My First Rock Rebellion
// January 15th, 2008 // Humor, Music
I’m a preacher’s kid, though I didn’t have the stereotypical P.K. experience. I was not in a traditional church, a traditional denomination, nor is my Dad a traditional preacher. Compared to most pastor families, ours was pretty free. However, there were exceptions (at least in the early years). One of the restrictions we had was that Mom and Dad didn’t believe in rock music. We weren’t really allowed to listen to rock and roll at all.
Also working against us was the insane frenzy happening in the Church at the time about Satan living in the “African tribal beats” of rock music. Most of the vitriol about the rock genre had to do with the use of smoke machines, laser lighting and mullets. I’m with the fundamentalists concerning the mullet hair style but, I love pyrotechnics. If I could work sparkly explosions into my sermons, I would.
Then Christian rock hit it’s hayday in the late 80′s and the youth pastor in the church convinced Dad to consider it. At first, he hated it. I think he had seen Hell’s Bells too many times. I remember he brought a Mylon Lefevre cassette home one day to check it out. It went in the tape player and lasted (as I remember) about 1 minute. Then it went in the trash.
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My brother fished it out when Dad wasn’t looking and we listened quietly in his room.
So, our first teenage rock and roll rebellion was listening to the cheesiest Christian Rock ever made. EVER MADE. Most people cite the Rolling Stones, Hendrix, Nirvana, or something similar as the first time they hid in their room listening to something their parents dissaproved of. For me it was a faith preacher sporting tight leather pants and long feathered hair while playing a purple Zion guitar.
To their credit, my parent’s lightened up very quickly. Looking back, they tolerated a lot of horrible music because it was obviously having a positive influence on us. However, it wasn’t until years later that I discovered “secular” music at all. That was when my older brother came home from college on break with some Delta Blues from Robert Johnson. So, my first exposure to secular music was stuff recorded before the invention of tape recorders, stereo sound, or the internet. I listened to blues and jazz for years after that not caring much at all about much else.
My musical tastes are so confused at this point, when people ask me what I like to listen to I have no idea what to say. I just shrug my shoulders and say, “Either something 75 years old, or something from your extensive 90′s christian rock collection. Got any Whiteheart?”
Thankfully, there was Petra. They were the only christian band to survive the 90′s with their dignity intact.
Here are two videos from them. One old (with Greb Volz singing). One recent (with John Schlitt singing).
Enjoy! And leave us a comment confessing your first “Rock Rebellion”. Hopefully someone will mention Hendrix.
Petra – “Clean”
Petra – “Jekyll and Hyde”
[tags]petra, mylon lefevre, christian rock, ccm[/tags]
Right on, dude! I so related to this. Go Petra!! I was so scared spitless over the rock & roll stuff that I got rid of a Johnny Cash record after playing it backwards and imagining I heard something bad. My first rock “rebellion” was Christian rock, too. There was a Christian rock radio program my friends listened to, and I couldn’t resist. They even played *gasp* U2 and Kansas! :)
My first venture into “secular” music was in college. My roommate played top-40 stuff whether I liked it or not. We didn’t die, I didn’t lose my salvation or start doing drugs, and I started to like it….
I cringe bringing this up… but here’s where our age difference becomes obvious. Whereas teenage Ben Cotten listened to Petra and felt (justifiably) hardcore, five-year-old Claire and toddler John listened to Computer Brains from Petra’s 1984 Beat the System ENDLESSLY. As in, play it, press rewind on my Fisher Price tape player, and play it again. I’m fairly sure our parents still can’t stand to listen to Computer Brains. They got fried on Computer Brains, although Hollow Eyes was on the same tape, and Dad really liked that song.
So… that was my first rock rebellion. It was fun.
I must admit, and i know i’m really dating myself, I do remember well, Hendrix, Joplin, Creedence etc. Not sure if it was a rock rebellion just the music we listened to at the time. Had never heard of christian music during that time-frame. I’ve been a piano teacher for many years and I’ve always, always introduced my students to every form of music genre out there. It didn’t mean I or the students had to like it all. But I wanted them to learn about it.
Personally, I really like jazz and some forms of rock. I even like classical music. I just don’t like one type of music all the time.
“Computer Brains” had to be the worst song they ever wrote!
Crack the Sky!!!! I heard that Mylon is finally retiring. Do you think he still has the feathered hair? My discovery of Christian rock music was a relief to my parents, so it wasn’t necessarily rebellion, though I was preferential to Steve Taylor and Some Band and Bash and the Code. Ever hear of them? Keyboards galore!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3af9US_D0Is
Go check it out! Hilarious! So rebellious!
Wow, Jan. I had somehow managed to NEVER see that until now…
It’s like watching a Coke commercial for Jesus.
How right you are, Pastor Ben. I don’t think it made it onto any of Petra’s “Greatest Hits” cd’s.
It was the Christian answer to “We are the World”… I wonder how many of them are embarrassed by it now?!
Jan, thanking you for making my smoothie turn sour inside my stomach.
My first rock rebellion might have been Quiet Riot in 1984. My parents didn’t mind the soft heavy metal (Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, etc.) but they absolutely wouldn’t stand for KISS, AC/DC, Ozzie and the like. Poison was pushing the limits. I remember feeling quietly ashamed in high school because I liked AC/DC. In fact, I’m listening to “Who Made Who” right now on iTunes.
I’m so glad that the back-masking controversy went the way of “The Fat Boys”.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=mHoCR7u5NzY&feature=related
Good old Bob Hartman rocking it out in 1985 and 2005 (not to mention 1975). I saw Petra at their last scheduled show ever, and it was one of my life’s highlights. Although, I must say that John Schlitt can look a little funny when he does the old rocker moves, now that he’s advanced in years.
“Computer brains, put garbage in
Computer brains, get garbage out
Computer brains, programing YOU
What can you do to break out, break out, break out out out…”
From the other side of the generational divide, we encouraged Christian rock. We felt like the scare over tribal drums was just that, a scare. Where do other cultures get things like in-born rhythm anyway?
Christian rock seemed a great way to encourage keeping our kids thinking about the Lord Jesus. Some bands and lyrics seemed … less than glorifying to God, but as a genre, we liked having something to offer the kids.
The “Break Out” section was undoubtedly my favorite part.
Yes, classic analogue tape effects masterfully used.