Not bashing Petra, just an honest question.

[shawnpfan2010]

I have a very large collection of Christian classic rock and metal and that includes every album put out by several bands including Rez, White Heart, Whitecross, Stryper and many others. The trouble isn't that I quit buying music, the trouble is that music changed and I didn't have much to buy anymore.[/quote]



AMEN Preacherman!! I totally agree with you on that.

[executioner]

I think the downfall of Petra started with the No Doubt Era, but in my opinion it had nothing to do with the change in band members it had EVERYTHING to do with the actual No Doubt Album. IMO it is by far Petra's worse offering. One bright spot would have to be "Enter In" and that is it. The rest of the album lacked the Petra flavor that everyone had come to love.
I loved the next offering(PP2) from Petra but I think it was not the time or place for it, and it really showed. from 1995-2001 Petra put out 5 albums that were all totally different in style and sound and no band/artist can survive that. I feel if Petra would have put out JAH in 1995 and keep that style for the next few albums I think things would have been totally different.

[Preacherman777]

I feel if Petra would have put out JAH in 1995 and keep that style for the next few albums I think things would have been totally different.

I agree 100%

[Timbo]

That is dead on. I always thought J&H belonged on the heels of wake up call.

[separateunion]

I think the Petra style of the early 90s was on its way out the door and sticking to that style wouldn't have saved the band. Look at the popular Christian bands from the mid-90s: Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys, PFR, etc. None of those guys was playing even close to the style that Petra was playing and all of the people who liked heavier music started listening to stuff like Project 86, Stavesacre and Living Sacrifice. There was no room for 80s rock anymore. I think the revolving band members, especially Bob leaving, hurt the band more than anything else.

[no_1_other]

Forget OKC, i'm hoping they come to Tulsa.

Either way, I'm there!

[CatNamedManny]

I think the Petra style of the early 90s was on its way out the door and sticking to that style wouldn't have saved the band. Look at the popular Christian bands from the mid-90s: Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys, PFR, etc. None of those guys was playing even close to the style that Petra was playing and all of the people who liked heavier music started listening to stuff like Project 86, Stavesacre and Living Sacrifice. There was no room for 80s rock anymore. I think the revolving band members, especially Bob leaving, hurt the band more than anything else.

I agree with this. Were there any albums like J&H to come out of Christian music between 1995 and 2000? Either it was heavier or it was more alt-rock. Petra was stuck in a catch 22: Adjust your style and alienate your fanbase, or keep doing the same old thing and be written off by the industry. What they didn't appear to count on was that adjusting their style would not only alienate their fanbase but also be unable to keep the industry from writing them off as has-beens. How do you survive that?

The more I think about it, the more I think Petra simply tried to hang on too long and were ultimately victimized by their own success (fans wanted more of the same when that was impossible, and everyone else wanted something "new" and Petra, regardless of its style, was 25 years old). Retiring after WUC or No Doubt would have been best for the band's legacy, but how do you tell people to stop doing the only thing they've known for 20 years?

[Edward]

News:

Dave Mustain produce Petra's next release he will. In interview, "Christian rock is wimpy. There is no music sounding like it is kickin' the devil's azz. I will show Petra how it is done" Dave said. Stupid you are for believing.

[Boray]

With everything that has gone on since the Farewell tour, II Guys, John Schlitt Petra coming back with a different drummer, Classic Petra trying to get off the ground, has Petra tarnished there legacy?

After the Farewell tour, do you think Bob should have said, thats it no more Petra of any kind and left it at that?

I love Petra just as much, if not more than some of you, but it is starting to get a little silly seeing everything that has gone on since the band "retired". I just hope they don't ruin the legacy that they have built.

The answer is simple: The retirement was a mistake!

What they are doing now is a lot cooler than what they have done for a long long time. I think they started to lose the grip with No Doubt when Bob Hartman stopped playing with the band. I guess they wanted to make the band younger to reach young people, but it wasn't really Petra without Bob Hartman. It's these old legends people want to see and hear, not some unknown youngsters.

[Dan]

Boray email me.

[Mountain Man]

I think they started to lose the grip with No Doubt when Bob Hartman stopped playing with the band.

Except he never really stopped playing with the band, he just stopped touring with them. He was still very much involved in the studio from songwriting to producing to playing.

[CatNamedManny]

I think they started to lose the grip with No Doubt when Bob Hartman stopped playing with the band.

Except he never really stopped playing with the band, he just stopped touring with them. He was still very much involved in the studio from songwriting to producing to playing.

But he wasn't on the artwork, and he wasn't on tour. That's tantamount to not being in the band for most people, who don't pay attention to the fine lines we're talking about here.

[Mountain Man]

So you mean the perception was that he had left the band and so their popularity started to wane.

[Timbo]

Is Bloodgood still around? I always thought they were pretty solid as far as Biblical and musically.

[CatNamedManny]

So you mean the perception was that he had left the band and so their popularity started to wane.

I don't know the original poster's intention. My point is merely that when someone doesn't appear in the official photographs and isn't seen on tour, he's not really a member of the band: He's a songwriter and a producer and a studio musician, yes, but not a band member. Otherwise, Peter Furler was a member of Petra for "Jekyll and Hyde," Keith Edwards was a member of Petra for "Never Say Die" and "Not of This World," etc.

And for a lot of people, when Bob Hartman stopped being a full-time band member, that's when Petra ended -- or at least when it should have ended. I think a lot of this is 20/20 hindsight. No Doubt was a decent enough album. When you look at the direction from Beyond Belief to Unseen Power to Wake Up Call, No Doubt was the next logical step musically (though the production was much weaker than it should have been). Unfortunately, it was also the next logical step from a sales perspective.

I think the commercial failure of No Doubt should have alerted the band that maybe it was time to quit. Certainly the continued sales slump through Petra Praise 2 should have signaled the end. That God Fixation, Double Take and Revival happened at all is unfortunate, regardless of the individual strengths of the various songs on those albums, and the whole situation with Louie was obviously a needless black eye (if you can't get along with the only member of the band that can provide any semblance of continuity to Petra's first 15 years, maybe it's time to just focus on the solo career). Those albums weren't really PETRA anymore, and they tarnished the brand. Jekyll and Hyde was a great way to salvage some of that, but the most easily justifiable time to end the band, imo, when looking at the state of things at the time these decisions could have been made was somewhere between 1995 and 1998, either after No Doubt or Petra Praise 2.