My recent thoughts on Stryper ...

With the release of Fallen, No More Hell to Pay, Live at the Whisky and the other projects Michael Sweet has released the past couple of years, I figured I would express my thoughts...

I first heard of Stryper either just before Soldiers Under Command was released in 1985 or just after - I can't remember. The reason why I cannot remember is on the Stryper website it says Soldier was released in May of 1985 and on the Can't Stop the Rock booklet it was released in August 1985 (perhaps someone can clarify this?).  I know I loved The Yellow and Black Attack and I prefer the original 1984 mix to the revamped 1986 remix. In the summer of 2014 I read Michael Sweet's book Honestly and I read/skimmed a few sections of the Soldiers Under Command and In God We Trust Periods this evening. Personally, I think there are a few bands in Christian hard rock that are game changers and pioneers in their field and Stryper was one of them. Other Christian bands were:

Petra - one of the first full on rock/hard rock bands
Jersualem - on of the first European rock/hard rock bands to have success in North America
Resurrection Band - one of the first hard rock bands that were a tad heavier than Petra and Jerusalem with a darker message of real life struggles
Saint - one of the first classic/power metal bands
Bloodgood  - one of the first classic metal bands that applied theatrics to their performances.
Deliverance - one of the first full on thrash/speed metal bands

There are perhaps other pioneering Christian bands that I cannot remember at the moment.  Stryper, whether on purpose or not, combined the ministry elements of Christian bands like Petra, Rez Band and Jerusalem and took the message of the gospel to the mainstream in places where these other bands couldn't or didn't. They also combined the technical abilities of their influences and the marketing strategies of their mentors like Daryn Hinton with the yellow and black stripes or other visual ideas from their rock influences like KISS and took it to the masses. They had to be better than their peers and the message provide an alternative of what is basically the truth of God's love to the masses and going against the grain of the same old life style message of sex, drugs and Satanism. As Michael Sweet's book said, Soldiers Under Command was a game changer - it really was as it was the first Christian album to go gold. To Hell With the Devil was a game changer too as it was the first Christian album to go platnum. These 2 albums were a major influence on my life and the song Soldiers Under Command is one of my favorite Stryper song and metal song over all.

One must asked if there were no Stryper, would another Christian Band have been able to have the same success and influence. Perhaps - we see other moderately successful bands that took the message far and wide like Guardian, Barren Cross, Holy Soldier and Whitecross. Engima label mates Guardian and Barren Cross may of been the likely candidates if things happened differently. A topic often discussed in history is when a leader would rise to power, did major events provided the opportunity or did the leader take the initiative and/or manipulated events. Besides the timing for Stryper was all God's, I think it was more the bands determination to be better than their peers because they were a band comprised of Christians.

Another thing I've noticed is in the 80's, not only did each album were different (except for In God We Trust being a carbon copy or having a lot of similarities to To Hell With the Devil)  but sounded different as well. We as fans have various opinions as to our favorite albums. Also, there are opinions on the production like Soldiers Under Command and In God We Trust not having enough bass or To Hell With The Devil having too much bass and how Against the Law was the perfect Stryper album music wise but the Christian message is toned down. Michael Sweet was co producer from 7 the Best of to Murder By Pride. He was the sole producer from The Covering to Fallen. To me, it seems like each Stryper album and the Michael Sweet I'm not your Suicide and the Sweet Lynch albums, while the production is quite good all sounds similar or samey since Michael took over as the sole producer. You don't have the uniqueness that they have back in the 80's with different producers. I know this is to be expected with the produce - I'm not sure id the similarities are a good or bad thing.

One may say that Stryper has 2 phases - the 80's early 90's phase and their reformed 2003 to current phase. I think the later phase can be split to 2 phases - 2003-2009 and 2010 to current. The reason is it seems like they struggled for the first few years since they got back together  - finding their sound as to whether to be modern or traditional, the passing of Michael Sweets wife, Oz Fox going through a divorce, personnel changes, trying to get Tim to come back to the band in 2009 and having a long 4 years between Reborn and Murder By Pride, and not gaining new fans during the Murder by Pride period. I really thought they were going to call it quits around 2008 or 2009. After 2010 things have gotten a lot better for the band. It seems like after the Covering things went to overdrive. Just as the band was in a slow but a reborn phase in 2003-2009, then it seems like they were  in a renewed phase from 2010 to current and Michael Sweet was involved in 1 or 2 album per year starting with The Second Coming in March of 2013. Now that Fallen has bene released, there are talks of another Michael Sweet album this summer 2016 and another Sweet Lynch album at some point after that.

