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Sweet is the co-founder and front man of the legendary Christian metal band Stryper. Styper, which stands for Salvation Through Redemption Yielding Peace, Encouragement and Righteousness, is derived from Isaiah 53:5 (KJV): “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Originally known as Roxx Regime, the band is considered a pioneer in popularizing Christian rock music in the mainstream. Since it’s inception in 1983, Stryper has sold more than 8 million records worldwide with several projects reaching gold status. The group’s unprecedented 1986 album To Hell with the Devil went platinum and was named one of the “100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music” by CCM Magazine in 2001. Stryper has garnered seven RIAA Awards, two Dove Awards and 2 Golden Reel Awards. The band’s latest album, Reborn, was released in 2005. Sweet has also released four solo albums - his self-titled first release was voted “Favorite Album” in the CCM Readers Awards. His latest worship-oriented disc, Him, is a powerful revamping of timeless standards of the Christian faith (www.michaelsweet.com, www.stryper.com).
Nobody who was around our band when we started out could deny that God is absolutely real. We woke up to miracles every day and witnessed things that never could have happened without His intervention. We saw homeless drug addicts strung out on heroine take their syringes out, break them and throw them in the trash can. Then we witnessed them give their lives to Christ and be healed and cleaned at that very moment.
When I was growing up we weren’t a family that went to church on a regular basis – it was maybe a once a year event. So it was surprising when my 15-year-old brother began tuning into televangelist Jimmy Swaggert, who at the time was packing out arenas. Robert watched the program twice a week, every single week, and was really drawn into it. Eventually, he convinced the whole family to watch with him.
One night as an invitation was given to accept Christ at the end of the program we all kind of looked at each other and said, “Let’s do this.” We bowed our heads, said the Sinner’s Prayer and gave our lives to Christ. It was pretty amazing. Right after that, we found a small local church and got involved with the music. Unfortunately, after a few years of that going to church 2-3 times per week, Robert and I started getting into things that many teenagers get involved with like drinking and partying. At that time we had a band and the influences all around us started to play a much larger role in our lives. Even though we went to church and loved it, the other side – the more “worldly” side of life took its toll and grabbed a hold of us. From the time I was 14 until I was 19 our band played the whole club scene in Hollywood. Week after week we were one of the house bands along with groups like “Ratt” and “Motley Crue.” The name of our band was “Roxx Regime,” and it was me, my brother Robert and guitarist Oz Fox
We just kind of did our thing. I guess in comparison to hardcore drug addicts we were pretty tame, but we were drinking and experimenting with drugs, and it got to the point where we were going out partying every other night. We just kind of got caught up in and blinded by the lifestyle. Even though we knew what was true and what was false and we knew there was a God and there was a devil, we found ourselves living very much outside of our belief system. One night between sets at a gig, we went out on the sidewalk on Sunset Strip to take a break. Some people came up to us and gave us Christian flyers and witnessed and shared their faith with us. After a while it felt like a knife going straight through my heart ― I was thinking, I believed in this once…
A few days later I was in the rehearsal studio with the guys when in walked Kenny Metcalf. We had done some shows with Kenny on occasion; he was known around town for being a partier and a drug user. We hadn’t seen him for a long time and he looked so different. He was positively glowing ― he had a huge smile on his face and his eyes were sparkling. He was absolutely radiant. We’d never seen Kenny like that before.
We played some music for a while and when we stopped and took a break, Kenny shared with us that he’d committed his life to Christ. What he said next set everything in motion. He said he knew we had walked with the Lord at one point but had walked away. “If you give your lives and your music and your band and all that you do back to God He’s going to do some incredible things with you guys.” Kenny reminded us that we’d fallen away. It’s fascinating to me because not only had Robert and I accepted Christ at an early age, but so had Oz. His mother had been involved in a Pentecostal church in the area and he’d gone to church on a regular basis just like we had. Then he got into the band Black Sabbath and wound up doing too much partying… just like we had. We had a lot in common, including the fact that we had all walked away from our faith. After we spoke with Kenny Metcalf I felt very convicted and knew I had to make some changes. As a group, we decided to commit the band to Christ and from that moment on, things snowballed.
We’d had our eye on one particular bass player named Tim Gaines who we thought would round out our group perfectly. To us, he was the dream bassist; he looked great, he was an amazing player and he had great gear. He was an ideal fit for our band. But unfortunately, he was already in a band called Stormer. One day we were looking through a magazine and saw a photo of Stormer but Tim wasn’t in the picture. It was a surprise because he had been with the band for years. My brother did some investigating and got his phone number and called his home. When Tim’s mother picked up the telephone Robert said, “We’re three Christian guys in a band called Roxx Regime and we want to play music for God.” Now, Stormer was a band that was totally on the other side… a long way from being a faith-oriented. So imagine our surprise when Tim’s mother said he had left the band because he’d committed his life to Christ! Oz and I were standing over Robert’s shoulder listening in; it was one of those moments where the hairs on your arm stand up and you get chills. We couldn’t believe how God was putting it all together!
