Top 100 Christian Hard Rock Songs

[Jonathan]

Inspired by VH1's "Top 100 Hard Rock Songs" series, I wondered what the top 100 Christian Hard Rock songs would be. So I made my own list.

A few qualifications: I based most songs on the individual merit of the song. I didn't pay much attention to whether or not the band members were actually Christian. I didn't care who turned out to be gay. I don't know who was a pain to work with in studio. I based it on my own definitions of "hard rock." Some of these songs are wuss rock to some, while some are too heavy for others. I drew all songs from my own personal library, so it is admittedly skewed to my own personal tastes.

Who are you amazed that I left out? Do you wonder why I would pick one song by a certain artist over a different one? Who would you toss out? Wondering why a certain song is so far down, while a lesser song is so far up? Which song am I missing?

Anyway, without further ado, onto the list.

100. Temple Taboo – Stir – Anthemic Grunge, Alice in Chains-inspired (musically, at least). Layne would like Stir.

99. Kalhoun – Daniel Amos – Every word is important to Taylor, and the riff is just as intense.

98. Bright Red Carpet - All Star United – I’ve often overlooked Eskelin’s music…this cut from the debut ushered in some great tunes.

97. Long Way From Paradise – Allies – Is that really the same guy who sang “Butterfly Kisses?â€

[Jonathan]

Set the Bridge on Fire is from Freedom.

I suppose I like Inside (the song) because I was so surprised by it. I bought Redemption (and loved it, too) before I knew Inside (the album) existed. I assumed Inside was gonna be wuss rock all the way through. It kind of has this dark throbbing vibe about it, which always piques my interest, especially in Christian rock. Plus I think most of White Heart's material is pretty slicked back and ... kinda happy, making Inside a bit of a grungy departure with a classic rock guitar solo.

[Enosh]

Interesting list Johnny,

I liked the Messiah Prophet addition. What about Jerusalem's Sodom?

Set the bridge on fire is actually not a very well known White Heart track because it did not appear on the cassette tape which was more popular at the time the album came out. Was only on the Cd. One of my favorite CD's period. I once got a speeding ticket listening to Bye Bye Babelon.

ONE BAD PIG!!!!

YOU'RE A PAGAN WITH A CAPITAL "P"
YOU'RE A PAGAN FULL OF IDOLOTRY
YOU'RE A PAGAN THAT IS WHAT YOU BE
NO MISTAKIN' FRY LIKE BACON YOU'RE A PAGAN!!!!

[separateunion]

No Five Iron Frenzy? Christian music was rarely more honest than when these guys took the stage. But kudos for Poor Old Lu; definitely one of the most overlooked Christian bands.

[Jonathan]

Enosh, the first meeting of the Speeding while Listening to White Heart People will come to order. I got one while listening to Powerhouse.

And I did consider FIF's Suckerpunch.

[brent]

Christian music was alive and well before this list. There are arguably better and edgier tunes before this era of commercialism.

[separateunion]

I forgot how good "Lost the Plot" is. Man, that song is amazing.

There are better FIF songs than "Suckerpunch." Seriously. As FIF progressed, their serious songs really matured and began to dominate. "Every New Day" is always amazing, but songs like "All That Is Good", "Eulogy", "On Distant Shores", "Something Like Laughter", "World Without End" and "Far, Far Away" are quite insightful and hard hitting.

And if you really want to get your emotional boots knocked off, try listening to some Brave Saint Saturn. I almost cry every time I listen to "Daylight". I'd easily rank The Light of Things Hoped For in my top ten albums.

[Jonathan]

Ah, thanks for the suggestion, I will check those out.

The reason for me not including the music before the time frame of this list is that I don't know about the music before the time frame of this list. I'm all ears though. I won't deny there's probably better, edgier, less commercial stuff.

[gman]

I'm all for go big. Loud guitars, pounding drums, etc. Dump as much money into it as you can and do a big production. So, I like quite a bit of your list. Although it's not on there, Petra's All Fired Up was great for cruising the strip, as was any of the heavy, driving Mastedon stuff from their first album.
Whiteheart was fantastic on Freedom. Great songs live. Highlands was the ultimate for me. Jon Knox blew the roof off on drums. I liked the songs on Inside but was not a fan of the production. Billy had a song or two with Ric on Billy's Neverlost project that were remakes from the Inside album, done the way he would have produced them. Great stuff if you can find it.
Messiah Prophet was the first Christian band/music I ever really paid attention to, bought their album, etc. I saw them live and it opened a whole new world. Fond memories there.
Guardian was phenomenal. Fire and Love was a nice transition from their glam album. but Miracle Mile was better (see dump lots of $$$ into it and go big). for me Buzz was kind of like music is changing fast, what do we do? Bottle Rocket was, we've figured it out. Then it kind of fell apart from there.
Loved Shout as well. Too bad they invited Lanny Cordolla to be a guest player for In Your Face. They could have put out a couple more good albums were it not for Lanny's pesky conversion to Christianity.
Excellent list. To cover each era, I guess you would have to compile a best of the best list from each one, throw them together, and come up with some formula to rank each one.
I will always put To Hell with the Devil in my fantasy list of best Christian albums of all time. Again, the money thing.

GMan

[Jonathan]

I don't know anything about them...but I did find another CD called Public Face Private Face or something...is that the same group?

Enosh, I picked up some Jerusalem. It'll take me some listens...

[gman]

I'm no Jerusalem scholar, but I did buy their 'Dancing on the Head of the Serpent' album, and thought it was fantastic. I also have a tape in my car from a group called Watchmen. That still gets play, whereas most of the other stuff hasn't seen the light of day in years. I think the dude on vocals was Greg Sweet, or something like that. No relation to brothers Sweet, as far as I know.

GMan

[greenchili]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggqek30C ... re=related
Geoff Moore - Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music?