ATTENTION PETHEADS NEED HELP!!!

[cndfogie]

Petheads,

Over at the strypedforever.com in the forum there is a thread "Who was more influetial Petra or Stryper? Now there are only 5 posts and right now I'm the sole Petra defender. So shoot over to strypedforever.com and help me defend Petra. Thanks

[calicowriter]

Maybe it's just me, but isn't that kind of like arguing over who was more influential, Peter or Paul? In my mind, both had specific talents and audiences to reach, and both groups did so admirably.

[gman]

That;s why I couldn't find it. I went to the official stryper forum.
That other one is not on my list of must visit forums.

GMan

[Michael]

I guess it depends on what you mean by "influential." Stryper had hits on mainstream rock radio... Petra did not. Stryper got heard by scads more people than Petra ever did because of it. Now, who had a deeper message for those who did hear? Probably Petra. Stryper's message was always positive, but more basic where Petra sometimes had songs that were more in-depth.

The real question is: why do people still, after all of these years, compare Petra with Stryper? To me it's not like comparing Peter and Paul as much as comparing a sports car with a speedboat. They'll both get you somewhere fast, but not necessarily the same place and not at all via the same route. Their music was totally different, their whole image was different (OK, John DID wear some pretty tight pants back then and he had some fairly big hair)... there are so few similarities you might as well have compared Petra to Def Leppard. Actually, musically Petra has more in common with Leppard of the same time period than Stryper.

[MineField]

As a fan of rock and heavy metal now for over 20 years...I can offer my opinion. That opinion being that, you really cannot compare Stryper to Petra. Both bands had different audiences and both had a different sound musically. I love both Stryper and Petra but in all honesty...Stryper probably would not have been if it had not been for Petra! So I do believe that Petra would be the more influential...just my 2 cents!

Blessings!

[JMBJR72]

Although I heard one album of Stryper and heard several albums of Petra's there is a difference. Petra is rock group where Stryper is more metal. Stryper does not compare to Petra.
Does it matter who is better. You never know they may have a concert together then what will we say?
Jim

[Michael]

Stryper probably would not have been if it had not been for Petra

I disagree 100%. Stryper operated totally outside of the CCM world. They weren't even on a Christian record label. And even if existing Christian rock was a factor, Petra was not by any means the only Christian rock band in existence at the time; Petra wasn't even the first Christian rock band, although they did come on the scene pretty early on. The members of Stryper were not even Christians when they first formed a band as Roxx Regime; they became born again between becoming a band and getting signed. My guess is that they became Christians and, as many new Christians do, they wanted to share Jesus the way they knew how. Their Shoutlife page doesn't even list any Christian bands as influences (it says "Kiss, Van Halen, Queen, Judas Priest, Bad Company etc....")

I think the time was right, the spandex was tight, and it happened for Stryper. I don't think Petra was a factor.

[BForm]

I remember in the mid 80's I was living in Florida when a brand new Christian radio station formed. In the first two months of their operation I won 2 sets of tickets to Christian concerts. (I guess they didn't have many listeners yet). Whiteheart was the first and the second was a festival concert that included Stryper. I already loved Petra at the time (1985 I think), but had no idea who Stryper was.

I actually won four tickets for the Stryper show so my wife and I took some good friends. When Stryper came on stage we were all thoroughly repulsed. Everybody around us was asking the same question. How do you truly witness for Christ dressed like that? It just seemed to cheapen and trivialize the gospel. We got up and left and I would do the same thing today.

I know, I know. Someone's gonna say "think about all the people they reached that couldn't be reached any other way." To which I would reply "couldn't be reached any other way?" What kind of wimpy Holy Spirit do we believe in that relies on cheap marketing gimmicks to reach the lost? He always has and always will work through the Word authenticated by the faithful life witness of believers. All the cheap marketing methods we use glorifies the "wisdom of men" and not the power of God.