Background: Heavy metal music and Christianity The term 'heavy metal', as it was used by
Lester Bangs and Dave Marsh at
Creem, referred to a sound best exemplified by albums such as
Led Zeppelin's
Led Zeppelin II,
Deep Purple's
Deep Purple in Rock, and
Black Sabbath's
Paranoid. An examination of some of the lyrics from bands such as these show a lack of any explicitly negative themes. Led Zeppelin's "
Whole Lotta Love" could just as well be a conversation between husband and wife, as not. Black Sabbath's "
Electric Funeral" exactly parallels the blood red moon of the
Book of Revelation by
John of Patmos, while their "
Hand of Doom" describes the ravages of drug abuse.
Ozzy Osbourne could be heard preaching to his audience in the earlier song, "
Children of the Grave": "Tell the world that love is still alive you must be brave; or the children of today are children of the grave." Later, in the song "
In My Time of Dying",
Robert Plant even pleaded to
Jesus: "Meet me Jesus, meet me; Meet me in the middle of the air; if my wings should fail me Lord, please meet me with another pair." Perhaps not overtly Christian, but songs such as these exhibited similar themes. Early heavy metal fans were viewed by the populace as a
counterculture, just as the fans of rock and roll, in general, were. Early heavy metal lyrics and themes were often accused of challenging Christian values, and as the genre grew, some bands actually did. Among the early bands who were accused of adding negative connotations to the term was Black Sabbath. Their and other early bands' profligate use and combination of dark, occult themes, tattoos and piercings, and other features in stage- and album-styling; repeated musical features like distorted guitar-filters, open/
power chords, riffs (including chords with roots a
tritone apart); and moody explorations of diverse spiritual themes (including the social connections of metal-enthusiasts) led to a range of responses, from intense
fandom and identification, widespread patronage for at least the most well-known albums and bands, and polarizing criticism. Those uncomfortable with the musical and fan scene features of heavy metal, especially those on the religious right (sometimes including fans of other music, including mainstream and progressive rock) became more vocal through the 1970s and '80s, at worst casting the makers and fans of such music as "followers of Satan". Despite such accusations, more serious examinations of Black Sabbath lyrics find several songs actually advocate Christianity and specifically warn audiences about the
Devil.
Rolling Stone reviewer
Lester Bangs noted the Christian theme of their song "After Forever" when it was released. Further, as Deena Weinstein and others have established, the vast majority of metal fans are male, white, and blue-collar-identified. Although there are now metal fans of more-advanced ages, from its origins through the 1980s their age centered on teen years. Bands such as
Mötley Crüe,
Ratt, and
Twisted Sister took "themes of generalized rage, sexual abandon, drug abuse, violence, and despair into the homes of millions of young record buyers." In the 1980s, with the growing appeal of metal, the National Coalition on Television Violence "called attention to the destructive potential of music videos, many of which graphically depict violence and rebellion." The Italian Capuchin friar and former metal vocalist
Cesare Bonizzi ("Fratello Metallo") stated that there are "maybe" some Satanic metal bands "but I think it's an act so that they sell more," and went to add that "metal is the most energetic, vital, deep and true musical language that I know." Some metal songs criticize religion, such as "
Death Church" by
Machine Head, which "critici[zes] the hypocrisy of the
Christian church." Metal groups "…seek out every…avenue to assault religion", including "religious hypocrisy", specifically Christianity. Metal songs use themes from the Book of Revelation which focus on
apocalypse (e.g.,
Iron Maiden's "
Number of the Beast"). The metal subgenre with the most emphasis on apocalyptic themes is
thrash metal. Anti-patriarchal themes are common in metal.
Black metal song lyrics usually attack Christianity using apocalyptic language and Satanic elements.
Origins Christian metal has its origins in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the
Jesus movement, a
hippie movement with Christian ideology consisting of hippies that converted to Christianity. The Christian hippies within this movement, known as "
Jesus People", developed a musical movement called
Jesus music, which primarily began in southern California, ex. Los Angeles when hippie street musicians converted to Christianity. These musicians continued playing the same styles of music they had played before converting, among them heavy metal music, though they infused their lyrics with a Christian message.
