Onward (inaudible) Soldiers
There was a time when I was born again, and listened to nothing but Christian music. I was born again out of convenience, I think. I was young and frightened, and joining the army. No matter what went down in the next four years, I was going to heaven, and my those who trespassed against me were going to hell. Contemporary Christian music reminded me of that. Music, and my air blown "Radical For Jesus" muscle T. Years later, an honorable discharge in hand, I went the opposite direction for awhile. Nirvana was much more alluring than Bob Bennett or Benny Hester and Phil Keaggy. I traded the muscle T in for the flannel shirt, shorts, and well, I already had the combat boots. After I had had some success in the secular music business, my mother pushed a Christian band from her church on me. They had made a "demo" (her parenthesis) and would I mind listening? "Mom, I can't really do anything for them..." I begin, but see in her eyes a little embarrassment for asking..."but I'll give it a listen. What's it sound like?" "It sounds kinda fancy, " she replies, sure that this is as adequate a description as 'rocking' or 'mellow'. At least she didn't reply "Jazzy", which mom throws out on most occasions. Ironically enough, 'jazzy' to her has nothing to do with music. A loud, colorful shirt would be deemed to 'jazzy' for church. So, I give the demo a listen, and I'll be damned. It does sound 'fancy'. Just kidding. Seriously, the thought of this band giving my mother a cassette tape for me to listen is as ridiculous as her actually listening to it to deem it worthy of categorizing. For the record, and sorry God; it wasn't good. In fact, like the majority of Contemporary Christian music, it's really bad. What makes Christian music bad? That's one for the ages. In fact, he songs that had been written for the ages, the hymns, are great songs. Simple melodies with somewhat simple lyrics, is what makes these songs so great. The problem with today's Contemporary Christian music is that it usually tries to be something that it is not. In an attempt to sell Christian music (yes - it is BIG business), songwriters will turn to pop radio to find the adequate hooks to draw the listener in. It's hard to listen to a keyboard sample from Snoop with the lyric "I lift my arms to the Lord". (Side note: I call him Snoop, not because we are on a first name basis, he and I, but because I am unsure how many g's he uses in "Dog.") Ambiguity is the key in a lyric when you really want to convert someone. Some bands have been tricking kids into Christianity for a decade. They draw draw them in poetically. "I love you more than...." "My love for you is...." has an infinite number of endings. Why mention God at all? They know not to mention God too much. Like the film ratings board counting the f-bombs in a movie, I imagine that there are Christian label execs out there that are counting the times God is mentioned. Even one mention, and those who have been flipping through the stations thinking they were listening to a secular station, will change the channel. "I had no idea I was singing about 'God!!'", they might say, completely ignoring the fact that it very well may be a good song. (Unfortunately, in most cases, it's not.) Is a lyric that does not mention God really Christian? "You have to be hot or cold. You can't get into heaven being luke warm, " is what I heard as a child, growing up in a pseudo Christian region. If you aren't that obnoxious person at a party who finds ways to drop a "praise the Lord" into every day conversations, then, you're probably going to have to answer for it later. How hot is hot? How cold is cold? The guys with a little mustard on their chin down on the beach, dressed like Exedor from Mork and Mindy, yelling "Repent!" into their bullhorns, are they going to heaven? Seems like they would be able to ride the express train. I'm content listening to any music with a positive or negative message. I know who I am, and what I believe. Just give me a simple melody and a strong lyric, and I'm there with you. Christianity will NEVER be cool, but it may have a moment where it is hip again. It came close with the "Jesus is my home-boy" T- shirts a few years back. What Christianity needs is the equivalent of that mentality in a song. Meanwhile, Bob and Benny and Phil will be put back into rotation about every 4 years or so. Less for the search for answers, mostly for nostalgia. And the muscle T? I threw it away when the muscles wore out.
Comments (19)
Ambiguity is the best way to kick off a comment. Hmmm...was he or she praising the post or slamming it? That's for you to decide...
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Just being silly because this was actually quite personal and I appreciate your honesty in sharing. As a broadcast programmer, I never had a problem with music that had lyrical content pertaining to God. But guess what? A lot of DJs did. Don't ask me why. We play songs of love and heartbreak. Songs about lovers and friends. Music praising children and parents but if we ended up playing a song about God, we were pushing our beliefs onto the public? How come we could play "John The Revelator" off of the "Blues Brothers 2000" soundtrack or "I Still Haven't Found What I Was Looking For" from the biggest album about faith in the eighties (U2's still best selling album "The Joshua Tree") without a word from a listener or staff member but when early Amy Grant or tracks from former America member Dan Peek like his wonderful "All Things Are Possible" end up on the playlist, people freak out?
It's interesting that the hippest one in the room is usually the one to be close minded and thinks that only songs like John Lennon's classic "Imagine" are acceptable. Which reminds me of that infamous Clear Channel memo that was leaked a week after September 11th that listed songs that were considered over the line for Americans to hear during our country's tragic time. "Imagine" was on the list as was "Bridge Over Troubled Water" from Simon and Garfunkel. What were they thinking? Music is one of the many forms of artful self expression that can lift the human spirt. Not all music appeals to all people. Some Christian rock stations sound almost like your neighborhood deviant alternative rock station but not quite. It's sort of like CBS before getting David Letterman from NBC running all of those hour dramas in the late night slot that were all produced in Canada and had that Canadian feel that didn't translate to American audiences. They had that video look like a daytime soap. It wasn't the same experience as regular prime time programming (fast forward to years later...most shows and films are now shot in Canada). Perhaps that's how some people perceive "gospel" music today.
It's not a matter of it being "cool". The media has made everything such a niche that all of the genres will never have anything regarded as truly hip. The public knows in their hearts that whoever is on the cover of Spin, Rolling Stone or even People isn't truly worth the "cool" factor. We are being marketed to on a daily basis and much more in our face than ever before. The gospel music industry knows that the public is fickle but at least they actually still try to nuture most of their artists where the major labels dealing with their secular artists are no longer interested. There are exceptions but the numbers are small compared to twenty-five years ago.
Okay...I'm rambling and off your original subject. Is a lyric that does not mention God really Christian? Sure...why not? A little ambiguity to end this comment.
: = )
In response to slrevare passing on the link from Snopes about the memo being a hoax. I was aware that the media had a field day but I was among those programmers receiving those "suggested song drop" emails and it was quite a heated discussion among those of us in our region. There is more to the story than either the media or Snopes can convey.
...and now back to our regular programming.
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