Metal Missionaries to the Nation: Christian Heavy Metal Music, "Family Values," and Youth Culture, 1984-1994

Abstract

June 26, 1987, members of the Christian metal band Stryken attended a Motley Criie concert in San Antonio, Texas. It was not uncommon for Christian bands to attend secular concerts; indeed, many bands explained that they did so in order to keep current on musical trends. But Stryken arrived at the show ready for confrontation. According to the Christian metal magazine White Throne, the band, wearing full suits of . . . and bearing a 14 x 8 foot wooden cross, stormed the doors of the arena, pushing through the crowds of teenagers and television cameras down the corridor towards the inlet to the main stage. At this point, the boys in armor erected the cross and began to preach to the massed [sic] of kids who were gathering all around. The authorities quickly intervened, and, ordered to remove 'the cross' or face arrest, the members of Stryken continued to speak openly about Jesus Christ, and were one by one hand-cuffed and forcibly removed from the arena.1 Stryken s actions which invoked the persecuted early Christians described in the Acts of the Apostles offer some insights into Christian metal during the 1980s. Motley Criie's music and the lifestyle of its members were designed to shock middle America, but the band had become one of the most successful acts of the 1980s. By upstaging Motley Criie's over-the-top behavior with their bold act, Stryken attempted to claim heavy metal's reputation for outrageousness for Christianity. Moreover, by getting removed from the concert, the band successfully positioned itself as the persecuted minority the authentic outlaws of American music in the 1980s.