“I grew up in an alternate dimension where Nirvana didn’t exist”

This is a fun letter/article by Chad Thomas Johnston about his experiences growing up as a fan of Christian “alternative” music — or “Chrindie” music, as it it sometimes called:

When you were celebrating the Sub Pop scene in print in Melody Maker, I was celebrating an even more obscure scene in my bedroom with my air guitar. Had you been present to report on the proceedings, you might have referred to it as the “sub-Sub Pop” scene, had you been inclined to refer to it at all.
While you were covering Nirvana, I was listening to music Beavis and Butt-head might have referred to as “Nerdvana”. That is to say I was listening to Christian alternative rock (I am not even kidding, Everett), and my peers were kind enough to tolerate my rabid obsession with a number of bands who are even more obscure now that they were when I was foaming at the mouth about them in the ’90s.

I know, I know. Jesus said Christians would be hated, and boy was He right when it came to His followers who spread His message with a Flying V.

It may be that in a poll, Christian rock ranks only slightly above Zamfir the pan flutist in coolness. Even the people who loathed Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music are likely to lunge for that wrecking-ball-of-a-record in a heartbeat if given the option to listen to it instead of, well, Stryper. But I am not writing about Stryper.

He lists several Chrindie artists worth checking, including Starflyer 59 and Scaterd Few. I agree with these recommendations wholeheartedly.