NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

My generation has had a few sobering news days, but in 1999 very little struck more fear into the hearts of American students and parents than turning on the news on April 20, seeing the horrifying scenes of the massacre at Columbine High School. In the way that September 11 changed aviation forever, Columbine changed education. There had been school shootings in the U.S. before, but none had the scope of planning of Columbine. So much information came out about the victims and perpetrators after the shooting for years to come. There were several distinct responses I remember growing up immersed in the evangelical South. First, it was that shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were into the gothic scene, wearing all black, keeping nihilistic journals, and listening to music like Marylin Manson , Korn, and The Insane Clown Posse. This music was clearly satanic and could lead teens to commit mass shootings. Second, the testimony of Cassie Burnell, the girl whom, years later, was misrepo...

  Flyleaf was one of the most diversely connected bands from their debut album cycle. The band started by opening for bands like Breaking Benjamin , Three Days Grace , and Seether as well as Christian Active Rock bands like P.O.D. and Skillet. Songs like "I'm So Sick" and "Fully Alive" were played frequently on the radio, and the band even had a Top 40 pop hit with "All Around Me." But if you happened to catch a Flyleaf show, headlining, or opening for a band like Korn, you'd hear lead singer Lacy Mosley (later Sturm after marrying Joshua Sturm in 2008)  preach charismatically. She'd throw her hands into the air, nervously talking about her relationship with Jesus, gaining confidence as she spoke. Lacy turned the darkest concert venue into a church service for the high and intoxicated who, in any other context, would go nowhere near a church. LET ME LIVE WITHOUT THIS. I first saw Flyleaf in September of '06 or '07 in Spartanburg's ...

  I n Western North Carolina, we had two modern rock radio stations. From upstate South Carolina there was 93.3 “ The Planet,” an Active Rock radio station that played lots of ‘90s rock and neo-90s rock. They loved grunge and post-grunge. They played Nickelback , Seether , P.O.D. , Flyleaf , Puddle of Mudd , and that kind of music. Then there was Charlotte’s 106.5 “The End ,” an Alternative rock station. While playing much of the same music, they also featured some newer groups, such as Silversun Pickups , Thirty Seconds to Mars , and the occasional The Almost or Saosin song. The Starting Line was one of those emerging bands that was starting to be picked up on radio. The first single, “ Island ,” from the band’s third and final (latest) LP, Direction , was a kind of break out for the band to mainstream alternative rock. The band had toured on their two previous albums and built up a fan base thanks to venues like the Vans Warped Tour , but some band members grew tired of touri...