An entire industry wouldn't exist without him, yet few know his name. Michael Knott, a brash and brilliant pioneer of the alternative Christian rock scene who challenged the faithful to examine their faults and hypocrisies, died Tuesday. Knott's cause of death is currently unknown. He was 61.
"To me, Michael Knott was larger than life," wrote Stormie Fraser, his daughter, in a statement. "He was a kind, empathetic father and a creative genius. There is so much more to say about him, so much more to write, but in this time of shock and profound grief, I cannot list all that he did and all that he meant to us. I can only say I love him so much that it hurts. It is difficult to accept that someone with so much of my heart has left this earth."
Born Dec. 22, 1962, Knott came out of Southern California's Christian punk scene of the early 1980s, at first joining the ministry-oriented band The Lifesavors before essentially taking over and renaming the project by the decade's end. Like much of the music coming out of Los Angeles and its surrounding beach towns, his L.S. Underground wrote groove-heavy, funk-tinged, flange-ful alternative rock — think Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers — with a gothic flair and a charismatic frontman who fancied himself a punk Elvis.
The band's 1987 album, Shaded Pain, was a haunting and often hopeless meditation on mortality, abusive church leaders and sins of the flesh. "Our time has come / Let's kiss the cleaver," Knott threatens on "Our Time Is Come," calling out false idols: "Your god is dead / Our God will never leave us." Christian bookstores — then one of few places where Christian records could be bought — banned Shaded Pain. Churches, too, banned Knott from performing following the album's release, foreshadowing many such clashes to come.