Flashback Friday: Who Will You Follow

Is a band cool if your parents like it? Usually that question only pops up when a young person discovers a classic band like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, or something like that on iTunes and thinks the music is cool, then they find out that their parents listened to them when they were young. Reality check. Can anything my parents liked be cool?

The subject of this Flashback Friday post was a little different. As I went on from High School to college I was introduced to new things (no, not that). Musically, I mean. Once in college a friend of mine introduced me to Heavy Metal, and I was hooked. Now to a Christian heavy metal meant Stryper, Barren Cross, Rez and some others.

Whitecross was a rare breed among the bands of the time. Not only did it consist of hard driving metal, it was paired with Crystal Clear Lyrical Content. So much so that my dad asked for a copy. He thought the lyrics were spot on. I will always remember that about my dad.

They burst onto the rock scene with their eponymous debut in 1987 and one of their first hits was "Who Will You Follow?" They Pulled no punches. Sorry Billy Graham, but this an amped up altar call par excellence. Here is a video for Who will You Follow done in Germany, the audio isn't great, but they put the lyrics for you to read. It's fun to see these guys with short hair.

Rex Carroll was their guitarist from the outset until he and Lead Vocalist Scott Wenzel split in 1994. Unveiled, Equilibrium and Flytrap, one release a year from 1994-96 were done without Carroll, and the sound is much different. Happily, though they took a brief hiatus from 1996-2000 they reformed and brought Carroll back in 2005, and they have been quietly touring. Here is a video of a Carroll guitar solo including the song Nagasaki.

Rumor has it that they may make a new CD but I can't find anything regarding that. Since the Information came from Wikipedia, I take it with a grain of salt, but I hope it's true.Eight albums and one EP in the course of 9 years. It was an impressive work record and now that they have had a well deserved rest, I hope they are back. The rock scene could use them. Check out their body of work on Amazon and help support The Night Beat at the same time. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.