The Rebel Light

Few bands mix God and rock 'n' roll like Switchfoot, who hit the mainstream with the anthemic "Meant to Live" a decade ago. The band's ninth album, Fading West, came out in 2014, but their previous album, 2011's Vice Verses, offered further evidence that Jon Foreman is one of today's most thoughtful lyricists. Verses features the raucous, crunchy guitar-driven single "Dark Horses," the borderline spoken-word number "Selling the News," with its social commentary about our appetite for empty news stories, and an epic finale, "Where I Belong," that spells out the crux of the Switchfoot philosophy: "I'm not sentimental / This skin and bones is a rental / And no one makes it out alive." Despite being Christians, Foreman and company have avoided the worst excesses of Christian rock, focusing on struggling with faith and finding purpose in life rather than dropping J-bombs left and right and pretending everything is dandy. Switchfoot makes rock 'n' roll about their own souls, and it just might save yours.