A bracketed number indicates my 1-5 rating. Bolded entries indicate they're part of my music library.

1: avoid it -it's either dull or irritating --enough to make me turn it off.
2: unimpressive, but it's not quite enough to make me change the radio-station
3: I might listen to this on purpose, but not normally buy it. I'd pick it to play if I owned a radio station.
4: This stuff is good enough to buy for my personal collection.
5: I'll buy this, and eagerly await future releases -maybe even buy loaner-copies.

• OK, I guess there aren't any "Qs" yet. On to the "Rs".
• Raging Grace:[4] Blues rock, almost country rock.
• Tarralyn Ramsey: [1] Gospel to lounge. Instrumentals too slow and vocals too gimmicky for me.
• Ransom: [1] SCCM
• Raze: [3] Hip-hop Dance-pop Geared for younger teens. Pleasant listening without being too syrupy.
• Red Meter: [5] acoustic coffeehouse, and fun. Male and female vocals.
• Red Sea: [4] Classic heavy rockers, borders on early metal. Compared to Led Zepellin. Could easily be a [5] with slightly more polish.
• Relient K: [3] fun punk/metal (WTU: punk with humor, hard rock)
• Remnant: [5] (Overflow was an earlier name) Hard emoish rock. Sandy melodic-yelled vocals.
• Resurrection Band: [3] Jefferson Airplane/Starship sound.
• John Reuben: [3] Rap, but not in-your-face rap.
• Reign:[4] heavy alternative
• Ashley Reynolds:[5] A Ginny Owens and Jennifer Knapp blend. Great stuff!
• Chris Rice: [2] Soft/light pop. A greatist hits CD would likely rate a [5]. He's got some really lively, catchy stuff, but a bit too much mush.
• David Robertson: [1-4] For the most part, cryin-in-yer-beer country music, with a couple blues-rock numbers scattered in.
• Smokey Robinson:[1-4] high voiced, melismas, moaning, soft, breathy MOR --my nose almost curls thinking about it. He's got a few gems, but their not worth wading through the mush to get to 'em.
• Rock & Roll Worship Circus: [5] electronic/synthesizer/pop/AOR/rock -some country hints. (WTU: Seattle grunge)
• Rock of Ages: [4] an album of classic hymns made into rock. Lots of the sounds are dated. If you still love arena rock, you'll probably like this one.
• Rod Laver: [4] Imagine Louis Armstrong doing rapcore.
• Room Full of Walters:[4] Retro-Alternative, with catchy lyrics --like a preacher who always manages to step on toes.
• Sarah Sadler: [5] no-fault vocals and very interesting instrumentals -minor, mysterious.
• Sackcloth Fashion: [4] Mostly laid back rap, but with an extremely diverse style in the back-up instrumentals. Everything from Celtic and pure country to heavy rock. Happy tones, but lyrics can be quite cutting.
• Sacred Warrior:[4] heavy metal
• Rebecca St. James:[3] Pop, but not overly gimmicky, female vocalist. Pleasant tone. (WTU: modern electronic and acoustic pop, energetic dance pop)
• Salvador:[3] (WTU: Latin pop/R&B)
• Sanctus Real: [4] Modern Rock
• Satellite Soul:[4] retro-flavored rock
• Saviour Machine:[4]Strongly scriptural dark metal.
• Scarecrow and Tinmen: [5] Alternative/power pop somewhere between Audio Adrenaline and Newsboys. Lots of retro-sounds, and not a bit shy about their Christianity.
• SCCM: the acronym I use for Stereotypical Contemporary Christian Music. The stereotype is normally perceived as easy-listening, soft rock and MOR (Middle of the Road), and is usually of the Praise and Worship type. "Adult Contemporary" (AC) radio stations play mostly SCCM.
• John Schlitt:[4] The lead singer from Petra naturally takes lots of the arena style with him, but he's a bit more plodding and artsy with his solo stuff.
