Jerusalem

Jerusalem has been described as one of the pioneers of Christian rock

in Sweden and an early contributor to the development of Christian

hard rock and metal in Europe. The

Swedish pop culture magazine OKEJ described the band in 1983 as

world-class rock music, and reported two years

later that Jerusalem had grown bigger abroad than at home. ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus was reported to have raised an

eyebrow — in a good way — at Jerusalem's fresh approach. Their 1982 music video for "It's Mad," from the album Warrior, was described by Billboard as the first "gospel rock" video on MTV, airing ahead of similar videos by DeGarmo & Key and Stryper.

Jerusalem is a Swedish Christian rock and Christian metal band exemplary of an early hard rock and heavy metal band to discuss Christianity and religious faith in its lyrics. Ulf Christiansson formed the group in 1975 with an expressly evangelistic purpose, with lyrics describing the band's relationship to God in an ordinary, yet radical, way. Their concerts have been described as a series of revival meetings which often included altar calls and occasionally exorcisms. Christiansson himself described this in 1992 as "doing warfare with the music and getting demons out of young people."

In 1994, Jerusalem released Prophet, recorded, according to a contemporary review, from twelve hours of unscripted studio improvisation with not a single song written in advance; the same review called it possibly the best Jerusalem album ever made and predicted its reinvented sound would resonate far beyond the Christian music scene.