The Petra Zone

I've just donwloaded a Jethro Tull video performing "Aqualung".

I noticed that petra's initial song style is like a folk rock even a little progressive. This video seems like the citas.

Does anyone else think like me?

Makes sense to me. Petra's first album came out in 1974...so they would naturally be influenced by bands of that era. Nowadays, those early Petra albums (from what I've heard) have a distinct '70's rock sound.

In the early '80s, Petra's music was heavily synth-laden (BEAT THE SYSTEM and BACK TO THE STREET come to mind)...again, the popular music then.

Then, when pop-metal (or "hair metal", as it's also called) became huge in the late '80s/early '90s, Petra changed accordingly. Listen to ON FIRE! and BEYOND BELIEF to hear the Def Leppard/Van Halen similarities.

In the mid-to-late '90s, Petra's sound changed again, to a more "modern/alternative" sound...ala Gin Blossoms, Candlebox, etc. You can really hear this on the GOD FIXATION and REVIVAL albums.

Nothing wrong with it...by adapting, Petra had a 33-year career in Christian rock. I don't see any other band coming close to that kind of longevity.

I've always thought I heard hints of Genesis and AC/DC on the first two Petra albums. I never even thought of Jethro Tull. I'll have to take another listen.

But I've never been too comfortable comparing Petra to other bands. They really do have a distinct sound, and although it's changed over time, they've been distinctive since the beginning. That's part of what makes them special - remember X-Sinner? They were a talented band, but they got turned into an AC/DC soundalike for the Christian market.

Distinctive? Don't get me wrong, I'm one of the biggest Petra fans out there, but I have always thought that generally, with a few exceptions, Petra has sounded strikingly like certain other bands out there. Bob's vocals on the first album always remind me of REO Speedwagon (although that's mainly the vocals, not the music in a brader sense). A few years later they were doing the Eagles thing, culminating on More Power To Ya and Not Of This World with a big-time Eagles influence. Later they had the BIG-time big-hair Def Leppard thing going on. Some of the exceptions, in my mind, are Beat the System, Petra Praise 2, Double Take, and Jekyll & Hyde. Generally the ones with the most distinctive sounds seem to tend to be the more underappreciated albums from Petra.

The only thing that I would classify as a "Petra sound" is that Bob's not afraid to write hard rock songs in major keys, which gives them a poppy, happy sound. I think he has a melodic style outside of this, but I've never sat down and tried to figure out what roads he tends to take, but you kind of know it when you hear it. Listen to "St. Augustine's Pears," for example.

Bob's major-key rockers like All Fired Up are great, but but I also really like his minor-key stuff, such as Kenaniah and the beginning of Creed. There's an exciting "dark" kind of mood to it.

Did you know the guitar solo at the end of I Am on the Rock is in the Mixolydian mode? Ha ha, I bet many of you have never heard that word before ... it's basically a major key with a lowered seventh - giving it more of a bluesy sound.



Music theory buffs ruin music for everyone else.