Back in 1992 my faith in God became real. I had spent a number of years like Jonah; running from reality and pretending that what I knew to be true wasn’t. But He was patient and waited me out; ultimately revealing the Ecclesiastes-type vanity and futility of any pursuit outside of Him.

At that time in my journey music was central to my lifestyle. Music meant more to me than food. (I used to pocket most of the money my parents gave me for lunch in order to buy casette tapes of my favorite groups. Groups with names like Janes Addiction, Ministry, Smashing Pumpkins, The Violent Femmes, The Cure, Fugazi, et al. While saving money for these precious tunes, I ate Little Debbie Snack Cakes for sustenance.)

When I decided to follow the Way of Christ music became a big question mark for me. Could I keep listening to artists with such drastically different messages than the ones I was begining to believe in? Could I justify investing time/energy and financial support to their often detrimental ideologies? At the time (and I have more complex views on these issues today) it seemed like a bad idea for me to keep listening to some of these "secular" artists. I felt too easily swayed by their worldviews.

So I delved into the only viable solution I could come up with: Christian alternative music. It was great for me during that period of life. There were all these bands that I liked stylistically who also had Christian (often scriptural) messages within their songs. There was suddenly a soundtrack to my life again and one that blatantly spoke of Christ and His work in the world.

My friends (Shoof and Jay) recently reminded me of this musical past in their comments on my Under the Radar Music post. I thought I would list some of the group names I liked during this season of my life. Some of these groups are still in my music collection and in fairly heavy rotation. Most, however, were there for a season and now remain only nostalgic references to my Christian youth. So for those of you in a similar demographic, here’s my list of well-loved Christian alternative bands (alternative being a catch-all phrase for every type of music):

Mortal
Prayer Chain
Starflyer 59
Poor Old Lu
The Blamed
MxPx
The Choir (esp. Diamonds & Rain and Chase the Kangeroo)
Stryper (going way back now…)
Scaterd Few
Mortification
The Crucified
Swirling Eddies
Strongarm
Deliverance
Lightforce
Tempest
Tourniquet
Brainchild/ Circle of Dust
Sixpence None the Richer (still in rotation)
The 77’s
Blenderhead
L.S.U. aka Michael Knott
Breakfast With Amy
Fluffy
P.I.D. (a.k.a. Preachers in Disguise)
T-Bone
Rainbow Rider / Dancehouse Children / Joy Electric
Lust Control
One Bad Pig
Lost Dogs
Bride
Waiting for Eden
Plankeye
Havalina Rail Company
Raving Loonatics
The Throes
Jyradelix
Dig Hay Zoose
Prodigal Sons
Deitophobia
…and others