Michael Sweet of Stryper on Being Mocked for Being Christian: “If We Sang About Girls or Satan, We Would Have Been the Cool Kids”
Christian metal band Stryper sure love to play the victim in terms of their Christian beliefs, especially lately. Just a few months back, drummer Robert Sweet claimed that the group was “given a hard time” for being a Christian metal band. Just a few months ago, drummer Robert Sweet complained in an interview about the group being “given a hard time” for being Christians in metal. Well, now his brother has to speak on the issue for some reason.
In a recent interview as part of the “1 Question With…” interview series (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), Stryper frontman Michael Sweet was asked if the band was getting heavier and more aggressive in response to never being fully embraced by the metal and hard rock community due to their Christian lyrics, perfectly setting up Michael Sweet to do what he does best and play the victim card. Here’s what he had to say:
“Well, it does upset me often when you see a band come out or a person come out and speak about openly their faith, their belief, whether it’s they’re a Muslim or they’re an atheist or they’re Satanist or whatever it is. And [they get applauded for it]. But often when a Christian comes out, a Christian band like STRYPER or what have you, they get [criticized for it]. And it’s just the way it is. And people that don’t agree with that, they’re clueless. Because it’s out there everywhere for the world to see. Anyone with eyes and ears can hear it and see it. So, continue to deny that. It’s truth.
“We’ve been mocked from the very beginning. If we sang about girls or Satan, we would have been the cool kids. But we’re not, because we sing about Jesus.”
Oh, won’t someone please think of the poor Christians? If only there was some advantage to being a Christian, like being favored in literally every other area of society.
Stryper seem to often forget that, part of the reason they were mocked wasn’t just that they were Christian, but also because they were always a cheesy hair metal act. Maybe they should have sung songs about girls or Satan. It certainly would have been more interesting to listen to.
