So a friend of mine recently sent me a Huffington Post article about the recent Passion conference, Chris Tomlin, and Christian rock in general. It was basically saying that Christian rock is finding a niche, citing Tomlin's two albums on Billboard's top 20 last month.
It was interesting enough, but it's not exactly news to those in a Christian community that David Crowder, Matt Redman, and Chris Tomlin are popular. The comments on this article though, I found particularly interesting.
There were a couple of people who were happy to see something about Christian music in a secular news source. But mostly people were grumbling. They were complaining about how Christian music sucks, doesn't sound good, is too cheesy, is lyrically too limited, is like love songs that just insert the name "Jesus." What got to me most, though, were the comments about "what rock music is supposed to be."
Rock is about rebellion!
Rock is supposed to be about sex and drugs and resisting repression - Christian music only promotes more repression under a religion!
Rock is about resisting conformity and Christianity is all about conformity!
From what I can tell, those commenters whose memories stretch back to the late 70s-early 80s believe rock is all about rebellion. Those whose memories extend to the early 70s might believe rock is about sex and drugs and individual freedoms. There were a few who apparently remember all the way back to the late 60s and claim that rock is also about love, joy, peace, and harmony (and who further understand that in many ways Christian rock does reflect those values).
Now, I will concede a few points to the naysayers. There is a subgenre of Christian rock, "Praise & Worship" (I find that the ampersand is an important feature here), which can sound quite cheesy. In which the chorus are repeated ad nauseum like a mantra that rarely changes meaning or emotion - that is, until the band drops out and we find ourselves singing a cappella and can really feel the Spirit moving…that is, until the band comes back in louder than ever and we realize, "Oh, THAT'S when the Spirit's supposed to start moving, I get it!" Most of all, the genre of Praise & Worship IS quite lyrically challenged, because frankly, there's only so much to say. We've recently taken to lifting the lyrics of old hymns, changing the melody, and then writing a new chorus just to mix it up. All this is to say nothing of one of my favorite trends (insert eyeroll), adding the line "Who was, and is, and is to come," after almost any reference to Jesus, Christ, or Lord, which is meant to present Christ's timelessness and eternal presence, but which I suspect is truly only a filler where the creative process leaves a gap.
[NOTE: Unresolved issues unrelated to songwriting - I wonder why so few worship leaders are women. And I wonder, if Tomlin and others are sincere when they say their image isn't important and that they don't "want people staring" at them while they sing, why they insist on going into their middle ages wearing clothes that look like they came from Abercrombie & Fitch and spiking their highlighted hair with so much gel.]
Now, anyone who read my last post knows I have a few issues with Christian music, but don't think me a total cynic. I just don't like the lazy stuff, the stuff that sounds like everything else and has nothing challenging or theological or profound to contribute to our faith outside of a pretty basic "God is great! I love Jesus and he loves me!"
However, those naysayers who criticize Christian rock as somehow less than legitimate rock music miss a few other significant points:
1) Praise & Worship is, after all, merely a subgenre of Christian music. Other subgenres include actual Rock & Roll, some alternative rock, country, folk, bluegrass (obviously), R&B, hip hop, rap (though it's rarely good), and gospel. I'm surely leaving some out, but I know no one is going to try to tell me that Ricky Scaggs, Allison Kraus, Heather Headley, and Aretha Franklin all suck, even if their style is not your cup of tea. So to say that Christian rock sucks might be an incomplete thought but a valid opinion, but please don't argue that Christian music sucks, because you'll only put your ignorance on display.
2) There are a LOT of really good Christian music artists out there. Consider the crossover success of acts like Flyleaf, Skillet, Underoath, Anberlin, Lifehouse, Needtobreathe, Switchfoot, and others. The legitimate talent of Christian groups like Jars of Clay, who explore new sounds and styles with each album, recently playing with genres from traditional folk to euro-pop. Then of course there are popular bands and musicians who identify as Christians but do not identify with Christian music. Bono and U2 come swiftly to mind. They're kind of a big deal.
3) Rock and roll is the music of sex, drugs, and rebellion? Really? In the 70s, I'd buy that, but let's take a quick gander around our culture, shall we? I see sex and drugs and decaying morality all over the place. I don't say that to condemn or judge, I just observe it. We release press statements that decry the state of our society and culture, yet magazines still print hypersexualized images and as we've seen just this past weekend with the shooting in Arizona, we are far from being a peaceful, hate-free society. Now, given this state of affairs, how can we classify "rock and roll" music which is predominantly about sex (or "love") or drugs or violence as "rebellious" when it is so clearly in line with the state of mainstream America? If the only music that can classify as "rock" is that which is against the conformity to and repression of broader secular culture, then it seems to me that the only true "rock" music out there today comes from Christians and Lady Gaga.
4)Finally, there are those artists who are both Christian and blatantly rebellious. What about Justin McRoberts' song "Safe," which takes a sardonic approach to the isolationist policy that churches frequently take in an attempt to protect their congregations from the evils of the world outside? (Ask me to send you the file if you're interested.) Derek Webb is another who certainly comes to mind. He writes songs challenging predominant Christian practices, from linking religion to politics, attitudes towards the LGBT community, and really just hypocrisy in general (an occupational hazard when it comes to being a Christian), all the while not afraid to use words like "bastard", "whore", and singing: "Cause we can talk and debate until we're blue in the face/About the language and tradition that he's comin' to save/Meanwhile we sit just like we don't give a shit/About 50,000 people who are dyin' today." If rock is about rebellion, and Christian rock isn't, then will someone tell me where this fits in?
So there, see, really I just have problems with everyone! The people who make lazy, boring, typical Christian music and the people who make blanket statements about the state of Christian rock and music based only the poor representations. Who would listen to one Nickelback album and surmise from it that all rock music from the past decade must have been terrible? And of course, I haven't really heard much pop music lately that rebels against anything, not repression or culture, there's nothing political, there's nothing philosophical out there. And given how much of it sounds the same, it's hardly a celebration of individualism and freedom. So we need to redefine our notions of what counts as "rock" music, as well as what counts as "Christian" music. Because I don't think I can live in a world where the only rock musician left is Lady Gaga.