• Second Chapter of Acts: [2] SCCM, but classic SCCM
• Selfmindead:[3] hardcore with screaming/yelling, rather than growling for vocals. They're almost understandable without looking at the printed material, and very much so after reading.
• The Setbacks:[3] raw modern hard rock.
• Seventh Angel:[3]thrash/death metal -growled vocals. Back when this was one of the very few Christian bands I knew, I'd have rated them a 4 or 5.
• Seventh Day Slumber: [4] alternative with nice, heavy, retroish flavorings.
• Seventy-Sevens: [5] hard alternative fringe artists. Vocals sound a bit like Mick Jagger (no offense, Mr. Roe).
• Mark Schultz: [1] voice high and soft (WTU: assortment of styles, Billy Joel flair, pop rock)
• Shaded Red: [4] hard folk/alternative, MOR, Praise and Worship, diverse.
• Kierra "KiKi" Sheard: [2] Dance-pop to jazz/Gospel. Too much diva-wannabe gimmicky stuff.
• SHEL: [5] Eclectic acoustic/electric light and moody unpredictable beautiful music. The band is a dad and his four daughters playing a mix of traditional and electric instruments. Quite an interesting blend of instrumentals and vocal music.
• Silers Bald:[4] Light acoustic rock with country flavor. Relaxed, almost boring.
• Sixpence None the Richer:[5] Great alternative with a folksy flavor. Slightly dark lyrics sung in minor keys by faultless-voiced female vocalist. (WTU: melodic folk rockers)
• 65dBA: [2]Praise and worship choir with soft arena rock backing. Vocals got a bit cliche.
• Skillet: [5] electronic hard alternative (WTU: flies out of the frying pan and into the fire, alterna-pop, nothing short of explosive)
• Sky Harbor: [4] Emoish alternative with some punkish flavor at times.
• Skypark: Sounds like the Beatles, Queen, Pink Floyd and Sweet got saved and played Christian rock together. Great classic rock/pop sound [5]
• Jamie Slocum:[2] soft rock
• Small Town Poets:[5] retro-alternative with obvious Christianity in the message. (WTU: stronger than ever)
• Michael W. Smith: [3] SCCM Pop --often compared with Billy Joel.
• Aaron Spiro: [3] Jangly U2-esque guitar-work. Soft to mild rock.
• Sonic Flood:[3] SCCM/pop Praise and worship soft rock. Good for singing along. "They" overdo Sonic Flood's hardness-- (WTU: energetic, spontaneous, spirited, modern rock, solid, in-you-face, driving guitars, infectious melodies, powerhouse guitars) I'd agree only with the "infectious melodies" part.
• Sons of Thunder (the Gospel group): [2] There are at least three "Sons of Thunder", a Gospel group, a metal group, and a '70s girlgroup. Know what you're getting. I didn't even know about the Gospel group when I ordered this one. The Gospel group is a quartet singing in pure old-time Gospel style.
• Taylor Sorenson: [4] Ethereal light rock. Vocals sound like Tears For Fears or Switchfoot.
• Soulfood 76: [5] '70s R&B revisited.
• Soul Shock Remedy:[4] interesting arena rock (no, that's not an oxymoron)
• Speaking of Sarah: [4] Alternative to light pop.
• Spiritbound: [2] light rock to MOR
• Spooky Tuesday: [4] Classic rock sound, but a bit on the unpolished side.
• Scott Stapp:[5] Creed's vocalist takes the Creed style and puts Christianity to it. Hard modern rock or alternative.
• Starflyer 59: [5] Alternative, but on the artistic side. Can get heavy, too. (WTU: Shoegazer)
• John Starnes: [1-4] Southern Gospel/Blues, but without the twang. Some really lively stuff and lots of lethargic sweetsy stuff.
• Stavesacre: [4] heavy rockers similar to Grammatrain with Ozzy Ozbourne on vocals.
• Stellar Kart:[4] Wide style range --melodic punk, alternative, acoustic rock --hard punk-flavored modern rock.
