60 Christian Songs That Explain the '90s: "Big House" by Audio Adrenaline
A yard where we can all play football? Count me in.
What's in a name? What's in a band name? Does a band name dictate the quality of a band's music? Do the weirder band names imply weirder music? And does any of this even matter?
On the surface, probably not. Good music is good music, regardless of the band's name. The Eagles isn't a particularly interesting band name, but I enjoy listening to "Desperado" on occasion. Hootie and The Blowfish is a goofy name, but as far as '90s albums go, you might not find a better one from start to finish than Cracked Rear View. The Beatles? Meh. That's an okay name. But the music? It's iconic.
So what's in a name? What's in a rock band's name, specifically? There's always a reason a group of dudes or chicks give their band a certain name. Nickelback, Godsmack, and The Beatles all have stories behind their names. It doesn't make the band name good, per se. Nothing's particularly creative about The Dave Matthews Band as a name.
In the same breath, a killer band name doesn't always equate to great music. Squirrel Nut Zippers or Cherry Poppin' Daddies are cool band names, but I don't consider their music great.
So let's look at some band names that are relatively equal to how awesome their music is, shall we? Rock bands only, here are the top five all-time band names.
#5: Five Finger Death Punch. Anatomically correct and intimidating. Great name.
#4: Stabbing Westward. Super dark music but a killer name. Quite literally.
Okay, #3: Rage Against The Machine. The machine can be whatever you want. Just rage against it. Super angry music here, but it's solid.
#2: Guns N' Roses. Apparently the name references parts of the male and female anatomy. I don't know that for sure, and I ain't Googling to find out. You do the Chat GPT on that, buddy. But the name is still awesome and the songs are too.
But the #1 band name, one that I think gets overlooked: Soundgarden. One word. Just a brilliant name for one of the grungiest groups ever.
What's in a name? And who cares about a band name? And why am I even bringing up bands like Five Finger Death Punch and Soundgarden? Because of a guy named Delbert. That's right. DELBERT.
Not Dilbert. Not the corporate dry humor comic. Delbert. A kid in high school who was one grade above me. He was super into grunge/rock/rap metal music in the '90s. He knew I was a big Christian rock fan. He didn't care much for Christian rock. But one day he walked up to me and said this:
"You know what band has an awesome name? Audio Adrenaline. That's a killer band name. It sucks that their music is so lame."
At that moment, I felt exposed for loving music that a fellow rock music connoisseur only liked a band I liked because of their band name. I honestly hadn’t even considered their name.
But yeah, Audio Adrenaline is a pretty awesome name for a band. And despite what Delbert’s opinions were on Christian rock music, I loved Audio Adrenaline’s music. Besides, you know what band Delbert loved in high school? That’s right. LIMP BIZKIT.
Limp Bizkit. The band introducing one of the more horrendous genres known as rap metal or nu-metal. Limp Bizkit, whose frontman Fred Durst defined ‘90s frat boy bro culture. Limp Bizkit, with their guitarist Wes Borland who scared the crap out of me anytime I saw his face in a magazine or video because he always appeared with a mask or freaky makeup on. Limp Bizkit, the band whose concert at Woodstock ‘99 single-handedly brought the 1990s to a screeching halt. That’s who adrenalized Delbert’s audio.
I guess I shouldn’t rip Delbert too hard for his taste in music. After all, in college, I did own a Limp Bizkit CD, the one titled Chocolate Starfish and The Hot Dog Flavored Water. What can I say? I wasn’t in a fraternity but I definitely wore my hats backwards a bit more often.
So maybe Audio Adrenaline’s music wasn’t floating the boat of Limp Bizkit fans in the ‘90s. Maybe it wasn’t cool enough for the guys wearing Jnco Jeans and half-inch gauges in their ears. But even if the secular crossover appeal wasn’t there, inside the churches where the youth group meetings were taking place, Audio Adrenaline’s music was there. A lot of their music to be sure. But there was one song in particular that was “bigger” than all the rest.
Today we’re talking about Audio Adrenaline’s massive hit “Big House” from their 1993 album Don’t Censor Me.
The band has made a complete transformation over the years from its original members, but the ones you need to know about most are Mark Stuart (lead vocals), Will McGinnis (bass), Barry Blair (guitars), and Phil Vaughn (drums). Like a lot of other bands, their beginning was chaotic and musically geared in a distinctly different direction from what made them who they are.
Audio Adrenaline was originally named A-180 and got their start playing a blend of metal and some form of rap. The song that caught the attention of record executives was “My God”, and let’s just say any “generic Beastie Boys” comparisons aren’t too far off.
But “My God” wasn’t going to be Audio Adrenaline’s crowning achievement. The direction execs wanted the band to go in caused tension. So much so that the band has a love/hate relationship with that initial self-titled album. Some members left the band, some new ones came in, and then came the song youth groups across the world came to embrace.
