Dan Peters

After reading an earlier book by these author's (Why Knock Rock?) that I felt was a witchhunt, I was leery to read this book, but this one I found to be very supportive of Christian Rock music (though youngsters might not recognize many of the artists named within its pages).

I thought it provided good guidelines to use in judging any kind of music to decide if it is something you want to be listening to. The guidelines stand the test of time (even if the artists aren't the most current).… (meer)

I first read this book in the 1980s or 1990s. I just reread it again. This time through it struck me as having a witchhunt type feel to it. I have no doubt the authors believe what they are saying is true--I just wonder if they are blind to everything else because they are so convinced of the truth of their beliefs.

By now, much of what is in this book as far as examples is dated. (Some of the examples were so dated that I didn't even know who the people were when I read it the first time!) For some performers (The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Elvis) this may not make a difference, but for others, it's definitely telling.

The obituaries section seemed odd to me. The underlying theme was that all listed died tragic deaths, but some deaths were out of the person's control (plane crash etc.) while others were self-inflicted (drug use) so it while I do have to say the authors were fair and didn't slant the list to make it "look at how many rockers destroyed their lives with drugs and alcohol", the list wasn't as persuasive as it might have been.… (meer)