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RE: [Worship] Secular Music -- Pro CCM
6/29/98 -0400, Alan wrote:
>>From a musicologist standpoint, I know I've grown by digging through
>the roots of pop music: jazz, early blues, bluegrass, classic-rock to
>modern-rock, country, Texas swing, classical, New Orleans dixieland,
>etc. If I had confined myself to CCM (or any other "category"),
>I think I would be less useful as a church musician, and it would
>be MUCH harder for me to pick up different tunes in various styles.
>Let's face it, one of the challenges in playing contemporary worship
>music is that there is a VAST range of styles available, and musicians
>are constantly learning new songs (and new styles). We can go
>anywhere from country ("New Every Morning"), to gospel ("We Will
>Ride") to horn-driven R&B ("People Just Like Us") to soul ("Nothing
>is As Wonderful") to ole-fashioned R&R (lots of Bob Fitts's songs).
NEWS FLASH: Let it be known that there is a VAST range of styles within the
CCM "category" from country (Susan Ashton), to gospel (CeCe Winans) to R&B
(Anointed) to modern rock (Newsboys) to pop-alternative (Jars of Clay) to
ska (Supertones) to reggae (Christafari) to punk (The Huntingtons) to rap
(True II Society) to ole-fashioned R&R (Big Tent Revival) and there are more
styles.
>If I ever was ever good enough to get signed by a record company
>(that'll be the day - yeah, right :), I think I would prefer to work
>for a secular label, because I don't want to write music that is
>just for the "religious choir".
Jars of Clay, dcTalk and Bob Carlisle--to name just a few--work for both
Christian and secular labels. They started out with a Christian record
company and, because their music is so attractive to everyone, --not just
for the "religious choir" --the secular labels are distributing it now too.
>Frankly, when I've surveyed the CCM scene, I've rarely found an artist
>that is communicating with passion and zeal.
Yikes! How extensive was your survey? Let me come up with a few off the top
of my head as a starting point...
...Steven Curtis Chapman, dcTalk, 4Him, Michael W. Smith, Rebecca St. James,
Ray Boltz, Rich Mullins, BTR, Kevin Prosch, Delirious, Smalltown Poets, The
Sparks, The Supertones...
I find it interesting (and somewhat disheartening) that through this whole
Secular Music thread we've done our best not to "dis" secular music but
we've done a pretty good job of "dissing" Christian music. CCM (Christian
contemporary music) has come along way in a short time in terms of variety
of styles, so much so, that if you like a type of music that the "secular"
artists are putting secular lyrics to, you can probably find the same type
of music in the CCM "category" with lyrics that at the very least have a
positive message--if not blatantly give glory to God.
As said previously, there is really no such thing as "secular" or
"Christian" music--it is the lyric that accompanies the music that is the
defining quality. For me, as far as "what to listen to" goes, there's music
with three types of lyrics: God-glorifying, empty, and evil. The third type
would hopefully be discerned by Christians as something to avoid (Marilyn
Manson, Nine Inch Nails, etc). The second has lyrics that neither focus on
God, nor oppose him and can be, as Alan put it, "fun for a short while." No
real harm here (Celine Dion, Amy Grant's latest album, etc). The difficulty
is that while some "secular" artists sing 'empty' songs, others on the same
radio station (or other songs by the same artist on the same album) may sing
songs that oppose positive Christian values. And then there's the first
category--music with lyrics that glorify God. And, agreed, some discernment
is needed here on occasion as well--you can't just accept it because of
where it's being played or who's singing it.
I don't tell people what to listen to. But I am certainly not adverse to
promoting the good things that are happening in the CCM industry. Music with
lyrics that bring glory to Jesus and speak of the salvation we receive
through Him.
Dave Raakman
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