• Steve:[4] Modern rock on the heavy side. A little white-noisy.
• Stevie and the Saints: [5] Solid blues rockers. The gravelly vocals sound a bit forced, at times.
• Randy Stonehill: [2] MOR folk/country to light rock.
• Stryper:[4] big hair and spandex '80s heavy metal
• Subseven: [3] Heavy alternative with a screamer.
• Donna Summer:[3] Queen of sex-charged disco turned around and did some Christian albums. Be discerning when chosing her work.
• Sunday Drive:[3] Rockin' SCCM. Arena, but not big hair and spandex. Vocals sometimes get a bit too emotional, strained, nasal and slurred, while the lyrics can be a bit cliche.
• Sunday Shoes: [4] SCCM with a rock edge, sometimes arena flavored. Could appeal to quite a wide audience.
• Superchic[k]:[5] modern female-fronted rock, with a strong Bangles flavor. They're quite fun in their worldliness-bashing lyrics.
• Michael Sweet:[3] retro-hard rock. great instrumentals! vocals too typical of '80s arena rock. Similar to Degarmo and Key/Petra/Styx
• The Swift: [5] imagine the Beatles, Billy Joel and Queen all rolled into one Christian band. Heavily piano-driven rock. Retro-alternative. Reminds me quite a bit of PFR.
• Swing Praise: [4] The name says it! Classic praise music set to swing/big-band.
• Swirling Eddies:[5 with qualifiers] Fun, but the silliness could come across as irreverence to the message. The style range included Chinese, Go-Go, country, metal, and lounge music. I smiled, and even laughed out loud. They're really fun, but not for everyone.
• Switchfoot: [5] hard alternative.
• Sylph: [BOD 4] Darkish psychedelic AOR. Like Hawkwind, a bit monotonous, but good in small doses. Also like Pink Floyd's more obscure stuff.
• Symbiotica:[4]female vocaled psychedelic rock --very ethereal.
• T-Bone: [4] Laid back, but slightly heavy rap. The group calls it West Coast rap. I really didn't think I'd like it, but it's quite a smile-maker.
• Tait: [4] When DC Talk parted ways to do solo albums, Toby Mac took the attitude-rap with him, and Tait took the rockin' sounds with him. Power pop. (WTU: genre-blending rock rap funk pop [personally, I'd take the "rap" part out of WTU])
• Taliesin Orchestra:[3] Ethereal female vocals to electronic orchestral sounds. Similar to Mannheim Steamroller, but more mysterious sounding.
• Chris Taylor:[5] Retro rock. Slight sneer sometimes sounds like FFH. Some sing-talk like Lou Reed and Bob Dylan, and often sounds like Steve Taylor.
• Steve Taylor:[5] Retro alternative rocker. Sometimes vocals sound like AC/DC, and overall similar to a Moody Blues, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Prince mix. Biting humor! Steve Taylor co-writes many Newsboys songs.
• Terry Scott Taylor: [5] Laid back blend of styles from pure country to hard rock.
• Temple Yard: [4] MOR/reggae
• Tenderfoot: [4] heavy rock with punk flavored vocals sounding somewhat like the Elms.
• John Tesh:[3] Softish rock to MOR, but very lively and approachable.
• Ten Shekel Shirt: (WTU: modern acoustic worship, poetic lyrics)
• Thelma's Dog: [5] Retro, versatile rockers! Dual lead vocals, with one even reminiscent of Bon Scott of AC/DC.
• Think of Three: [5] studio-driven artist. artistic electronic synthesizer stuff.
• Third Day: [4] Country-rock, imagine Allman Brothers with Creed's vocalist. (WTU: tasty grit, southern fried rockers, Bible-thumpin' and grungy crunchin' answer to Pearl Jam)
• This Train: [5] Big-band/rockabilly like Stray Cats.
• Thousand Foot Crutch: [2] rap/metal
• Thread:[4] Retro-alternative, lots of acoustic with a countryish flavor, somewhat Mick Jaggerish vocals.
