Skillet’s debut Christmas song, a rock-driven cover of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” has surged to No. 1 on five Billboard charts, marking one of the band’s strongest digital releases in years.
The veteran Christian rock group topped the Christian Digital Song Sales, Holiday Digital Song Sales, Rock Digital Song Sales, Alternative Digital Song Sales, and Hard Rock Digital Song Sales charts.
The single also ranked across several other Billboard lists, including No. 3 on Digital Song Sales, No. 6 on Hot Hard Rock Songs, No. 12 on Hot Christian Songs, No. 12 on Canadian Digital Song Sales, No. 40 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, and No. 79 on the Holiday 100.
Following its release, Skillet’s “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” sparked a viral debate among some Christians on social media, who labeled the cover “demonic.”
On the other hand, many, including Allie Beth Stuckey, Michael Knowles, Graham Allen, Alisa Childers, Pastor James White, and Owen Strachan praised the band’s cover, calling it “fantastic” and characterizing it as art that creates “deep thought and reflection.”
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Skillet lead singer and founding member John Cooper told ChurchLeaders, “I’m not angry or even offended by those who believe my music is somehow satanic.”
He explained, “Perhaps it’s because I grew up with godly parents who believed that rock music was inherently from the devil. I was taken to Bill Gothard seminars and preached to about the evils of Christian rock profusely.”
Cooper said that his parents were “were just doing what they believed was right because they loved me and wanted to protect me. And I assume that those who criticize Skillet have the same motive—and I assume they are brothers.”
“But I do wish they could hear the stories of how God has used our music to bring the light and hope of the gospel into broken lives, and it is because of the call of the Lord that I easily ignore these voices,” he added. “They don’t slow me down—they ramp me up. In the words of Petra, who blazed a trail for us: ‘Don’t wanna be a man-pleaser, I wanna be a God-pleaser.'”
