Jonathan Bogart ("
It's been a long time since I was immersed in Christian teen culture"):
Christian teens don't need their parents to scare/bully/guilt/persuade them into buying/liking crap that sounds vaguely like slightly scarier crap - they can do it all on their own. My friends and I fell in love with Creed because we genuinely felt the angst of "My Own Prison" and the longing of "Higher," not because Mom and Dad read the lyric sheet and okayed it.
My guess is that the Christian Contemporary Crossover kids these days who want to be down with the anti-pop would be listening to Flyleaf (post-grunge with Lacey Mosley as a truly livewire singer); but this is hardly my area of musical knowledge (either CCM or postgrunge).
My personal favorite is Krystal Meyers, the low-budget pop-compromised knockoff who's far better than the originals. I forget if I've linked this song before, but here's "Beautiful Tonight," which is beautiful and dark, just as intended.
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