Debunking Petra Myths

[brent]

I heard Louie dressed up as Mr. Peanut, jumped out in John's dressing room, and John freaked out, punched Mr Peanut, stomped on his black top hat, and through him out.

[Petrafan327]

I heard Louie dressed up as Mr. Peanut, jumped out in John's dressing room, and John freaked out, punched Mr Peanut, stomped on his black top hat, and through him out.

rofl xD

[blayze5150]

This is not about Petra, but...

I heard Stryper would take the furniture in their hotel rooms apart and put it back together rather than go out to party on the Soldiers Under Command tour.
Don't know if that's true or not. I remember when I was a kid there were all kings of crazy rumors surrounding Greg leaving Petra. I'm pretty sure kids in the youth group made them up, though. Petra always seemed more... real then other Christian bands. Always loved them for that.

[brent]

This is not about Petra, but...

I heard Stryper would take the furniture in their hotel rooms apart and put it back together rather than go out to party on the Soldiers Under Command tour.
Don't know if that's true or not. I remember when I was a kid there were all kings of crazy rumors surrounding Greg leaving Petra. I'm pretty sure kids in the youth group made them up, though. Petra always seemed more... real then other Christian bands. Always loved them for that.

Stryper was not a Christian band, never claimed to be. They were on a secular label and toured with secular bands.

Stryper partied with the rest of them, just probably not as hard.

[executioner]

This is not about Petra, but...

I heard Stryper would take the furniture in their hotel rooms apart and put it back together rather than go out to party on the Soldiers Under Command tour.
Don't know if that's true or not. I remember when I was a kid there were all kings of crazy rumors surrounding Greg leaving Petra. I'm pretty sure kids in the youth group made them up, though. Petra always seemed more... real then other Christian bands. Always loved them for that.

Too be honest not too many were shocked when Greg left in 1985.

[blayze5150]

This is not about Petra, but...

I heard Stryper would take the furniture in their hotel rooms apart and put it back together rather than go out to party on the Soldiers Under Command tour.
Don't know if that's true or not. I remember when I was a kid there were all kings of crazy rumors surrounding Greg leaving Petra. I'm pretty sure kids in the youth group made them up, though. Petra always seemed more... real then other Christian bands. Always loved them for that.

Stryper was not a Christian band, never claimed to be. They were on a secular label and toured with secular bands.

Stryper partied with the rest of them, just probably not as hard.

NICE! I suddenly remembered why I never post here... Would have never guessed that because they clevery disguise the name of their record label on the CD binding. I totally forgot that I saw them with White Lion. on I guess I was just blinded by the fact that 75 % of their record sales came from their distribution to Christian stores through Benson. That paired with the fact that every time you mention Christian rock music, they're the first band anyone names. You can take a duck, hatch it with geese, let it swim with geese, even let it call itself a goose. At the end of the day, it's still a duck. From Yellow and Black Attack to In God We Trust, their lyrics spoke more about Jesus than Amy Grant's were after Lead Me On. They just had a different formula that worked at the time. Calling them a secular band, despite what they have said or who they're signed with, is like remembering Michael Jordan for his baseball career. Just sharing a story told to my old guitar teacher who went out with their road crew. Didn't say it was true, didn't say it wasn't. Didn't label them Christian or secular. Just retold a story.

[drake78]

"I just wish they would put out better quality music than what they are now."

Have you heard Murder By Pride perchance? Pretty sweet record in my opinion.

[blayze5150]

"I just wish they would put out better quality music than what they are now."

Have you heard Murder By Pride perchance? Pretty sweet record in my opinion.

I actually liked Reborn as well. They seem like Michael Sweet solo records, though. Very much like Truth.

[brent]

This is not about Petra, but...

I heard Stryper would take the furniture in their hotel rooms apart and put it back together rather than go out to party on the Soldiers Under Command tour.
Don't know if that's true or not. I remember when I was a kid there were all kings of crazy rumors surrounding Greg leaving Petra. I'm pretty sure kids in the youth group made them up, though. Petra always seemed more... real then other Christian bands. Always loved them for that.

Stryper was not a Christian band, never claimed to be. They were on a secular label and toured with secular bands.

Stryper partied with the rest of them, just probably not as hard.

NICE! I suddenly remembered why I never post here... Would have never guessed that because they clevery disguise the name of their record label on the CD binding. I totally forgot that I saw them with White Lion. on I guess I was just blinded by the fact that 75 % of their record sales came from their distribution to Christian stores through Benson. That paired with the fact that every time you mention Christian rock music, they're the first band anyone names. You can take a duck, hatch it with geese, let it swim with geese, even let it call itself a goose. At the end of the day, it's still a duck. From Yellow and Black Attack to In God We Trust, their lyrics spoke more about Jesus than Amy Grant's were after Lead Me On. They just had a different formula that worked at the time. Calling them a secular band, despite what they have said or who they're signed with, is like remembering Michael Jordan for his baseball career. Just sharing a story told to my old guitar teacher who went out with their road crew. Didn't say it was true, didn't say it wasn't. Didn't label them Christian or secular. Just retold a story.

