Bullets

"Bullets"
Single by Creed
from the album Weathered
Released	April 23, 2002
Format	CD Single
Recorded	2001
Genre	Alternative metal
Length	3:49
Label	Wind-Up Entertainment
Writer(s)	Mark Tremonti Scott Stapp
Creed singles chronology
"My Sacrifice" (2001) "Bullets" (2002) "One Last Breath" (2002)

"Bullets" is the second single from Creed's third album, Weathered. The album reflects the many changes surrounding the band during the time of writing, as Weathered stands as the only Creed album without the bass work of Brian Marshall, then-former longtime Creed bassist. Mark Tremonti was responsible for the bass work throughout the whole of the album, expanding his role musically.

Despite the moderate popularity of the single and the video, the song serves as a prelude for Tremonti's musical inclinations that would later flourish further in Alter Bridge's new works. The faster pace, heavier metal chords, and darker time rhythms are a distinct departure and mark this song as one of Creed's most visceral.

Meaning

"Bullets" departs heavily from the previously established "anthemic rock" sound heard throughout most of Creed's other singles. The song was written during a period of difficulty for the band where they were forced to dismiss Brian Marshall from the band for comments he made on a radio show. There are currently two versions. Some, however incorrectly, believe that Marshall defended Scott Stapp in response to Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit's criticisms on a radio show. The broad understanding of the situation, however, is that Marshall was dismissed due to his criticism of Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, not Fred Durst. According to Stapp, in a later interview, Marshall left the band on his own wishes.^[1]

Additionally, the strain of touring and fighting off labels of a Christian agenda, though perhaps not wholly unwarranted, took its toll on the entire band. Most notably, Scott Stapp, the lead singer of the band, was dealing with several personal battles ranging from legal disputes, media criticism on his personal life, and the general health hazards of touring and producing material.

Bullets, the first track on Weathered, is lyrically a return to the more intense and brooding style of some of Creed's earliest works, taking a note from My Own Prison, Creed's first album. The track begins with a slow and grating synthesized Stapp referencing the burdens and "thorns" in his side and breaks the song into its main riff while yelling "I think they shoot 'cause they want it".

The song deals with Stapp returning fire against his critics and detractors, metaphorically confronting those who would pan and otherwise condemn him to "at least look at me when you shoot a bullet through my head, through my head"; the bullets, being of course, the criticisms he and his band had received during the writing period of Weathered.

While the song itself was well received by aficionados of Creed's heavier work and post-grunge metal, the single was likely the least popular of the singles released from Weathered, save for, perhaps, the title track itself -- Weathered.

Music Video

A video was also released with the single which was also aired on MTV as a follow up to Creed's first single, My Sacrifice. Developed by Vision Scape Interactive, the team behind games such as Twisted Metal 4, were responsible for characterizing and developing the storyline in the video with the band. The team spent $473,000, and dedicated 15 employees working more than 18 hours a day to complete the project, according to Matt McDonald, President of Vision Scape.^[2] The video depicts the typical Creed stamp of Salvador Dalí-esque surrealism, showing a computer generated, brown winged/native American angel version of Stapp battle off with demons. These include a giant mecha spider and a white haired, red eyed swordsman whom. The other warrior members of the band are summoned (a brown caped, bare chested Mark Tremonti wielding two huge axes and a lightly armored Scott Phillips using two longswords), after which the swordsman is frozen into a slab of stone and is concurrently blown up in the infiltrated citadel. It was generally poorly received by mainstream audiences. Save for the most devout or open minded Creed fan, the video is considered somewhat off-key and silly.

References

1. ^ http://www.mtv.com/bands/s/stapp_scott/news_feature_080904/index2.jhtm
2. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1452879/20020313/story.jhtml