Larry Norman was one of the earliest Christian rock musicians who released his first album titled
Upon This Rock in 1969 which is arguably the first Christian rock album produced. After Agape, the
Resurrection Band was formed in 1972 in Milwaukee's Jesus People community and released the hard rock album
Music to Raise the Dead in 1974. The Swedish group
Jerusalem was formed in 1975 and is cited as another early Christian hard rock group. The Canadian
Daniel Band is cited among the first bands, as is
Barnabas.
1980s 's stage set during
To Hell with the Devil tour, 1986 In the early 1980s, there were four notable Christian heavy metal groups:
Messiah Prophet,
Leviticus,
Saint, and
Stryper. In the 1980s, Christian metal bands closely followed the trends of mainstream heavy metal bands. Chicago
doom metal group
Trouble was known to be the first band that was publicly marketed as "white metal" since their early albums
Psalm 9 and
The Skull feature Biblical references. The origin of the "white metal" term remains unclear; it is merely known that the non-Christian label
Metal Blade Records used "white metal" as a marketing term, in contrast to black metal. Soon, the Christian metal bands became controversial for their beliefs and often evangelistic goals in the metal music scene, which typically holds
individualism in particularly high esteem. Regardless of this, Stryper helped to popularize the genre. Not only was Christian metal criticized by non-Christian metal fans, but soon the movement was also criticized by fundamentalists; Allmusic wrote that "when church leaders were accusing heavy metal of encouraging Satanism, Stryper set out to prove that metal and hard rock could be used to promote Christianity. The southern California band was viewed with suspicion by both ministers (who refused to believe that Christianity and metal were compatible) and fellow headbangers—and yet, Stryper managed to sell millions of albums to both Christian and secular audiences." For example, the televangelist
Jimmy Swaggart wrote a book titled ''Religious Rock n' Roll – A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing'' in 1987 and criticized the scene, particularly Stryper, for using heavy metal music to preach the gospel of Christianity. In contrast, however, many Christian evangelists and church organizations took a more supportive role. For example, televangelist
Jim Bakker expressed public support for the group Stryper, watching them perform and becoming personal friends with the band's members. Many new bands began to arise, eventually drawing the attention of record labels that specialized in Christian music.
Emergence of fanzines, record labels, and Sanctuary International Christian metal soon developed into its own independent record labels and networks. The first Christian metal label was Pure Metal Records, a sublabel of
Refuge Records. Soon there appeared other labels such as
R.E.X. Records and
Intense Records.
Fanzines were published in several countries, with ''
Heaven's Metal as the first one in the US in 1985. During that time, almost every Christian record label became interested in Christian metal, and they advertised the newly signed metal bands on their roster on Heaven's Metal
since it was the only publication exclusively covering the movement. Soon Heaven's Metal
achieved more popularity and became an official, professional publication. Heaven's Metal'' achieved a dedicated flock of 15,000 readers. Bands' sales usually rose when the ensembles were covered on the magazine. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the more underground Christian metal releases were typically distributed in Christian bookstores, and those as well as the fanzines also traded Christian metal cassette copies with the music fans. Many rock and metal fans that became Christians through the ministry of Christian metal bands were rejected from churches in the 1980s. In 1984, California pastor Bob Beeman saw this problem and soon started the ministry called Sanctuary - The Rock and Roll Refuge. This fellowship brought many musicians together and formed groups such as Tourniquet, Deliverance, Vengeance and
Mortal that would soon become ground breaking acts in Christian music culture. Sanctuary's first worship leader was Stryper's vocalist
Michael Sweet and later
Barren Cross' bass player Jim LaVerde. Sanctuary sponsored the first Christian metal festival, The Metal Mardi Gras, held in 1987 in Los Angeles. This proved influential and soon Christian metal festivals were organized elsewhere as well. Sanctuary's activities began spreading, and it had 36 parishes all over the United States at its peak by the 1990s. The Sanctuary parishes had a significant impact on the Christian metal movement: groups that would later become notable such as
P.O.D. performed their first concerts in Sanctuary.
