Back to the rock

I'm having a weird moment where just about all I want to listen to is Volz-era Petra. Songs like Not of this World, Grave Robber, and It Is Finished! are super powerful. There's an honesty in it all that's missing from our music.

Why do you think that some of us hold on to a lot of older albums so tightly other than nostalgia?  We've all stated that we feel like a lot of the power and spirit of newer music isn't the same when it comes to Christian music.  What am I saying?  There was power as these early pioneers fought for acceptance within the church, tried to follow Christ and sometimes failing miserably, and also standing up under the pressures of being put onto a ministerial pedestal by fans.  Their faith in God was what they wanted to share while making the best music they could.

As the record labels began to find out that they could profit from Christian rock, they begin signing more and more bands and pushing for all of them to put out something more marketable.  Some of the labels pushed bands and artists to lighten the message a bit so that the secular market would try it.  It worked and CCM and rock became more acceptable in the 90's.

Nowadays, most of the labels are owned by secular giant companies.  They still want to see profits so they push everyone to do whatever is popular in secular radio.  They either want artists to do worship music that church going Christians will buy or do crossover stuff that Christians will find safe but a secular audience won't find to be bold or pushy.  While there are still many artists who are in it for the right reasons, getting involved with a label insures your music probably isn't going where you had once hoped.

I love going back to those old bands when I need a recharge.  Bands like Petra (I prefer the Schlitt era), Rez, Daniel Band, Bloodgood, etc. have power unlike bands like Red, TFK, Decyfer Down, etc.  Even older Disciple makes my spirit soar moreso then their newer stuff as they just had that reckless abandon for Jesus in their early career.  Sometimes older is better.

I agree alldat. That's part of why most of the stuff I listen to past about 1985 is independent/underground stuff.

The war was over without a fight. Je trippe raide - I'm in amazement over this song. I keep reminding myself of the fact that it's over and done with, and I no longer have a sin nature.

My favorite Petra song!

It saddens me that so many Christian Rock and Metal band hide their message. That's one of the main reasons i don't buy that much new christian metal any more. I'd rather go back to the days of the Jesus Music (1969-1989), where the message was bold and clear. 

It's cool to see the difference to the whole christian hip-hop scene btw where the message is up-front in your face! I wish the rock scene would take that approach again and go back to the rock!

I'm also reimporting all of my old Newsboys albums into iTunes. The new stuff does not adequately cut mustard, but again, there's something about the early stuff that's special.

With the new stuff by the Newsboys, I like the first one with Tait and the worship record.  The newer stuff they've done sounds like they forgot that they had a guitar player.  It sounds like you could have recorded it with some drum loops and a cheap Casio keyboard.  Lyrically, though, it was pretty good.

I lost interest in Newsboys when they started doing worship albums. I still listen to every new album they release, but Newsboys with Tait is no Newsboys for me.

Everyone knows that Greg X. Volz is the better vocalist 

Through The Dark Radio wrote:

Everyone knows that Greg X. Volz is the better vocalist 

Except for the wiser folk who know that John is worlds better! 

alldatndensum wrote:

Through The Dark Radio wrote:

Everyone knows that Greg X. Volz is the better vocalist 

Except for the wiser folk who know that John is worlds better! 

John's a hack