When pop princess, pastor’s kid Katy Perry has a prodigal moment and releases another gospel album, I’m going to get an exclusive interview on Stuff Christians Like. What’s that you say? “But Jon, she just got a Hindu tattoo. She’s marrying deviant comedian Russell Brand!” True, but she’s dropping clues everyday that she’s coming back.
In a recent Rolling Stone article Brand said the only time Perry ever got mad at him was when he said something so horrible about Jesus that it would make my keyboard burst into flames if I typed it. Also, in response to Lady Gaga’s recent video that made a mockery of religion, Perry said, “Using blasphemy as entertainment is as cheap as a comedian telling a fart joke.” Now granted, in Perry’s latest video she wears a pair of cupcakes for a bra, so maybe she’s not that close to being one of our favorite people ever, the reformed rock star, but I know someone who is …
Ed Kowalczyk.
What? I bet you thought I was going to say that guy from Korn, who has a crazy story, but nope. I’m nominating Ed for my current, favorite reformed rock star.
Kowalczyk was the lead singer of the band “Live.” They had some massive hits including, “Lightning Crashes” and “I alone.” And for a while they owned the radio, but that was maybe 15 years ago. So what has Ed been up to, why is he my favorite reformed rock star? Simple, he possesses the 3 keys to being a reformed rock star.
1. A degree of rock star evil.
When I was a kid, there was a skateboarder named “Natas.” My parents were quick to point out that his name spelled backwards was, “Satan.” Same with the band, “Live.” Backwards, that’s “Evil.” And although their videos never gave me nightmare’s like the videos from the band “Tool,” the video for “I alone,” is pretty scary. Ed rocks out with no shirt on and an inexplicable, yet oddly hypnotic rat tail, in a desolate wasteland. (I included the video at the bottom of this post. Check out that rat tail and the random guy behind Ed without an instrument. Bizarre.) You can’t be a reformed rock star unless you have a rock history to reform from.
2. An upfront approach to faith.
The thing people always beat on Bono about is that he’s never publically confessed his faith to their satisfaction. If you want to be a reformed rock star, you sort of have to. And I think Ed has. Here’s a section from an article on CNN. Fans will “also see an Ed who feels at peace as a Christian. “I definitely feel the presence and continue to feel the presence of a higher power that I’m connected to in faith,” he said. “That’s God.” He said the C word, I’m good with that.
3. Still got it.
In the Stuff Christians Like
book, I wrote about people who tell “reverse testimonies.” These are testimonies that are exciting and interesting and awesome right up to the moment where they become a Christian. “I used to party on yachts and fly to Paris and hang out with beautiful women every night and wear Ed Hardy dragon shirts and then I became a Christian and my life is boring, the end.” I hate those kind of testimonies. And I hate when the reformed rock star goes soft with their music when they come to Jesus. I think a faith in Christ should increase your ability to rock, not decrease it. I think Ed will go that route.
I stand by my selection, but who would you pick?
Who is your favorite reformed rock star?
