I think it's an example of Christians uncritically adopting the forms of pop culture and just replacing the content with ostensibly Christian content, without thinking hard enough about the nature and implications of the form itself. Aren't the preference for the next new thing, and the near-worship of youth, inherent in pop culture? Would it be realistic to expect Christian pop culture to be any different?


"Those who defend popular culture summarily dismiss its critics as elitists, which is a category as obviously reprehensible as racist or fascist. But that charge ignores an important fact even as it conceals an essential assumption. The fact is that popular culture is sustained by elites whose guiding hand is not entirely unprejudiced. Since the well-being of these elites is sustained by certain cultural sympathies, they will always amplify certain themes at the cost of others. For example, popular culture is unimaginable without mass-media, which is in turn unimaginable without advertising, which would not survive in a cultural climate that places a premium on modesty, chastity, frugality, simplicity, and contentment. So those virtues will necessarily be alien to popular culture, even if the people wanted them there . . . popular culture is not neutral with regard to the sorts of sensibilities it encourages. Because of the centrality of commercial concerns, popular culture maintains a preferential option for the upbeat, the informal, the new and interesting, not because these are the sorts of virtues that make a better person (let alone a better Christian), but because these are the attributes that make for the best consumers."


From Ken Myers: Is Pop Culture Either?
http://www.mtio.com/articles/aissar42.htm

LOL
Well, it was as Zion Chinese Baptist Church and you know how all those Asians are about photographing stuff.

/racialstereotyping

In fact, dc Talk's 1995 "Jesus Freak" continues to be played on even secular radio stations, from time to time

Really? Where?

Of your 3 examples, I think only the Newsboys are still making music as a band. DC Talk does not exist any more. (I don't think.)

I'm sure there are exceptions. Michael W. Smith and Steven Curtis Chapman are still gonna get their stuff played on CCM radio. But are the kids listening to them? I honestly don't know.

I just think that when it comes to music history, the Christian subculture has a short memory. Same holds true, I think, for literature. The "Christian classics" at my local bookstore are Spurgeon and Lewis and "Pilgrim's Progress."

But I'm open to correction on this.

I just hope we can all agree that, whatever level of memory we have, being equally as "memoried" as the world is not good enough.

I hate to date myself here but when we were simultaneously listening to Larry Norman, and Randy Stonehill, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and Led Zepplin, the production value of the Christian artists albums was pathetic in comparison. The advent of good and available Christian music is a relatively recent event.

Don't forget, secular music has lots and lots of oldies stations; folk music seems mostly to have missed out, but pretty much every other genre from Tin Pan Alley forward has radio stations dedicated to it, and there are plenty of teens and college students who love the music of the '60s, or '70s, or '80s. (One that I know decently well here--at a very conservative Christian college, mind you, and a music major to boot--mostly listens to music that runs in a range from Motown to Jefferson Airplane.) That, I suspect, is what that poster wishes existed for CCM artists.

And I'll grant production values, but early Stonehill, Norman, Heard, etc. is great music anyway.

As much as I hate CCM, and as much as I have no inclination to give it any kind of a break at all, I have to agree with "Former Teenager." In the '70s, well crafted CCM was almost non-existent. The best stuff of the '80s (Petra, early Amy Grant, a few others) was OK. The rest did not deserve to survive.

But it's been about twenty years now since high production value CCM has been available. And in that time I think we have plenty of evidence supporting Jared's main point. (Exhibit 1: Consider the big shift to praise and worship a few years back and what that did to the careers of several CCM musicians who had been doing just fine before.)

Chestertonion Rambler, D.C. Talk etc. came along as the careers of Petra etc. were winding down. They have more of their "half life" left.

And Re: Karl's quote of Ken Myers: What he said! That was a great quote.

I'll have to agree with Former Teenager and Daniel, among others. Daniel's last paragraph in the comment above really hits it.

One frustration I have with discussions of CCM is that people expect it should be more similar to mainstream music than is realistically possible.

For instance: quality. What is the pool of Christian artists and what is the economic market they play in (resources, etc) versus the top artists in mainstream music? It's like comparing a highschool of 400 kids versus a highschool with 2500 kids - which will have the better football team?

Regarding longevity. I can give the perspective of age here. When I was in highschool, other than some rare 50s classics station, the idea of "Classic Rock" hadn't been invented yet (I'm talking about the late 70s here). Our idea of an "oldie" was something the beatles had put out a mere 10 years earlier (for comparison, this would be the equivalent of something put out in 1999).

I remember Classic Rock stations began popping up in the 80s. By then, the hugh shift in music that had it's birth in the late 50s and came of age in the mid 60s finally had aged enough to be classic.

