In a new interview with church leaders, John Cooperthe frontman and bassist of the grammy-nominated Christian rock band FRYING PANtalked about the lyrical inspiration for the group’s just released single “Unpopular”. He said (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “The song is not overly didactic. It’s not really missionary. It’s almost like you can take it however you want.
“I think people who know FRYING PAN or have heard of the band, are probably aware that we are Christians (laughs) because we are so vocal about it,” he continued. “So there is an assumption being made, but certainly this is something that, as the Joe Rogan Crowd that Children’s skirt Crowd, even the Bill Maher Crowd that Bill Maher is an atheist Democrat, would hear that and say, ‘Yeah, I get that,’ because people have gone mad. And I do think it’s a rock’n’roll kind of thing, but rock’n’roll is always – there’s a lot to be said about that, but it always had that rebellious air about it.”
cooper He continued: “I don’t write a song to please the masses. I write a song because I believe in it, and rock and roll is inherently rebellious. That’s true, that’s how it was when it started. But for FRYING PANit wasn’t about rebellion against God or rebellion against traditional values or, as you would call them today, Western mores, Western sexual taboos or anything like that. No, for us it was like, well, there are things I want to sing about and I want to do it the way we want to do it. That’s what I think is so cool about that song. It has that rebellion in it, but I think, yeah, that’s something that everyone can relate to. Part of it also plays on this idea of cancel culture, that if you speak out about what’s on your mind, you’ll lose your friends.”
cooper added: “I have to tell you, that was remarkable to me. I mean, I have tons of friends who are not Christians and who are left-wing and progressive, and they say things against my beliefs all the time (laughs), and they’re still my friends. I’m like, yeah, they are. I don’t know. They’re my friends. I love them. And if I don’t like it, I tell them. But at the same time, I think tolerance has to work both ways. I’m not asking for them to be kicked off social media because they said something that hurt my feelings or anything like that.
“Anyway, I guess this is kind of like going through the same territory as I said before, but there’s this element. It’s this rebellion. But I also think the song just rocks. It’s got a rebellious attitude that’s kind of fun and catchy.”
cooper also talked about it FRYING PANThe upcoming album “Revolution”which will be released on November 1st via the band’s website Hear it loud Imprint. He said: “When people see the artwork we just released, they will see that there is a flag and it says FRYING PAN there. And in the corner of the flag, if you look, you will see a verse, 1 Corinthians 13:13. I wanted to put that there. Actually, I should just briefly point it out STRYPER. STRYPER always had their verse under their logo. And I thought, “I wonder if we should do something like a verse.” And I thought, “STRYPER that’s what they always did. That was kind of clever.’ And because they just say, ‘Hey, that’s our motto’ or whatever. But I thought it was important because we’re in a time of revolution in this country.”
Johnwho has said in the past that his Christian faith compels him to speak out on cultural issues, continued: “I want to make sure that people know that the kind of revolution that I’m talking about is very different than some of the revolutions that we often hear about in the news, which is a revolution against America, against God, against Western civilization, against the Bible. And I think, ‘Well, people will certainly know that’s not what I mean.’ So I put in that little verse. And that’s the one that says that we hold on to these things — faith, hope and love — that these things will never go away, and the biggest thing is love. And the reason that’s so important is because the revolution that we’re talking about in this album is not a political revolution. It’s certainly not a militaristic one, which I’ve never supported. It’s a revolution of love. It’s a revolution — I should say for Love, I should say. It’s a revolution to love your enemies. Actually, philosophically you could even call it a counter-revolution. It’s a revolution against the revolution that wants to tear down these traditional things that are so wonderful. I don’t want to end freedom of speech and assembly, I don’t want to be able to go to my church and worship God and preach the gospel without being hindered. We’re going to preach the gospel no matter what the government says, but it’s nice to be able to preach the gospel without being punished or getting fines or worse, going to jail or anything like that. That’s really a wonderful thing. And so that’s a revolution. But it’s also a revolution, a spiritual awakening.”
cooper added: “We live in a really atheistic time in our country. It wasn’t like that before. And so we now have a generation of people who are now becoming young adults who grew up in an America where people just don’t believe in God. Because if you don’t believe in God, then you don’t believe in any almost eternal consequences for the way you live your life, because there are Are no consequences and we don’t know what’s important and what’s not. And I just live for myself. I live for what I feel and I try to do the right thing. And that’s why we now have a generation of just depressed people, and it makes sense that they’re depressed. They’re treated with medication – high Drugs. They’ve been told that their lives don’t have much meaning, apart from Darwin’s theory of evolution. It’s either survival of the fittest, or they have to try to find a reason why they matter. That’s what I’m saying. If you believe in God, you know you matter because you were created by a creator, and that gives you a sense of purpose and identity. And then you start to think, “Okay, if there is a God, how does he want me to live?” Those are normal questions. And maybe my life has eternal meaning. If you take God out of the equation, you’re dealing with young people – the highest suicide rate in history in America, depression, drugs. It’s just so sad. And that’s why there’s this revolution against these false ideologies that are so damaging – So harmful. And so it’s a little bit like, ‘Hey, guys, we’re losing the plot here and it’s not going well.’ And so you’re going to hear those kinds of songs on the record.”
John has set out his views in detail in the two books published so far, “Awake and alive for the truth”which was published in December 2020, and “Soft, weak and awake”which will be available at the end of 2023.
cooper told Baptist Press on how his faith leads him to speak out on cultural issues: “If Jesus is the truth, then that means he has something to say about culture, politics, abortion and sexuality. The Bible has something to say about these things.”
In various interviews over the years John has said that he “always believed in God” and that his mother was a “Jesus fanatic.” He also claimed that he was willing to risk his career to stand up for Christ.
In April 2021 cooper said the “Undaunted.Life: A Men’s Podcast” that it is perfectly fine for Christians to play rock music. “I would say that music was not created by the devil; it was created by the Lord,” he said. “All things were created by God. So instead of thinking that the devil owns a genre of music, I would say take possession of that music and bring it back under the lordship of Christ.”
