Flashback Friday: Here Comes The Bride

Welcome Back readers to an all new edition of Flashback Friday. Now that Labor Day is over we can get  back to our retrospective of some of the Best CCM Bands of all time.

When you think of Heavy Metal, or rock and roll in general, I think we can all agree that Kentucky isn't on your short list of heavy metal meccas. Nevertheless, in the 1980's one of the most loved bands in Christian Heavy Metal came out of Louisville, Kentucky.

I discovered Bride in College, and was it an eye opener. First there is the shock between the innocent Band Name and the Death on A Horse motif. This was Christian Death Metal, aka Apocalyptic Rock. Not your typical Christian Music, even in the burgeoning Heavy Metal Scene.

You could humorously state that Bride was CCM's Thompson Twins (who were actually a trio, and none of them was named Thompson.) The original Louisville Lineup was brothers Dale and Troy Thompson, Steve Osborne on guitar, Scott Hall on Bass Guitar and Stephen Rolland on Drums. That lasted only through the debut album Show No Mercy (1986). I came in on Live To Die (1988), and the already had their first lineup change with Frank Parpatillo on Bass. Silence Is Madness (1989) finished the metal era.

From metal Bride morphed into an Arena Rock Band and then to an Alternative Band. Unlike more polished bands they were not able to bring a lot of their fans along with each change. Their last album was entitled Tsar Bomba (2009), and they brought back original guitarist Steve Osborne.

This wound up a bit of a different post, as there is a bit of a bittersweet taste. Osborne, I discovered while researching the post, committed suicide on November 17, 2011, at the age of 45. Though I never knew him, it was a bit of a shock, not only because of his young age, but because we were born only a few weeks apart. Now I've got too much to live for, so you don't have to worry about your intrepid blogger.

I usually include a video if I can, and I am going to do double duty with one video. This is the music video of Heroes, and Bride has promoted it as a tribute to Steve Osborne, and I will do the same. R.I.P. Steve. Click on the link at the start of the article to go to the Bride page on Amazon. Until next time, I am Awaiting Your Reply.