Don’t Censor Me was a departure from the Beastie Boys/Aerosmith/weird rap metal-esque debut, but the band still didn’t love it. Nonetheless, “Big House” would become a radio staple. It became the song tattooed on the soul of 90’s youth groups. “Big House” was such a massive hit, CCM Magazine gave it their coveted “Song of the Decade” title.
In a 2020 appearance on Andrew Osenga’s podcast The Pivot, Mark Stuart talked about the song. In the early 90s, his family was building a children’s hospital in Haiti. It was there, in the midst of so much brokenness that Stuart had this idea for “Big House”. The depths of the poverty, broken homes, numerous orphans, and utter despair led Stuart to imagine how life could be and will one day be for all of these children. A big house, with lots of room. A big table with lots of food. A big, big yard. One so big you can play football. Soccer. Really anything you want.
In my youth group, we did a performance one night where we stood on stage, singing “Big House” while throwing plastic footballs to each other. It was a patently lame expression of the song. But when you hear the back story, the song loses its corniness. Because when you’re a child with no parents, no consistent source of food, and no home, the idea of a “Big House” injects hope into your soul. Maybe the song loses its caricature quality when it becomes a source of hope, of happiness, to someone desperately needing it.
My personal adoration for Audio Adrenaline goes well past this song. And while Don’t Censor Me was the very first CD I ever owned, there were several others that made an impact. One, actually, that ended up on an intramural basketball jersey.
I could spend multiple posts talking about my college intramural basketball team East Carson, but I’ll save that for another time. But we were a group of friends that, each year before the first game, bought blank t-shirts and Sharpies to decorate them with the team name and nicknames.
Okay. Time for another list. Here are the top five things I put on my intramural basketball jerseys.
#5: Pardon Me. One of my “nicknames” on the back of the jersey named after my favorite Incubus song.
#4: Mark 6:11. The “shake the dust off my feet” verse. Somehow this felt like a verse to use for trash talk, I guess? I dunno.
#3: “I got now, I don’t care who got next.” A classic Jay-Z line that played off the WNBA’s inaugural slogan saying “We got next.”
#2: So Clean. Another nickname based on a song. An Outkast song. One of my best friends was “So Fresh”. We were so much cooler than the other intramural teams.
#1: Underdog. My first back-of-the-jersey nickname from our first season. Pulled directly from my favorite Audio A album, Underdog, which came out during my freshman year of college.
“Underdog” was a pretty accurate description of how I felt as a player and how I felt about our team. Losing 99-21 in our first game was a solid indicator we would be underdogs in every game. But the moral victories were plenty that first night as we played a bunch of massive guys who were on the university’s football team and/or hoping to walk on to the basketball team. First, we held them to under 100 points. Secondly, we didn’t allow them to dunk on us. And sure, the score is lopsided as heck, but when you keep a bunch of athletic freaks all roughly 6 feet 5 inches or taller from posterizing anyone on your team, that’s worthy of a gold star.
So “Big House” is the unquestioned peak on the Audio Adrenaline mountain. But it would be disrespectful to limit the band to a singular song when there were so many great ones to follow. Bloom came out in 1996 and featured “Never Gonna Be As Big As Jesus”. Some Kind of Zombie was released in 1997 with huge songs like “Chevette” and “Blitz”. And of course, Underdog in 1999 is a classic no-skips album.
But there are songs that you might not know. Songs that maybe weren’t radio hits or youth group jams. There isn’t time here on Substack to rehash all of Audio Adrenaline’s catalog. But I’d do a disservice by not mentioning a few other songs that, looking back, hold monumental places in my soul.
Okay, last list. Here, in no particular order, are five Audio Adrenaline songs that you need to know about.
#5: “Walk On Water” (from Bloom)
Best lyric: I’ll be alright when the wind comes/ I’ll be alright when the waves come crashing/ I’m not afraid/ for this is my Father’s world
“Walk On Water” is about Peter seeing Jesus walking on the water and trying to do the same. You know the story. He took his eyes off Jesus and began to slip. Just like many of us when life grows fragile and we begin looking at the circumstances instead of the Savior.
#4: “Man Of God” (from Bloom)
Best lyric: If I make it, I’m a good man/ am I a bad man if I fail?/ I know I’m never good enough/ so I let grace prevail
So many times this song pops into my head when I hear someone referred to as a “man of God”. It’s a song about recognizing that sometimes I get it, often I don’t, and whatever side of the spiritual spectrum I’m on that day, I need God’s grace.
#3: “Good Life” (from Underdog)
Best lyric: This is the good life/ I've lost everything/ I could ever want and ever dream of/ This is the good life/ I found everything/ I could ever need here in Your arms
In that same podcast with Andrew Osenga, Mark Stuart tells about the ending of his Audio Adrenaline days. He talks about being diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, an incurable condition that causes the vocal cords to spasm, making singing almost impossible. He knew that his time as frontman for the band were nearing an end. But at the same time, in his personal life, his marriage was falling apart.
