In case you haven’t fallen down the rabbit hole that is RaptureToK this week, there’s a branch of Christians at it again, predicting that the Rapture is nigh and soon the faithful will be called up into the clouds while the unfaithful will be LEFT BEHIND. Some have gone so far as to quit their jobs, sell their possessions, and leave notes for those who will certainly be moving into their homes once they are raptured away.
As NAPNET’s resident former youth group kid, raised in megachurch culture,
I walked away with a healthy dose of religious trauma, but also with some absolute bangers.
In what, for many of us, were the glory days of the scene, there was a huge crossover between the bands we’d see at Warped Tour and the bands we were “allowed” to listen to because they played them at youth group. Some of my favorite memories are still those sweaty church basement shows where, after an evening of moshing, a room full of teenagers was suddenly brought to a halt for the awkward altar call that closed out the night.
In the spirit of youth groups gone by, I present:
My Top 10 Youth Group Bangers to Listen to When You (and Everybody Else) Are Left Behind.
10. “Be My Escape” – ReliEnt K
Perhaps no band was more beloved in youth group culture than Relient K. Their music felt rebellious, while being tame enough to play for your mom. Blink-182 without the potty humor or nudity. “Be My Escape,” from the album Mmhmm, marked their biggest mainstream hit and a more mature sound than earlier releases. A perfect track for when we all remain hostages to our own humanity.
9. “One Girl Army” – Five Iron Frenzy
You can’t make a youth group playlist without acknowledging the choke-hold ska had on late ’90s and early 2000s youth group culture. For me, no one did it better than Reese Roper and Five Iron Frenzy. Little did we know they were quietey radicalizing a generation of youth group kids. “One Girl Army” reminded women of their worth. strong but never silent. One day, that One Girl Army will overcome.
8. “Paperthin Hymn” – Anberlin
Stephen Christian’s voice will forever be one of my favorite sounds. If there is a rapture, I assume that sweet angel will be long gone—so I’ll have to be content listening to this song on repeat. Who is going to call on Sunday morning, Stephen?
7. “Walls” – Emery
“Are you listening?” This was the kind of song you had to justify to youth group parents. The kind of track an elder or pastor swore couldn’t possibly be appropriate. You’d have to remind them you got the CD at a youth conference, or it showed up on a retreat playlist. tooth & nail records has a roster that couldn’t be touched. When I was in charge of choosing the youth group videos, my go-to was 2005’s The Nail, Vol. 9 DVD. Everyone woke up when Emery played.
6. “Amazing Grace” – Flatfoot 56
You have to throw in a song your grandma knows, right? You’ve never seen a thousand kids circle pit to a slavery-era hymn from the 1770s? Then you’ve never seen Flatfoot 56 rip this classic with bagpipes and distorted guitars. If the Evanga-Bros are big mad that the Rapture didn’t happen, they can slam-dance out some aggression to “Amazing Grace.”
5. “Party at My House, Be There” – MxPx
If you didn’t float away in the rapture, you might as well throw a party. MxPx were the original youth group safe punks. This feels like the perfect anthem to sing with your friends who were dreaming of the great beyond: “You said you were leaving, I said you were crazy.”
4. “Texas Is South” – The Devil Wears Prada
For a lot of youth group kids, hearing “Texas Is South” at Cornerstone Festival in 2006 (or seeing the video later) was a turning point. Church music can sound like THIS? It was the kind of music that wouldn’t get you in trouble but still scared your parents. Youth group kids ate that up.
3. “The One Thing I Have Left” – Hawk Nelson
Hawk Nelson was the band we were supposed to listen to instead of Good Charlotte or Simple Plan. Teetering between pop-punk and boy band, they felt like “baby’s first rebellion,” wrapped in the safest youth pastor–approved white boys the world could offer. Appropriately, the song comes from their album smile, it’s the end of the world.
2. “God Save Us the Foolish Kings” – House of Heroes
House of Heroes is a forgotten gem not just of the youth group scene, but of the 2000s emo/pop-punk movement as a whole. They always felt like a retro throwback—more classic rock than scene kid. This anthem is no exception: epic, soaring, and perfect for awaiting annihilation.
(Fun fact: Josh Dun of Twenty One Pilots toured as the drummer for house of heroes shortly after this song was released and is featured in the music video)
1. “Reinventing Your Exit” – Underoath
No other band, and no other song, could be number one. The perfect crossover hit for scene kids and youth group kids, it’s the ultimate post-rapture scream-along. Urgent, desperate, cathartic. If you were bracing for apocalypse but still have to clock in FOR WORK tomorrow morning, this song will dull the pain.