[creedlvr]

Wow! I guess I came in pretty late in all of this!

I feel really sad to see how messed up Stapp was/is. Hopefully, he will get it together now. I haven't been happy with the stuff I've been reading about him lately and found myself thinking ... "What the F is this guy's problem?? He's just acting like such a screw up and is ruining his life ... and his son's!" I'm not happy to hear he had been doing drugs and drinking so heavily for so long, but at least it explains a lot. I just REALLY hope he can stay sober now. I think that talking about it .... FINALLY .... may be the key. As they say ... the first step is admitting it. I WISH HIM MUCH LUCK ... for his sake and for his son's.

As far as the blame-game goes ...
I really didn't get that from the article. By coming clean, I think Stapp did take much of the blame. I think he was trying to be as honest as possible. I felt a different kind of humbleness to the article that I didn't always feel in reading other articles.

I agree that the troubles started because of Stapp. I believe that he inflates his problems. I'm sure that feeling like the band was hated because of him, his divorce, health problems, etc. pushed him to a point where he felt alone and depressed ... but he does seem to go through this self-destruction pattern over and over ... as indicated by his early days/writings - MOP- of hitting a very low point and then realizing it and trying to get back on track. Then again ... as indicated by his "Relearn Love" time period. Now, here we are again. I love the guy ... but, he needs to clean up .... ONCE AND FOR ALL!!! It's getting old. He's an adult with responsibilities (his son!) and he NEEDS to pull it together. He's burned a lot of bridges and it may not be possible to mend all of them. Hopefully, he will be able to mend most of them ... at least the important ones.

As for the rest of the band...
I don't think it's any secret that I am not a fan. I do, however, see how it could get very old .... trying to help someone that doesn't want help (if they did, in fact, try to help), or stand up there and have to cover for a guy who's acting like a total ass.

On the other side, I don't believe that no one else played a part in this. I think there is at least some truth to "others" being a bit self-serving. I agree that you can't help someone who doesn't want help ... and I agree that it would be easy to make the decision to give up on someone after years of putting up with their nonsense. I do, however, think that Mark was very focused on wanting to do his own thing and that probably made it easier to cut the ties ... a bit of "who needs to deal with this" and a bit of "I want to do my own thing anyway." On one hand, I can't blame him ... but on the other hand, I really don't respect how he's handled things. I'm sure he's probably bitter (and rightfully so) and I understand that his comments about Creed are coming from a place of bad memories based on the bullshit that was going on .... but as a Creed fan, I still don't like hearing it. To me, he just seems a bit too self-serving. Now, I'm not saying that he should have to deal with all the nonsense or that he should be able to work a miracle and help someone who doesn't want it. Only Scott can help Scott ... but someone should have stopped the last tour. I'm not saying it should've been Mark, or that stopping the tour would have fixed everything ... but perhaps it would have kept things from getting as bad as they did. Again ... I realize that Scott is mostly to blame ... but I don't believe that Mark is the poor guy just trying to do what he enjoys the most who was left with no alternative than to give up on his many efforts of trying to help a friend.

I think that Mark can stick with his heavy guitar riffs and Scott can continue to self-destruct if that's what they both choose to do ... but I still say that the result of their music was better when they were together than it is when they're apart. Maybe nobody was happy before ... but the music (and success) was better when they were together.

Hopefully, Scott will get his act together and Mark can ease up on the bitterness and find some forgiveness in his heart. It may not result in a Creed reunion ... but at least it may help everyone find some peace and not forget that some good did come out of Creed and that the memories aren't all bad.

Sorry for the long post. I haven't posted for a while so I figure I made up for it!