Alien Youth (2001)

Alien Youth is the fourth studio album by the Christian rock band Skillet, released on August 28, 2001 by Ardent Records and SRE Recordings. It was later distributed by INO Records and Sony Music. This is the first Skillet album that was entirely produced by lead singer and musician John Cooper and the first album to be released solely by the Ardent label without ForeFront Records attached.

Alien Youth continued their industrial hard rock sound combined with modern rock and some nu metal. Ironically, when the album was released before the events of 9/11, the Christian CHR lead single, "You Are My Hope" after the events, became a source of comfort and inspiration. It was a song that people needed and it resonated with Christian radio. Some Christian AC radio stations were also playing the track, which is a Skillet first. The band went through another line-up change as guitarist Ben Kasica joined and was replacing Kevin Haaland. Kasica joined Skillet late in the recording process for the album, only recording guitars on "Earth Invasion," with Haaland playing guitar throughout the album. Some limited editions of Alien Youth on CD, titled Alien Youth: Rare Cuts featured two rare tracks that were left off the album: "Heaven in My Veins" and "Always the Same."

The album debuted and peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Top Christian Albums and Skillet debuts for the first time on the Billboard 200 Albums chart peaking at number 141. In 2002, Skillet was nominated for two Dove Awards for Modern Rock/Alternative Album of the Year and Rock Recorded Song of the Year for the title song. That same year, they released a concert DVD titled Alien Youth: The Unplugged Invasion featuring acoustic performances of four songs from the album, a music video for "Best Kept Secret" (from Invincible), an Alien Youth Bible Study and a photo gallery. A year later, the band was nominated for Hard Music Recorded Song of the Year for the track "Vapor."

Track listing

All songs were written by John Cooper, except where noted.

1. Alien Youth -4:12

2. Vapor -3:39

3. Earth Invasion -4:48

4. You Are My Hope (John Cooper, Korey Cooper) -4:16

5. Eating Me Away -3:38

6. Kill Me, Heal Me -3:36

7. The Thirst is Taking Over -6:32

8. One Real Thing (Korey Cooper) -3:37

9. Stronger -4:07

10. Rippin' Me Off -4:47

11. Will You Be There (Falling Down) (John Cooper, Korey Cooper) -5:10

12. Come My Way -5:02

Limited Edition Alien Youth: Rare Tracks CD:

1. Heaven in My Veins -3:54

2. Always the Same -4:01

Personnel

Skillet:

John Cooper -lead vocals, bass guitar, sampling, programming

Korey Cooper -backing vocals, keyboards, sampling, programming

Kevin Haaland -guitar (tracks 1, 2, 4 -12) (Rare Tracks tracks 1 and 2)

Ben Kasica -guitar (track 3)

Lori Peters -drums

additional musicians:

Wendy Brookes –cello

Nikki Frey –first violin

Teresa Pingitore –second violin

John Cooper, Korey Cooper, Christine Mundie and Jono Pingitore -group

vocals on track 4

Production credits

John Cooper -producer (all tracks)

Skidd Mills -co-producer (track 3), mixing (tracks 2, 3 and 6), engineer (track 3)

Radio singles

2001 "You Are My Hope" -#2 R&R Christian CHR, #25 R&R Christian AC

2002 "One Real Thing" -#5 R&R Christian CHR

Previous release: Ardent Worship: Skillet Live (2000)

Next release: Collide (2003)

Listen to the rare track "Heaven in My Veins" here:

Listen to the rare track "Always the Same" here:

Watch the music video of "Alien Youth" here:

Watch the live concert video Alien Youth: The Unplugged Invasion here: