Learning about Christian Rock.

October 4, 2005 9:16 AM

I am wanting to learn more about Christian Rock. The artists, the industry players, the ideology, the economics. Many questions inside.

Who are considered the most critically acclaimed artists currently in the field. Many fans and music snob types (i use this as a term of endearment--I am one, too) speak highly of Sufjan Stevens (suprisingly good) and Pedro the Lion. Any others getting similar buzz?

Can anyone point me toward any essays, articles, or critiques of Xtian Rock (both for or against)? Level-headed secular views are most desired. All my searches seem to pull up rants by Uber-xtians of the "Christian Rock is a tool of Satan to trick you" variety.

Any sources about Xtian rock as an industry? How big is it? How much money is moving around? Who are the big players?

Are there any artists currently on the mainstream who came from the Xtian Rock circuit? Did they get there by secularizing their music? Are there any that are really obvious about it (like Creed was)?

Anyone know anything anecdotally about Xtian artists acting "less than Christian"? Drugs, excessive drinking, groupies on tour sort of thing?

Any one know of any bands or artists who crossed over from secular to Xtian rock as they thought it would improve their chances of commercial success?


It is suprisingly difficult to research this stuff, as I am so outside this scene I can't even search coherently. Any guidance for my research would be of great help.

posted by sourwookie to media & arts (23 comments total)

The only thing I can offer is that Casting Crowns is a big favorite with my 16 year old son and some of his friends.
posted by maurice at 9:25 AM on October 4, 2005

Two anecdotes:

There was a guy in a group a couple years back who got sent up the river for having sex with an underage girl. Can't remember the name of the band for the life of me.

I did an article on the Newsboys about ten years ago and spent some time with the singer, Peter. I asked him why every song had to be about God and Jesus. Why not just one or two and then a song about a girl, a car, etc. He said something about how it's God that motivates him to write and that that comes through when he sits down with a pen. He went on to say that basically that's his job in this genre. I'm paraphrasing and putting words in his mouth, but I took it to mean that it's all part of the game. Sort of like Slayer -- you know what you're going to get and they know they've got a real limited pool of topics when it comes to songwriting.

They played to about 3000 people and hung out after the show in the auditorium to shake hands and autograph stuff for fans. The whole band. They were very friendly and accessible.
posted by Atom12 at 10:10 AM on October 4, 2005

Industry players: Word and Sparrow Music. Used to be independents, now subsumed by larger studios.

Another place to start might be the Dove Awards, which are the CCM equivalent of the Grammys. Also look at the WOW! Hits releases, which have the "top" CCM releases.

Switchfoot and Third Day are currently popular in my daughter's youth group. I'm not up on the current CCM scene, but since Rich Mullins died, there doesn't seem to be much of the hard rock CCM.

Jars of Clay and Sixpence None the Richer are CCM ->"mainstream" acts. Steve Wariner has had a few mainstream hits, as has Amy Grant, although I think they're a little on the easy side of rock.
posted by jlkr at 10:19 AM on October 4, 2005

I think Sufjan and Pedro the Lion tend to term themselves as muscians who are Christians. I don't think either of their music falls into the 'Christian Rock' category like some of the others mention.
posted by tayknight at 10:29 AM on October 4, 2005

I was a big advocate for Christian Rock (or Contemporary Christian Music, as it was called) back in the late 80s. My first concert was a Petra show in 1985 (the "Beat The System" tour). At the time, Petra had been recording since the early 70s. Their music was surprisingly good, sounding a bit like early Boston with a keyboard bent toward Yes. Earlier records remind me more of Kansas or ELO. Their lead singer at the time was a fellow named Greg X. Volz who had a tremendous range. If I remember right, they closed out their concerts with "God Gave Rock & Roll To You." A couple of years later, Volz left for a solo career and Petra picked up John Schlitt. Schlitt had a secular rock background, as he was lead singer for Head East. The subsequent albums were a bit more popular, leading to a few music videos and some Christian radio airplay. This was quite a change from the "Christian Rockers Are Wolves in Sheep's Clothing" mood of 1985.

Mylon LeFevre was another favorite. LeFevre came from a religious background, a family of gospel musicians, but left that behind for a career in straight rock -- mostly as a studio musician. You can see LeFevre's name in the end credits for The Who's Tommy. But as people do, Mylon came back to the fold and brought his rock & roll with him. The mid 80s albums are pretty good, actually.