Late 1980s and 1990s Doug Van Pelt of
HM Magazine stated that Christian metal had its "heyday" in the late 1980s and early 1990s. By 1987, there were more than a hundred Christian metal bands, and their records were sold at both Christian bookstores and non-Christian retails. The Kentucky-based band
Bride initially played speed metal, particularly on
Live to Die, and reached a wider audience when they released
Snakes in the Playground (1992). Despite being criticized for their abrupt changes in style in favor of what's "hot", are still considered "a primeval force at the centre of Christian heavy metal." In 1989, the
Orange County group
X-Sinner released its debut album
Get It, and was one of the most talked about bands within the white metal scene at the time. Noted for a
classic metal sound similar to
AC/DC, X-Sinner has managed to stay at the head of the Christian classic metal scene. The heavy metal band Angelica introduced vocalist
Rob Rock, who also achieved initial fame as the vocalist for guitar virtuoso
Chris Impellitteri's band
Impellitteri during the 1980s and 1990s and then went solo with his
Rage of Creation album. In the early 1990s, the rising musical styles, especially
grunge, began to take their places as the dominant styles in the mainstream, which resulted in heavy metal music losing popularity and going underground for a decade. Many Christian metal musicians began to play
extreme metal, and soon
death metal replaced thrash metal in popularity. Audiences in many underground metal scenes began favoring more extreme sounds and disparaging the popular styles. As with other glam metal acts of the time, Stryper lost popularity and split up in 1993. Bruce Moore writes in the e-book
Metal Missionaries that during mid-1990s Christian metal "ceased to play catch up (replicating secular bands) and began to assimilate into its rightful place in the Extreme music scene and the artists who played became influential in helping to define this relatively new, but growing genre." With risen musical quality and more street-credibility, Christian metal and hardcore bands were signed to record labels such as
Tooth and Nail,
Solid State,
Facedown Records as well as secular labels
Metal Blade and
Victory Records. Christian metal was available through non-Christian outlets; "For the first time Extreme Christian music moved from the dusty back bin of the Christian book stores to the front racks at super retailers like
Best Buy,
Circuit City,
FYE and even giant retailers like
Wal-Mart,
Target and
Hot Topic." The German secular metal label
Nuclear Blast Records also released Christian metal. Torodd Fuglesteg of Norway's Arctic Serenades Records has claimed: "The owner of Nuclear Blast was a committed Christian and he was pushing everything with that religious agenda through Nuclear Blast.
Mortification and
Horde were pushed like mad by Nuclear Blast when other labels were pushing pure satanic stuff."
2000s has been at the forefront of
metalcore along with Underoath since 2005. In the first decade of the 21st century, some groups reached mainstream popularity. There are Christian metal bands that perform virtually every subgenre of metal. The Christian metal movement has spread worldwide since it emerged in the early 1980s, and there are now hundreds of active Christian metal bands. Inspired by the metal revival, many 1980s bands have made comebacks including Saint, Bloodgood and Stryper. In October 2004, Doug Van Pelt brought ''
Heaven's Metal'' back as its own fanzine. The Internet has had a significant role on the revival of Christian metal as well. Many websites and online communities are dedicated to discussions about Christian metal's music, events, and bands. For the first time since
Stryper's success in the 1980s, certain Christian metal artists found mainstream acceptance selling millions of albums to both Christian and non-Christian fans, including
Underoath and
P.O.D. The latter became the most successful Christian metal band when their 2001 album
Satellite went multi-platinum, while the former's 2006 album,
Define the Great Line, ranked No. 2 on the
Billboard 200. Stryper would re-form in 2003 and eclipse over 10 million in total album sales. They had adopted more of a power metal sound than the "hair metal" style they were known for.
Skillet, who is also often labeled as a metal band reached mainstream success while being open about their Christian faith. Their efforts have resulted in over 12 million units sold including two platinum albums. From their 2× platinum album
Awake, the song "
Monster" alone would sell over 3 million copies. From the same album, the song "
Hero" would also reach multi-platinum status
. == Role in metal subgenres ==