I think Ronnie Martin (Joy Electric) said it best when he called L.S. Underground’s Shaded Pain “a moment that changed the face of alternative Christian music forever.” But I would extend that to all of Christian music. A lot of Christian music has a well-earned reputation for being sappy, quasi-romantic “Jesus is my boyfriend” material that wouldn’t pass muster if it was released to a non-believing audience. It’s propaganda, pure and simple.

But then along comes an album like Shaded Pain, a dark, turbulent record full of searingly honest songs about doubt and struggle. Songs like “I’m Torn.”

Michael Knott — a singular figure in Christian music right up until his death in 2024 — laments the eternal struggle between the spirit and the flesh, and the ways in which both entice him: “This one sings me love songs with a kiss so sweet/She never smiles, yet is always on my mind/And the other one calls with a love so true, taking my heart, making it new/Both have winds that sing me songs; which sea shall I sail upon?” When he tries out “I’m torn like a ship tossed by the storm” on the song’s chorus, it’s the cry of every faithful believer who’s honest about their own spiritual struggles.