The music was called the devil's music. Jerusalem were banned and their buses were destroyed. But nothing could stop them. Ulf Christiansson knew that the vision of a Christian hard rock band came from God.
It all began in 1975 with a fifteen year old transit bus, bought from a surplus stock at the Swedish Telecom. It was a miracle that they even got out of Gothenburg. The water leaked out of the bus very quickly. Sometimes on tours they had to stop in the middle of nowhere and the guys had to wade in swamps to get water for the bus. But that didn't keep the enthusiasm away. Every second weekend they took all the equipment and went on tour. The mission was to tell young people about God.
They had to face a heavy resistance doing this. Playing hard rock and being a Christian was very controversial at the time. Hard rock was connected to drugs, aggression and Satanism. Furthermore the music was ear-splitting. Being the first Christian hard rock band, Jerusalem had to endure a lot of criticism. They weren't welcome at all to some churches. Smoke-bombs, long hair and luxury equipment was more than some people could accept, even if Jerusalem radically proclaimed Jesus. Hard rock was considered devilish.
Jerusalem addressed the youth. Hard rock was a way of bringing faith in Jesus to them in their own language. The lyrics described their relation to God in an ordinary, but radical way. Ulf Christiansson wrote as much as he could, and at almost every concert he had a new song to present. Heavy music delivered a heavy message and between the songs Ulf preached. In that way the concerts were more than just concerts, they turned into revival meetings. Side by side, hard rockers and confirmands were rocking. But there were also old people who were touched by God in a new way.
"One night, an old lady came to us after a concert and wanted to beg our forgiveness. She said that she had turned terribly mad when we started playing. She wanted to grab her purse and leave. But then she saw Jesus walking from the stage down towards her. He sat down in front of her, turned around and said: Those are my guys. She had tears in her eyes when she told it."
As time went by, prejudice seemed to disappear. The band was conducive to that by not giving up. After three years of touring record companies began calling. "I had told God and the guys that we wont knock on anyone's door, but wait for a record company to call". The Christian record company Prim did, but they didn't believe in any success. They were wrong. The record "Jerusalem" became an instant hit among the Christian audience. In the first six months the record sold 20 000 copies.
Jerusalem continued growing as a band. They toured both in Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia. And Ulf Christiansson continued writing songs. The next album was released already in 1980 and was called "Volume 2". This record, which was also made in an English version, openened the doors to the surrounding world. All of a sudden their working schedule was filled with tours in Germany, France, England, Belgium and Finland. From the Christian Greenbelt festival in England, where Jerusalem participated during the summer, Americans brought the record to USA and Glen Kaiser, leader of one of the largest rock bands there. He gave the record to Pat Boone, who owned the record company Lamb and Lion. They released the records in the USA.
With more time and joined forces Jerusalem then made the record "Warrior". "Third time lucky!", the newspapers wrote. "Warrior" became a sales success in Sweden, Europe, USA and Canada. The nights in narrow tour buses were gone. In the fall of 1981, Jerusalem took the plane to USA and went on tour. It became a success. European, radical Jerusalem, with their heavy hard rock took USA by storm. At this time the band consisted of Ulf Christiansson on guitar and vocals, Dan Tibell keyboards, Peter Carlsohn, who replaced Anders Mossberg on bass and finally Michael Ulvsgärd on drums (replacing Klas Anderhell).
The thought of reaching even higher was thrilling. The success made way for commercial thoughts. The world of Christian music had changed, sales numbers were more important than preaching the Gospel. With the fourth album: "Can't stop us now", a new era was started. Not only the music changed and turned more melodic, but the lyrics didn't speak radically about God anymore. The album, recorded in Irland, lead to another tour in USA, where the video also was shown on MTV. The success was enormous. During the following years, Jerusalem mostly toured abroad, with their huge equipment, that weighed five tons. That was more than any other Swedish hard rock band could show at the time. Between 1983 and 1985 Jerusalem made several very successful tours in USA, which finally resulted in a live album: "In His Majesty's Service", recorded in Shreveport and Dallas.
Eventually it all became too much. Jerusalem pulled the emergency brake. The glamorous life had become too much. The band was tired. In 1985, Jerusalem quit touring. A new journey began, where the music had to stand back. Jesus was put first.
Then as a reaction to the growing Satanism of the 80's they made the record "Dancing on the head of the Serpent" in 1987. Reidar Paulsen played the keyboards. On the sleeve there was an army boot, trampling on a demon. This shocked the Swedish Christianity. The record stores sold the record under the counter. After this album the band was quiet for a while. But the vision and the dream was still alive. In 1992, the band moved back to Gothenburg and recorded the "Prophet" album. It became the album to get the most favourable reviews.