Also, when No More Hell To Pay was released, either this was going to be similar to Hell With The Devil or should of been the album to follow To Hell With The Devil (if my memory is correct). When Michael Sweet commented on Fallen (If my memory is correct), it would be similar to Soldiers Under Command. However, Soldiers Under Command was released before To Hell with the Devil and No More Hell to Pay was released before Fallen. I don't have Fallen yet where I may let my wife get it for me for Christmas with the Fallen Stryper shirt and sticker. I have the songs that were released and some may say this is better than Fallen but I think this will be equally as good as No More Hell to pay where both albums have different qualities.

Finally, the one unique thing about Stryper besides the music, look, history and their talent is their sound. As far as I know, no one has ever been successful in replicating their sound. Most bands has a aggressive or rough guitar tone. Stryper has a clear tone. There are a few other bands that has a clear tone: Van Halen, Def Leppard Hysteria era and Boston.  

So 2015 is sort of a milestone for me - my wife and I were married for 20 years on July 10, I discovered Christian rock/hard rock and metal 30 years ago in 1985, and in 1985 I discovered Stryer for the first time. Also, Stryper has always been my favorite or one of my top 3 bands of all time. Petra is also one of my favorite bands and these bands are among the biggest influence on my life.

These are just a few of my thoughts. Feel free to comment as to what Stryper means to you.

Yeah, sorry, it's just music to me. No band influences my life to that point where I want to go through all these what ifs and backstories. Bravo for you, though.

Thanks for posting that Soldier! I too, have been greatly impacted by Stryper! When I was a very young kid, Robert Sweet was my idol! I have grown up with Stryper ... like you ... have a lot of stories of my life affected by their music.

I was in an accident once when "Soldiers Under Command" was cranking in my car! I can still remember how I prayed and felt angels holding me in my car seat as my car was totaled and my friend's head went through the windshield! But I was totally safe and protected by God!

Lots of stories like this. Thanks for opening up and sharing with us what you have gone through with this wonderful music!

You are a great person and I'm very glad you are a part of this CMR website!

I probably have more stories like this with Deliverance than with Stryper. However Stryper is my Gateway band. What I mean by that is when I was first turned on to Christian Rock I was about 12 maybe 13. My cousin played Stryper's Soldiers Under Command then To Hell With the Devil followed by Yellow & Black Attack after a few listens he dubbed me a copy of Soldiers and To Hell with the Devil. This led to finding other bands to get into such as Russ Taff, Petra, among others. It really turned me into the music fanatic I am today. It was like a barrier was destroyed. Not only did this truely ignite my love for music but it also was my gateway into Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. Which turned into getting into bands like Bride, Tourniquet, Deliverance, Armageddon, Sacrament, Mortificatoin, Vengence Rising, etc...

While I hold Stryper in very high esteem I feel that that their last few releases arent up to par for what i consider a great release. Not saying their last two albums are terrible because I Dont think they are they just for the most part dont do anything for me.  Not like those early classics and Murder by Pride.  When that album came out my marriage was falling apart in chunks. Songs like Run to You, and Murder by Pride really helped me get through it along with KJ-52's Are you Real.  But I do hope that NMHTP and Fallen minister and feed the souls of its fans like Murder by Pride did for me.

The guys in Stryper are all class acts. Theyre good to their fans  and they put on a great live show.

Long live Stryper and may  God continue to do his work through them

Thanks for the comments. So far, Stryper released 2 videos, Pride and All Over Again from the Fallen album. I respect Stryper for the video All Over Again where they are sort of paying tribute to their wives. Where this is an era of alternative lifestyles and living arrangements between partners (Please do not have a debate about this), we need videos like the All Over Again to show the world how our wives and girlfriends are to be treated and that the marriage between a man and a woman is God's plan for the family unit. Also, the video reminds me of the Honestly video of the family scenes where you see the same thing (there is also another Stryper Honestly video version that is a You Tube Exclusive video where the family scenes are replaced with live shots of the band in concert which is cool too.