Dude, Stryper is on record in print, on video and audio that they WERE NOT A CHRISTIAN BAND, but were Christians in a band. They were new Christians at that. They took their secular tunes (which sucked) and put Christian lyrics on them. FACT.

Ok, re: Benson. When I was in Christian radio, Enigma, a secular label...THE ONLY LABEL for Stryper, did not have a distribution stream into CCM radio. We had to go buy our own records. Enigma did not send them to us until they got to THWTD. Enigma signed distribution deals with Christian companies TO CASH IN, and that is how Benson got on there. Benson was NEVER Stryper's label.

You may not have been around back then, but Stryper was not well received by the churches, or the CCM industry. They were a joke. Mike was on posters with cucumbers stuck down his tight pants, Robert was shirtless and looking feminine...their music was terrible. Contrast Stryper with the other Christian bands that did ministry (Servant, Petra, DeGarmo & Key, etc, and Stryper was a freak show. Having a big thang on posters is sooo important to spreading the gospel. How demonic. They threw out bibles, sang korny songs and had shallow messages. Big deal. Again, Stryper declared themselves that they were not a Christian band, and they lived like that until the end.

They visited the bunnies shop across the street from their studio as witnessed by the engineers, did drugs in the studio as witnessed by the engineers, were witnessed partying with secular bands on tour drinking by media and fans, Robert lived with a woman that was married (which was one of the big reasons Roberts website and forum were taken down, because people were busting his chops over it IIRC). Yeah, sounds Christian to me.

Watch this whole thing and watch the interview. Sounds Christian to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKRnjcTJ7rI

Mike says it all from 2:00 on.

[brent]

"I just wish they would put out better quality music than what they are now."

Have you heard Murder By Pride perchance? Pretty sweet record in my opinion.

I actually liked Reborn as well. They seem like Michael Sweet solo records, though. Very much like Truth.

I didn't like Reborn as a Stryper record, of course I didn't like Stryper records much. Reborn was written by Mike as a solo record, and that is what it sounds like. MBP sounds more like Stryper used to. Coverings was a good covers record, fan or not. Much respect for how Mike handled the covers.

[rexreed]

I've never figured out how a band can be saved. This is a Petra myth thread. Simmer down!

[blayze5150]

This is not about Petra, but...

I heard Stryper would take the furniture in their hotel rooms apart and put it back together rather than go out to party on the Soldiers Under Command tour.
Don't know if that's true or not. I remember when I was a kid there were all kings of crazy rumors surrounding Greg leaving Petra. I'm pretty sure kids in the youth group made them up, though. Petra always seemed more... real then other Christian bands. Always loved them for that.

Stryper was not a Christian band, never claimed to be. They were on a secular label and toured with secular bands.

Stryper partied with the rest of them, just probably not as hard.

NICE! I suddenly remembered why I never post here... Would have never guessed that because they clevery disguise the name of their record label on the CD binding. I totally forgot that I saw them with White Lion. on I guess I was just blinded by the fact that 75 % of their record sales came from their distribution to Christian stores through Benson. That paired with the fact that every time you mention Christian rock music, they're the first band anyone names. You can take a duck, hatch it with geese, let it swim with geese, even let it call itself a goose. At the end of the day, it's still a duck. From Yellow and Black Attack to In God We Trust, their lyrics spoke more about Jesus than Amy Grant's were after Lead Me On. They just had a different formula that worked at the time. Calling them a secular band, despite what they have said or who they're signed with, is like remembering Michael Jordan for his baseball career. Just sharing a story told to my old guitar teacher who went out with their road crew. Didn't say it was true, didn't say it wasn't. Didn't label them Christian or secular. Just retold a story.

Dude, Stryper is on record in print, on video and audio that they WERE NOT A CHRISTIAN BAND, but were Christians in a band. They were new Christians at that. They took their secular tunes (which sucked) and put Christian lyrics on them. FACT.

Ok, re: Benson. When I was in Christian radio, Enigma, a secular label...THE ONLY LABEL for Stryper, did not have a distribution stream into CCM radio. We had to go buy our own records. Enigma did not send them to us until they got to THWTD. Enigma signed distribution deals with Christian companies TO CASH IN, and that is how Benson got on there. Benson was NEVER Stryper's label.

