In 1980, I had a small collection of albums from bands like: Boston, Foreigner, Rush, Styx, etc.. After I had become a Christian that year other Christians convinced me that listening to non-Christian music was a sin. Eventually I tossed all my albums in the trash. Because I loved music so much I began to look for alternatives. Unfortunately Christian music was at it's infancy and most artists and their releases couldn't match the talent of the secular bands I loved. The cheesiness and lack of talent for early 80s Christian music was frustrating. To add to the dilemma, other Christians were trying to convince me that Christian rock was also a sin. It was pretty confusing for a new believer. I bought a few albums from artists like: Keith Green, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Resurrection Band, etc., but it didn't satisfy my desire for rock music (particularly progressive rock). There were some bands in the early and mid 80s that got my attention, but many of them were just trying to copy their secular counterparts, sometimes even wearing identical costumes on stage. You might think, what about bands like: Barren Cross, Bloodgood, Stryper and Whitecross? Even though I bought albums from those bands, I liked very few of their songs. In my opinion: Barren Cross tried too hard to sound like Iron Maiden, Bloodgood's music was too cheesy for my taste, Michael Sweet's voice (from Stryper) irritated the crap out of me and the drummer from Whitecross sucked. It wasn't until the late 80s that I finally found bands that I really liked and that I could use to evangelize some of my friends who weren't Christians.
Here is a small list of some of the bands that I liked and collected from the 80s to 1990:
- Altar Boys
- Believer
- Deliverance
- Iona
- Jeff Scheetz
- Jerusalem (in my opinion, their Warrior album is one of the best Christian rock albums ever produced)
- Lifesavers Underground
- Saint
- Shout
- The Crucified
- Tourniquet
- Vengeance (Rising)
- X-Sinner
There are some really great and talented Christian rock artists/bands that I didn't mention, only because I wasn't really interested in their music at the time. I've rediscovered some of those artists and over the years have added them to my collection.
Some of them are:
- A.D. (Kerry Livgren)
- Darrel Mansfield
- Petra (pre John Schlitt)
- Phil Keaggy
- Whiteheart (Freedom album and later)
As a side note. In the early 90s I decided that those Christians who told me that listening to rock was a sin were wrong and were misguided and/or selfish. Since then I have re-collected my previous non-Christian albums and have grown that collection to over 500 CDs. None of that music has ever hindered my walk with Christ.
If you are having doubts regarding music, please read the quote below from Keith Green.
Last Days Ministries : Can God Use Rock Music?
Here is a small list of some of the bands that I liked and collected from the 80s to 1990:
- Altar Boys
- Believer
- Deliverance
- Iona
- Jeff Scheetz
- Jerusalem (in my opinion, their Warrior album is one of the best Christian rock albums ever produced)
- Lifesavers Underground
- Saint
- Shout
- The Crucified
- Tourniquet
- Vengeance (Rising)
- X-Sinner
There are some really great and talented Christian rock artists/bands that I didn't mention, only because I wasn't really interested in their music at the time. I've rediscovered some of those artists and over the years have added them to my collection.
Some of them are:
- A.D. (Kerry Livgren)
- Darrel Mansfield
- Petra (pre John Schlitt)
- Phil Keaggy
- Whiteheart (Freedom album and later)
As a side note. In the early 90s I decided that those Christians who told me that listening to rock was a sin were wrong and were misguided and/or selfish. Since then I have re-collected my previous non-Christian albums and have grown that collection to over 500 CDs. None of that music has ever hindered my walk with Christ.
If you are having doubts regarding music, please read the quote below from Keith Green.
Last Days Ministries : Can God Use Rock Music?