We hope to release our 21st single of 2024 by the end of this weekend, Lord willing. 

Once the new single is released, we'll announce it in our news bulletin, on our website, and on our Facebook page.

Our 75th CD, Zedekiah, Hezekiah, Jeroboam & Other Guys, should be in stock in early November. We’ll begin shipping shortly thereafter. It features 12 parodies of hits from the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s.

The earlier you order, the faster you'll get your CD(s); we'll process them in the order in which they are received.

Order now, and you'll get the MP3 download immediately. You'll also get an extra Zedekiah, Hezekiah, Jeroboam & Other Guys free with every Zedekiah, Hezekiah, Jeroboam & Other Guys you buy. Or choose from 41 other titles as your free extra CD(s). The free CD(s) won't appear in your shopping cart but will be mailed with your order. 

If you'd prefer to get a different CD as your free CD, choose from the titles on the list below and write it in the “Notes” field at checkout. If no CDs are listed in the “Notes” at checkout, we'll send Zedekiah, Hezekiah, Jeroboam & Other Guys as your free CD(s). Only the titles on the list are available.

For every copy of Zedekiah, Hezekiah, Jeroboam & Other Guys you order, you can select one title from the list above. For example, if you order five copies of Zedekiah, Hezekiah, Jeroboam & Other Guys, you can select five different titles (or five of the same title) from the list. 

We began our latest trip through the Bible on Wednesday, April 3.

Here's our Bible-reading plan for the next two weeks for those of you reading along with us:


Note: If you don't have a Bible handy, you can look up these passages for free on Bible Gateway. They have about 60 different English translations/versions there to choose from, plus translations in many other languages, many of which also have multiple translations/versions.

We recently revamped the downloadable version of our complete library. Now it comes in a PDF with pictures of every album and single for easy reference. You just click on the ones you need to download them instantly.

We're giving our complete library on download to everyone who donates $100 this week.

That's 1716 tracks, including various versions (studio, live, rarity, album, single, EP, revised, remastered, etc.), plus side projects ... even our most-recent single and our latest CD.

Our new ApologetiX USB thumb drives are now in stock!

They contain the digital versions of all 74 of our CDs, plus any singles, EPs, or rarities that aren't on CD ... including our latest single.

Emblazoned with the band's logo, they have a storage capacity of 16 GB, and they’re write-enabled, so you can add more music to them if and when you get future ApX downloads.  

They’re available for a donation of $150 or more. If you've donated for our complete library before, they're available for a donation of $50 or more.

J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
 
Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020.
 
Note: Just because an album appears on this list doesn't mean I give it a blanket endorsement. Many of the secular albums on this list are mainly there because they wound up being spoofed by ApologetiX.

1619. Unconditional Releases - ApologetiX
The 38th ApologetiX LP came out right before Christmas in 2014, a little less than a month after its predecessor, Apoplectic. That means we put out four new LPs in just a little over five months between July 17 and December 21. This one included parodies of The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Chicago, The Commitments, Daryl Hall and John Oates, Herman's Hermits, Robert Palmer, Queen, The Rascals, Simon & Garfunkel, Donna Summer, and 38 Special. As I've mentioned before, in 2014, we began releasing biweekly (usually) digital singles, each available for a donation of any size, thereby making them unconditional releases. This was the fourth volume in our series of CDs collecting those songs. But that’s not the only reason we chose Unconditional Releases as the title. Consider this: A couple of the songs on this album talk about being unconditionally released from slavery — “Set Him Free” (about physical slavery) and “Seek Out God to Be Free” (about spiritual slavery). In sports, when a team gives someone his unconditional release, it usually means they no longer have any use for him. However, when God gives us our unconditional release, He wants to use us more than ever! Although the Bible clearly says we’re saved by God’s grace and not our good works (Ephesians 2:8–9), it does add the following: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 3:20). And if He has already prepared them for us, then we can be confident that He has already prepared us for them! And not as a way to obtain or maintain our salvation but as a way to bring glory to Him and to bring others into His kingdom. 
 
