HOLY ROCK 'N' ROLLERS

 

They call it demon rock 'n' roll. Many preachers have said it is

Satan's tool for catching teens off guard with a beat that drives them into a

sexual frenzy. Some have led crusades, burned albums and picketed concerts.

They are faced with one of the hottest trends in music: Christian heavy-

metal and hard-rock bands, whose voices and guitars screech and wail for Jesus

Christ.

"All we heard for years from the pulpit was how bad rock 'n' roll was,"

said Robert Sweet, 25, the long-haired drummer for Stryper, a Christian band

from Los Angeles, whose members dress in skintight black and yellow body suits

and thick metal chains.

"Well, how many people are going to eat their words this year? God

created rock 'n' roll. Satan cannot create - he can only twist and distort it

and make it junk. The first time you catch Stryper with a beer in their hands

or their faces in cocaine, then you'll have a case. But until then, we're

innocent until proven guilty."

Despite a nonstop wave of protest from ministers and parents, Sweet's

group is one of more than 100 Christian rock bands that have sprung up, Taking

names like the Resurrection Band, Barnabas, Jerusalem and Servant. For the

uninitiated, retailers like Dickson's Bible and Book Store in Royal Oak post a

chart that lists each group and compares its sound to a secular group such as

the Kinks, Cheap Trick, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC.

But lyrically - and in concert - the Christian and secular groups are

worlds apart.

"Feeling so distressed tonight, Jesus are you there, could we talk a

little while, I heard you really care," sings the Resurrection Band from

Chicago, which ends its live Bootleg album by urging fans to give their lives

to Jesus. Other groups have an altar call, or station counselors near exits

to talk to troubled teens.

Stryper members sing about their wild appearance - "No matter how we

look, we always praise His name. And if you you believe, you got to do the

same" - and throw 100 to 200 New Testament Bibles out to the crowd.

"One guy was so anxious to get one," said Sweet, "that he broke his

arm."

Sue Weldon, a 15-year-old from Troy, said she recently brought her NON-

CHRISTIAN friend to Pine Knob to hear Petra, the best selling Christian rock

group.

"She became a Christian at the end of the concert," said Sue, twisting a

strand of her permed brown hair. "She went up to one of the counselors and

has joined a church now. She really thought it was great."

Stephen Wyss of Royal Oak, a 22-year-old senior at Lawrence Institute of

Technology, said he owns 72 Christian music albums.

"The main difference is what they sing about and their lifestyle," he

said. "When Michael Jackson was really popular, everyone wanted to be like

him. Well, with these groups getting more popular, kids can see how good it

is to be a Christian, and they will have a model to follow."

"You're not going to reach heavy metal people with pop music. You have

different types of evangelists because you have different types of people."

Though they have been around for about 10 years, most Christian rock

groups have just begun to take off, riding on the powerful wings of Christian

contemporary artists like Amy Grant, the first Christian singer to appear on

"mainstream" music charts. Ms. Grant recently became the best selling artist

in Christian music history when her last two albums went gold ($1 million in

sales) and platinum (one million albums sold).

Her success in the secular market has been followed by Petra - which is

the Greek word for rock - whose seven albums have outsold all other Christian

rock groups combined with total sales of more than $1 million.

Stryper, a Los Angeles group which will soon tour the nation, recently

sold 40,000 of its newly released singles in one day. It has already received

advance orders for nearly 100,000 copies of its newest album, which has not

even been released.

Such figures do not compare with those of secular artists like Michael

Jackson and Prince. But they are considered phenomenal by industry observers,

because major secular radio stations still refuse to play Christian music,

citing the songs' emphasis on evangelism.

"It's only been in the last few years that Christian hard rock has made

any inroads into the mainstream market," said Bob Darden, who writes about

Christian music for Billboard magazine.

"That's because it's only been in the last few years that the caliber of

the music has caught up with mainstream music. There's no reason kids should

see a bad Christian group if they can see a good secular group. So the

Christians have gotten better."

But Darden is critical of the "bad, trite" lyrics by many of the groups

who, for instance, try to cram the story of the resurrection into a three

minute song. And John Styll, editor-in-chief of Contemporary Christian

magazine, said many of the artists have been content to copy the music style

of mainstream artists and just add religious lyrics, instead of forging new

ground. He also predicted that they will never have the success enjoyed by

the mainstream counter parts.

"It's not in the cards," Styll said. "To most people, contemporary

Christian music is about as appealing as contemporary Bahai music. They'll

just think, 'Oh, that's for them.' The gospel is offensive to people. It will

never achieve the popularity that sin does."

To Ministers who spend a lot of time preaching about the dangers of sin,

the subject of rock music still draws a lot of fire. "It is a device of the

devil," said the Rev. Samuel Peterson, pastor of Faith Temple Church of God in

Madison Heights. "In my church, I don't allow it. Unless the ear is educated

to it, you can't hear the lyrics. What good is the message if you can't hear

it? And it grates on my nerves, whether it's Christian or not. It's like

having someone scream in my ear. The beat is very physical, driving and

compelling. It compels your nervous system until it drowns out your brain. I

can't find a better word than 'torment.'"

But the Rev. Paul Patton, assistant pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in

Livonia, encourages young people to listen to Christian rock music.

"If anyone has an ear for that type of music," he said, "I'd prefer they

hear lyrical content that wasn't sexist or has that macho mentality that is so

much a part of the heavy metal scene. They're reaching an audience that most

of their critics know nothing about. They are touching lives and challenging

values that people in mainstream music aren't."

Stryper's Robert Sweet said the group's success (its fan club has 10,000

members) indicates it can stand on its own from secular groups. But, he said,

it has not been easy.

"It takes a lot of guts to be in rock 'n' roll and stand up for Jesus,"

he said. "What field of work are you more tempted in? Here I am, a single

guy who has professed to TV stations and newspapers that I'm saving myself for

the right woman. And every time I play, I'm confronted by 10 to 20 beautiful

women. It's real tempting. And we can get all the free drugs and alcohol we

want."

"But the more you do God's work, the more the devil tempts you. So we

just pray harder. Stryper wants to walk into the most heavy-metal, hard rock,

drug abusing, blinded-eyes kind of situation and say, 'Look, this is a dark

room and the light is walking in.'"

Among the 500 to 600 fans who write Stryper each week are those who

thank the group for helping them overcome struggles with alcohol,

homosexuality or depression.

"We tell them don't thank us, thank Jesus," said Sweet, whose mother

manages the band and whose brother, Michael, is the lead singer. "I remember

one night, a guy called me at 10 p.m. crying. He was a stranger, but I felt

like I should go visit him. He was a 24-year-old guy dying of cerebral palsy.

He had Stryper stickers all over his wheelchair."

"I prayed with him and he asked me if he could buy a Stryper jacket. I

had mine on and gave it to him. When he got my jacket, tears were streaming

down his face and he told his mom, 'When I die, I want to be buried in this.

When I stand in front of God, I want him to see me wearing something that's

good, that's right.'"

"When those things happen, it lets us know that we're more than just a

rock band."

By Kate DeSmet from Detroit News