Skillet (album)
1996 studio album by Skillet
Skillet is the debut studio album by American Christian rock band Skillet. Released on October 29, 1996, as an enhanced CD and audio cassette on ForeFront Records and Ardent Records, it showcases Christian lyrics with a grunge sound. Frontman John L. Cooper initially wanted to title the album Right Upside Yo Head, but the title was vetoed by the label.
Recording
Skillet was recorded in Memphis, Tennessee, at Ardent Studios in 1996. Skillet, at the time, was a three-piece band consisting of John Cooper on vocals, bass guitar and piano, Ken Steorts on guitar, backing vocals and guitar synth, and Trey McClurkin on drums and backing vocals. Prior to releasing their eponymous debut album, the band recorded Right Upside Your Head, a six-song demo on cassette tape, earlier that same year. The songs "Shovel" and "Darn Great Day" were exclusive to the demo while "Gasoline", "Promise Blender" and "Boundaries" would be re-recorded for Skillet. The demo version of "Boundaries" features Ken Steorts on vocals. The demo track "Safe With Me" was re-recorded as "Safe With You" on the band's debut album.
According to Steorts in a 1997 interview, the band's name came from Rick Miller, a pastor at Covenant Community Church.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q391136. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1996 and 1997.
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This entry incorporates text from “Skillet (album)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.