1620. Greatest Hits - Mott the Hoople
I first heard of Mott the Hoople in the song "Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)" by Reunion; they were the second artist mentioned in the first verse. Taking their name from a 1966 British novel by Willard Manus, the British glam rock group is best known for a song that became their biggest hit on both sides of the Atlantic, "All The Young Dudes" (#3 U.K., #37 U.S.), written and produced by David Bowie. That was their only Top 40 single in the States, , although they had a couple U.S. Top 40 LPs, "Mott" (#7 U.K., 35 U.S.) and "The Hoople" (#11 U.K., #23 U.S.). Based on the titles, you might suppose those were the band's first two albums, but they were actually their sixth and seventh, released in 1973 and 1974. Greatest Hits followed two years later and featured all Mott's U.K. Top 50 hits — the previous two plus "Roll Away The Stone" (#8 U.K.), "All The Way From Memphis" (#10 U.K.), "Honaloochie Boogie" (#12 U.K.), "The Golden Age Of Rock 'N' Roll" (#16 U.K., #96 U.S.), "Foxy Foxy" (#33 U.K.), and "Saturday Gigs" (#41 U.K.), The 2003 CD reissue also added the '73 U.S. singles "Sweet Jane" and "One of the Boys" (#96 U.S.). "Sweet Jane" is a cover of a famous Velvet Underground song, but I actually owned a 45 of Mott's version, which I found at a flea market in '86. "One of the Boys" is noteworthy, because the guitars riff sounds uncannily like the opening of "Can't Get Enough" by Bad Company. I don't think that was a coincidence, since Mick Ralphs played lead guitar for both of those bands and on both of those recordings. My favorite tracks from Greatest Hits are "All the Way From Memphis" and "All the Young Dudes." Second-tier selections would include "The Ballad of Mott," "Honaloochie Boogie," "Roll Away the Stone," and "The Golden Age of Rock 'n' Roll." When I was in college, I was also a big fan of "All of the Good Ones Are Taken" (#25 mainstream rock) by Mott's lead singer Ian Hunter. ApologetiX never spoofed Mott the Hoople, but we did spoof Great White's cover version of Ian Hunter's "Once Bitten Twice Shy." Hah! It just dawned on me that my favorites all began with the word "All": "All the Young Dudes," "All the Way to Memphis," and "All of the Good Ones Are Taken." 
 
1621. Argus – Wishbone Ash
I remember joking once with our old soundman Greg Spack that Wishbone Ash was one of those big-name bands we'd all seen in the bins in record stores but had never heard on the radio, so none of us knew what they sounded like. That's not surprising, seeing as the British rock band never hit the U.S. Hot 100. Ten of their albums made the Billboard 200, but only one got higher than #80, the 1973 LP Wishbone Four (#44 U.S., #12 U.K.). However, the record preceding it is generally regarded as the band's best. Released on April 28, 1972, Argus reached #3 on the U.K. chart, but stalled at #169 here. I'd seen it in stores, though, and I think I read an article about it in one of my British rock magazines, so I decided to educate myself. Wishbone Ash never had any British pop hits, either, but their brand of melodic progressive rock — with elements of blues and folk — is pretty pleasing to the ears. I was trying to think of something to liken them to, and I thought, "Crosby, Stills, Nash & ... Rush?" I'm talking about Rush from the first half of the '70s, maybe with a dash of Yes and Zeppelin thrown in. However, their voices  — primarily bassist Martin Turner and guitarist Andy Powell — are a little more masculine-sounding than those of Geddy Lee, Jon Anderson, and Robert Plant. Like The Allman Brothers and Thin Lizzy, Wishbone Ash employed twin guitars. For this album and the first five years of the band's existence, those were played by Powell, who is still with the group, and Ted Turner, who left to found CNN and become owner of the Atlanta Braves ... no, that's a different Ted Turner. My top tracks on Argus are "Blowin' Free" and "Time Was." I also enjoyed "Leaf and Stream," "King Will Come," and "Warrior." The remaining cuts, "Sometime World" and "Throw Down the Sword" are nice, too. Yeah, that's only seven songs, but they add up to about 45 minutes of music. It was the free-form '70s, after all. I also like the harder-edged, bluesy "Blind Eye" from the band's debut LP.  
 
1622. Spooky II – Spooky Tooth
Although their styles are a bit different, I'd put British blues-rock act Spooky Tooth in the same category as fellow Brits Wishbone Ash — unusually named artists whom I was aware of but hadn't actually heard until later in life. That wasn't the only similarity: Neither had a U.S. Hot 100 hit or U.K. pop hit, but both had at least eight LPs make the Billboard 200, with the highest-charting one reaching #44 and none others peaking higher than #80. In the case of Spooky Tooth, that album was Spooky Two. Released in 1969, it seems to be the consensus choice as their best effort. Two of the Teeth (if you'll allow me to refer to them as such) went on to significantly greater fame — keyboardist/vocalist Gary Wright (best known for a pair of #2 solo singles in 1976, "Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive") and guitarist Mick Jones (founder and leader of Foreigner, formed in '76). Jones didn't join Spooky Tooth till 1972, so he's not on Spooky Two, but Wright wrote seven of the eight songs, and his vocals and keyboards are a big part of the sound. Whereas Wishbone Ash had two lead guitarists, Spooky Tooth had only one but made up for that with two keyboardist/vocalists — Wright and Mike Harrison. I made it a point to seek out Spooky Two in the 2010s, and I liked it, especially these selections: "Waitin' for the Wind," "Feelin' Bad," "That Was Only Yesterday," "I've Got Enough Heartaches," and "Hangman Hang My Shell on a Tree." Although not a hit, "Feelin' Bad" did bubble under the Billboard Hot 100 at #132. It's interesting that Jones later co-wrote a hit with Foreigner titled "That Was Yesterday," even though he wasn't in Spooky Tooth when they did "That Was Only Yesterday." 
 
