The top 100 albums in Christian Rock History

This is a list that I intend to compose (with the help of many writers and friends) of the Top 100 Christian Rock albums of all time. There is no date limit (when it comes to the album’s release date, that is. This list is for our Jul/Aug 25th Anniversary Issue #144, so there is a deadline for this list to be made!). There is no genre specific categories – we will be fusing rock, metal and alternative rock and all sub-genres for this. I might have some Honorable Mentions that don’t make the list, like an honorable mention for The Cross Movement for best Christian hip-hop album of all time (just using that as a hypothetical example…that would not be my top choice for that genre, though I’d consider them if I were to make such a list).

I will share right now one of my picks. I imagine that I will exclude vast titles from the Petra catalog. Though they are kings of Christian rock, HM is a hard music magazine, so harder/edgier stuff will get an advantage. So, bands like Sanctus Real will surely be on the outside looking in. The anger that this list causes will be part of its charm. I’ll tell you right now that Petra’s first album with John Schlitt – Back To The Street – is the band’s best album. Fans will cry. We might even have to put Never Say Die on there, just because it has so many of their staple songs on it (like “The Coloring Song” and “Praise Ye The Lord”) or even More Power To Ya, cuz it was such a staple in many of our early Christian rock collections, but man…compared to Believer’s Sanity Obscure or Tourniquet’s Psychosurgery or P.O.D.’s Satellite, how can you add it to the list?

This list will be war for many. There’ll be shouting matches and all that. Whittling the list down to 100 will be really hard. Those that have been reading HM Magazine for a long time will remember our comment-less “Top 50 of the Second Half” visual list in our 100th issue. That started in the ’90s and went forward to the year that issue came out (2003). There’s a lot of good albums to choose from. We’ll have commentary on some of the albums…maybe all of them. Some more than others.

Let’s get started now and share our lists with each other at the Google Group that serves as the HM Magazine MESSAGE BOARD, at this link. You’ll need to “join” the google group, but it’s not big thing to do so. Of course, it’s free. If it gets annoying for some reason, you can opt out at any time.

Tags: Believer, King's X, Petra, Rez, Sanctus Real, Stryper, Tourniquet

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11 Comments

JN had this to say on February 12, 2010 | Permalink

The seminal Christian Rock discs for me would be “Pray Naked” by the 77’s & “Shawl” by The Prayer Chain.
Steve Adams had this to say on February 28, 2010 | Permalink

The problem with a list like this will come when you run into bands that blur the ‘Christian/secular’ line. ‘Psalm 9′ by Trouble is a phenomenal album, but I don’t know that I would include it on a list spotlighting Christian music. Some albums that should be there, though, are ‘Freedom’ by Whiteheart, Stryper’s ‘Soldiers Under Command’, Deliverance’s ‘Weapons Of Our Warfare’, and more recently, ‘An Ocean Between Us’ by As I lay Dying. BTW, Petra’s best album was ‘This Means War’, followed closely by ‘On Fire’.
Daniel had this to say on June 11, 2010 | Permalink

Here are some albums I think should be on the list (I’m only 20, so 80’s stuff will not be here, although I’ve heard some Stryper and Petra and it is good).

Jesus Freak – dc Talk (Obviously)
Comatose – Skillet (Best and most successful album to date)
The End Is Not The End – House of Heroes(2nd album from the up and coming Gotee Records band is easily one of the best albums I’ve ever heard, period.)
Underdog – Audio Adrenaline (Among the first Christian albums I owned, great music)
Third Day – Third Day (The presence of Thief and Consuming Fire alone should get this on the list)
Who We Are Instead – Jars of Clay (Folk rockers probably not hard enough to make this list much, but they deserve at least a mention, and I think that this is their best album)
Phenomenon/The Art Of Breaking – Thousand Foot Krutch (My favorite album by them is The Flame In All Of Us, and I would love to see it included, but these are the bands defining albums, so one of them should probably be on here.
Supernatural – dc Talk (As always, superb)
Alien Youth – Skillet (Underrated, probably 2nd best album)
Flyleaf – Flyleaf (Lacey Moseley is awesome)
Zachary Ingle had this to say on June 14, 2010 | Permalink