Tim came down to meet us the next day and joined the band. From that moment on, we made a commitment to devote our lives – and our music – 100% to God. After that we no longer felt like we were Roxx Regime – we were a brand new creation and needed a new name. This time we wanted a name with meaning that represented Christ. We came up with the name “Stryper” so every time people saw the name they would be reminded of Isaiah 53:5: “By His stripes we are healed.” That Scripture is basically what our stripes signify ― what Christ went through when He was beaten and nailed to the cross.
So many incredibly miraculous things took place and shape and form after that. We started doing a lot of local shows with different bands. A woman named Darin Hinton came to one of those shows because she had heard about us. There was quite a buzz surrounding the band at that time; we were in all the local papers and magazines… people were just trying to figure out who the heck we were, why we were selling out clubs and what the buzz was all about.
Well, Darin loved the band so much that she decided she wanted to get behind it. It was incredible, she didn’t know us from Adam and she just pulled out her checkbook and invested $100,000 in the band. Her financial support bought us a bunch of really nice equipment and put us in the studio. Because of her generosity, we were able to record our first album, “Yellow and Black Attack.” How could that not be a miracle?
That’s just one of a hundred stories of how God showed up in our lives … every single day something like that happened. Each morning we’d wake up and say, “What’s going to happen today?” “Yellow and Black Attack” got the attention of Enigma Records, a big mainstream label. They asked us to do a showcase for them so they could hear us play live. We rented out a warehouse, set up a PA system and did a show just for them ― like a private mini concert for label staff. There were maybe about 20 people in the audience. It was very intimidating and we were of course very nervous, but they wound up really liking the band.
The funny thing is, we were so loud and the PA system was so poor that they couldn’t understand the lyrics. But even though they didn’t get the words, they liked the band enough to sign us. It wasn’t until after the negotiations were complete and the contract was signed that they found out we were a Christian band. Now understand that this was far from a Christian label… they handled bands like Motley Crue and Poison, not a bunch of guys who rocked about Jesus. They actually didn’t want to continue on with the band and regretted having signed us. But they decided to grin and bear it and God blessed our work so much that only three or four years later we were their biggest selling band. It’s pretty wild. Handling a Christian band was a pretty new experience for most of the people at the label. I remember going to Burger King with the president of Enigma after one of our concerts. There was a homeless guy out front who was completely whacked out. We went and laid hands on him and prayed over him and he was literally a changed man. The president of the label witnessed what happened and it blew him away. He turned white as a ghost and had the most astonished look on this face. He’d never experienced anything like that before. At that moment he started to commit his life to Christ because he saw that it was real.
The entire journey was amazing … God just kept opening doors right and left. No other Christian rock band could get airplay on MTV but God opened the door for that to happen. It wasn’t because we were special and it wasn’t because we were better than anyone else. It was only because ― and I say this from the bottom of my heart ― because we were devoted to prayer and we were devoted to God. We woke up and started our day with prayer, we prayed before every show and we prayed before every recording. It was all about prayer and belief and faith. And because of that, God blessed it. That’s the only reason why. Every single day we saw how real God was, because miracles were happening all around us. It was just impossible to deny it. We normally played at secular venues – that was our market. It was a strange experience to walk out onstage in a huge arena and smell pot in the air and see the majority of the people drinking. There were times when the aroma was so strong we had to have been high ourselves. Not everybody was partying though, but at least two-thirds of the crowd was made up of non-Christians, people that probably went to see bands like Bon Jovi the night before.
Inevitably, the audience would go from a rowdy, partying crowd to a passive group sitting at attention listening to our music. And then to see 12,000 people say the Sinner’s Prayer together at the end of our show was awe-inspiring. We took a lot of heat from the traditional Christian community because we played mainstream, secular venues rather than playing churches and Christian concert events. Not only did we play these venues, but we had secular heavy metal bands open for us. But that’s really what we were called to do. Our ministry was about having these bands open and bring in their crowd so we had an opportunity to share with them. A lot of people in the church just couldn’t comprehend that.
We’ve always felt that it was our job to be a light in the world so unbelievers had an opportunity to hear the Gospel in way they could relate to. There’s a gray area of course and we would be crossing the line if we went out to these venues with the intent of reaching out to them but still participated in the same things they do, like drinking and drugs. But that’s true for all Christians. If you hang out with 10 non-Christians at a dinner party and and get drunk and swear and do everything they do, then you’re not being an example of Christ. That’s obviously hypocrisy. But if you’re going out with those people and you’re being an example and you’re letting Christ shine through you, they’re going to walk away remembering that. That’s our ministry, that’s what we’ve always been about; to hang out with people who don’t know Christ, whether they are another band or in the audience.
With God’s help, we’re trying to be a light in the darkness and encourage the world.
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