RESTRYPED

Stryper has dissapointed me two times (in 30 years… not bad). Having said that, probably, if I think hard about it, I’ll find that they have let me down more than that. Well, because they’re humans. But I believe these two things would be at the top of any list I could come up with.

First (and, for some reason, I can imagine Michael sighing as he reads this…) is the Revolution Metal Fest affair (oh, but, Mike, if you really do stumble upon this and actually start to read it, please, bear with me for a brief moment and read on).

In short, on November 20 of 2004, exactly ten years ago TODAY*, a rock concert, called the Revolution Metal Fest, was held in Mexico City. It was, supposedly, organized by a poor local Underground Church, who somehow managed to hire several foreign top Christian Metal bands for the event. These were: Mortification (Australia), Narnia (Sweden) and Saviour Machine (USA); as well as the show’s main attraction: Stryper (USA). The festival took place as scheduled, but, sadly, without Stryper, because, a couple of days earlier, they had cancelled their appearance, claiming a Breach of Contract. This developed into an enormous scandal for Stryper, because they refused to return the sum of US$ 56,500.00 that they had already received in advance. This was from a total amount they would have charged of US$ 100,000.00, which some considered excesive, but I’ll get back to that in a while.

Apparently, all hardcore Stryper fans knew about this, except me! I didn’t learn about this until sometime after they launched Murder by Pride. When I did, I’m pretty sure I found and analyzed every little bit of information available online concerning the subject. I read and, even, heard (on YouTube) all arguments against and in favor of both sides of this mess (and beyond). I have to admit, for a period of time, I was left feeling very dissapointed by Stryper’s behaviour, not even wanting to listen to their music anymore. It got to a point, around a couple of years ago, where I didn’t even want to listen to any Christian rock music whatsoever. I felt (for this and other reasons, to be honest) like it was all just a business, disguised as something else.

However, at times, I would remember the deep moments of genuine Divine Grace I had experienced through certain Christian band’s music; SPECIALLY STRYPER’s! Not being able to deny that important fact, one day (not long ago), I decided to look into this matter again. So, I re-read some of the material, mostly many explanations Stryper had issued back then. And, I’m so happy I did, because, this time, for some reason, I managed to comprehend their position. In my opinion, an important part of getting it is understanding where Stryper was coming from at that moment in time. After many years of inactivity, Stryper was trying to reunite and reorganize their operations… It’s not the same to cold start a car that’s being used daily, as a car that’s used now and then or one that’s been sitting for years. Specially if it’s a high performance car and you need and want it running 100%.

To close this subject (in my mind, at least… Stryper closed it ten years ago), I’ll say this: Stryper had valid reasons for charging 100k. The organizer/s accepted the non refundable fee, as well as the terms and conditions. Any organization (profit or non profit, business or church) and/or person (Pastor, restaurant owner or whatever) who has the capacity to collect the amount of money that was required to carry out this activity in the short period of time it is said it took to do that, no matter how anyone wants to put it, is not poor. There is a side of a profesional Christian Rock band that has to be run like a business, simply because that’s what it is! Finally, Stryper’s cancellation cost THEM US$ 43,500!!! Now, think about that for a moment. Stryper had valid reasons to act as they did. Accept it, beleive it. Or just don’t… Personally, I decided to give them a vote of confidence. And this happened recently. I hadn’t, even, listened to their last album. Wow, what was I missing!

Maybe, I’ll always wonder if they could have done something more to help the situation and clean their name. But the truth is we just don’t know what they did (or are still doing), because they said they would deal with it in private. We don’t know how many “Live in Mexico” T-Shirts they’ve sold and how much they’ve managed to send back… Plus, I guess the only person’s opinion they should REALLY care about is God’s.

The other dissapointment is the (much more recent) covering of the song Over the Mountain, which they recorded for their The Covering album.

Decades ago, when I was young (I’m 47 now) and couldn’t care less about Jesus and the Gospel, I was a huge Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne fan. And, even back then, I recall trying to figure out what the heck the lyrics of that song meant and I remember concluding that: <<Very probably, it’s about being high on drugs, but, SURELY, it’s about nothing good>>. The truth is I hated that song back then and, more so, I hate it now!

Now, I simply can’t ignore things like the upside down cross on the front cover art of Diary of a Madman. The whole <<it’s just a show>> justification, constantly repeated by his Christian defenders, like Rudy Sarzo, is just not acceptable TO ME, I’m sorry. – Besides, if I accept that, then, I would have to accept what Stryper critics say about their Christianity being a show too. – Undeniably, the whole Prince of Darkness image or “show” (yeah, right) has “helped” who knows how many souls to stray away from Christ’s Salvation.

I mean, if Stryper really wanted an Ozzy Osbourne/Randy Rhoads song, because they just had to show where their musical influences came from and all that (I get it, Oz!), what about those Ozzy songs with positive lyrics? They exist. Even Crazy Train kind of falls in to that category. I, very seriously, hope they don’t cover Flying High Again or another one of those weird (to say the least) songs, if they do decide on recording The Covering II.

So, today*, to prove my <<Sympathy>> (pun intended) towards Stryper, I went on their web site and ordered the Live in Mexico shirt (I understand the revenue is, still, for the above mentioned Mexican Church). I, even, purchased The Covering CD (revenue for Stryper!), since I already have all the others.

PS: How about doing the same and ordering this T-Shirt? It’s for a good cause and it’s on sale for only 10 bucks! Plus, who knows, it could become a collector’s item down the road, since I understand Stryper has NEVER been <<Live in Mexico>> and, maybe, never will. Incredible.

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*This article was posted (originally) on Heavy Harmonies Message Board, on November 20th of 2014, four months (exactly) before being republished here, on March 20th of 2015. PLUS, who knows what date it’s gonna be when YOU get to read it. So, kindly, forgive me for any confusions I may have caused with my use of the word <<today>>.