Would you buy a Complete Guide to Christian Heavy Metal book?

As the new year approaches, I find myself a successful big bookstore owner who is finally, maybe going to have time to write some books of my own next year.  I'm mulling my choices to start with and one is a tribute to the music that meant so much to me as a youth and continues to.  Nothing like it has been done and I think it's needed.  The goal would be for it to be as comprehensive as possible, professional, and well-written.  Collaborative with some of you too, ideally.  Sort of an encyclopedia of reviews of the thousands of Christian hard rock and metal albums since the beginning, with some lists, photos, and interviews as well.  Similar to the Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal by Martin Popoff, if anybody is familiar with that (one of my favorite books ever!).

I might do it even if nobody wants it, but just thought it would be fun to gauge interest.

Simply, yes that would be amazing I would definitely be first in line

Thank you for the disclaimer about "well-done and comprehensive."  I was going to say that myself until I saw it.

Absolutely yes!

Yup! I'd pick it up!!!

I would  get this. However, I wouldn't arrange the book by albums but by the artists and bands and then list their albums. As an idea, I would use Firestream Vault as a template and build on their commentaries for each band. I would also recruit the Firestream moderators for assistance since they have a wealth of knowledge. When deciding on what bands to include, there may be 2 roadblocks:
1. Should borderline rock/hard rock bands be included like Petra and Jerusalem.
2. Should bands that have both Christian and non-Christian members be included like Impellitteri, Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Sweet and Lynch, GX, etc. In other words, should it be based on if a main contributing member(s) is a Christian or the lyrical content of most of the lyrics, or should it be based on both.

Another few questions to add

what genres would be included the book?

Would it just be yesterdays bands or would include the more popular and interesting modern bands?

Would dive into more extreme metal (black,death,doom) bands?

Would it just be metal giants like Stryper, Bloodgood, Deliverance etc. or would you include bands like Crossforce, Neon Cross, Soldier, etc?

Hardcore Christian wrote:Would it just be yesterdays bands or would include the more popular and interesting modern bands?

Telling the Christian metal story without bands like Rez, Daniel Band, and Barnabas would like the Bible without Genesis.

metaldude wrote:

Hardcore Christian wrote:Would it just be yesterdays bands or would include the more popular and interesting modern bands?

 Telling the Christian metal story without bands like Rez, Daniel Band, and Barnabas would like the Bible without Genesis.

I said would it "just be yesterdays bands"

Or would it be all bands from Rez, Leviticus through As I Lay Dying and August Burns Red


I knew it would of course include all of the classics

Well, I would love to buy it, but the main point is. It has to be great histories.I really enjoyed the reading of Steve Rowe book, and I guess there are many guys who would love to share their amazing histories, such as Jimmy Brown, Glen Kaiser, Bob Hartman, among others.

And it has to be divided by styles, as I would be too much interested in classic rock and metal, but not interested at all with modern metal.

My goal would be for it to be as comprehensive and inclusive as possible.  The definition of "metal" means different things to different people at different times, and I would want to include all understandings.  So everything from 70s hard rock to current metalcore. 

As far as members' faith, it's not my place to judge any man's salvation.  So I would include any band with any known Christian members, connection to Christian bands, past Christian history, interest to Christians, etc.  Including even Megadeth, Alice Cooper, WASP, etc -- mainstream bands with members who recently identify as believers.  I have zero interest in catering to any sort of Pharisee agenda, which is just another version of scene politics like you see in kvlt black metal or straight-edge punk.

My ultimate goal would be not only to give something to us "in the know," but for the book to fall into the hands of a few metal heads who don't have a clue about the amazingly rich and extensive history and influence of Christ in heavy metal over the decades.  Open some eyes, musically and spiritually.  That's really what would make it worthwhile spending a year or more of my life immersed in the project.

So the guide might be more accurately called "A Complete Guide to Music Which is Relatively Heavier Than Other Music of its Time and May Be Identified by Some Connection to and Influence By Christianity and Christians."    But that might be hard to market.  Ha!

strangerhoncho wrote:So the guide might be more accurately called "A Complete Guide to Music Which is Relatively Heavier Than Other Music of its Time and May Be Identified by Some Connection to and Influence By Christianity and Christians."    But that might be hard to market.  Ha!

I'd buy it anyway.

I thought about doing it year by year, but I think I'd probably organize it alphabetically by band, with short histories/bios for the main bands and every release listed and reviewed.  Ala the Encyclopaedia Metallum.

I could do glossary lists by year for those interested in reading the book that way.

There would be glossary lists by genre too so it could be read that way as well.

I'm a perfectionist, so really I'd try to include every idea I could to make it really special.

This is all assuming I choose to do it over one of the many other projects I'm debating.

Soldier777 wrote:I would  get this. As an idea, I would use Firestream Vault as a template and build on their commentaries for each band. I would also recruit the Firestream moderators for assistance since they have a wealth of knowledge.

Yeah, I'd totally use the Firestream Vault as a main resource as well as its members and many of you here.  I really would want the project to be a collaborative effort.  We all know there's no money to be made from it so I'd just get help from whomever was able to volunteer information and ideas.

