July 23, 2010

The Way-Back Machine: Stryper

This is a new feature on Hi-Fi Bri where I take a look at something weird and wonderful from the late 20th Century.  Today, I'm remembering Stryper, the Christian rock band with the big ass hair that took MTV by fire and brimstone in the mid-80's.  


I always figured that MTV put Stryper's quasi-religious videos on as some sorta counter-PR to the popular argument that the network was turning Gen-X brains into oatmeal.  But watching their video for "Calling On You" (which I saw a hundred times back in the day) these guys really could rawwwkkk!  The song is a catchy confection of glam/metal pop, kinda like Poison without the naughtiness.  The guys were actually a bit hotter than Poison, I have to admit.  Lead singer Michael Sweet was quite cute in a skinny John Travolta sorta way.  And his brother Robert Sweet the drummer was seriously hot.  Check out those guns!  


These days, Stryper (whose name is a reference to the lashes on Christ's back) is still alive and kicking at their official website.  After a short lived breakup and lapse of faith in the 90's, the band started making music and touring again in the Aughts.  To date, they have sold more than 10 million records in total and it's estimated that 2/3'rds of those sales were to non-Christians.