I’ve been wanting to write on this subject for some time, especially following Jim’s comments that one Sunday and subsequent comments and discussions that followed. I mentioned in an earlier post/comment that I really don’t listen to "Christian" music stations much anymore because of the poor quality of music that I hear coming from them. Granted, as with any art form, music is to the ears as beauty is to the eyes of the beholder, but seriously, "Christian" music that you hear on the radio truly lacks any real quality. It may have zeal, its intentions may be honorable, but, to quote one of the greats, "it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing." So few songs provoke a "wow". And I’m speaking lyrically as well as musically. They’re SO blah!
As I am wont to do when I come across discussions/articles/anything that may pique my interest, I googled "Christian Music" when I saw Stevie’s post and came across an assortment of articles/discussions, etc. I also came across a site that was referenced some time back in another post (by Mr. Eck, I believe…), CCM Patrol. It’s actually now called "Patrol Magazine" and I have found it very interesting in the past. Good articles, discussions on all sorts of music. As I was searching through that site, I came across a two-part interview with Derek Webb which I found very enlightening. This can give those of you who do not know Mr. Webb, some background. The second part discusses his views of the music industry, including "Christian" music and I really enjoyed what he said, particularly in response to this question:
Patrol: You’ve said before that selling music based on your worldview doesn’t make sense, and the more you do it the less sense it makes. Can you explain that?
Webb: Yeah. Christian music is the only genre of music that I can find that is literally marketed and distributed solely based on the worldview of the artist. And I don’t think that that makes any sense. I’ll give you an example of why: You go to one of these big Christian music festivals and, you’re likely to see like a punk band with a horn section play, and then you’re going to see someone on acoustic guitar singing worship songs, and then you’re going to see somebody who your parents would listen to, some kind of contemporary singer singing to background track, and then you’re going to see this heavy metal screamo band. It just doesn’t make any sense, stylistically.
Christian music is not a style of music, it’s a statement about the belief of an artist, kind of, and it’s barely that any more. To me it just doesn’t make sense to categorize artists based on what they believe, I think it would make a lot more sense, and it would be more consistent with the belief of Christian artists, to be honest, to categorize based on what style of music they play and allow them to move in and out of different types of music that all the artists’ have. In the Bible you don’t see all of Jesus’ followers huddling and mingling together . . You see people in the market places and in the town squares having discussions and conversations along with all these people with all these different worldviews. They’re part of the fabric of the culture, they’re not a separate sub-culture.
Right now in the music world, the “marketplace and town squares” is the Billboard Top 200. Yet you see few Christian artists really working hard enough and doing good enough art to be in that bigger worldview conversation that’s happening. Instead you see them sort of relegated to this kind of meaningless little Christian chart, well it’s like since we’re not good enough to compete with the real music, the real general market music, the big worldview discussions happening. We’re going to have our own awards ceremonies, the Dove Awards, or our little radio stations, our own little charts, and our own little world to make ourselves feel significant because ultimately the art we’re making just isn’t earning ourselves a seat at the table to really communicate what we believe by way of great art.
I think it’d be a great thing to see the whole Christian music industry go away, and have to see all these so-called Christian artists kind of scatter and find for themselves a place to make music in the real world, or discover that if they’re not good enough to make it, maybe someone’s been enabling them for some years by allowing them to have a career in Christian music when they couldn’t have a music career outside of it. Because it’s a piece of cake to get a Christian record deal. I could get you a Christian music deal, I could get my neighbor who can’t carry a tune a Christian record deal. If they could articulate their beliefs in such a way to satisfy a record company, then it doesn’t matter the music can be terrible. And that’s such a bad policy.
So, MaryAnn, why go look for a Christian version of Mahavishnu Orchestra? Based on the songs that I have listened to, they’re great. Enjoy them! Why bother with a second-rate substitute?
As for secular music before and after Church, I guess it would have to do with the selections. I would probably have a problem if the Sex Pistols were played (of course, I probably wouldn’t know they were playing since I don’t really know their music), but there is an abundance of GOOD music from which you could choose, regardless the genre. I so totally agree with Derek Webb that we really need to get out of this second-rate sub-culture that we’ve created and get back to a level where we can actually contend with the current culture, regardless the art form.
The Kingdom is here and not yet. We’re ambassadors of that Kingdom, and ambassadors don’t hide away. They represent. As representatives of the Kingdom, shouldn’t we engage the culture to which we’ve been delegated and begin redeeming that to which we’ve been sent, including the arts of which music is a part?
All Things Elda 