The album “In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy” wasn’t technically heavy metal. However it did have a tracklist full of timeless rock songs. These included the Alice Cooper song that served as the album’s title, Metallica’s Enter Sandman and Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven.

Boone and his band wanted to try something new. They were enticed to the heavy metal racks in a nearby record store. 

To ensure that the lyrics wouldn’t jeopardize his spotless reputation, Boone first had to carefully check the songs.

He told Fox News that people asked why he was looking at Scorpions and Motorhead records.  Smoke on the Water, he falsely assumed, was about drugs. It wasn’t, though and  The Wind Cries Mary wasn’t about Marijuana either.  

When he heard Jimmy Page sing Stairway to Heaven he assumed he was into witchcraft but couldn’t be sure.  All the odd, cryptic lyrics could have been about anything but there were no direct references. 

The Metallica song Enter Sandman tells of a boogeyman that is going to get the child if he doesn’t stay in bed in an effort to scare him. The tale has a pretty innocuous message yet a foreboding tone.

With his conscience fully at ease, Boone recorded the tracks at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles. Ritchie Blackmore performed on a bossa nova rendition of Smoke on the Water. Ronnie James Dio also added backing harmonies to a cover of Holy Diver. When the album came out, Boone was scheduled to perform at the American Music Awards; and this is when things started to get a little nightmarish.

Boone arrived at the awards ceremony without a shirt, wearing a vest, leather trousers and donning fake tattoos.

He was also wearing a number of  rings, sunglasses, and a dog collar made of studded leather. Boone accepted Dick Clark’s suggestion to switch Alice Cooper’s and his on-stage personas for the evening, but Cooper backed out at the last minute.

Cooper was on stage to present Metallica with the award for Best Heavy Metal Band. Whilst presenting Cooper announced that he knew all about the history of heavy metal before introducing Pat Boone as the future. 

Despite the fact that it was all just harmless entertainment, it infuriated the Christian television network Trinity Broadcasting Network. They pulled Boone’s monthly Gospel America show after getting thousands of complaints and encouraged its viewers to pray for the singer.

When Trinity questioned its viewers a month later, they received a resounding majority in favor of Boone’s return.

He said he was deeply sorry if anyone was hurt in any way on the network’s main program, Praise adding that it was never his aim to cause offense.

He had never imagined it would be taken seriously by the media or Christians.

Boone was genuinely surprised that thousands of Christians would assume that suddenly he had just completely altered his priorities and attitude and wanted to become a heavy metal artist.

He reassured people that he was not a fundamentally different person just because he wore some leather leggings, false tattoos and earrings.

Life resumed normality when lessons were learned. And five years later, the compilation album The Osbourne Family Album came out. Boone’s version of Crazy Train was one of the featured songs. Jack Osbourne also mentioned Boone as a good neighbor during an episode of the show.

Despite the briefness of Boone’s heavy metal idol career, In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy set the standard for others to follow. This included fellow singer and Christian Paul Anka, who recorded Rock Swings in 2005. Rock classics like It’s My Life by Bon Jovi, Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden, and Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana were featured.

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British sentiments about Eurovision have fluctuated over decades between snobbishness, victimization, and shame. Two years of consecutive losses, including last year’s utterly merited “nul points,” were a low point that necessitated a response.

Sam Ryder restored dignity when he finished second to the Ukrainian act Kalush Orchestra this year. He also informed the country that it was a purposeful effort to raise the bar for entrants.

Many Christian ears perked up when he later admitted to Radio 4 he was sat there in the green room and utterly enveloped in the energy of that arena.

He likened it to being in a church because there was so much joy.  Making that analogy is not typical – was this statement referencing his Christian faith? 

Everyone wants a piece of Sam Ryder after his triumph. Second place was comendable when you consider it was Ukraine who won. He started making TikTok videos during lockdown; recreating songs by artists ranging from Michael Jackson to Adele and from there was where his story began. 

Ryder, though, did not become famous immediately. He has performed in bands on both sides of the Atlantic playing guitar and singing. Notably both bands were Christian. 

There is a lack of material on Ryder’s beliefs, and most of the evidence is circumstantial. Don’t make too much of the way he ends interviews by saying Bless you or how he refers to himself as blessed. However, being Christian does appear to be a big part of life for Sam Ryder.

Between 2002 and 2007, he may have learned some of his lyrics in a Catholic school where he was already honing his showmanship.

A trip to watch the relatively demonic Sum 41 with buddies from year seven changed their lives. The group of friends came up with a ten-step strategy to get signed after the concert. After seeing Lordi’s 2006 Eurovision triumph, “Hard Rock Hallelujah,” with the band sporting horror prosthetics and wings, Ryder was motivated to learn how to play the guitar.

He started a small band called The Morning After that performed heavy metal with an 80s vibe. Ryder penned the majority of the songs, but there aren’t many hints of his Christian faith; especially considering that parts of the words were loaded with obscenities. The opening song describes how twenty six hundred years ago on an old island, people lived in fear of a vicious satanic beast, who fed on human flesh every nine years. This appears to have been influenced by the Lordi performance. Other themes include defending one’s homeland and enduring “the worst period of man.”

“I’ve got more faith than you could believe” is a lyric from the band’s Def Leppard-inspired second album. However the setting was fantasy, horror, and dystopian landscapes. The song “I’ve got a life worth living” is also about a girl.

In one review, the group was compared to the the Canadian band Blessed by a Broken Heart. When they switched labels to Tooth & Nail Records for their subsequent record, Ryder joined them and ended up playing guitar for them on their European tour.

The ties to faith become more apparent at this point. At HeavenFest, a Christian music festival that has featured Switchfoot, Phil Keaggy, and Lauren Daigle, Blessed by a Broken Heart wrapped up their previous tour. Christian music is primarily associated with Tooth & Nail Records.

In the song “Skate or Die” Ryder sings “Lord God, my part is to seek your kingdom.”

When asked about being called a “Christian band” by Christian metal magazine HM in 2010, Blessed’s frontman Tony Gambino replied, “We have done our utmost not to advertise ourselves as a Christian band, simply because it will limit the amount of people you reach with your music. Everyone should hear our message, which is positive.

Ryder supplied lyrics to this band, and once again, Christianity remained much in the background. It only became apparent in an unusually religious song (“Skate or Die”) about skating. He also sings that the open road is his ticket to freedom in addition to the lyric, “God bless you and your home.”

Ryder echoed Gambino’s response when he said, “Not important, We are not a religious group. We play heavy metal and have a few Christians in the group.” to the question posed by a Spanish rock website, “How significant is Christianity at the time of writing the songs?” 

Ryder, whose full name used to be Sam Ryder Robinson, joined Close Your Eyes for their 2013 album Line in the Sand.

Sam added a tremendous singing gift to the band, said their guitarist Brett Calloway in an interview. He also said that he was undoubtedly the most gifted vocalist he had ever encountered and it was good that he shared their interests and convictions.

It’s unclear exactly what such views are or how they might affect Ryder’s nearly certain future success. Christian fans however will no doubt be keeping an eye on the future career of Sam Ryder.

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