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It's the early '80s. This is Los Angeles. On the Sunset Strip, the LA metal bands rule -- Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison, and Roxx Regime. Roxx Regime transformed into Stryper, and received considerable press coverage for their "good guys of metal" image and outspoken Christian beliefs.
What's the story then? Roxx Regime were a band formed by drummer and "visual timekeeper" Robert Sweet in high school. He enlisted his younger half-brother Michael to sing and play guitar, and together they won a school talent contest. According to legend, Poison guitarist CC DeVille passed through the Roxx ranks at one point. After months of trying, Robert Sweet finally persuaded guitarist Oz Fox to join the band. The members of Roxx Regime became Christians after liking they change they saw in their former partying partner Kenny Metcalf. Joined by bassist Tim Gaines, who had previously played with Stormer, the band signed the Enigma Records, who had no idea of the band's faith. Under record company pressure to change the band's name, Robert thought of Stryper, inspired by Roxx Regime's trademark yellow and black striped costumes. The name was spelled with a "y" to avoid confusion with stripper, but the name assumed a double meaning. It referred to Isaiah 53:5, a Bible verse saying, "By his stripes we are healed", and Robert made an acrostic of the name, saying Salvation Through Redemption Yielding Peace, Encouragement, and Righteousness. The band's debut EP, The Yellow & Black Attack attracted some attention from the press, but the band found themselves falling between too stools, being too loud and heavy metal for the church but too Christian for the heavy metal market. Nevertheless, the band's popularity grew and by the mid-80s they were a major concert draw playing in big arenas. They really took off in Japan and Korea, with stadiums filled and riots taking place before the band's performance at the Korean Olympic stadium. To Hell with Devil contained a US top 20 hit in "Honestly" and the album certified platinum. However, Stryper sales figures have always been a matter of contention; being a Christian act meant that a significant portion of their sales came from Christian bookshops but sales from these outlets were never accurately counted. Additionally, when the band switched to Hollywood records at the beginning of the '90s, sales stopped being reported altogether. As a result, Stryper fans maintain the band have sold many more records than official figures suggest. Either way, Stryper were a major concert attraction, touring on co-headlining tours with Motley Crue and WASP as well as having acts such as White Lion, Great White, and Metallica open for them. In God We Trust saw Stryper become the most requested band on MTV as the channel was inundated with request for the "Always There for You" video. Against the Law saw the band strip back their sound and image; the yellow and black spandex was jettisoned, the hair was (slightly) smaller, the guitars were less distorted, and the album was generally rougher. With its more secular image and lyrics, Against the Law alienated a large part of Stryper's born-again audience and only certified Gold. Michael Sweet left the band in 1992, and although they persevered, touring as a three-piece with Oz Fox on vocals. Although four reunion shows with all four original members have taken place to date, an official, fully-fledged reunion has yet to take place.
Any good then? Miles ahead of pretty much any other Christian rockers, and frequently compared to Dokken. Although all of their albums are a bit on the patchy side, at their best Stryper were as good as ANYBODY. Unfortunately, as the track listing on their greatest hits record Can't Stop the Rock as well as their reunion concerts shows, neither Stryper nor their record company have any idea what their best bits are. For their information and yours, then, here are the top 20 Stryper songs, in chronological order with the album they're from in brackets:
From Wrong to Right, (The Yellow and Black Attack)
Makes Me Wanna Sing, (Soldiers Under Command)
Together Forever, (Soldiers Under Command)
First Love, (Soldiers Under Command)
The Rock That Makes Me Roll, (Soldiers Under Command)
To Hell with the Devil, (To Hell with the Devil)
Calling on You, (To Hell with the Devil)
Honestly, (To Hell with the Devil)
Holding On, (To Hell with the Devil)
More Than a Man, (To Hell with the Devil)
Always There for You, (In God We Trust)
Keep the Fire Burning, (In God We Trust)
I Believe in You, (In God We Trust)
It's Up 2 U, (In God We Trust)
The World of U and I, (In God We Trust)
Two Time Woman, (Against the Law)
Two Bodies (One Mind One Soul), (Against the Law)
Lady, (Against the Law)
All for One, (Against the Law)
Believe, (Can't Stop the Rock)
Best album? A tough one. My top 20 top Stryper songs are far from their only good tracks, although as I said each of their albums has clunkers among the classics. Don't think, either, that because only one song from The Yellow & Black Attack made the top 20 that it wasn't a good release; the band's songwriting was in its infancy and it wasn't recorded on a huge budget but it is brimming with youthful energy and enthusiasm. Against the Law undoubtedly contains several of the bands absolute finest moments, but it also contains some fairly unspectacular moments. The best album, though, is In God We Trust. It's a brave Stryper fan who'll say that, because IGWT was their lightest, poppiest album with not much in the way of really heavy stuff, nor much bottom end to deepen the sound. As a result, Stryper's metal-loving followers were disappointed and the album failed to repeat it's predecessor's platinum success. They made a mistake, however, because In God We Trust is a great album. Maybe it was that the opening title track was only a fairly ordinary sing-along with nothing special about it. Maybe the fans felt the band were selling out. Either way, IGWT is a gem. MTV #1 hit "Always There for You" is an obvious highlight, but the whole album is filled with excellent pop-rock and great choruses. For sure, some heavy stuff would be welcome, but Stryper were always better at the softer stuff than the extremely metallic stuff; they rarely managed to inject as much melody and pop sensibility into their hard rockers. Still, enjoy this album for what it is; power ballad "I Believe in You" is, if anything, even better than the famous Stryper ballad "Honestly". Heavier stuff does come in the shape of "The Writing's on the Wall", which is pretty good. Not so good is the other really hard track, "The Reign". It could really do with some more bottom end and rhythm guitar to fatten it out, and the melodies aren't that great. Still it's Stryper doing something experimental, and the musicianship is great. In all, probably not typical Stryper but a great slice of rousing pop-metal. It's a personal thing though; many diehards I speak to prefer Soldiers Under Command, while To Hell with the Devil undoubtedly had the gutsiest production and was the most successful.
What's bad about 'em? Nothing bad as such, but they were inconsistent… here's another band who would have benefited from working with a demanding producer like Bob Rock. Also, many point to their simple lyrics as cheesy and lacking attitude. On occasion this is true, but actually Stryper had a lot of attitude… They said to the world, "This is what we believe; this is what we do. We don't care what you think, we're doing it anyway, and you can like it or get lost." That's attitude.
Band rating: 88%
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See also my guide to white metal.
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