{"id":1197,"date":"2007-08-01T14:04:42","date_gmt":"2007-08-01T14:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html"},"modified":"2007-08-01T14:04:42","modified_gmt":"2007-08-01T14:04:42","slug":"stryper-yes-stryper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html","title":{"rendered":"Stryper is a Christian Rock Band!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"stryper_idol.jpg\"Are there any Stryper fans out there? Or ex-Stryper fans? I\u2019ll bet there are very few new Stryper fans, but I think I’m one of ’em, and you will be too if you pick up their new release, “Stryper\u2014The Roxx Regime Demos.”
\nStryper, if you\u2019ve never heard of them, was one of the most pioneering rock bands of the ’80’s. The reason you\u2019ve probably never heard of them is that they were doing Christian rock during a time when people still considered it a contradiction in terms. These guys were a “hair band,” with the look of groups like Poison, Warrant, Dokken or maybe Motley Crue, but they might as well have been KISS to the millions of Christian parents who couldn’t handle the look back then. Stryper sought to “minister” to the kind of young people who liked the hard rock culture but weren’t into lyrics about Satan, death, sex, violence, and the like.<\/p>\n


\nDue to both their look and their lyrics, I wasn’t remotely interested in anything they did, but found myself curious when their demo came across our Beliefnet desk. Their current CD has an intriguing story to it: Back before the brand managers and industry insiders got ahold of Stryper and influenced their look and sound, they were called “Roxx Regime,” and this album is a non-over-dubbed, non-re-recorded disc full of their original demos. Their tunes are vibrant and the music is not nearly as fluffy as, well, their old hairstyles.
\nFrom Wrong to Right” sounds as if Def Leopard could have covered it; “My Love I\u2019ll Always Share” could have been a Journey song; “Co’Mon Rock” hints of The Sweet\u2019s “Ballroom Blitz”; “You Won’t Be Lonely” would be a fine opener for a Styx or REO Speedwagon concert. And “Honesty” pre-dated many of the power ballads that almost every secular band included in their sets.
\nStryper had a relevant sound back then that I never really knew about. The band may not have been playing in our CDs, tapes, or 8-tracks, but it’s worth a listen now, especially for a person of faith. “No matter how we look, we always praise His name,” says one song. “If you believe, you should do the same.”
\nThere are probably some cheesy Christians from my younger days that would make me laugh to hear it now, but Stryper’s message and their music–at least during the raw Roxx Regime days–was good then and endures decently well today. And for those who’ve always loved the band, this album will be an added nostalgic treat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are there any Stryper fans out there? Or ex-Stryper fans? I\u2019ll bet there are very few new Stryper fans, but I think I’m one of ’em, and you will be too if you pick up their new release, “Stryper\u2014The Roxx Regime Demos.” Stryper, if you\u2019ve never heard of them, was one of the most pioneering…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music"],"yoast_head":"\nStryper is a Christian Rock Band!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stryper is a Christian Rock Band!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Are there any Stryper fans out there? Or ex-Stryper fans? I\u2019ll bet there are very few new Stryper fans, but I think I’m one of ’em, and you will be too if you pick up their new release, “Stryper\u2014The Roxx Regime Demos.” Stryper, if you\u2019ve never heard of them, was one of the most pioneering…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-08-01T14:04:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/files\/import\/stryper_idol.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Douglas Howe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stryper is a Christian Rock Band!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stryper is a Christian Rock Band!","og_description":"Are there any Stryper fans out there? 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I\u2019ll bet there are very few new Stryper fans, but I think I’m one of ’em, and you will be too if you pick up their new release, “Stryper\u2014The Roxx Regime Demos.” Stryper, if you\u2019ve never heard of them, was one of the most pioneering…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html","og_site_name":"Idol Chatter","article_published_time":"2007-08-01T14:04:42+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/files\/import\/stryper_idol.jpg"}],"author":"Douglas Howe","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html","name":"Stryper is a Christian Rock Band!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/files\/import\/stryper_idol.jpg","datePublished":"2007-08-01T14:04:42+00:00","dateModified":"2007-08-01T14:04:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/a05dabea7186e9c2898a41a6713aa98a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/files\/import\/stryper_idol.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/files\/import\/stryper_idol.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2007\/08\/stryper-yes-stryper.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stryper is a Christian Rock Band!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/","name":"Idol Chatter","description":"Beliefnet Entertainment blog, TV blog, Movie blog, Religion in entertainment blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/a05dabea7186e9c2898a41a6713aa98a","name":"Douglas Howe","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/7e3\/7e32c99b36f419c4c074635d65150806x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/7e3\/7e32c99b36f419c4c074635d65150806x96.jpg","caption":"Douglas Howe"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/author\/dhowe"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}