The Petra Zone

I have discovered that musically, if you pretend BTS never happened, but instead we got John Schlitt era No Doubt after NOTW....it works.....musically....just sayin

Rusty wrote: ↑

Sun May 10, 2020 10:58 am

I have discovered that musically, if you pretend BTS never happened, but instead we got John Schlitt era No Doubt after NOTW....it works.....musically....just sayin

You kinda have a point. I feel like from BTS to On Fire! the albums have a similar style in many ways

And see, I've always thought that Jekyll & Hyde sounds like the natural follow-up to Wake-Up Call. I would rather skip the albums between those two than the albums between Not Of This World and No Doubt.

I'm not saying skip them, I'm saying NSD,MPTY,NOTW, then ND, BTTS, TMW, OF etc.....musically.
Criticism that ND isn't "Petra" enough because it isn't as hard as BB or UP or OF....it sounds very Petra if its after NOTW......And to your point, yes you could put WUC between ND and BTTS....musically it works....

Rusty wrote: ↑

Mon May 18, 2020 7:43 am

Criticism that ND isn't "Petra" enough because it isn't as hard as BB or UP or OF....it sounds very Petra if its after NOTW......And to your point, yes you could put WUC between ND and BTTS....musically it works....

Yeah. I think ND is a bit underrated. Sure it's not as heavy as the previous albums but it still has some good rockers like Right Place, Heart of a Hero etc. The slower songs are a bit weak but it's not bad

Rusty wrote: ↑

Mon May 18, 2020 7:43 am

I'm not saying skip them, I'm saying NSD,MPTY,NOTW, then ND, BTTS, TMW, OF etc.....musically.
Criticism that ND isn't "Petra" enough because it isn't as hard as BB or UP or OF....it sounds very Petra if its after NOTW......And to your point, yes you could put WUC between ND and BTTS....musically it works....

I'll say it. Skip some of those. Please. Especially the weed record, the school bus record, the subway record and no doubt record.

Rusty wrote: ↑

Mon May 18, 2020 7:43 am

I'm not saying skip them, I'm saying NSD,MPTY,NOTW, then ND, BTTS, TMW, OF etc.....musically.
Criticism that ND isn't "Petra" enough because it isn't as hard as BB or UP or OF....it sounds very Petra if its after NOTW......And to your point, yes you could put WUC between ND and BTTS....musically it works....

I'll say it. Skip some of those. Please. Especially the weed record, the school bus record, the subway record and no doubt records.

I get it. As a 50 something, I struggle with relevancy. Should Petra have not changed their sound to try to continue to appeal to a younger crowd? Or should th e y have stayed the same? Where does that put BTS? That was a change. Or you could say it was an experiment.
But I see bands that never change and some are still huge. Casting Crowns, 20 years they sound exactly the same. Still on top. Third Day never changed their sound 20 plus years they stayed on top. I don't get it.
I wish Petra had remained as they sounded during the JDB era, but tech changes sound. The Elefante years had a consistency in sound, I appreciated that also. Why do some bands suffer from changing times/audiences, but not others? I don't get it. I am simply trying to find the good because it's still Bob"s writing. Bad Petra is still better than the best CCM today.

Rusty wrote: ↑

Sun May 24, 2020 5:53 am

Should Petra have not changed their sound to try to continue to appeal to a younger crowd?

I suppose that question would have a different answer if it had worked. Unfortunately, the new sound didn't seem to appeal to anybody, so not only did they not gain new fans, they lost old fans.

It can be very hard for a band (or any artist in general) who became popular doing one thing to suddenly change direction. This tends to never sit well with fans, but from an artistic standpoint, I understand why someone wouldn't want to just do the same thing for decades without ever growing or changing as an artist. But some people can pull off the drastic changes in direction. Musicians like Prince and David Bowie made very successful careers out of being unpredictable. And then there's U2 who deliberately made an album (Pop) that they knew people would hate just so they could shed some of their popularity and the pressures that come from being labeled a "super group". It was a cynical declaration of "You're not going to pigeonhole us!", and then they went on to do what they wanted without having to live up to fan expectations.

