"Stryper" has been added to your list of bookmarked artists
close
Stryper
Biography
Heavy metal has been associated with ol' Beelzebub ever since its inception, but a few acts took the opposite route and put their Christian beliefs in hard rocking songs, such as Stryper. Formed in Orange County, CA, in 1983, the group was originally known as Roxx Regime, and consisted of singer/guitarist/main songwriter Michael Sweet, drummer Robert Sweet, lead guitarist Oz Fox, and bassist Timothy Gaines. It wasn't until the group changed its name to Stryper (which stood for "Salvation Through Redemption Yielding Peace, Encouragement, and Righteousness") that things really began taking off for the quartet. Specializing in the melodic Van Halen/Def Leppard style (with heart-wrenching power ballads tossed in), dressed in all black-and-yellow outfits, and spreading their religious message even further by tossing bibles out into the crowd at their shows, Stryper were signed by the Enigma label in 1984. The same year, the group's debut recording, a six-track mini-album titled The Yellow & Black Attack, was issued.

The album created a buzz for the group among metalheads, which was only heightened with the release of the band's first full-length album, 1985's Soldiers Under Command.
report abuse