Higher is the song that turned Creed into a household name in America – and in one sense you could say it’s a song that wrote itself.
This powerful rock anthem was born out of the band’s frustration at not having enough songs to fill out their set during their embryonic years.
In order to avoid disappointing the small audiences gathered in front of them, singer Scott Stapp would encourage his bandmates improvise in real-time.
“We’d play shows and Scott would always have a fun time putting us all on the spot,” guitarist Mark Tremonti revealed in a Loudwire Fact Or Fiction interview filmed in 2015. “We’d only be in front of 50 people, but he’d be like ‘We’re gonna write a song on stage, everybody!’”
In the creation of Higher it was drummer Scott Philips who kicked things off with a simple 4/4 beat at around 155bpm.
Moments later, Tremonti joined in with a Drop-D major riff based around the open position as well as the seventh and fifth frets, with some embellishments on the G-string.
Inspired by the music around him, Stapp then started to sing the chorus of what would go on to become their breakthrough hit. He later revealed that the lyrics were about reflecting on and achieving a lifelong dream, as well as what he referred to as an idealistic ambition to create heaven on earth.
“At the time I penned that song, my view of what heaven on earth meant was very narrow, very naïve, and very wrapped up in ego and self-fulfilment,” Stapp told Songfacts in 2013. “It’s also, ‘Be careful what you wish for’ because your prayers might get answered.”
The song wasn’t finished in time for inclusion on Creed’s 1997 debut album My Own Prison, but they had it ready for 1999 follow-up Human Clay.
In an interview with MusicRadar in 2024, Tremonti was asked whether the track benefitted from being born on stage.
“Yeah,” he replied. “You get a sense of how it’s going to sound live. I think a lot of times when you put together records early on, you’re not really thinking of the live thing.”
He added: “When you have to tour a record for a long time you realise: this song’s not quite as fun to play as that one. When you write new records you try to make the songs more of a challenge or more of a fun experience for you live.”
Tremonti went on to explain how writing at soundchecks can be very helpful because the musicians on stage know exactly how it’s going to feel with the whole band in an arena, theatre or wherever they’ve been booked to play.
Some ideas, he reasoned, just seem to lend themselves to the art of performance.
When quizzed on how the guitar tones on Human Clay ended up sounding so gargantuan, Tremonti revealed that the secret was in the dynamics.
Tremonti noted how Creed’s material differed to that of his other band Alter Bridge, with more clean guitar parts – calling for a fingerstyle approach during the quieter verses followed by what he describes as the “big hammer wall of power chords” that arrive soon after.
He isn’t exactly sure what gear was used for the Human Clay sessions, admitting it could have been the Hughes & Kettner Attax 100 used on the debut album, but it may very well have been a Mesa/Boogie Rectifier for the distorted tones and Fender Twins for the cleans, which is what he is known to have played in the years after.
And while Tremonti can be seen holding a PRS guitar in the Higher music video, it was more than likely a Gibson Les Paul that got used on the recording.
“The first two records were recorded with a Les Paul,” he told MusicRadar. “I might have gotten that Goldtop that I used for so many years for the Human Clay record – on top of the red one as well.”
Higher was released on 31 August 1999 as the lead single from the album. It peaked at No.7 and spent a total of 57 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.
In the years since, Higher has become a sporting anthem, with Texas Rangers pitcher Andrew Heaney revealing that his team listened to Creed before the big games of their 2023 playoff run. Higher would echo through the stadium with fans encouraged to sing along and the band members themselves would even make an appearance during a fixture against the Houston Astros.
Since Creed reunited in 2009, Higher has continued to have a powerful effect on audiences.
As Tremonti said: “I love to see grown men and women cry when you play these old songs that they’ve grown up with – and maybe they’re seeing it live for the first time after they've listened to for 20 years.
“I think music is the most magical thing in the world. It’s an intangible thing that means so much to people.
“The closest thing we have to magic is music.”
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