When did Petra's "downward slide" begin?

[greenchili]

Yeah. Sleeping with Louie, John and the other guys on a bus, seeing the great alleys and dumpsters of America's fine theaters, or being home with mom and the boy, eating home cooked meals, etc. Hard decision to make.

hilarious.

To answer an earlier question Newsboys (11) and Steven Curtis Chapman (13) immediately come to mind. Steve Camp made it to 14 up to 2002, not sure what he up to. Third day is around 9-10. Randy Stonehill is at 18. Rich Mullins before he passed and went to heaven was up to 9. Bryan Duncan has cranked out about 15 so far.

Audio Adrenaline is almost there with 9. Whoops.. looks like they are calling it quits as well. Their 10th album will be titled "adios" (farewell was taken ) and it will be live. Another group down the tubes. I kinda felt it was coming though. Mark seemed like he was starting to loose interest in the band by turning over the vocals. Ouch.. according to their website he is having problems with his vocal chords. Bummer.

That's just off the top of my head real quick. I can name another handful that, although not around anymore, hit the plus 10 mark.

[Mountain Man]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I have a little different take on this question.

In my opinion, the beginning of the end started with Beyond Belief. When this album came out, Petra reached a zenith. They received tons of media exposure and were so popular that it was impossible for them to reach that point again.

Both Unseen Power and Wake Up Call were great albums, but they just didn't have the same punch as Beyond Belief. It seems that the media and Christian radio had already started to move on before Unseen Power, and despite Wake Up Call being (in my opinion) one of their finest albums, they were almost a shadow of the band that had made Beyond Belief.

The same thing happened to U2 after Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum. They became so successful that they simply couldn't maintain that level of popularity, and so they consciously and deliberately reinvented themselves (Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and Pop), stripping off the overexposure in the process and emerging as a solid rock band ready to carry on and do their own thing.

I think Petra tried this approach with No Doubt, but instead of losing the overexposure while maintaining a solid core of fans, they simply dropped off the Christian music radar almost entirely. Also, the departure of Bob Hartman from the roadshow and John Lawry from the band line-up didn't help matters any.

From there, Petra was on rocky ground, never able to put together a solid line-up of performers that could be embraced as the Petra which caused them to lose even more fans and alienate potential new ones. They still produced some fantastic albums during this period (Petra Praise 2 and God Fixation being two of my favorites), but the band simply wasn't stable enough to attract or maintain a following.

So my theory is, they started their "slide" after the extreme success of Beyond Belief, and the departure of long time members like Hartman, Lawry, and Ronny Cates only served to pour more water into an already sinking ship. Now if they had found some way to maintain their line-up and went directly from Wake Up Call to Jeckyll & Hyde (the latter sounds to me like a natural musical progression of the former), I think they could have hit a comfortable stride of being a solid band even if they would have no longer been the superstars of Christian music.

Of course, I think we'll always be asking ourselves "what could have been".

[executioner]

I believe I asked a question in a previous post, but what would have happened if after WUC Bob and Lawry both said were out and John decided not to carry on without them, and then 10 yrs later boom JAH comes out? I feel in the sense that something would have been different and they would be still carrying on. The last ten years took alot out of Petra ministry and market wise and I feel it hurt them to stick around from 95-2002. I'm sorry but those albums from 95-2001(God Fixation was decent) were just a shadow of themselves, and in my opinion were horrible. That is NOT the Petra that most fans cherish.

[greenchili]

Well maybe if things work out John on his solo efforts may be able to "slide out" from underneath the Petra shadow and get something going.

I know it sounds like a mean thing to say, but it sounds to me like the Petra name just carries too much baggage with it to be useful anymore.

[believerindeed]

Hello everyone....this is my first post. I actually just found this board a few days ago although I have been a longtime Petra fan, since around 1982 or so. Anyway, I am happy to have found this board of dedicated Petra fans like myself....However, I do not agree at all with all the bashing of No Doubt. It is absolutely one of my favorite Petra albums of all time.....saw them on tour with Whiteheart and it was awesome!!! Other than seeing Petra on the Farewell tour in Dawsonville, it ranks right up there as one of the best Petra shows I was able to catch through the years. The album that really disappointed me the most was Double Take......although it was not horrible, I think it really backfired more than any other cd. And like eveyone else said, Revival as a follow-up to that cd only made matters worse...There are some good songs on Revival but the overall song selection and performances are not up to par with the rest of Petra's catalog......I absolutely love Jeckyll and Hyde and feel very fortunate to have "rediscovered" Petra just in time to catch them on their final tour.....I hope John will continue on as a solo artist....he's simply the best vocalist out there, with very few peers.

[brent]

Well maybe if things work out John on his solo efforts may be able to "slide out" from underneath the Petra shadow and get something going.

I know it sounds like a mean thing to say, but it sounds to me like the Petra name just carries too much baggage with it to be useful anymore.

This is a thing that I am watching, for selfish reasons. This is a delima.
John is known for Petra
Petra is known for John
The public at large does not buy Petra (record sales tell all)
The public at large does not buy John (ditto above)
John's solo career came only after Petra's success with him
John used that momentum to get exposure. There is no more exposure. That is a good thing.
Just as Viktor has had zilch success getting their foot in the door with the Petra connection, and has since de-emphasized it, so must John.
If John re-invents himself, like Rod Stewart, etc., or goes after a 70's rock market, then he has a shot at churches, but not the mainstream. 70's rock is what John has an affinity for.
John cannot compete with the yound guys. If Petra could not, then John most certainly cannot on his own. So I predict that his next CD will be an indie, targeted at the people his own age and 10 years younger.