"Higher" is a song by American rock bandCreed. It was released on August 24, 1999 as the lead single from their second studio album, Human Clay. Vocalist Scott Stapp and long-time friend Steven Harang wrote the song about the power of lucid dreaming. "Higher" was Creed's major breakthrough hit; it peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 on the issue dated July 22, 2000, and spent 57 weeks upon the survey, which is the longest stay for any Creed song on the Hot 100. Furthermore, it topped both the Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock tallies in the process, setting a then-record of 17 weeks for longest stay at the top of the Mainstream Rock chart. It also charted in the top five on the Adult Top 40 chart.
Background
According to an interview with Loudwire, in an episode of "Wikipedia: Fact Or Fiction", Mark Tremonti revealed that the song was a culmination of improvising live onstage. During their earliest shows, vocalist Scott Stapp would placate the audience by goading his bandmates to come up with a song live on the spot. Scott was the first to begin playing the drum set piece, with Mark later entering the chord progression associated with the song. After reviewing the tapes of the show, as they had always recorded their performances for later review, they decided that the song was worth working out in the studio. Later on, in another episode of Loudwire's "Wikipedia: Fact Or Fiction?" Stapp stated that the inspiration for the song came from a recurring dream that he had. In the endlessly present nightmare, Stapp would be hunted down and killed by an unknown assailant brandishing a firearm. Once he took up studying lucid dreaming, he was able to escape the gunman, and subsequently wrote the song as a memento towards the dream. The song also takes the form of a suicide note, and contains lyrical allusions to the Damn Yankees song "High Enough".
''Higher'' EP
Legacy
"Higher" placed at number 95 on VH1's "100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs" in 2009.
American rock band A Day to Remember was set to play at the 2016 Alternative Press Music Awards. The problem was that lead singer, Jeremy McKinnon, was running late due to his flight. The band told the crowd that they needed a singer, and Creed vocalist Scott Stapp volunteered for to perform with the band. "Higher" and A Day to Remember's song "All I Want" were performed with Stapp before McKinnon's arrival.
In the film Neighbors, the fraternity boys of Delta Psi sang the first sentence from the chorus during the meeting after reciting their version of Sigma Nu's creed.
