First Christian ROCK album you heard?

Not metal, but ROCK. What was the first Christian rock album you heard? Were you wowed by it?

My first experience with Christian rock was Beat the System and that same summer the Live: Captured in Time and Space release.

Both wowed me big time.

The first Christian rock album I ever heard was White Heart's "Hotline".  I was a few decades before I became a Christian and the album was relatively new.  I spent a summer working for a guy that installed drapes and blinds (ahh 1985).  He would play that cassette nearly every day in the van when we drove to and from job locations.
The album grew on me really fast, so much so that I went out and bought my own copy.  Before I became a Christian the only Christian music I owned was most of the early Stryper catalog and that one White Heart cassette.

Dude. Hotline. We LOVE that album here at the house. My children listen to it quite a bit. We have it on vinyl.

My first exposure to Christian rock was Petra-Beyond Belief back in 1991. I was in 8th grade, and had just moved out of state to a new school, and another boy who I became friends with had made the Petra logo from Beyond Belief out of clay in art class. (You know, the clay where you later harden it in a kiln?)

Anyway, curiosity got the better of me, and I asked him about it, and a few days later, he made me a blank tape of Beyond Belief, which I wore out in my walkman. That planted the seed which led me to becoming a die-hard Petra fan.

I had a few Stryper albums.  But, when I got into Christian metal and rock in 1990, I bought a bunch of tapes on sale at a local Christian bookstore.  All of them were considered "metal" at the time.  But, Petra's "Beyond Belief"  was probably the first rock I heard even though that used to be in the metal section at that store I went to.

Some of the others I discovered after that were Third Day, Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys, etc.

That would be either "Shallow Water" by Servant or Resurrection Band's "Awaiting Your Reply".

First ROCK album for me probably was Crossection -Breaking Ground. I heard a song on a CCM station in 1989 and loved it, not knowing it was the "ballad" song off the album. So when I bought the cassette, I was blown away by the clean sounding rock album that it was. My initial thought was, wow, this is what Night Ranger would sound like if they got saved !

Album's still in my top 10 favs.

My first was Beat the System as well. I can't remember the whole effect of how I felt but it must have been good. I still love that disc today.

It was actually a mix tape our youth pastor had made.  I listened to a bunch of secular stuff at the time (Rage Against the Machine, Sex Pistols, NOFX, etc.) and he had a tape with a bunch of Petra.  The first song was God Gave Rock and Roll to You.  I asked him about it and he told me there was a whole sub-genre of Christian music.  He even helped me find some alternatives to the secular stuff I liked (NOFX => MxPx, and that kind of thing).

music___me wrote:

Dude. Hotline. We LOVE that album here at the house. My children listen to it quite a bit. We have it on vinyl.

 I still have my original cassette tape (not that it's worth anything).  I get very nostalgic when I hear that album.

Dynamis wrote:

That would be either "Shallow Water" by Servant or Resurrection Band's "Awaiting Your Reply".

 Would that have been in the early 1980's?

The first Christian album I heard was "To Hell With The Devil".
Then I discovered Whitecross, Bride, Siloam, Idle Cure, Bloodgood.

First one I heard was Petra's Not Of This World, back in 1987 when a friend went over to USA and Canada for a holiday.  Wasn't for another seven years before I listened to them again (Wake Up Call) and then became hooked!

Fundy

Quote :

Would that have been in the early 1980's?

 
Yes, that is correct- 1981 to be exact.

I was first introduced to Servant and Rez Band and later discovered Daniel Band, Barnabas, Jerusalem, Petra, etc.

Not sure if it was Petra - Not of This World or Resurrection Band - Colours. Either way I was hooked.

Fundy wrote:

First one I heard was Petra's Not Of This World, back in 1987 when a friend went over to USA and Canada for a holiday.  Wasn't for another seven years before I listened to them again (Wake Up Call) and then became hooked!

Fundy

Crazy! I didn't read your post before replying, yet we said virtually the same thing.

Mommy Dont Love Daddy Anymore - Resurrection Band .... early 1983 or late 82....  8th or 9th grade.... loaned to me by a guy from school who knew my musical tastes.... snickered when I heard elevator muzik tho...

BearDad, we obviously both have impeccable taste!

Fundy

More Power To Ya. I was NOT impressed. Even at that young age (12 or 13) I was into the heavier stuff. They recorded parts of Captured In Time &Space in knoxville. I was at that show. Was a good show but didnt care for the album. First metal was Stryper's Reason For The Season vinyl single. Now THAT blew me away!

Petra - Captured in Time & Space

-and-

Whiteheart - Live at Six Flags

My brother and my cousin had these tapes back in '86, and I honestly don't remember which one I heard first, but both are my earliest memories of anything harder than Sandi Patty.

Then in '87, I heard White Lion, Dokken, Stryper, Whitecross, Ratt, and the I was lost to metal forever.

Whiteheart - Live at Six Flags = I've yet to listen to that one... one of these days...

Petra, Beyond Belief... still has a special place in my heart. I also loved alot of the Shout / Tamplin stuff of that time!

It was probably something by REZ.

Live Fireworks! by Fireworks

^^ Just scored Fireworks first release on vinyl last weekend for a buck !  So stoked ! Now I have 2 original Fireworks LPs.