You may not have been around back then, but Stryper was not well received by the churches, or the CCM industry. They were a joke. Mike was on posters with cucumbers stuck down his tight pants, Robert was shirtless and looking feminine...their music was terrible. Contrast Stryper with the other Christian bands that did ministry (Servant, Petra, DeGarmo & Key, etc, and Stryper was a freak show. Having a big thang on posters is sooo important to spreading the gospel. How demonic. They threw out bibles, sang korny songs and had shallow messages. Big deal. Again, Stryper declared themselves that they were not a Christian band, and they lived like that until the end.

They visited the bunnies shop across the street from their studio as witnessed by the engineers, did drugs in the studio as witnessed by the engineers, were witnessed partying with secular bands on tour drinking by media and fans, Robert lived with a woman that was married (which was one of the big reasons Roberts website and forum were taken down, because people were busting his chops over it IIRC). Yeah, sounds Christian to me.

Watch this whole thing and watch the interview. Sounds Christian to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKRnjcTJ7rI

it all from 2:00 on.

That's the Against the Law era, though. They'd lost their minds at that point. I remember that album went from the new and hot rack to the bargain bin in record time. Good album, though. Churches in my area recieved them as well as any other act at the time. All of their stuff was in the Christian stores where I live (except for one store owned by a member of my church who was a little... different).

[blayze5150]

I just watched the clip... and I feel much dumber having watched it (a typical response to watching Stryper interviews)! Against the law was a very interesting time for them... their last full studio disc for decades... far a reason. That strenghthens my point, though: Without the Christian market, they fell flat on their faces! Looks like a duck to me!

[executioner]

I've liked Stryper as a rock band since the 80's, but never in my mind or heart did I see them as "a Christian Rock Band" until they came back in about 2004 and I went and heard them play and Mike gave his testimony. I saw them for the first time in Beaumont, Tx on "The Soldiers Under Command Tour" and needless to say I saw nothing about them being a "Christian Band" except for them throwing the Bible out to the audience which was very controversial at the time. After the show I caught a glimpse behind the stage and as a 15 yr old teenager was amazed at all the half naked women running around, liquor everywhere, and a lot of other things going on. I saw one band member smoking a cigar with a topless lady sitting on his lap doing things up to this point in my life I had only heard about. Sorry but at this point and uptil they left the scene in 1992 there was NOTHING about this band that was Christian, and if they were Christians they were not acting like it, but I'm not one to judge because I have the beam also in my eyes.
I will say that present day they have matured and you can now see their fruits of the Gospel taking hold and they now I guess have a very strong testimony about walking & talking the Christian life; but Mike will still tell you today that Stryper is just a rock band that so happens to have 4 Christians playing in it.

[blayze5150]

I've liked Stryper as a rock band since the 80's, but never in my mind or heart did I see them as "a Christian Rock Band" until they came back in about 2004 and I went and heard them play and Mike gave his testimony. I saw them for the first time in Beaumont, Tx on "The Soldiers Under Command Tour" and needless to say I saw nothing about them being a "Christian Band" except for them throwing the Bible out to the audience which was very controversial at the time. After the show I caught a glimpse behind the stage and as a 15 yr old teenager was amazed at all the half naked women running around, liquor everywhere, and a lot of other things going on. I saw one band member smoking a cigar with a topless lady sitting on his lap doing things up to this point in my it was a real shock to my faith how a lot of the band... Stryper paticularly...life I had only heard about. Sorry but at this point and uptil they left the scene in 1992 there was NOTHING about this band that was Christian, and if they were Christians they were not acting like it, but I'm not one to judge because I have the beam also in my eyes.
I will say that present day they have matured and you can now see their fruits of the Gospel taking hold and they now I guess have a very strong testimony about walking & talking the Christian life; but Mike will still tell you today that Stryper is just a rock band that so happens to have 4 Christians playing in it.

It was a real shock to me how a lot of the Christian bands... paticularly Styrper... were actually living. It's one of the reasons I'm so confused about faith today. I know people are people, but I've always tried to live my life taking things at face value and taking people's word for things. As a teenager, you see Stryper and say, "Man, they live for Jesus and don't do those things...," but as an adult you find out they were. Kind of like when you think the adult leaders in your church are interested in you as a person and that you have friends that will last a lifetime, only to find out they were only doing their "Christian duty" by putting up with you and don't want anything to do with you as an adult. Sorry to post these things here, but it really bugs me. Faith was such an important part of my life... but now I have little to none because of such things. I admit it... I'm a bit bitter. I loved that song Michael W. Smith sang on Live the Life called "Missing Person." I wish I could find that person, but he's gone forever. In life I'vefound it's more like "Only the Good Die Young" by Billy Joel: "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. The sinners are much more fun." At least they're honest about it. You can always count on Gene Simmons to be a douche bag, but Mike Waranke telling the truth about his testimony or your own youth minister being the friend he always pretended to be is too much to ask for. It hurts. Alot.