I'd submit that CCM has had a similar shift, starting in about 1995. So it's just now that classic CCM is becoming available. Most of the stuff in the 80s was pretty forgettable. And even if it wasn't, the market just wasn't big enough to finance those artists to the point that they could hang around long enough to become classics. And even though the shift in the mid 90s was pretty big, there's nothing like the sheer volume of artists and songs to choose from versus, say, the heydey of Album Oriented Rock from 1967 - 1979

I do hear JFreak songs on the radio sometimes. But I'm not surprised that the shift to Classic CCM hasn't occurred yet. In the Mainstream music scene, songs written today are not that much different (in many respects) than songs written in 1979. Yes, new elements have entered in, the alternative feel, etc. And new genres have entered in (hip hop, gangsta rap, etc) But the Genre of, say, album oriented rock or MTV rock is not that much different in the last 30 years.

Compare that to the CCM that was being put out there in 1979. Massive shift. Modern CCM-appreciating ears just aren't tuned to 2nd Chapter of Acts stuff (which I love, btw). But a kid who really likes many modern bands can easily listen to the thirty year old music that is the foundation of what the modern bands are playing.

I don't know if this is making much sense. And I don't mean to be a contrarian. And I certainly may be wrong. I just don't think that CCM has marinated long enough, frankly, to have a large set of classics. Although there are some - Shout to the Lord qualifies, for instance (and even got play on AI last season)

i can't share the same feelings since here in the Philippines Who Am I, a six year old song by Casting Crowns is still being overplayed by "mainstream" radio ignoring the latest single. Same thing with MercyMe.(there's no line between christian music and secular music here. if it's good, they'll play it no matter if it's from Hillsong United or Slayer).

and most FM here prefer playing the "old" and "familiar" stuff that's why i don't listen to radio anymore. it's annoying.

and it's more annoying to hear Hillsong United's One Way next to Greenday's Basket Case...

I work for a station that does a bit of older CCM and newer music in its morning drive show -- Mylon, Babbie Mason, and Bart Millard are common examples. I Even heard Keith Green the other morning, so I guess we're an exception at the moment :)

Still, I get the sentiment. A lot of CCM was justified on the basis of evangelization of youth -- and what's the point of remembering a hair metal band from 20 years ago when all of the kids today are into the Indie thing. Also remember -- a fair amount of CCM capitalized on the trends 5 years too late, and usually was forced to sound a lot less edgy thanks to nervous labels and parents.

It also doesn't help that a lot of old CCM, both the good and the bad, was on small labels that either folded years ago or was swallowed up by three of four gigantic labels in the past 15 years....and as much as we like the idea of "Classic CCM," getting those albums by even the more popular ones (who were very lucky if they even went Gold in an era were a lot of popular artists are considered failures if they only go gold) reissued is a small miracle. It's not like some of those guys have the rights to their own music.

It'd be helpful if our stations and fans did less of the youth cult thing. It's one of those places Christian Music should be considerably different from the rest of the music world.

Jared, very good topic. Way to throw it out there.

If God has gifted you with amazing vocal ability and you didn't have the outlet of CCM to "make a living", then we are all stuck with accountants (or whatever occupation) who sing a moving rendition of "at the cross" or "He lives" (seeing how there are no new songs being injected into the Church) on Sundays. That was so - yawnnnn - beautiful. I think I'll stay home and mow the yard next Sunday (I was a bit dramatic to make a point).

Chris Tomlin, a CCM artist, has about 3 or 4 modern songs being sung in many Church's currently.

Danny Gokey, one of American Idol's top 3 and who is supposedly a devote Christian is an amazing singer who I hope goes onto to being a CCM artist. He will probably be pulled into a bigger label and create a "Jesus takes the wheel" type album but the bigger step of faith for Danny would be for him to be a CCM artist.

Jeff, if you're looking for something you can't find, check out Second Spin--they get an enormous variety of stuff through. To give you one example, after Bill posted on the group Clear, I picked up their first album from Second Spin for a couple bucks. (I haven't yet seen "Follow the Narrow" when I've checked.)

And I'm another one who remembers a lot of superb Christian singers and groups whose music merits (re)discovery by younger folks in the church--to add a few more, Mark Heard, The Choir, Adam Again, Daniel Amos/DA/da, Charlie Peacock, The 77s, Vigilantes of Love, Steve Scott, Vector, Bob Bennett . . . that's just off the top of my head.

To the point of older Christian music I hold the opposite view of how you see it. All of the stuff from the 90s sounded the same to me and therefore I never really got into Christian music that much. To the quoted articles point about not making it big in Christian music, I've come to my own understanding about that. I play in my church's praise band and we're decent but we do make our mistakes with our performances. I was thinking one day why I couldn't be is good as at guitar as some other guitarist both Christian & secular. Just think how much better I could reach people if I had been blessed with the same guitar skills as Eddie Van Halen or Dave Matthews but then I realized, my specific role was not to be on a stage in front of tens of thousands of people but more along the lines of a stage of about 50-100. Bottom line, if we were all the best at whatever we did and everyone was famous, we wouldn't have anyone to fill up our local churches and minister to those who just can't make it to large stadiums and coliseums on a regular basis.