Angel / Petra / Whitecross

ANGEL: Employing a dazzling mix of glam rock, hard rock, and progressive rock, Angel’s outrageous, white-satin-heavy image and equally over-the-top stage shows, made them one of the more colorful arena rock bands of the mid-’70s and early ’80s. Discovered by Kiss bass player Gene Simmons, the group issued their eponymous debut album in 1975, which hewed closer to prog rock than the glam pop that would inform future endeavors like On Earth as It Is in Heaven (1977) and Sinful (1979). The group went their separate ways in 1981, but re-formed in the late ’90s with a new lineup, and released two studio albums (1999’s In the Beginning and 2019’s Risen) and numerous compilations.

PETRA: Petra is regarded as a pioneer of the Christian rock and contemporary Christian music genres and was, for many years, regarded as the “world’s most popular Christian rock band”. Formed in 1972, the band took its name from the Greek word for “rock”. With a style initially similar to The Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Petra’s sound evolved into a more energetic, driving rock sound in the early 1980s akin to Foreigner, Styx and Journey. Throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s, Petra was one of the world’s most popular Christian rock bands, with each of its albums during that period selling hundreds of thousands of copies while the band sold-out arenas and regularly placed songs at the top of Christian radio charts. With its lyrics, music and style, Petra influenced numerous other artists at a time when Christian rock experienced strong opposition from many conservative pastors and churches.

WHITECROSS: One of the first-ever Christian hard rock/metal bands is the Illinois-based Whitecross. The band started in the early ‘80s, touring steadily from 1988 to 1994 and averaging 150 performances per year. The Dove Awards recognized Whitecross three times: twice for Metal Album of the Year, and once for Hard Music Recorded Song of the Year. In the process, Whitecross helped forge the style now widely known as “white metal.” The band consists of singer Dave Roberts, guitarist Rex Carroll, bassist Benny Ramos, and drummer Michael Feighan