• Three Crosses: [4] great country rock, similar to the Eagles's harder/livelier stuff. Vocalist sounds a bit like Mick Jagger.
• Three Strand: [2] soft and sweet vocals to mellow, artsy instrumentals. Not hard enough to even offend the rock critics.
• The Throes: [BOD 4] Early-classic psychedelic sound.
• Tonéx: [2] Sneering rap/hip-hop. Good artistic stuff in instrumentals.
• Torn Flesh:[3] speedmetal. Understandable lyrics. Not quite pro-sound in the vocals. The slight growl/yelled vocals sounded like an auctioneer was singing it.
• Tourniquet:[4] Puttin' the "heavy" in heavy metal.
• Trans-Siberian Orchestra: [5] Blend ELO, Mannheim Steamroller and Meatloaf, to do Christmas-themed albums and you've got the operatic, orchestral-rock, concept albums of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It's not really an '80s sound, and there are lots of crunching guitars laces throughout.
• Randy Travis: [4 -with qualifications] Country with strong lyrics. It's likeable, but not to play on "my" radio station.
• Tree 63: [4] Fresh power-pop. Somewhat white-noisy at times. '80s-ish in the vocals.
• Kathy Troccoli: [2] Cher-like vocals to MOR/elevator music --pleasant, clear voice. (WTU: catchy, solid pop rock)
• Truth:[2] Arena Praise and worship
• Tuesday's Child: [3] No-fault female vocals, but almost too stereotyped in the instrumentals.
• Ike and Tina Turner: Can I include artists known to be quite worldly if they have one album which can be considered Christian? Originally released in 1974, The Gospel According to Ike and Tina is a blend of classic rock and hard Gospel music! It's strong on message, if you can overlook the worldliness of the Turners. The album rates a 4.
• Michelle Tumes: [2] SCCM/disco (WTU: Euro/World pop, beautiful, ethereal, transparent)
• 12 Stones: [3] hard alternative, with maybe a bit too much rap.
• Ultrabeat: [3] Individually, the songs could rate [4], but there's too little to distinguish different tracks in this pure techno (computer disco) style.
• Uncommon Sense:[4] Alternative with retro flavorings.
• Undecided:[2] punk
• Unworthy Eyes: [2] hardcore screamo. I can't discern lyrics at all.
• Value Pac:[2] punk
• Various:[5] These guys are DIVERSE! (just kidding) To sample various artists, at fairly low risk, the collection albums like the WOW series are highly recommended.
• Jeni Varnadeau: [4] The edgy side of SCCM. Jeni sounds similar to Cheri Keaggy after she's had her morning coffee.
• Jaci Velasquez: [4] (SCCM/MOR) a bit on the airy and breathy side with vocals, but a listen to a whole CD can be surprising. I own one, and will listen to it again --on purpose! A pleasant treat in typical AC music (WTU: explosive, passionate, pop, Latin)
• Vengeance Rising:[3] death/speed metal with lots of growling in the vocals.
• V*enna:[3] modern disco with Abba-like vocals.
• The Versifyer:[4] rap, but very approachable rap
• Tony Vincent:[4] Ethereal artsy pop with techno flavors. Vocals sound like George Michael, Freddie Mercury of Queen, and in contrast, sometimes like Billy Idol.
• Violent Femmes:[4] Some call this a Christian band, others not. Heavy country rock. Listen with discretion.
• The Visionary:[4] enthusiastic fun rap!
• Charity Von: [4] Bluesy countryish rock but with a slightly muddied sound.
• The W's: [5] Swing/Big-band with a hint of rockabilly.
• Wahba: [5] retro rocker with lots of Lenny Kravitz sounds. Solid Christian lyrics!
• The Waiting: [5] Alternative, with a retro sound similar to PFR and Smalltown Poets.
• Hezekiah Walker: [3] not at all rock, but powerful praise and worship choir, backed by a big jazz/soul band.
