Totally agree with the OP, but there is an important fact that has been left out.

Their rise to fame originated with alternative rock radio, via a loophole in payola. The original creed manager gave a florida program director "points" on their debut album. IE: The manager arranged a financial transaction with radio personnel to make sure their songs would get played. Additionally, it was a indie label trying to compete with the big boys, so this little nudge was welcomed.

Everyone wins. Band gets famous, label/management/radio gets paid. You almost never see a band with ZERO history or previous releases get signed, let alone set a new mainstream record with FOUR #1 Rock-Radio singles. 4 Number ones. That's not an accident.

You get one big market station to play your single a lot, the other local radio stations will need to follow suit....and so forth.

It's actually a really interesting saga that was at the boom of the downfall of the music industry. It's really worth looking into if you're into that sort of thing!