I'd like to suggest not to aim for one year of extensive work. Since the book needs buyers it appears to be necessary to come up with information and stories not available on the internet. And the net has lots of info. So actually I'm thinking of at least three years.

Not interested, sorry.
Its an ok idea, I'm not just interested in ALL metal, Christian or not.

How would the albums be "rated"? Martin Popoff's books use number ratings (0 to 10), while other reviews use star ratings, and i've even seen "grads" (A+ To F) used.

WildWorld wrote:How would the albums be "rated"? Martin Popoff's books use number ratings (0 to 10), while other reviews use star ratings, and i've even seen "grads" (A+ To F) used.

I lean towards 0 to 10 because it gives the most range and it's what I'm most used to from Popoff's books, Decibel, Terrorizer, etc.

With regard to rankings, I'd try to get more of a "general consensus" score rather than my or the review writer's sole opinion (since I plan on using other writers also).  I started making a list 4-5 years ago of the bands to include and I feel like it was over 2000 even then -- and I didn't even come close to finishing the list.  That's just bands, not even albums!  I was really surprised that there were that many.

sadvader wrote:I'd like to suggest not to aim for one year of extensive work. Since the book needs buyers it appears to be necessary to come up with information and stories not available on the internet. And the net has lots of info. So actually I'm thinking of at least three years.

It's not really so much about "new" information -- although there would be some -- but about creating a physical record that can go on the shelf.  There aren't any books on it, which is crazy since it's meant so much to so many people.  The only book I know of is Marcus Moberg's scholarly work, which I've got coming the mail right now.  (Marcus, do you happen to be around here?  hit me up!)

The internet is great for what it does but I prefer real books for some things.  I've always been drawn to collected editions, the complete works of so-and-so, omnibuses, etc.  I just like comprehensive, meaty, physical books.  Same as I prefer vinyl or CDs to digital downloads, although I use both.

I hope it doesn't take 3 years, but we'll just see what happens.  If I do it.

Hardcore Christian wrote:

metaldude wrote:

Hardcore Christian wrote:Would it just be yesterdays bands or would include the more popular and interesting modern bands?

 Telling the Christian metal story without bands like Rez, Daniel Band, and Barnabas would like the Bible without Genesis.

I said would it "just be yesterdays bands"

Or would it be all bands from Rez, Leviticus through As I Lay Dying and August Burns Red


I knew it would of course include all of the classics

one would hope that AILD never gets put in the Christian metal category every again.

strangerhoncho wrote:As the new year approaches, I find myself a successful big bookstore owner who is finally, maybe going to have time to write some books of my own next year.  I'm mulling my choices to start with and one is a tribute to the music that meant so much to me as a youth and continues to.  Nothing like it has been done and I think it's needed.  The goal would be for it to be as comprehensive as possible, professional, and well-written.  Collaborative with some of you too, ideally.  Sort of an encyclopedia of reviews of the thousands of Christian hard rock and metal albums since the beginning, with some lists, photos, and interviews as well.  Similar to the Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal by Martin Popoff, if anybody is familiar with that (one of my favorite books ever!).

I might do it even if nobody wants it, but just thought it would be fun to gauge interest.

Id be into it, assuming you can include a statement of faith from each band. Point being, there's a lot of fakes as is, and while a band could just fake the statement. Its somewhat of a deterrent.

Gorship wrote:

Hardcore Christian wrote:

metaldude wrote:

Hardcore Christian wrote:Would it just be yesterdays bands or would include the more popular and interesting modern bands?

 Telling the Christian metal story without bands like Rez, Daniel Band, and Barnabas would like the Bible without Genesis.

I said would it "just be yesterdays bands"

Or would it be all bands from Rez, Leviticus through As I Lay Dying and August Burns Red


I knew it would of course include all of the classics

one would hope that AILD never gets put in the Christian metal category every again.

So why does Vengeance Rising get put in it?

Wanna answer that?

Let's assume for a second that one of the members of Stryper would stop being a Christian. Would that exclude Stryper from a comprehensive book about Christian metal? One of the most influencial bands in the Christian metal world?
I can't believe that. So why exclude Vengeance Rising? About AILD it's quite easy: First of all the other band members denied the statement that they were all fakers and second is that the very controversy is an important part of the story. So it doesn't matter how people see it, it should be part of such book. At least that's what I'm thinking.

I think that I'd pass.  First, as already stated, much of our history is already out there.  Second, you'd have to answer the question of what metal really is.  If the definition is too broad, then you start divisions in places like here.  If it is too narrow, you get complaining.  I don't think it could be done to please most fans of the genre.  Heck, some of the fans will fuss and moan if you use the term "Christian metal".  Lastly, if you do a comprehensive guide, it is going to be so big that it would be become a coffee table book that isn't really conducive to being portable enough to read.

↑ I'd like to add to what alldat said and also mention that the "complete" guide won't be complete anymore in a few months. ...and very outdated in 6 or more.

Perhaps it's better make an 80s, 90s, 2000s edition? It makes it a bit smaller and it's possible to add another edition every 10 years. Another thought of me was to make it per genre.