I keep mentioning 1985 because that was the big year for Christian Rock in my estimation. In that year, Petra, Mylon LeFevre, Amy Grant & Russ Taff (formerly of The Imperials) had their first big major abel releases. If I recall correctly, all of them were on A&M (or some label there-under). And what made these releases important was that they were actually well-produced and mostly original. This was huge, because a common criticism -- then and now -- of Christian Rock is that it is incredibly derivative of secular music, usually by a factor of two or three years.

Carman, however, practically ruined my entire fascination with the genre. I attended one of his concerts and -- as was common for any CCM show -- there was the informal alter call. The music drops low, the singer starts preaching, hands get raised to heaven. And if you felt the spirit move, there were volunteers to talk to and to pray with you. Overall, much like church. But Carman was listing off sins that his audience might want to put in God's hands. Drinking. Not respecting family. So on and so forth. Then he says something like, "And if you've succumbed and let yourself be taken in by seemingly harmless games like Dungeons & Dragons" ...

That was it for me. I knew myself. I knew that D&D was only a game. I knew that I wasn't evil. And at that moment, I knew that this man was more of a carnival barker than any preacher.

These days, it is not really worth it to keep up with Christian Rock. I still have a Petra CD or two, but that's mostly for the sake of nostalgia. In the past few years, I've noticed a handful of decent musicians. Chris Rice has some brilliant lyrics, for instance. And I've been way into Over The Rhine for over a decade, though their brand of Christian music is far more honest than most. Their's is good music made by people that happen to be Christian ... and that makes a big difference.
posted by grabbingsand at 10:46 AM on October 4, 2005

i would also add that not all of these bands fit into the mainstream and there is a strong following for bands such as haste the day and project 86 which draw heavily from hardcore/punk influences and have zero mainstream commercial potential. see also, the christcore
posted by whatitis at 10:59 AM on October 4, 2005

but since Rich Mullins died, there doesn't seem to be much of the hard rock CCM.
I'm probably reading things wrong, but you make it sound like Rich Mullins was on the hard rock scene, though he was definitely on the praise & worship scene.
As far as xian music goes, I find it's generally divided into two areas: 1) praise and worship (Rich Mullins, Chris Rice, etc) and 2) the more rock-oriented xian music (DC Talk to name one) with some cross-overs like Jars of Clay. If you're looking for specific xian music, pretty much every genre has some bands with musical talent. The trick is not getting caught up in acts that sound identical, which exactly what is how things go on the local radio station. They really play the same 15-20 song set over and over and over with a few other ones thrown in. And those 15-20 songs are all the tame, praise & worship style songs (not to say they're bad, but imagine hearing teeny-bop music nonstop with xian lyrics and you have our local xian radio station).
posted by jmd82 at 11:16 AM on October 4, 2005

I haven't been a serious listener of Christian music for perhaps four years, but I recall the scene was very rock - alt-rock driven in the late 90s, with DC Talk, the Newsboys and such. The up-and-comer was Delirious, a British band that took the praise and worship style found in Evangelical churches and took it to the concert halls. Their songs were solid and I think spawned a new genre of praise and worship, which really did seem to get left behind after Rich Mullins passed on.

I'm not sure what's up with all of that now, but I remember a Delirious concert that had the double effect of being in a great church service and an arena full of rabid fans, all at the same time.
posted by Happydaz at 11:26 AM on October 4, 2005

MxPx is/was (?) a Christian pop punk band. Their big hit/MTV video ("Chick Magnet") from a few years ago was pretty secular and I don't remember hearing anything about them being a Christian band as they became more and more popular. They were on Tooth & Nail Records, which is a Christian punk label, but I think they moved to a major just before going mainstream.

(BTW, I wish I didn't know this much about the band, because I think they suck.)
posted by mullacc at 11:36 AM on October 4, 2005

Ok, we used to get serviced by Tooth and Nail, which is contemporary punk rock/metal with a Christian bent to it. Some of it was interesting, in that I had no idea that MXPX was Christian until I got some of the promo material and pieced it together. (One of the obnoxious things about Tooth and Nail was how they were all subrosa about the Christianity). But if you're looking for more "edgy" Christian music, that's a good place to start.
It is a huge business, especially in Nashville. I did an internship there a couple years back and a lot of what we talked about was the Christian market. It does mad business, to the point that a lot of country artists try to cross over into the Christian market. I think it has to do with the fact that once you can get your albums stamped as God approved, there is a whole market who won't buy anything but and are hungry for things that sound hip.
Oh, and on the bad behavior? Gary Chapman, Amy Grant's ex-husband, beat the hell out of her.
posted by klangklangston at 11:36 AM on October 4, 2005

Heh. Mullacc and I got crossed on preview, obviously.
posted by klangklangston at 11:37 AM on October 4, 2005

I used to really dig Altar Boys and Pat Nobody. They were Xtian punk outfits in the late 80s. Then I saw the light: the devil has all the good music.
posted by mds35 at 11:54 AM on October 4, 2005

Check out CCM Magazine - they've been around since I was in the biz in the late '70s.
posted by DandyRandy at 12:26 PM on October 4, 2005

There are as many genres in christian music today as there are in secular music. Incidentally, it's true that Pedro the Lion and Sufjan Stevens aren't part of that - they're musicians who are also christians. Add Mae to that list, too.

