The Petra Zone

Tough one. In chronological order:

1. Asking Greg Volz to join Petra. Not only did his vocal style fit the band's music far better than Bob's, but he brought along a collection of previously written music from his old band that included the band's first megahit, "The Coloring Song." Simply put, Petra likely never becomes as popular as it did without that song and Volz on vocals from Never Say Die through Beat the System.

2. Luring John Schlitt out of retirement. Greg's vocal style clearly was not going to lead the band through the harder edge of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when bands with similar styles like Kansas, Styx and Foreigner largely disappeared. Getting the former Head East vocalist to give the band a meatier hard rock edge was a coup. Again, without him, there's no way Petra launches its second wave of popularity from This Means War! through Wake Up Call.

CatNamedManny wrote:Tough one. In chronological order:

1. Asking Greg Volz to join Petra. Not only did his vocal style fit the band's music far better than Bob's, but he brought along a collection of previously written music from his old band that included the band's first megahit, "The Coloring Song." Simply put, Petra likely never becomes as popular as it did without that song and Volz on vocals from Never Say Die through Beat the System.

2. Luring John Schlitt out of retirement. Greg's vocal style clearly was not going to lead the band through the harder edge of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when bands with similar styles like Kansas, Styx and Foreigner largely disappeared. Getting the former Head East vocalist to give the band a meatier hard rock edge was a coup. Again, without him, there's no way Petra launches its second wave of popularity from This Means War! through Wake Up Call.

Perfectly stated.

One of their major achievements is the whole Petra Praise project. They first set out to create resources for youth pastors to help them in their work. Petra showed up at some youth conferences, talked to many youth pastors and the result was the Rock Praise Kit with the accompaniment trax. Their devotion to young people and creativity to find new ways to reach teenagers is admirable. Tools like the This Means War! Youth Event, the On Fire Video Event and the Petra Rock Praise Kit are still unique products.

Bring Christian Rock out of the closet. I never knew there was such a thing as Christian Rock until I heard Petra in 1991, and still to this day have heard very little of the other bands (except for the ones on the radio like Newsboys, if they were considered rock).

Hangin out with the elephants.

I'm so glad that Petra didn't decide to call it quits when Greg left; bringing in John was the perfect thing to do for the band.

Petra Praise 1 was a monster hit in our family; we love Petra, and love worship music, and combining the two was a phenomenal (and unusual, for the time) idea. I remember having the sound system in the car cranked to the point of nearly breaking, and yelling along with "I Love the Lord" on the way to church.

The First Album. Ok, at that time the PETRA Album was a "Sales Disaster" but it was the start of that legendary journey through the christian music universe...

Best steps stated here would be completely different than the bands I bet.

I think Bob sticking with it is the best step.

Right now, Classic Petra is the best step. CP is by far a better show than the retirement band.

What I said had nothing to do with Greg or John. Obviously they did say John was the best thing that happened to them at that time. My point is that there were things behind the scenes with other people that changed things. The best thing could have been someone going away or someone getting involved that was not on stage or whose work allowed Petra to go to the next level.

brent wrote:What I said had nothing to do with Greg or John. Obviously they did say John was the best thing that happened to them at that time. My point is that there were things behind the scenes with other people that changed things. The best thing could have been someone going away or someone getting involved that was not on stage or whose work allowed Petra to go to the next level.

I wonder if the band would place a higher priority on hiring Mark Hollingsworth as their manager and publicist. He was the one who pushed to make sure the band's concerts were on par with their secular counterparts, a huge piece of the band's early success from 1981-84.

Here are my thoughts and top 5



5. Greg X. Volz-It was obvious that Petra at the time before Greg needed a frontman to come in with not only vocal talent, but a stage presence. Greg came in just right at the perfect time too not only give credibility to the band but also more professionalism that the current members were lacking; He seemed to be more seasoned than the others and he really help Bob grow as a song writer and also a musician.

4. JDB- I do believe when NSD came out and the next 3 albums were produced he was the right person to feel those production shoes, and I do believe he made the sound on the four albums. I don't think any of those(especially MPTY) would have even sounded as well as they did without him.

3. Leaving the Elafante Brothers for Brown Bannister on the WUC album was a must and a huge step in the right direction. It's a shame though that it only lasted for WUC; just think what the rest of the 90's would have sounded like if Bannister was at the helm.

2. John Schlitt-Bringing John in at the time that he came in was a perfect match for the sound that the band wanted to go. I do believe that John took Petra to the next level in not only professionalism but in heart and he became the heartbeat of Petra. You can never mistake the heart this man has for God and for ministry. He is the Lead Singer and frontman for Petra no questions!!!!!!

1. Bob Hartman- This is the one constant in the band; even when he wasn't touring he was still writing just about all the songs and also playing most of the guitars on the albums; without this man Petra would have never made it and been as successful as they are.

Other notes on the subject: I think the top 5 albums Petra has done are:

5. WUC
4. MPTY
3. OF!
2. JAH
1. BB
When I know of someone that is looking for something new to listen too these are the five that I recommend.

Being clearly Christian with very biblical lyrics combined with great rock music.

I would like to add a few words to my comments. I think the Petra Praise albums were really great and I think the first one was at the time of its release the only thing like it out there. Petra set the tone for the market in that area and it actually blossomed into a whole other segment that I don't think anyone could have ever guess would happen. All this P&W stuff out there today owes it to Petra for getting this started.