He finally got around to telling his bandmates that his wife had filed for divorce. After the final tour ended, he and his wife made the split official and separated their possessions. So he’s alone in his house. It’s winter. It’s freezing cold outside. And Mark goes out to his old Bronco, just hoping it will start.
“I remember praying to God ‘I just need you to start my truck. Let me know you’re here in this moment.’ And I had written a song called the “Good Life” in 1997. This was 2005. I had written this song for a buddy going through a divorce. And I’m just like ‘God, I need you to start this truck.”
And so he puts the key in the ignition and turns it. And the ice-covered Bronco starts right up. And if that alone wasn’t a small moment of providence, the song playing on the radio was, of course, Good Life. Stuart continues:
“The moment I used to pray for God to show up happened in that Bronco. I felt God say ‘I’m here for you. I’ve been here all along. I moved your heart to write this song eight years ago for this moment. And how you feel right now is how your songs impacted people all along the way.’ And I just felt reborn there in my backyard in this cold Bronco. And I was like ‘Okay, God. I know you’re in control.”
#2: “Rest Easy” (from Don’t Censor Me)
Best lyric: Rest easy/ Have no fear/ I love you perfectly/ Love drives out fear/ I’ll take your burden/ You take my grace/ Rest easy in my embrace
There are certain songs I’ll sing in my head in chaotic moments. Songs that I use as a type of prayer for calm, for peace. Rich Mullins’ song “Hold Me Jesus” is a huge one for me. But so is “Rest Easy”. This idea of letting things go is compelling. That 1 John 4:18 idea that “perfect love casts out fear.” When I make resting hard and near impossible, God calls me to rest easy in him.
#1: “This Day” (from Underdog)
Best lyric: I want to say a prayer before my feet can hit the ground/ Lord, I give this day to you
I mentioned the album Underdog came out during my freshman year of college. It was one of my most spiritually dry years, one where I wasn’t attending church and had little Christian community to speak of. I struggled to find my place. I had friends, but was unsettled in large part because of my self-induced distance from God.
Still, this album, and this song in particular stayed with me. There were days I struggled getting out of bed because I dreaded classes I hated in a place I wasn’t sure I belonged. But humming that chorus of giving the day to the Lord before my feet hit the ground acted as a compass of sorts. “It’s a brand new day and every day is a new beginning”, Mark Stuart sings in the second verse. So when my Bible acted as little more than a dust collector, and when I abandoned the idea of community, God used this song to gradually draw me back to Him.
Here’s one of Audio Andrenaline’s former drummers Ben Cissell telling the back story on “This Day”:
Here in 2024, Audio Adrenaline still exists. Well, sort of. None of the original members are in the group. Former DC Talk singer Kevin Max even became the lead singer of Audio A for a brief season before departing.
As for the faces that made up the band originally, most of them are doing their own thing. Mark Stuart is re-married. He and his wife adopted two kids from Haiti. He recently released a memoir Losing My Voice To Find It. Along with former bandmate Will McGinnis, Mark helps lead The Hands and Feet Project, a non-profit dedicated to serving children in Haiti.
Other bandmates are teaching or leading in ministry roles of their own. There’s something encouraging about these legendary bands from the 1990s going strong in serving in 2024, even if it’s not on stage with electric guitars and drum sets.
People who don’t know anything about Audio Adrenaline still might know “Big House”. They’ll hear the opening guitar and know immediately what song it is. And they’ll think back on their own days in youth group, the awesome moments of lock-ins and concerts, and smile while singing the “Big House” chorus.
Or they might think back on those days with a sense of dread. There might be deep-seated hurt from the church. Maybe even from things within their youth group. And yet the song provides some hope, some joy. That’s my hope, anyway.
I think about Delbert. I haven’t seen him or heard anything about him since I graduated high school. I wonder if he still listens to Limp Bizkit. I wonder if he still has a general disdain for Christian rock music. And hey, I get it. “Big House” is a bit corny. It’s kinda cheesy. And honestly, it’s kinda difficult to believe.
That’s Heaven. That’s eternal hope. It seems unreal. A pie in the sky idea. But it takes a hard, hard heart to not smile, maybe even tear up at the idea of hundreds of orphaned children running around, playing football, eating at a big table, and being invited into a big, big house where everything is safe. Because it’s our Father’s house, and it’s got lots and lots of rooms.
Hey, thanks a bunch for indulging my thoughts on this week’s “60 Christian Songs That Explain the ‘90s.” I really appreciate you spending a few minutes of your day here. And now, please do take the time to listen to the iconic Christian rock jam “Big House” by Audio Adrenaline. Catch you next time.
Missed last week’s post? Check it out here.
Really enjoyed this. Thank you for sharing.