My Own Prison is the debut studio album by American rock band Creed, released in 1997. The album was released independently by the band's record label Blue Collar Records on June 24, 1997, but then was released by Wind-up Records on August 26, 1997. Manager Jeff Hanson matched Creed up with John Kurzweg, and My Own Prison was recorded for $6,000, funded by Hanson. The album was distributed to Florida radio stations. The band wrote several songs trying to discover their own identity. In the early days of the band, the members of the band had jobs to make money while their bassist Brian Marshall got a degree. The band got a record deal with Wind-up Records and began recording music. At the time of My Own Prison release, Creed were compared to several bands, including Soundgarden (especially the Badmotorfinger era), Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Hootie & the Blowfish, Metallica, and Tool. Influenced by heavy metal and 1970s stadium rock, My Own Prison music has been described as grunge, and "slightly heavy metal, slightly alternative". The album is a lot more heavy and a lot more than Creed's other albums. The lyrics on the album include topics like emerging adulthood, Christianity and faith, sinning, suicide, unity, struggling to prosper in life, and Creed singer Scott Stapp and guitarist Mark Tremonti said their early adulthood inspired lyrics to songs like the title track and "Torn". Stapp was inspired by music like U2 (particularly U2's album The Joshua Tree), Led Zeppelin, and The Doors. Inspired by thrash metal bands like Metallica, Slayer, Exodus, and Forbidden, Tremonti brought heavy metal musical elements into Creed's music. Creed released four singles for the album: the title track, "Torn", "What's This Life For", and "One". Despite only peaking at number twenty-two on the Billboard 200, strong radio airplay propelled My Own Prison to become a commercial success. All singles had music videos, except "One", that received a lot of airplay on MTV while also finding success on the Modern Rock Tracks and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts. My Own Prison was eventually certified sextuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and, as of 2009, sold over 6,000,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. My Own Prison received reviews ranging from negative to positive, complimenting its guitar riffs and music but criticizing its similarity to 1990s grunge bands. Background, writing, recording