“In general, I hate Christian rock music. But now I have heard the songs of Derek Webb. Webb’s songs are free of the pietistic sentimentality that usually characterizes popular Christian music. His music, like the Gospel, is at once hard, edgy, and beautiful.”
—Stanley Hauerwas, author, educator, Duke Divinity School
9 comments:
why do you suppose it is that christian music is so slighted? I know, myself, that i have this visceral reaction to the very term. I categorically will not listen to anything that falls remotely into that category. But i can't cite any reason why I won't, or tell you what sparked that feeling in me.
My earliest memory of it was sometime in high school, when i girl i had a crush on and I exchanged walkmans (walkmen?) one morning in the lunchroom before school. She had me listen to "jesus freak" by dc talk, and i had her listen to some scandalous liz phair song. I didn't have a ton of game back then, obviously. But i guess i can blame DC talk for me not giving christian music any credit. And probably creed, who tried to hide the fact they were christian, because scott stapp thinks he's jesus.
Anon,
For me it is two-fold:
1. It's production usually sucks.
2. Lyrically it usually sucks.
The production isn't great, but the music of Keith Green, probably due to his life even more than the music, is outstanding. I really enjoy Fernando Ortega's hymns as well. Beyond that, give me Bob Dylan, Andrew Calhoun, and most of your left of center singer-songwriters.
There are numerous reasons why "Christian" music sucks. Speaking as a Christian, I'd just like to say that there's nothing Christian about shoddy, predictable music.
Here are some artist I've found who have varying degrees of association with the "Christian" music industry, but who are very talented artists who create music with artistic integrity:
Over the Rhine
Bill Mallonee
Luxury
Half Handed Cloud
Danielson Famile
Pedro the Lion
Sufjan Stevens
Mute Math
Starflyer 59
Joy Electric
The Choir
Adam Again (now defunct)
The 77's
Daniel Amos
The Lost Dogs
Mike Knott
Life Savers Underground (LSU)
Six Pence None the Richer
Charlie Peacock
Sarah Masen
I would add to your list the band Duvall, fronted by former Smoking Popes lead man Josh Caterer. The line-up has constantly been in flux, but they have a good pop-driven sound. Their full-length, Volume and Density is available on Asian Man Records, as is (I think) a really, really good Christmas album.
as a very devoted sufjan fan, i was aware of him being mildly christian, but would argue that if you put the lyrics of any song from illinoise up against thos of your derek webb, you wouldn't find any of the overt imagery or blatant references to christ with sufjan. Also, he made an entire album of songs relating to the zodiac.
After more thought about the subject, I've begun to think that it's more a question of subject matter. I subscribe to the "high fidelity" school of pop music - namely that 98% of good songs are about heartbreak, rejection, or loss. And i think as a fairly dejected, quarter-life crisis sufferer, i appreciate those themes in music, and have come to accept them. Christian music, on the other hand, is far too uplifting for me. Like most of america, i don't want to be cheered up, i want to see the dregs of existence. This is why so much of our entertainment centers on sex, violence, crime, heartbreak, etc. Even the passion of the christ had to have an uber violent crucifixition scene. It's just what the people want from entertainment. We save being saved for sundays only ;)
anon,
Thanks so much for your comments. I appreciate and relate to your sentiments. I wonder if perhaps your understanding of what Christianity is about is not a bit off. One of the great heartaches (and frustrations!) of my life is the widespread misapprehension of the essence of Christianity.
You talk about "sex, violence, crime, heartbreak", "rejection and loss", "the dregs of existence" as if those are aspects of life outside of or foreign to Christianity. No doubt many Christians and churches are guilty of giving that impression. But in my experience (and in the understanding of the great bulk of Christians who've practiced our faith in diverse regions and times for two thousand plus years) Christianity and the life of the Christian is all about those things.
Sex, violence, crime, heartbreak, rejection, loss... man, you just described 50% of my experience living life as a Christian. In addition there is passion, drama, love, mercy, grace, mystery and longing. Not only in our lives, but the Grand Story, the Redemptive Drama that gives shape to our faith. (I still maintain that the dirtiest book sold in any Christian bookstore is the Bible).
I think a part of what is unsatisfying about the music being produced by the "Christian" music industry is that not much of it respects the complexity of life as a Christian who, while experiencing redemption (being "saved") is doing so in a world and a life that is both beautiful and broken. The problem is that the Christian music iNdustry in general, produces art from the perspective that "being saved" is just for Sunday. This allows no room for the "Christian" expression of joy in the beauty of the world or the expression of sorrow, grief and indignance over the brokenness of the world. What is left is a white bread, sugary-sweet, watered down, pseudo-religious, kum-bah-ya kind of Christianity that has been so neutered and nullified that it no longer looks anything like the "Christ" we are named for.
Any attempt (by Christians or non-Christians) to compartmentalize our lives in such a way that confines Christ to one "sunday" segment or slice of the pie, will always produce an experience and understanding of Christianity that is distorted, unattractive and ultimately unfulfilling.
If you are in the central Ohio area, I'd love it if you could visit our church and hang out with us sometime. We are attempting to forge lives wholly forged by Christ and his message. In this view, the sex, violence, crime, heartbreak, rejection and loss all have their place. As does, passion, truth, beauty, brokenness, mystery, grace and love.
Here's to seeing the big picture.
Peace.
BTW, Seven Swans is an album all about the transfiguration of Christ.
If you only know one or two things about Sufjan Stevens, chances are the second is that he is a practising Christian who isn't afraid to let his beliefs impact upon his work. "If someone asked, I would say that I was born again. I would look you right in the eye and say it."
"I don't know anything about CCM. I'm not an evangelist. I'm a songwriter and a storyteller. If that story happens to be about Christ, then perhaps, in some odd semantic way, the song could be termed 'evangelical'. I gladly accept that. I also sing about divorce. And murder. And adultery. I sing about chickens and war and bathrooms. In my mind, the gospel is not something to pander and pawn off like a diet soda drink. There is no product. There is no selling point."
"This is what it means to be born again: to fully and completely disengage with the preconceptions and preoccupations of the adult world and its religions, to dismantle all laws - of physics and society - and yield yourself to the birth canal, and what comes after, in which everything begins to shake and tremble with all senses fully turned to the centre of the universe, the creator, God the Father, in whose cultivation we begin to know and understand our true selves, our real selves, as a reflection of God's image, his creation, like newborn babies, full, fresh, suckling, elated and laughing at everything. But honestly, I have no idea how this relates to my music. I hate talking about this stuff."
"I'd like to spend less time talking about God and more time being in God's presence. I think that would put an end to this conversation, once and for all."
that's my kind of christian
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