If any of you all listened to Christian music back in the 80's, who was your favorite artist?

AMY GRANT

I really like Michael W. Smith.




Erin :)

Two who are not listed...

BeBe & CeCe Winans.

not really big on this music but i gotta go with Amy Grant even though the album that  liked came out in 1991 but it has that 80's sound

Rick Cua - Can't Stand Too Tall
Ferrell & Ferrell
Tourniquet - Psycho Surgery

You also forgot Stryper LOL. God damn i hate christain music then & now.

Petra.  I seen them in 1982 as an opening act, in a high school auditorium. Three years later they were selling out the downtown concert halls.

I picked Amy Grant over Anderson, Indiana native Sandi Patti (that is how she spells it). And Michael W. Smith is the worst of this bunch.

We listened to Amy Grant (she had some live album called something like Friends are Friends Forever), Michael W. Smith, and lots of Sandi Patti.

Do you guys remember Evie?  My parents had her Christmas album and I used to make them play a song called, "Come On Ring Those Bells" over and over again.


Also....did any of you listen to the Psalty (the songbook) albums/tapes? I used to LOVE Psalty as a kid!



Erin :)

Do you guys remember Evie?  My parents had her Christmas album and I used to make them play a song called, "Come On Ring Those Bells" over and over again.


Also....did any of you listen to the Psalty (the songbook) albums/tapes? I used to LOVE Psalty as a kid!



Erin :)

OMG! (No pun intended!) Psalty and Kids Praise, did they sing some schmultzy shlop or what? I don't mean any disrespect towards anyone's religion and I do confess to having listened to the same myself as a kid......a couple of years before I descovered Culture Club, Uncanny X-Men, you know the devils music! ;)
I am surprised and disappointed that Cliff Richard is not on that list. I still like quite a few of his songs.
I do remember Evie, BTW. She sang a song called "Step Into The Sunshine", which my dad taped off the radio for me. Another one, "Be Thankful For The Good Things That You Got", which was probably on the Xmas album:
The good things that you got
Are for many, just a dream!
So be thankful for the good things that you got!

I went with Amy Grant off of this list, but my all time fave would have to be Stryper.

This is a great one for me.

1. White Heart
2. Stryper
3. Guardian
4. DeGarmo & Key
5. Petra
6. Michael W. Smith
7. Amy Grant

Stryper!

Anyone lilke today's christian music like Out of Eden, Falling up, Relient k, Mercy Me, Nicole C. Mullen, Zoegirl, Souljahz, Tree63, Building429 just to name a few. Check out www.Cbd.com which is short for christian book distribter. They have a great selection of Today's hottest christian music. I like Michael W. Smith. He's coming to PA in the fall. and i can't wait. my fav song of his is Healing Rain. C-ya and my fav band is Across the sky c-ya  check out also www.acrossthesky.com Their the best in the world.

I really like Amy Grant.

There was a Christian hit in late '79 / Early 1980 that I enjoy called "Voice of Freedom" by Jim Kirk and the TM Singers.  It's really cheesy, but somewhat entertaining. 

Stryper! 

No..... Just kidding.....  ;D 

Wow, great idea for a poll.  What an obscure genre of 80s music!

I'll take Petra, for "Beat the System", the lyrics to which can be applied to anyone from Christian to atheist.  (And for being decent synthpop for its time period.  I'll neither confirm nor deny that I snuck them in against one-hit-wonder Pseudo Echo's "Funkytown" and just about anything from The Cars, and still filled the floor.)

"Caught in the undertow / being swept downstream,
Going against the flow / seems like such a dream,
Trying to hold your ground / when you start to slide,
Pressure to compromise / comes from every side.

CHORUS:
Wise up... / Rise up...
Wise up... / Rise up...
You can be more than a conqueror / You will never face defeat! (no!)
You can dare to win by losing all / You can face the heat -
Dare to beat - the System!
(Face the heat!)
Dare to beat - the System!

On the assembly line / trying to break the mold!
Time to throw the wrench / that will stop it cold.
Going against the odds / be the underdog!
Dare to wield the sword / that will slice the fog!

(Chorus)

You can go for it all,
You can go for broke.
You can turn the tide around. (Turn the tide around!)
You can aim for the top,
And take the lion's share,
If you dare to hold your ground... (Beat the system!)

(Instrumental break, keyboard solo)
(Chorus / Repeat / End.)

As for the rest, just two worthy of mention.

Stryper drowned in their own hyprocrisy, and deservedly so.  Burn, fux0rz.

But as long as we're on the subject, I'd like to give a shout-out (and by shout-out, I mean b*ahem*chslap) to Amy Grant. 

Unlike Stryper, who got caught with their pants down (or was it caught with their shirtsleeves up?)... you got away with it.  But I'm calling you out, Amy.  You don't deserve a pass about singing about how much you'd like to f*bleep*k a guy, just because His name is Jesus and you capitalize the "H" in "He" and "His".  Really, Amy.  Have some effing dignity.  This "Jesus" guy... wasn't He supposed to be more than hot dude with a Mexican name on whom you had some kind of kinky crush?  Some random occultists might think that the Sacred Heart of the Catholic Jesus (and I apologize to the Catholics, because "Christian Rock" was primarily a Protestant phenomenon) was a euphemism for the female genitalia, but... the Protestants were never supposed to get that reference.  So that brings us full circle.

Either Amy Grant was a perv with a Jesus fetish, or she was a rank amateur, substituting "Jesus" and "Him" for the dude upon whom every pop singer from Melanie of "Brand New Pair of Roller Skates / You Got a Brand New Key" fame... to Paris farking Hilton has had a crush.