Switchfoot has had a lot of success in the christian to secular crossover recently.

Add Rocketown Records to the list of major players in the industry. The label is owned by another big player, Michael W. Smith.

In addition to CCM Magazine, you might want to check out the progressive culture portion of Relevant Magazine for the up and coming news in xian music (you'll also find a ton of excellent articles that might fit what you're looking for, and I'm not just saying that because I freelance for 'em).

A couple of old (but huge at the time) scandalous annecdotes:

In (I think) 1994, Michael English (an incredibly popular xian singer at the time) confessed to an affair with Marabeth Jordan, who was part of a popular trio called First Call. He'd just won 6 Dove Awards, which he relinquished when he announced the affair. They were both married, and she ended up pregnant. It effectively ended both careers. I remember how quickly all of his CDs were yanked from the shelves at xian music/bookstores. He tried to come back, but I think the attempt flopped.

This happened with Sandi Patty, too. She's one of the best known/loved P&W powerhouses in the christian music industry, and in the '90s, she confessed a long standing affair with a member of her backup team (here's the Wiki entry on her). She was actually able to make a successful comeback.

Jennifer Knapp was incredibly popular in the alt folk genre of christian music starting in the late '90s. She sort of just disappeared without warning a couple of years ago, and then it was announced that she left her company. Not totally scandalous, but a little weird, considering how popular she was.

I could go on (and on and on - I was raised on contemporary christian, gospel, and p&w, and have relatives in the industry), but in the interest of not boring everyone to death, I'll stop now ;-).
posted by mewithoutyou at 12:32 PM on October 4, 2005

I've not seen it, but i've heard good things about the documentary Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?, which is a look at the Cornerstone Music Festival with commentary (that I'd assume is critical) by Steve Albini and Punk Planet's Dan Sinker. Here's a review in The Revealer.
posted by verysleeping at 12:48 PM on October 4, 2005

Ok, we used to get serviced by Tooth and Nail

Please 'splain, because that sounds very naughty...
posted by mkultra at 1:48 PM on October 4, 2005

Never understood how they got past the whole 'moneychangers in the temple' thing.

And wasn't Jessica Simpson a Christian singer to begin with, but her breasts were too large?
posted by The Jesse Helms at 2:05 PM on October 4, 2005

You really have to check out Lift to Experience. Their only release to date is an epic double album detailing the coming Apocalypse - amazing stuff. Lead singer Josh Pearson has similarly themed solo album out soon.
posted by oh pollo! at 3:11 PM on October 4, 2005

If you're looking for something with more of a psychotic freak folk cultish kind of vibe, you might want to give a listen to The Danielson Famile.


posted by gigawhat? at 3:14 PM on October 4, 2005

There are some interesting articles at Thunderstruck.
posted by belladonna at 4:33 PM on October 4, 2005

Serviced=sent promo material.
The Doves are Christian too. They were weird and gothy, then the lead singer got hit with the religion stick. His song "I'm Saved" is actually really good.
16 Horsepower are also Christian and really good, even if they are creepy as hell.
posted by klangklangston at 5:42 PM on October 4, 2005

Switchfoot crossed over, as did POD. Evanescence was apparantly signed to a Christian label at one point.

And I've been way into Over The Rhine for over a decade, though their brand of Christian music is far more honest than most. Their's is good music made by people that happen to be Christian ... and that makes a big difference.

Definitely. For more in this vein, check out Caedmon's Call (and former lead singer Derek Webb).

Steve Taylor was a major player in the 80s, then moved to producing records, mostly with the Newsboys (and wrote most of their lyrics), and had a record label named Squint for a while, which Sixpence None The Richer was signed to. He's been rumoured to be working on another solo album (the last was Jesus Is For Losers in 1992), but who knows. I haven't been paying attention lately, so I'm not sure what's become of him.
posted by heatherann at 6:10 PM on October 4, 2005

Second Over The Rhine. And I've never heard the Danielson Famile, but the Rick Moody article about them in the June issue of the Believer made them sound interesting.
posted by Vidiot at 9:04 PM on October 4, 2005