Though Creed may not be in the “place with golden streets” that frontman Scott Stapp yearns for, the Florida-based band continues to fly higher.

Enjoying 18 weeks on the Active Rock radio chart and breaking an all-time record, “Higher” also happens to be the first single off Creed’s multi-platinum sophomore release.

The Guitar World annual Reader’s Poll awarded Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti the title of Best Rock Guitarist.

As executive producers of the “Scream 3” soundtrack, the band supervised the collection of successful and up-and-coming hard rock bands included on the album, contributing two tracks themselves.

Not even a small callus on Stapp’s vocal chords could stop the band from resuming touring, after taking a break from almost three years of performing night after night. The singer is completely healed, and the band is ready to delight its fans, beginning their tour in Indianapolis.

“With [1997’s] ‘My Own Prison,’ I knew we had the talent to get a record deal and I knew we had songs good enough to get played on the radio,” Stapp said in a press release. “But I never had any expectations of reaching this many people.”

Stapp and the rest of the band have touched an incredible number of people — over 7 million in record sales alone.

Not all members of the band had the modest expectations of Stapp. Some hungered for the chance to influence a large amount of people, believing that the band was bound for greater things.

“The very first time we went into a meeting at [our record label] Wind-up, [guitarist Mark Tremonti] said he’d be totally disappointed if the album didn’t go triple platinum,” Stapp said.

The massive success of the band’s debut album opened the chance for Creed to be a part of Woodstock ’99. After a blistering set, the crowd received an extra treat when Doors guitarist Robby Krieger joined the band on stage.

Stapp emulated his hero, Jim Morrison, singing as the band and Krieger tore through the Doors songs “Roadhouse Blues” and “Riders On the Storm.”

The fascination with the Doors frontman is only one character trait Stapp shares with Pearl Jam vocalist Eddie Vedder. Vedder once sang for the reunited Doors during a performance at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame.

Enigmatic and moody, Stapp resembled Vedder in an article published in the November 1999 issue of Guitar World.

“I don’t want to talk about the new songs,” he told Guitar World. “I’m just gonna put them out there and let people make of them what they want to.”

Following the initial success of “My Own Prison,” the band received backlash from critics. Creed was viewed as a second-generation, copycat Pearl Jam.

Other controversy has centered around the band’s position on religion.

Fans, radio listeners and critics have wondered whether or not Creed is Christian, because of the band’s sacred-sounding name.

“What’s strange is that the Christian label actually helped us, ’cause everyone can claim us as their own,” Tremonti told Guitar World. “The Christian fans say, ‘They’re a Christian band but can’t say it because they don’t want to alienate anybody. And the metal fans think we rock out and figure we said we’re not a Christian band, so we’re not.”

Stapp’s lyrics offer no help, confusing the situation.

In “My Own Prison,” Stapp sings, “I cry out to God seeking only his decision.” “One” finds him claiming that “We all live under one King.”

Christian themes continue on the new album with the imagery presented in “Higher,” a place where blind men see and there are golden streets, evoking heaven.

However, Stapp was not ready to give a concrete answer concerning his religious beliefs for a long time.

He finally explained his feelings on the issue.

“Well, as of right now, I don’t consider myself a Christian,” he told Guitar World. “I don’t feel that I’ve reached that level of understanding.”

Comparisons to Pearl Jam and religious questions aside, Creed will continue to play its brand of Tallahassee, Fla.-bred rock, crying out and taking fans higher.