• Walter Eugenes: [4] Rock with sharp artsy edge. Vocals like INXS, Lou Reed and David Bowie mixed together.
• Warlord:[2] death/thrash metal. Extreme white-noise guitar. I found the listen rather irritating. I almost rated 'em a 1.
• Mark Stephen Warren: [4] --for personal listening. Relaxing, but not boring solo piano.
• Watashi Wa:[3] punk
• Waterdeep:[5] jazz/folk/alternative/rock. The driving force of the Chaffers (Don and Lori) provide the vocals for the hypnotically relaxing musical style. Excellent "different" sort of vocal harmonies. Darker lyrics about trials and tribulations of tying to live a Christian life.
• Watermark: [3] on the interesting side of SCCM
• Wayne Watson: [1] pure SCCM
• The Way Sect Bloom:[4] industrial
• John David Webster: [5 on individual tracks][4 overall for monotony] Laid-back retro, piano-driven rock. Little style change throughout the CD I heard.
• The Wedding:[3] punk
• The Wednesdays: [4] punk/rockabilly
• Matthew West: [4] Fun, friendly rock. These guys are fun to see, and ear candy to hear.
• Whitecross: [4] hard rock/heavy metal
• White Heart:[4] yet another big hair and spandex heavy metal band.
• White Horse:[4] Bluesy arena rock with lots of other flavorings thrown in.
• Whitley: [4] Modern rock
• Joy Williams:[2-5] By Surprise took me quite "by surprise" with its lively, sometimes heavy, honky-tonk southern rock style. Joy can really rock when she wants to. I liked it enough to buy her first CD, which, in complete contrast, nearly epitomizes sticky-sweet SCCM.
• Vanessa Williams: [1] Soul/Gospel/R&B. She's got a nice enough voice, but the music is too slow and monotonous for me.
• Wilshire:[5] retro-pop husband/wife duo with wife on most of the vocals. Pepped-up Sixpence None The Richer sound, at times. Nice almost oldies pop sound.
• Ce Ce Winans: [1]SCCM
• Amy Wolter: [4] female vocals to arena rock. Unusual.
• World Wide Message Tribe:[4] English rappers. Different, but polished sound.
• Paul Wright: [4] Fun mix of rap, reggae and acoustic rock.
• Raymond Scott Woolson: [4] ethereal electronically enhanced instrumentals. Very pleasantly anesthetic.
• WTU: Words They Use -meaning, how the record clubs, stores, and others describe the artists.
• Xalt: [3] Heavy metal, almost thrash
• X-Propagation: [5] Techno/industrial --dark stuff.
• X-tol: Acoustic rock, similar to James Clay.
• Paisley Yankolovich:[5] One man band, acoustic, techno, computer rock. Thinker's lyrics whose meanings don't jump instantly out at you.
• Yellow Second: [4] Alternative with some artsy ethereal stuff --shoegazer or trance
• Young Continentals: [1] hokey mush. Sounds like Grandparents trying to be "cool, far-out, hip, with-it, or groovy" wrote their stuff. It's got a really dated sound, but they try. Might be OK for pre-schoolers to maybe 2nd graders.
• Sheri Youngward: [5] no-fault vocals -fits right in with Sarah Sadler, Christine Glass and Ginny Owens.
• Z Amigos:[5] diverse eclectic blend of pop sounds. Quite humorous.
• Zao:[2] death/thrash metal. Growled vocals make it sound as if all the songs have the same lyrics --ARRGH ARRGH LARRGH FARRGH GARRGH! (one critic says they've got an evil sound) I own one of their CDs, just to have one in my collection --not particularly for listening pleasure.
• Zilch: [5] Alternative. (DC Talk's back-up band)
• Zoe Girl: [3] SCCM/girlgroup with just enough edge to make them interesting. (WTU: slick dance-pop, tailor-made for today's teen culture, uplifting, energetic)
• Darlene Zschech:[2] Huge-scale praise and worship leader.

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