Crowd shot masthead ApologetiX Logo Keith Haynie plays bassBill Hubauer plays lead guitarJ. Jackson sings leadJimmy Vegas Tanner plays drums

What's the story behind Biblical Graffiti?

"Biblical Graffiti" is the title of the fourth ApologetiX CD, released in December 1999 -- the one with the cover art that spoofs Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and the title that spoofs Led Zeppelin's "Physical Graffiti." "Biblical Graffiti" is like the words "Christian Rock" or "Jesus Freak." At first glance the two words combined don't seem like they go together, but once you see 'em together and think it through it makes sense.

Way back in 1965, folk rockers Simon & Garfunkel said "the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls." In 1979, the Canadian progressive rock trio Rush said that "the words of the prophets were written on the studio walls and concert halls." But thousands of years before both of those groups, you can find much older prophetic graffiti in the Bible – way back in the book of Daniel, chapter 5, with the original "writing on the wall." And who wrote that graffiti? If you don't know, you might be shocked to find out!

Unfortunately, we weren't thinking about Daniel when the words "Biblical Graffiti" came to us, although it was cool when we realized there was indeed a biblical precedent for "Biblical Graffiti." Actually, we were thinking about how the CD would have a lot of songs and a wide variety of styles of music, so we considered spoofing the title of some famous double album from the past that had also featured a lot of songs and a wide variety of music styles, like the Beatles' White Album or the Rolling Stones' "Exile on Main Street," etc.

Anyway, we were thinking about Led Zeppelin album titles, particularly their double album of all different styles, "Physical Graffiti." And a light bulb went on. Even if the reader doesn't get the Led Zeppelin joke, it's still a thought-provoking title that's relatively short, and now we can tell you the rest of the story behind the title.

When ApologetiX lyricist J. Jackson was in grade school, at one point a bunch of kids in his grade were writing smutty graffiti on the walls of the bathroom, and it bothered him. Although he wasn't a born-again Christian yet, God was already working in his life, and he started writing scripture verse numbers and scripture verses (He didn't really know verse numbers, so he sort of made them up from what he remembered from church) on the stalls right next to them -- providing an alternative to the other graffiti.

Anyway, it's kind of ironic, looking back at it, because J. didn't know the Bible very well at all, but there he was back then trying sanctify the sacrilegious by adding scripture verses and verse numbers -- way back in grade school. Kind of prophetic on God's part, don't you think?

A humorous side note: Led Zeppelin has a song called "Houses of the Holy" and an album by the same name, but the song doesn't appear on the "Houses of the Holy" album, it appears on "Physical Graffiti." Similarly, ApologetiX spoofs a song from Led Zeppelin's "Houses of the Holy" album, "Dancin' Days" ("Dancin' Dave") but it appears on our "Biblical Graffiti" CD. 

"Biblical Graffiti" is also notable because it features seven tracks recorded with Weird Al Yankovic's drummer, Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz. For more information on that, check out the FAQ titled "Does ApologetiX know 'Weird Al'?" For photos of ApologetiX with both Bermuda and Weird Al, check out the CD booklet for "Biblical Graffiti."

For a complete track listing, see the FAQ titled "What's on 'Biblical Graffiti.'"