I realize it may already be too late, but I hope that two of the greatest emo albums are not left off: Roadside Monument–Eight Hours Away from Being a Man, and Brandtson–Fallen Star Collection.
Yet Saviour Machine’s Legend may be the greatest albums ever.
stephen mark sarro had this to say on June 28, 2010 | Permalink

i have no idea what is on Doug/HMs list, but i would throw these out..

seminal records from Stryper, 77s, Scaterd Few (Sin Disease, jawboneofanass) Petra, Terry Taylor/Daniel Amos, Believer, Starflyer 59, The Violet Burning (Strength), Mortal (Fathom, maybe Lusis, maybe Wake) Tourniquet (psycho surgery, or pathogenic ocular dissonance) Crucified – Pillars Of Humanity, Deliverance – Stay Of Execution, Dig Hay Zoose – MagentaMantaLoveTree, The Choir – Circle SLide, Phil Keaggy, Larry Norman – only visiting this planet, whiteheart – freedom, maybe tales of wonder, keith green, kings x – gretchen goes to nebraska/out of the silent planet, up to Dogman basically, spyglassblue – shadows, michael w smith – I 2 Eye, prayer chain – shawl, steve taylor , vengeance rising – human sacrifice, and maybe Roadside monument – eight hours away from being a man

there are more though
gregor southard had this to say on June 28, 2010 | Permalink

“Jekyll & Hyde” by Petra would count. “To Hell With The Devil” by Stryper is number one and the number one that will be forgotten is “Balance Of Power” by Undercover.
Dave had this to say on June 30, 2010 | Permalink

I commend you on the list and the issue Doug – superb as always. While I would have changed the order and a few on the list (Circle Slide instead of Chase the Kangaroo; Southtown instead of Satellite) your list has given me many more albums to discover that I’ve never listened to (mewithoutyou at #9 for instance). Well done my friend, well done.
Rick Sparks had this to say on December 20, 2010 | Permalink

FWIW, here’s my top-10 list of Christian rock from the pivotal early-80’s, when Christian rock was making the transition from interesting curiosity to a viable commercial genre. Groundbreaking & hugely influential on all that followed.

Bob Dylan – Slow Train Coming (1979)

Kerry Livgren – Seeds Of Change (1980)

DeGarmo & Key – This Ain’t Hollywood (1980)

Jerusalem – Vol. 2 (1980)

Resurrection Band – Colours (1980)

Darrell Mansfield – Get Ready (1980)

Ed Raetzloff – It Took A Long Time To Get To You (1981)

David Edwards – David Edwards (1981)

Petra – Never Say Die (1981)

Kansas – Vinyl Confessions (1982)
Brent Handy had this to say on February 27, 2011 | Permalink

These lists ARE tough. What makes a diverse group almost never come to the same conclusion is the fact that we males seldom grow out of the music of our youth, unless there is a drastic lifestyle change. For the most part, we like what we like until we croak. So, my list would start back in the 70s and 80s, when we had bands like Toto and producers like Jack Joseph Puig PLAYING and producing Christian music. Toto did The Imperials btw. I was there to see the Christian rock, hard rock and metal scene take off. Some of it was crap. But, we liked it because we preachers kids were not allowed to listen to secular music. Now that I am older, have worked in Christian radio, recorded and mixed Christian bands on the road, and now do my own music, I can say that the only kind I don’t like is the music made by phonies and heretics. Having worked on the other side of the console, I have been able to see what some others cannot. In some cases, it might be safer to listen to secular music, because you know what you are getting on the front-side. That said, there are some great records with Christian themes and messages that should be considered.
T-Mobile Comet had this to say on February 27, 2011 | Permalink

I totally agree with you article, only thing I would say is Petra – Beyond Belief or This means war! has to be Petra’s number one album. I wonder if the 1990 lineup will ever have a reunion I would love to see that.
Pat had this to say on February 28, 2011 | Permalink

Great article. The only thing is Petra’s More Power To Ya should be #1.

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>The top 100 albums in Christian Rock History | HM « drivebyMEDIA on February 11, 2010

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