Meanwhile, Petra was sneaking references to Romans 8 ish, Mark 10ish, and Matthew 10ish, into just one song that also played nicely against Devo's Through Being Cool.  And Petra's Am I In Sync ("look for the camera crews / sell my soul for a second on the evening news / (Am I in sync?) / Immortality's what I'm buying / but I'd rather be immortal / by not dying") could have played just as well against Devo's Freedom of/from Choice and Beautiful World and That's Good.

Wow, great idea for a poll.  What an obscure genre of 80s music!

I'll take Petra, for "Beat the System", the lyrics to which can be applied to anyone from Christian to atheist.  (And for being decent synthpop for its time period.  I'll neither confirm nor deny that I snuck them in against one-hit-wonder Pseudo Echo's "Funkytown" and just about anything from The Cars, and still filled the floor.)

"Caught in the undertow / being swept downstream,
Going against the flow / seems like such a dream,
Trying to hold your ground / when you start to slide,
Pressure to compromise / comes from every side.

CHORUS:
Wise up... / Rise up...
Wise up... / Rise up...
You can be more than a conqueror / You will never face defeat! (no!)
You can dare to win by losing all / You can face the heat -
Dare to beat - the System!
(Face the heat!)
Dare to beat - the System!

On the assembly line / trying to break the mold!
Time to throw the wrench / that will stop it cold.
Going against the odds / be the underdog!
Dare to wield the sword / that will slice the fog!

(Chorus)

You can go for it all,
You can go for broke.
You can turn the tide around. (Turn the tide around!)
You can aim for the top,
And take the lion's share,
If you dare to hold your ground... (Beat the system!)

(Instrumental break, keyboard solo)
(Chorus / Repeat / End.)

As for the rest, just two worthy of mention.

Stryper drowned in their own hyprocrisy, and deservedly so.  Burn, fux0rz.

But as long as we're on the subject, I'd like to give a shout-out (and by shout-out, I mean b*ahem*chslap) to Amy Grant. 

Unlike Stryper, who got caught with their pants down (or was it caught with their shirtsleeves up?)... you got away with it.  But I'm calling you out, Amy.  You don't deserve a pass about singing about how much you'd like to f*bleep*k a guy, just because His name is Jesus and you capitalize the "H" in "He" and "His".  Really, Amy.  Have some effing dignity.  This "Jesus" guy... wasn't He supposed to be more than hot dude with a Mexican name on whom you had some kind of kinky crush?  Some random occultists might think that the Sacred Heart of the Catholic Jesus (and I apologize to the Catholics, because "Christian Rock" was primarily a Protestant phenomenon) was a euphemism for the female genitalia, but... the Protestants were never supposed to get that reference.  So that brings us full circle.

Either Amy Grant was a perv with a Jesus fetish, or she was a rank amateur, substituting "Jesus" and "Him" for the dude upon whom every pop singer from Melanie of "Brand New Pair of Roller Skates / You Got a Brand New Key" fame... to Paris farking Hilton has had a crush.

While Christians were retching at how your va*censored*ina was dripping for Him, Amy... and trust me, that's mild compared to the reactions the secular folks had when I explained the lyrics to 'em, Petra was sneaking references to Romans 8 ish, Mark 10ish, and Matthew 10ish, into just one song, and half the secular listeners would have (and in one case, did say, but that was just me) said "Hey.  Neat lyrics.  If only Jesus' followers had listened."



just a tad bit harsh? ???

just a tad bit harsh? ???


*snicker*

Took me a few minutes to moderate myself on the board.  But thanks for quoting my original stuff in full before I edited it.  Yeah, that was a bit harsh.

My musical history in this bit of obscurantia was that I only found out that Petra was "Christian Rock" by accident.  I heard both Amy Grant and Petra on a roller-skating (man, do I feel old, we're talking the "before it was called rollerblading" era) rink... anyways.  Amy seemed to be the random top-40 artist doing love songs, and Petra seemed to be the Devo-wannabe.  Except that a few of the words in the Petra track twigged a few references in my brain... and I grinned, at having "gotten the reference", and my reaction - a few months later, when a fundie friend of mine tried to turn me onto Amy Grant, was.. well, nauseous was the least harsh of my reactions.  I mean, Amy.  Just... eww :)

2nd Chapter Of Acts    *my all time favorite Christian band*
Evie  (I have an album of hers on vinyl)
Amy Grant
Petra
The Daniel Band
Stryper
Steve Taylor  had a funny hit song "I Want To Be A Clone"
Michael W. Smith

Evie   (I have an album of hers on vinyl)






ohh..so do we!! I will always remember when I was little...while decorating our Christmas tree, listening to, "Come on ring those bells" by Evie. :)

My favorites were:

Rick Cua (great live show)
Bryan Duncan (with and without Sweet Comfort Band)
Petra
Allies
Steven Curtis Chapman (his first few albums) - he also had the greatest mullet in the history of Christian music!  8)

ohh..so do we!! I will always remember when I was little...while decorating our Christmas tree, listening to, "Come on ring those bells" by Evie. :)
She had a really sweet voice. I've got a new stereo with a turntable/record player that I haven't set up yet, but when I do I am breaking out those albums. Evie Tornquist, I think that's her last name, she sang a song that I like called *In Your House" which I guess is my favorite of hers and other songs of hers I like are *Pass It On* and "Give Them All" .