Knott's Berry Farm Celebration Night, 1985

I can't recall the exact date, although I did wake up tonight with the thought of my barely-held-together t-shirt commemorating the night of a thousand Christian bands at Knott's - one of the very first youth group events I ever attended at Bethany Baptist Church in Long Beach, California (one of the very first, about a month earlier, was my very first concert, which was seeing the band the Altar Boys play in the gym at Bethany. Now, that rocked).

Anyway, take a stroll down memory lane with me, especially Sherry and Amanda, who were there that night (and Sherry, whom I was hell-bent on impressing the socks off of, will certainly remember that tragically ill-placed just-below-waist-height pole at the end of the underground walkway from the parking lot that I met, shall we say, intimately, nearly sending my voice into the upper registers for life). As I recall, tickets were something like fifteen bucks, and that got us all the rides at Knott's for the evening, plus free admission to the concerts being put on by the following bands:

Stryper, who headlined in the Toyota Good Times Theatre - 80's butt-rock heavy metal in black and yellow-striped spandex. Not a bad band, actually, and much of the music still holds up today (although Michael Sweet's falsetto is so very 1985). Their gimmick was throwing out little New Testaments to the audience, a direct response to the gimmick by the decidedly non-Christian band WASP's habit of throwing raw meat into the audience.

Undercover, who can truly claim the crown as being the first Christian punk rock band. They also headlined, alternating sets with Styrper. They had just installed their (then) new lead singer, Sim Wilson, who was still finding his singing voice. At the time, Undercover was recording their brilliant "Branded" album, to this day one of the greatest statements of faith and recovery ever put out by a Christian band (only matched, in my opinion, by Charlie Peacock's equally brilliant, but radically different "Love Life," which was released several years later). What was kind of fun (well, actually irritating at the time, because my Undercover tapes all featured Bill Watson's warm tenor voice) was listening to Sim Goth-out all the classic old Undercover tunes from their first three albums. Some songs ("I Love God") actually work - others ("Jesus for Me") just ended up sounding silly. Undercover gigs got better as Sim got to sing more stuff written for his own voice. (On that note, I did get to see the original lineup one night - Sim was unavailable for a gig at a youth center in Cypress, and Bill filled in, very obviously at last minute, as the entire set was from the old Undercover albums, some lyrics of which he had trouble even remembering).

Crumbacher - always one of my faves. Christian synth-rock, they played a pitifully small stage, way in the back. I spent the show with a cute freshman named Elaine Ghost sitting on my lap. Elaine attended church with my friend Carl Gaede (remember Carl, Amanda?), and, being 15, I had a laser-focused attention on any girl who'd give me the time of day. Elaine was cute, but didn't go to my school (in fact, she attended Brethren High), and, being wheel-less at the time, the prospect was doomed.

Altar Boys - still the band I've seen play live the most - I think I lost count at something like 25 shows (I guess that qualifies me as sort of an Altar Boys Deadhead, just with better personal hygiene and a personal relationship with Christ). Never ones to slouch a show, the Boys played at the Wagon Train outdoor theatre, and tore it up. End of story.

The Lifters - a trio of Vineyard Church guys who played rockabilly a la the Stray Cats. Actually, when I saw them they were transitioning into becoming the band Wild Blue Yonder, with an impossibly young (14!) Crystal Lewis singing lead for them.

Isaac Air Freight - not a band per se, but a Christian comedy troupe. Woefully, I missed their show, as they stopped operating not long after this event.

77's - didn't see the Sevens that night, but I made up for it with all the gigs I've seen them play since. Michael Roe is, quite simply, the top unknown guitarist in the world. Glad to see him getting (in a small way) some of his due, finally, with the Lost Dogs.

Youth Choir - yes, before they dropped the "Youth" title from their name. Synth-rock, but with a brilliant guitarist in Derri Daugherty. It wasn't long after this that they released their magnum opus as simply The Choir, the unbelievably magnificent album "Chase the Kangaroo." I'm still working through the lyrics on some of those songs.

Benny Hester - an "older" (probably in his early 30s) singer at the time, Benny came from what was known as the "first wave" of Christian rock. Writer and singer of the classic "When God Ran" (which all the DJ's on our local Christian radio station insisted on calling "When God Ran to Me", just to emphasize that the song isn't about God running away from anything, lest you think Benny Hester had become a heretic and the radio station was in the very clutches of Satan). Grr...

Rez Band - oh, man, Rez. Originally the Resurrection Band, shortened down for the 80s. Another holdover from the 70s "Jesus Music" movement, along with Mr. Hester from above. Rez came from Chicago, where they ran (and still run, if I recall correctly) the Jesus People USA outreach to the homeless, along with the excellent Cornerstone Magazine (C-stone is an annual Christian music festival held in Wheaton, Illinois, so I'm assuming JPUSA is still alive and kicking).

The Lifesavors - transitioning to the darker-sounding LSU (Lifesavers Underground). Mike Knott has always been regarded as Mike Roe's evil twin brother. I got to see Mike Knott in a living room performance right here in Vancouver something like a year ago, as he was recording a new album.

That's all I can think of right now, but I'll dig out the shirt and post about everyone else who played that night. Truly, the next time we'll see all those bands in the same venue again will quite literally be in Heaven.