What we have to remember is that the guys were too old to appeal to the young CCM audience, the young audience was into different music, the soccer moms and dads at the time were not going to have much luck selling their band to their kids. Combine all of this with the fact radio would not let Petra evolve past The Coloring Song and a couple of other songs.

People in the industry tried to get the band to plan their exit and the band would not listen. They should have. They should not have drug the Petra name though the mud, changed it the way the other secular 80s bands did when they changed their sound and audience. They should have quit when grunge hit. Don't tell me they had to keep going for ministry. Ministry happened in much larger venues with relevant bands, in churches, mission fields, job sites, etc. They should have quit, given people time to miss them, and then come back the way secular bands did when the grunge crap was out of everyone's system. They would have had a bigger impact with J&H for sure.

It’s not only Petra that struggled with identity during the mid-nineties, though. The entire CCM industry as we knew it was coming to an end. The heyday of big tours and of record labels putting money into artists wanting any kind of creative freedom was over.

Progfan wrote: ↑

Sun May 24, 2020 6:49 pm

It’s not only Petra that struggled with identity during the mid-nineties, though. The entire CCM industry as we knew it was coming to an end. The heyday of big tours and of record labels putting money into artists wanting any kind of creative freedom was over.

Even secular rock changed. That kind of classic arena rock that Petra played became less fashionable, while grunge and alternative gained popularity. But it's true, many Christian bands like Degarmo and Key, Rez band, Bride, Guardian, Whitecross etc all struggled or broke up during that time

Progfan wrote: ↑

Sun May 24, 2020 6:49 pm

It’s not only Petra that struggled with identity during the mid-nineties, though. The entire CCM industry as we knew it was coming to an end. The heyday of big tours and of record labels putting money into artists wanting any kind of creative freedom was over.

I don't know about that. DC Talk, News Boys, Audio Adrenaline, MWS, Jars of Clay, and others were doing ok. The big shows were still happening with artists who appealed to the female teen to soccer mom audience. The whole industry went that way for a bit.

brent wrote: ↑

Sat May 23, 2020 7:00 pm

Rusty wrote: ↑

Mon May 18, 2020 7:43 am

I'm not saying skip them, I'm saying NSD,MPTY,NOTW, then ND, BTTS, TMW, OF etc.....musically.
Criticism that ND isn't "Petra" enough because it isn't as hard as BB or UP or OF....it sounds very Petra if its after NOTW......And to your point, yes you could put WUC between ND and BTTS....musically it works....

I'll say it. Skip some of those. Please. Especially the weed record, the school bus record, the subway record and no doubt records.

I totally agree. ND was such a contrast from the previous offerings that it turned the die hard fans away. They went from their best sonic wise album to their worst, plus most of the songs were horrible.

brent wrote: ↑

Sun May 24, 2020 4:06 pm

What we have to remember is that the guys were too old to appeal to the young CCM audience, the young audience was into different music, the soccer moms and dads at the time were not going to have much luck selling their band to their kids. Combine all of this with the fact radio would not let Petra evolve past The Coloring Song and a couple of other songs.

People in the industry tried to get the band to plan their exit and the band would not listen. They should have. They should not have drug the Petra name though the mud, changed it the way the other secular 80s bands did when they changed their sound and audience. They should have quit when grunge hit. Don't tell me they had to keep going for ministry. Ministry happened in much larger venues with relevant bands, in churches, mission fields, job sites, etc. They should have quit, given people time to miss them, and then come back the way secular bands did when the grunge crap was out of everyone's system. They would have had a bigger impact with J&H for sure.

For example look what Stryper did and now has done; This last decade of music from them has been really great and IMO better than their 80's hits. I can't wait for their new album later this year.