Talk:Stryper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is within the scope of the Christian Metal WikiProject, a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Christian Metal and its related articles. If you would like to participate, you can visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.
B	This article has been rated as b-Class on the assessment scale.
High	This article has been rated as high-importance on the assessment scale.

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page.	Biography Portal
B	This article has been rated as B-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ]
	This article is supported by WikiProject Musicians, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed biographical guide to musicians and musical groups on Wikipedia.

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Stryper article.
Please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes (~~~~). Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Ask questions, get answers. This is not a forum for general discussion about the article's subject.	Be polite Assume good faith No personal attacks Be welcoming	Article policies No original research Neutral point of view Verifiability

Contents 1 Slight update on "Reborn" album 2 Discussion 3 legacy 4 Credibility 5 "Music critics"? 6 KYLE 7 W.A.S.P.

[edit] Slight update on "Reborn" album

updated "reunion" section to update the release date for the album "reborn" to August 16, 2005.

[edit] Discussion

"They are considered the pioneers in the popularization of Christian Rock music".

Mmmmmm.... I think that title belongs to Larry Norman, who pioneered Christian Rock in the late 1960's.... more than 15 years before. See wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Norman

Perhaps the wording should be changed to "the pioneers of Christian metal," or if that is too POV, simply "pioneers" without "the." - KB 22:13, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

I'd have to disagree. Stryper were popularizers of Christian Rock, considering that 'To Hell with the Devil' remains the highest selling Christian album of all time, over twenty years after its original release.

CaptnSpandex 23:31, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] legacy

Why was the information about the Stryper biography replaced with stuff about people thinking heavy metal was "close" to "satanic music?"

• First, the section you refer to was practically an advertisement for the book Loud N Clear: the story of Stryper. THis violates Wikipedia policy. Second, the legacy section is intended to show the fact that Stryper was recongnized by many as a great musical band but that their openly christian image prevented them from obtaining bigger succes, in the like of Guns N ROses, Motley Crue and Quiet Riot, who were band with similiar sound.<<Coburn_Pharr>> 20:29, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

• • Touche. But the fact that there was a biography published about them -- is in and of itself a testimony to their legacy, no?

• • Coburnpharr04, what are you basing your statement that Stryper was never as popular as Mötley Crüe, Quiet Riot, and other Glam bands on? Two of Stryper's videos were the most requested on MTV during that station's heyday, they have a platinum album, and several gold albums. Also, the statements about being 'too close to Satanic music', etc, need sources or they need to be removed.

CaptnSpandex 23:35, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Credibility

Perhaps something should be said about the credibility of the band? It's no secret that Stryper had MANY critics for trying to combine religious ideas that are predominantly about conformity and living by a strict set of rules, with a musical style that has always been active in pushing the boundaries, promoting free-will, and rebellion against power in the wrong hands.

The band didn't just have critics from one side of the argument either. As already suggested in the article, some religious groups saw them as being too close to the bands they were trying to counter, and my perception was that the majority of rock fans saw them as having little artistic credibilty in a rebelious musical genre such as Heavy Metal, due to their religious stance.

Of course the paragraph would have to be written in a balanced way, otherwise it could be construed as personal opinion (and therefore not valid for an encyclopedia) ... however there must be countless archive articles, tv shows, interviews etc that can be cited to give an overall view of the band's standing inside the context of the 80's rock/metal world, and the religious world.

--Compost 17:46, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Wow, because what you just said isn't full of a hell of a lot more POV than the article itself, right? If you even bothered to read the article there is stuff about the controversy anyways. Seriously you need to actually read things first and see what is in the article, and if you already did then maybe you just need to grow up. About them not having "artistic merit", they were pretty popular and have just as much "artistic merit" as pretty much any other glam metal group of their time. --E tac 20:14, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you're getting at regarding the band's "credibility". Are you saying that Stryper wasn't credibly a Christian band, or not credibly a metal band? Or both? Maybe you can assert that the "metal scene" rejected Stryper, although I have no idea whether that's true or not, and either way it had better be verifiably sourced. But Stryper obviously found mainstream acceptance -- they had a platinum album and multiple music videos regularly played on MTV -- and thus were the first Christian hard rock band to gain widespread credibility at all. Jpers36 21:16, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I am unsure about what he meant by credibility as well, It seems he is just pushing his own POV because controversies are already part of the article. --E tac 05:33, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "Music critics"?

I am taking issue with "Dial-the-truth" ministries being cited as BOTH a "music critic" and a "religious group".

I'm not being anti-Christian here, but I really think Dial-the-truth citations should be removed from this page, or at least minimalized to a great degree. No one in the music business would accept them as legitimate "music critics". Also, they are a very small minority, a single organization...as such, you should not cite THEIR OPINIONS and extrapolte them to represent the opinions of "religious groups" (For instance, I wouldn't create a blog, put my personal opinions on it, then cite my opinion on Wikipedia as representative of the opinions of "heavy metal fans").

The only reason to cite the Dial-the-Truth ministry website in this article would be to verify that, "Dial-the-Truth ministries has criticized Stryper..."

Get it? Now, if no one objects (or if no one does it themselves), I'll eventually scrub or re-work the poor sourcing in this article. So, if you object, speak up now, please. Ynot4tony (talk) 20:43, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] KYLE

I'm wondering if the entire paragraph that includes the info on KYLE should be removed or put in a separate section (or at least the more personal information should be added to M. Sweet's page?)

I did edit the 2nd sentence and added a 3rd, since unfortunately her cancer has returned.

"Sweet's wife Kyle had been diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer, and the new album was put on hold so that he could care for his family and ailing wife. She underwent surgery and treatment from February 14 to July 14, eventually resulting in her complete, although brief, recovery and restored health. In April, 2008, Kyle announced that her cancer had returned as of October 2007."

I'm a newbie and do not know how to put in references or citations so if anyone wants to help out with that, it would be greatly appreciated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.229.43.127 (talk) 06:39, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] W.A.S.P.

I have heard that they were a response to the band W.A.S.P.. Any truth in this?--Jack Upland (talk) 11:15, 19 May 2008 (UTC)