1623. Snacktime! - Barenaked Ladies
In February 2015, my wife heard a hilarious tune called "Crazy ABC's" by Barenaked Ladies on Kids Place Live on SiriusXM satellite radio. The song went through the entire alphabet, accompanying each letter with an unusually pronounced and/or spelled word that didn't sound like it corresponded. For example: M for mnemonic, N is for ngomo, O is for Ouija board, P for pneumonia, pterodactyl and psychosis, Q is for qat ..." It became an instant hit with our whole family, and I immediately sought out the album from whence it came. Released in May 2008, Snacktime! featured 24 tracks — about 54 minutes of music. It was their last LP with co-founder Steven Page. Although officially a children's record, there was an abundance for adults to appreciate in the way of wit and musicianship. I even purchased the companion book, which had all the lyrics, plus artwork by Barenaked Ladies keyboardist/guitarist/vocalist Kevin Hearn. In addition to "Crazy ABC's," my favorite songs were "7 8 9," "The Ninjas," "I Can Sing," "Allergies," "A Word for That," "Eraser," and "Food Party." Our kids also liked "Pollywog in a Bog" and "What a Wild Tune."
 
1624. Easter Standard Time - ApologetiX
It seems like almost every artist imaginable (including ApologetiX) has a Christmas album or two ... but what about Easter? Crickets. We released Easter Standard Time, our 39th LP over all, in late March 2015. It featured parodies of The Doobie Brothers, The Eagles, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Joel, Kings of Leon, Los Del Rio, Eddie Money, Gary Numan, Pearl Jam, The Rembrandts, Styx, Survivor, Third Eye Blind, Three Dog Night, Toto, The Wallflowers, and Wings. Like most of our titles, “Easter Standard Time” has multiple meanings. We had considered assembling a collection of old standards (previously released ApologetiX songs) about Passion Week and Easter, but the older songs didn’t match our 2015 standards for production. So we decided to rerecord them. However, we also had other Easter-oriented parodies written over the years that we’d been waiting to record for the first time — songs dealing with parts of the story we hadn’t covered before. Then we wrote more parodies to fill in the gaps. We decided to present the songs in the order in which the events they describe happened (standard time). The United States uses Eastern Standard Time to tell people when the sun rose on a particular day, so we used  Easter Standard Time to tell people when the Son rose on a spectacular day. It's what we originally had in mind when we made Jesus Christ Morningstar in 1998; we just didn’t have enough songs about Passion Week and the Resurrection back then to tell the whole story or fill a whole CD. By 2015, though, we did. We were excited to see this project reach fruition. But if it brings those who hear it into a deeper relationship with Christ, that will be the real fruit. So you could say we hope this album will turn a lot of Easter baskets into fruit baskets.
 
1625. Music Is as Music Does - ApologetiX
The 40th ApologetiX LP, Music Is as Music Does, arrived in late May 2015, which means we were somehow able to release a total of six new LPs in less than a year, starting in mid-June 2014. The others were Singles Group, Loaded 45s, Apoplectic, Unconditional Releases, and Easter Standard Time. Some people think of ApologetiX as little more than a cover band, using parodies as an excuse to play “the devil’s music.” Well, you can’t judge a book by its cover, but you can judge our “covers” by the Book. Jesus said, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24) and “Each tree is recognized by its own fruit” (Luke 6:44). By the time we recorded this album, we had almost a quarter-century of fruit by which to judge this ministry — countless cases of God using our parodies to “reach the lost and teach the rest.” Souls saved. Hearts encouraged. Minds enlightened. The same God who created mankind also created music. People become sinful by what they say and do. Songs become sinful by what they say (lyrics) and do (the feelings/actions they stir up), too. But God can redeem people and make them new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), and He can do the same with songs. When God changes a person, they may look the same, but their heart is changed. When God changes a song, it may sound the same, but its heart is changed, too. You should be able tell a Christian by his or her words and actions. The same criteria should apply to Christian music. To paraphrase Forrest Gump, “Music is as music does” — so open this box of chocolates and see what you get, as you listen to parodies of America, Asia, Bad Company, The Beastie Boys, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Brooks & Dunn, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Quiet Riot, and The Rolling Stones.

If you'd like to donate to the ministry of ApologetiX, there are a couple ways you can do it. 

If you prefer to mail a check or money order, please make it out to "ApologetiX" and send it to: 

ApologetiX
208 Charlemma Drive
Pittsburgh PA 15214-1414

Although the donations are not tax-deductible, they will be received very gratefully and used immediately. Thank you!