Rock Stars on God: 20 Artists Speak Their Minds About Faith

Rating:
Summary: Who would have thought Alice Cooper was so articulate?
Review: I picked up this book because I am a big music fan. I love those "behind the music" type shows. This book also intrigued me because of the many different types of artists they interviewed and how they were direct in asking them non-musical questions about their faith and backgrounds. Since rock stars often get a platform to speak it is rare we hear them really discuss anything of importance outside of music.

From Sammy Hagar and KISS, to Alice Cooper and Jethro Tull, to Green Day and a host of 90's bands I have heard of but never listened to, there were a wide range of musical styles represented. The premise of these interviews is that a journalist from a Christian Music magazine would interview other artists and ask them about their lives and their faith. Some of the reactions were what you would expect. Henry Rollins basically acted as he is depicted, and Sammy Hagar has even more energy in print than in person. Some of the artists were quite articulate and thoughtful, while some were not.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was from rock and roll bad guy himself - Alice Cooper. Alice is a strong Christian family man with a great outlook on his life and his role. He has some really funny quotes about having to live down some of his reputation. He thinks God must have a sense of humor to use him.

The book is written well, and the interviews themselves are pretty much as said, with all the poor grammar and colorful phrases kept it (although often "bleeped"). Overall a fun book and a good look inside the music on an important topic.


Rating:
Summary: An interesting read, but not a devotional book.
Review: My main gripe about the book is that the introduction makes it seem like this is a book of devotions. It is not. Most of the interviews are taken from the (Christian) HM magazine column "What So and So says" where secular stars are interviewed and approached about thier beliefs in God and Christ. The responses are interesting, but not necessarily spiritual.

By far the best interview is the one with Alice Cooper. As a long time AC fan, I bought the book mostly for this one interview. This is the first time (to my knowledge) that he really discusses his conversion experience (He doesn't want to be a 'celebrity beleiver'). It is AMAZING! He is very open about his faith and he reasons for staying in the secular music scene. The book alone is worth reading this rare interview!

Rating:
Summary: Hey, by the way, what do you think about Jesus?
Review: OK, let's talk about the book title and the author. It's really a stretch to call some of these interviewees "Rock Stars." I follow popular music fairly closely, and I've barely heard of some of these interviewees. One of them is that doofus Jesse that won the MTV V-Jay contest about 10 years ago, and he now happens to have a band that you've never heard of. But, hey, I was just chomping at the bit to hear his opinions about God and Jesus. Now, the author is listed as Doug Van Pelt. But he didn't do all the interviews; maybe half of them. He's definitely the best interviewer of the bunch and maybe SHOULD have done them all.

Another issue is the style. All the hemming and hawing and uh, well, hmmm type stuff is left in. That may make it sound more authentic, but it gets annoying after you're about halfway through the book, because almost everyone does it. It is interesting, however, to be reading the interview with Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson, finding him to be very articulate and well-spoken (at least on the page), until he's asked about Jesus, and then he hems and haws with the best of them.

My favorite part of the book was the interview with Alice Cooper. This comes from me being an Alice Cooper fan in high school, and being made to feel somewhat guilty about it because I was a Christian and Alice was supposedly "of Satan." Now Alice, who was a preacher's kid, is a bona-fide Christian who continues to perform in the "secular" world, so I feel vindicated. Plus, his interview is really, really good, because you can tell that the interviewer enjoyed doing the interview--probably a relief to talk to a real Christian after all those interviews with people who have rather off-center ideas about religion. The other interview that stood out to me was with Henry Rollins, a definite non-believer, who seemed to be a threat to do physical harm to the interviewer if it hadn't been over the phone. Fun, fun, fun.

To conclude, there's some interesting stuff here, but nothing earth-shattering.

Rating:
Summary: a disappointment
Review: This book is entirely misadvertised. The publishers should be ashamed of themselves for tricking so many of us into thinking this would actually be a book about musicians talking about God. The book is filled with pitifully boring interviews about the bands' latest tour or album or something, then out of left field the imbecile of an interviewer says something like "so what do you think of Jesus Christ?" Then the musician says something like, "never met him." Not exactly, but, with the exception of a couple interviews, they are no deeper. In fact, this book, being touted by many Christians as a good book is a terribly un-Christian book. With responses like, "if it works for you, fine" and "you don't need church to believe in God" this is hardly an appropriate book for teenagers who are already celebrity crazy and waivering in their faith. But ultimately I blame myself for thinking that our ridiculous celebrities would ever have had anything meaningful to say about something as profound as God and faith.

do not buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: this sucks
Review: This book is not musicians talking about God. It is transcripts of interviews about bands' various tours, political committees, and other bland topics like their family upbringing which hardly mention God at all. It's as if once in an interview the interviewer will ask, "oh yeah, what do you think about God?" where the rapper or "musician" responds, "don't know him really." Or with the Rage interview, albeit a talented band, an interview by them includes support for the moral relativistic killing of unborn life (they even support partial birth abortion as a "choice") and playing the race card does not belong in a Christian book.

This book is a joke. It's just useless text and cheesy, hokey-isms instead of true, meaningful conversations by secular or Christian artists about God.

Don't waste your money.