Classic Rock And Christian Metal: A Combination That Will Destroy Us All

Dan Gibson | March 25, 2008 4:15 am
It’s hard to make much of a comment on the tribute to the victims of the fire at the Station nightclub that aired on VH1 and VH1 Classic over the weekend. It was incredibly depressing; the guy from Tesla was having a rough night voice-wise; “To Be With You” is still a pretty great song. It was largely what you probably expected. However, the highlight for me was seeing the members of Stryper performing with Tom Scholz and Gary Pihl on “Piece Of Mind.” Of course, much to the chagrin of at least one commenter, that means it’s time for a pile of Stryper videos from YouTube!

I wasn’t a huge fan of Stryper as a kid, although their Bible-throwing concert appearance in a high school auditorium was an early concert highlight. My tastes were more aligned with a less jock-rock oriented style of Christian rock, although in retrospect, perhaps making myself an outcast from a niche within a niche wasn’t the wisest decision. Nonetheless, it was hard to avoid the Yellow and Black Attack those days, between my youth pastor condemning them for not being Christian enough and their brief moment of MTV stardom with “Honestly.” If you don’t take time to think about who he’s replacing, Michael Sweet holds up well in the Boston lead singer role, hitting all the right notes at least–and if the band throws “To Hell With The Devil” into the setlist this summer, I’d even consider paying for a ticket to its Tucson casino date.

Calling On You:

Always Stand By You:

Soldiers Under Command:

Stryper [Official site]

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