidden track)	3:55
Total length:		60:23

European edition ^[28]

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Young Grow Old"	4:43
Total length:		61:11

Deluxe edition (disc one) ^[29]

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Young Grow Old"	4:47

Deluxe edition (disc two)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"To Whom It May Concern"		5:11
2.	"Roadhouse Blues" (featuring Robbie Krieger; live at Woodstock '99)	Jim Morrison	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 deluxe edition (disc one)

No.	Title	Length
12.	"With Arms Wide Open" (strings version)	3:56
13.	"Young Grow Old"	4:47
14.	"To Whom It May Concern"	5:12
15.	"Is This the End?" (Scream edit)	6:18

25th anniversary deluxe edition (disc two) – Live at Freeman Coliseum, San Antonio, Texas, 1999

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Are You Ready?"	4:30
2.	"Ode"	5:10
3.	"Torn"	6:26
4.	"Beautiful"	4:34
5.	"Illusion"	5:53
6.	"Say I"	6:02
7.	"My Own Prison"	5:36
8.	"What If"	5:08
9.	"With Arms Wide Open"	5:23
10.	"Faceless Man"	6:41
11.	"What's This Life For"	6:53
12.	"One"	5:27
13.	"Higher"	6:04
Total length:		73:54

25th anniversary deluxe digital bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"With Arms Wide Open" (strings version)		3:56
13.	"Young Grow Old"		4:47
14.	"To Whom It May Concern"		5:12
15.	"Is This the End?" (Scream edit)		6:18
16.	"Roadhouse Blues" (featuring Robbie Krieger; live at Woodstock '99)	Morrison	5:51
17.	"I'm Eighteen"	Alice Cooper, Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway, Neal Smith	3:12
18.	"Higher" (radio edit)		4:44
19.	"With Arms Wide Open" (single version)		3:42
20.	"What If" (radio edit)		4:52
21.	"With Arms Wide Open" (acoustic)		3:56
22.	"Are You Ready?" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		4:30
23.	"Ode" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		5:10
24.	"Torn" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		6:26
25.	"Beautiful" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		4:34
26.	"Illusion" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		5:53
27.	"Say I" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		6:02
28.	"My Own Prison" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		5:36
29.	"What If" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		5:08
30.	"With Arms Wide Open" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		5:23
31.	"Faceless Man" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		6:41
32.	"What's This Life For" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		6:53
33.	"One" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		5:27
34.	"Higher" (live at Freemen Coliseum 1999)		6:04

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes. ^{[30] [31]}

Creed Scott Stapp – lead vocals Mark Tremonti – guitar, backing vocals Brian Marshall – bass Scott Phillips – drums Additional musicians John Kurzweg – B-3 organ on "Wrong Way" Kirk Kelsey – Mandolin on "Wrong Way"

Technical personnel Jeff Hanson – executive producer, management at Jeff Hanson Management & Promotions John Kurzweg – production, engineering, mixing Kirk Kelsey – mixing assistant, mixing on "Wrong Way" Barrett Miller, Mark Kiczula, Steve Bearsley – assistant mix engineering Dana Cornock – digital editing Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound, New York City Joel Mark – A&R Daniel Tremonti (Three Mountain Design) – art direction, design, cover, additional photography Sacha Waldman – cover photography, additional photography J. Seward Johnson Jr. – "Crack the Whip" artwork

2024 Deluxe Edition remaster Chris Clough – audio supervision Ryan Jebavy – editorial Sage LaMonica – design Kay Anderson, Sig Sigworth, Josiah Toews, Scott Webber – project assistance Ted Jensen – remastering

Charts

Weekly charts Chart performance for Human Clay Chart (1999–2002) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA) [32] 2 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [33] 11 Canadian Albums (Billboard) [34] 1 Danish Albums (Hitlisten) [35] 1 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [36] 80 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [37] 9 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [38] 9 Irish Albums (IRMA) [39] 54 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [40] 4 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [41] 1 Scottish Albums (OCC) [42] 23 South African Albums (RISA) [43] 3 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [44] 9 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [45] 35 UK Albums (OCC) [46] 29 UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC) [47] 5 US Billboard 200 [48] 1

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for Human Clay Chart (1999) Position New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [49] 42 US Billboard 200 [50] 71 Chart (2000) Position Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) [51] 10 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [52] 10 US Billboard 200 [53] 6 Chart (2001) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) [54] 3 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [55] 38 Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) [56] 72 Danish Albums (Hitlisten) [57] 22 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [58] 68 US Billboard 200 [59] 11 Chart (2002) Position Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) [60] 86 Canadian Metal Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) [61] 39 US Top Pop Catalog Albums ( Billboard ) [62] 1 Decade-end charts Decade-end chart performance for Human Clay Chart (2000–2009) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) [63] 88 US Billboard 200 [64] 5

Certifications

Sales certifications for Human Clay

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [65]	4× Platinum	280,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria) [66]	Gold	25,000*
Canada (Music Canada) [67]	6× Platinum	600,000^
Denmark (IFPI Danmark) [68]	Gold	25,000^
Germany (BVMI) [69]	Gold	150,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ) [70]	5× Platinum	75,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway) [71]	Platinum	50,000*
South Africa (RISA) [43]	3× Platinum	150,000*
Sweden (GLF) [72]	Gold	40,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [73]	Gold	100,000^
United States (RIAA) [74]	11× Platinum	11,690,000 [75]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Appearances

• Creed's cover of "I'm Eighteen" was featured on the soundtrack to the film The Faculty in 1998. ^[76]
• "Wrong Way" was featured on the soundtrack to the movie End of Days in 1999. ^[77]
• The song "What If" was featured in both the movie and on the soundtrack for Scream 3 in 2000, while the song "Is This the End?" was only included on the album. ^[78]
• "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 4 in 2018.
• "Are You Ready?" was featured on the albums NASCAR: Full Throttle in 2001 and Harley-Davidson: Ride in 2005. ^{[79] [80]}
• "To Whom It May Concern" was featured on the soundtrack to the movie The Scorpion King in 2002. ^[81]
• "Young Grow Old" was featured on the album WWF Forceable Entry in 2002. ^[82]
• "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

• List of best-selling albums in the United States

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