Argyle Park - Reception and Controversy

Reception and Controversy

Argyle Park courted controversy from the time of their first appearance, on the Steve Taylor tribute album, being criticized for their subtle changing of the meaning of the song by way of leaving out significant portions of Taylor's original lyrics. Though signed to a Christian record label, Argyle Park did not display any overtly religious themes on their album. The lyrics rather dealt with things such as suffering, pain, bitterness, violent emotions, being betrayed and taken advantage of, and losing faith in one's role models, themes summed up by Buka as "man putting too much faith in other men and men will always let you down". In so doing, Argyle Park flaunted the general expectation within the Christian music industry that bands will be positive and evangelistic. This, along with the generally dark image of the band, led to much of the criticism that Argyle Park faced from within the underground Christian music scene and music press. Listeners heavily and openly criticized the band and band members in online message boards and via email, causing the members personal insult to the point that they disbanded.

These same issues arose again when the band reformed as AP2. The members expressed disappointment, puzzlement, and frustration at the constant criticism of Argyle Park, which they said came only from within the Christian music scene, but were never apologetic, stating "there are enough fluff bands out there anyway We're writing about real issues that have a real impact" and even anticipated the return of these criticisms with the release of AP2's album. Online debates and slander continued long after the disbanding of AP2, causing former members to occasionally post angry retorts and chastisements on the message boards and, if one post by Buka was to be believed, caused the band to scrap a proposed tenth anniversary remix project in 2004.

Apart from all the controversies surrounding both incarnations of Argyle Park, however, their albums have been massively popular within the genre and subgenres of Christian industrial and electronic music. A wide variety of bands that have appeared on the scene have cited Argyle Park and AP2 as influences in their biographies and press releases. Tribute albums have been proposed at various times, with at least a handful of cover songs recorded. The more recent success of Klayton's Celldweller has also resulted in renewed interest in his older projects, including both Argyle Park albums.