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During the mid-1980s heavy metal music was under attack on multiple fronts. Tipper Gore's Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was fighting metal in the halls of congress, while Christian evangelists like Bob Larson waged war on the music from the pulpit. Their messaging was effective, convincing some parents that metal music would turn their children into S*x-crazed, suicidal satanists. Metal records were forbidden in households across the United States, creating space for the rise of a new market within the music industry. It was in the midst of this culture war that Christian metal emerged in American popular culture. The Los Angeles-based band Stryper became the face of Christian metal when their 1986 album To Hell with the Devil went platinum, earning the band Grammy nominations, and regular rotation on MTV. Stryper's unprecedented success inspired a generation of young Christian metalheads. Electric Jesus tells the story of one of those groups, a fictional teenage Christian metal band called 316. Set in 1986, the film offers an affectionate look at '80s Christian youth culture as it documents 316's journey from playing bible camp talent shows and church lock-ins, to performing at Christian music festivals and hardcore metal nightclubs.Any decent fictional rock biopic requires a convincing soundtrack, and Electric Jesus' director Chris White found the perfect collaborator in Daniel Smith. Smith is a prolific figure in indie rock, having worked under the Danielson moniker (and it's variations- Danielson Famile, Brother Danielson) over the past two decades. Smith is known for his highly unique vocal style, which is characterized by the frequent use of a screeching falsetto. Serendipitously, this sound overlaps perfectly with the screaming falsetto vocals of hair metal. Smith also brings a nuanced sensitivity to the film's source material. His father is a prominent
